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August 26, 2010

President Barack Obama


The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

We, the undersigned groups, are greatly concerned by reports that you will soon be making a decision
regarding U.S. engagement with Sudan that could have profound consequences for the people of Sudan.

While we are encouraged by recent reports that your administration is deploying a high-level team of
diplomats to Sudan, we believe a more robust set of tools must be employed to ensure not only a peaceful
referendum on Southern independence, but also peace in all Sudanese regions, including Darfur, through
the referendum and beyond.

Mr. President, your policy as spelled out in the Sudan Policy Review released last October was the right
one. After an extensive internal review, your administration recognized that the Khartoum regime and
those like it will respond only to a robust package that contains both incentives for concrete steps toward
peace, and firm pressures and consequences for behavior that makes peace more elusive.

However, it appears that some in your administration are currently advocating for an incentives-based
approach focused on the short-term goal of a peaceful referendum. While we agree that this goal is a
critical one, we strongly believe that this approach will only ensure more backsliding in the future by an
emboldened regime in Khartoum.

We must also not lose focus on resolving the worsening humanitarian and security crisis in Darfur as the
Government of Sudan continues its track record of abuses and violence in Darfur and throughout Sudan.
Since last April alone, the Government of Sudan has:

• Deliberately restricted humanitarian aid for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Darfur, as
well as peacekeepers’ movement and effectiveness
• Expelled humanitarian aid workers and made expulsion threats against peacekeepers and other
aid organizations working in the region
• Presided over rigged national elections
• Cracked down on human rights, detaining political opposition figures and human rights activists
• Censored Sudanese media and targeted news outlets and journalists
• Failed to act in good faith to prepare for the January 2011 referenda
• Failed to cooperate with the U.N. Security Council and the International Criminal Court
regarding outstanding arrest warrants against President Bashir and others accused of crimes in
Darfur

Given these recent actions by the Government of Sudan, the looming potential of a return to war between
North and South, and the deteriorating situation in Darfur, your leadership on Sudan—with a focus on
both incentives and additional pressures—is urgently needed.

Sincerely,
John Prendergast
Co-founder
The Enough Project

Mark Hanis
President
Genocide Intervention Network

Eric Cohen
Chairperson
Investors Against Genocide

Mark Lotwis
Acting President
Save Darfur Coalition

Gabriel Stauring
Director
Stop Genocide Now

Joe Carson, P.E.


President
Affiliation of Christian Engineers

Gerald LeMelle
Executive Director
Africa Action

Kevin Brooks
President
African Soul, American Heart

Stephen McNeil
Assistant Regional Director for Peacebuilding
American Friends Service Committee

Zainab Al-Suwaij
Executive Director
American Islamic Congress

Ruth Messinger
President
American Jewish World Service

Nikki Serapio
Director
Americans Against the Darfur Genocide

Mr. Bryan Ardouny


Executive Director
Armenian Assembly of America
Laura J. Limuli
Coordinator
Brooklyn Coalition for Darfur

Corey Dragge
Founder
Champion Darfur

Sara Caine Kornfeld


Project Founder, Educator
Change the world. It just takes cents.

Don Kraus
Chief Executive Officer
Citizens for Global Solutions

Michael Ditchfield
President
Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness & Action

Sister Zelita Bragagnolo


President
Consolata Missionary Sisters, USA

Jon Denn
President
Counting Prayers

Gene Binder
Coordinator
Darfur Action Group/Northwest Bronx/Yonkers

Ali Dinar
President
Darfur Alert Coalition, Philadelphia

Cory Williams
Co-founder
Darfur and Beyond

Bakheit A. Shata
Founder, Executive Director
Darfur Community Organization

Richard Young & Martha Boshnick


Co-chairs
Darfur Interfaith Network

Ahmat Nour
President
Darfur People’s Association of New York
Adeeb Yousif
Director
Darfur Reconciliation and Development Organization

Abdelbagy Abushanab
President
Darfur Rehabilitation Project, Inc.

Norma M. Bourdon, D.H.S.


Provincial Superior, USA Province
Daughters of the Holy Spirit

Gerri Miller
Founder and Coordinator
Dear Sudan, Love Marin

Leadership Team
Dominican Sisters of Springfield

Seme L. Enoka
Chairman, Board of Directors
Equatorian Sudanese Community Association - USA

Mansour Ahmed
President
Fur Cultural Revival

Marv Steinberg
Coordinator
Genocide No More - Save Darfur of Redding

Melanie Nelkin
Chair
Georgia Coalition to Prevent Genocide

Robert Goodis
Director
The Goodis Center for Research and Reform, L.L.C.

Sister Diane Bardol, G.N.S.H.


Social Justice Coordinator
Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart

Helen Fein
Chair, Board of Directors
Institute for the Study of Genocide

Robert Barkin
President
Jewish Reconstructionist Federation
Tzivia Schwartz Getzug
Executive Director
Jewish World Watch

Bob Brousseau
Founder
Kentuckiana Interfaith Taskforce on Darfur

Julia Hays
Founder, Director
Keokuk for Darfur

Mary Hughes, O.P.


President
Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Nancy Schreck, O.S.F.


President
Leadership Team of the Sisters of St. Francis

Barbara English
Executive Director
Living Ubuntu/Orange County for Darfur

Nancy Walsh
Coordinator
Long Island Darfur Action Group

David Emmanuel Goatley, Ph.D.


Executive Secretary-Treasurer
Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention

William Rosenfeld
Director
Massachusetts Coalition to Save Darfur

Timothy P. Page, M.D.


President
Michigan Darfur Coalition

Sister Kathryn Conti, S.M.I.C.


Provincial Coordinator
Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception

Lauren Fortgang
Co-founder
Never Again Coalition

Nell Okie
Co-director
New Haven Alliance for Congo
Sharon Silber & Eileen B. Weiss
Co-founders
New York City Coalition for Darfur

Helga Moor
Head
New York Darfur Vigil Group

Mark C. Hackett
Founder, President
Operation Broken Silence

Madison Odongi Clement


Chairman, Board of Directors
Otuho Community of North America

Sister Diane Bardol, G.N.S.H.


Executive Director
P. Francis Murphy Justice and Peace Initiative

A. Frank Donaghue
Chief Executive Officer
Physicians for Human Rights

Rabbi Gilah Dror


President
Rabbinical Assembly

Sister Kathleen Bryant, R.S.C.


Regional Vicar
Religious Sisters of Charity

Michael Pertnoy
Founder
Righteous Pictures

Ian Lobel
Programming Chair
Sacramento Committee on Conscience

Lucia Schwickerath, O.S.B.


Prioress
Saint Paul's Monastery

Susan Smylie
Coordinator of Advocacy
San Antonio Interfaith Darfur Coalition

Mohamed Suleiman
President
San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition
Deborah Jones
President
Save Darfur Washington State

Carmen Paolercio
Coordinator
Shine a Ray of Hope

Mary Elizabeth Miller


President
Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Congregational Leadership

Sister Lindora Cabral, R.S.M.


President
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Northeast Community

Leadership Team
Sisters of Providence of Holyoke

Elaine Betoncourt, C.S.J.


Chairperson, Justice and Peace Committee
Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambery/West Hartford

Sister Anne P. Myers, S.S.J.


Congregational President
Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chestnut Hill

M. Doretta Cornell, R.D.C.


Member, Social Justice Board
Sisters of the Divine Compassion

Mary Margart Mooney, P.B.V.M.


President
Sisters of the Presentation, Fargo

Bill Andress
Co-chairman
Sudan Advocacy Action Forum

Sophia Armen
Co- president
U.C. Santa Barbara Human Rights Group

Rev. Peter Morales


President
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

Sandra Hammel
Director
Use Your Voice to Stop Genocide Rhode Island
Jimmy Mulla
Founder
Voices for Sudan

Ellen J. Kennedy, Ph.D.


Executive Director
World Without Genocide at William Mitchell College of Law

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