People in 30 countries around the world are marking what is being called the Global Day for Darfur. In Italy, refugees from Darfur joined others in a march calling for an end to the genocide and protesting the government of Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome the Sudanese leader has just ended a controversial visit to Italy.
Wearing T-shirts that read "Stop the Blood in Darfur" and holding up banners calling for an end to genocide, dozens of refugees from Darfur marched through central Rome with human rights activists, journalists, and ordinary people supporting their cause.
The demonstration was held to mark the Global Day for Darfur. It followed a three-day visit to Rome by the Sudanese head of state, Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
While in Rome, President Bashir said he would declare a ceasefire to coincide with the start of peace talks in Libya on October 27. Organizers of the march said the Italian government, which received the Sudanese president, must do more to help the suffering people of Darfur.
Refugee Youssef Ishag said these demonstrations are needed to raise public awareness about the situation in Darfur because the Sudanese government does not allow journalists to see what is going on. Ishag who belongs to the Sudanese Liberation Movement says he does not believe the president's offer of a ceasefire.
Human-rights groups present at the demonstration said they do not agree with statements made by President Bashir in Rome that the situation in Darfur is improving. The spokesman of Amnesty International in Italy, Riccardo Noury, said there are satellite pictures that witness that villages continue to be destroyed in Darfur, and that Russia and China are responsible for heavy armaments that are still arriving to arm the conflict.
In the four years of conflict in Darfur, more than 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2 million have fled their homes.
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Source: VOAnews.com
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