APRIL 30 GATHERING IN WASHINGTON, D.C., TO CALL ATTENTION TO KILLING IN DARFUR

 The Save Darfur Coalition, a coalition of organizations including religious institutions such as the Armenian Church, will hold a rally in Washington, D.C. on April 30, 2006, to call attention to the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

 The Rally to Stop Genocide will feature leading voices in the effort to stop the genocide in Darfur, including a broad spectrum of prominent faith leaders, political figures, human rights activists, celebrities, survivors of the Holocaust and genocides in Cambodia, Kosovo, Srebrenica, Rwanda, South Sudan and Darfur.

 The rally will run from 2 to 4 p.m., with participants asked to gather at 1:30 on the National Mall, between 3rd and 4th Streets in front of the U.S. Capitol.  The Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) asks all members able to attend to join the rally.  Before the rally, Fr. Tateos Abdalian, pastor of the Holy Trinity Church of Cheltenham, PA, will celebrate the badarak at the St. Mary Church of Washington, D.C.

 Armenians are also asked to take part in a related postcard campaign, in which organizers are aiming to flood the White House with messages to prompt action against the Darfur genocide.

 "We, the Armenians who have suffered a lot like other nations, we have to be a part of this demonstration and send cards as much as possible to President Bush to stop this genocide," said Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate and ecumenical officer of the Diocese, who will be unable to attend the protest because of a previous commitment in the Midwest.  "We encourage all our Armenian communities around greater Washington to attend."

 In the Sudan, the Janjaweed -- a government-backed nomadic Arab tribe -- has raped, killed, and burnt the homes of black, non-Arab residents in the nation's Darfur region since 2003.  The violence is an attempt to get them to leave their lands, which the Arab government has promised to the mercenaries. According to reports by the World Food Program, the United Nations, and the Coalition for International Justice, 3.5 million people are now hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced due to violence, and 400,000 people have died in Darfur so far.

 The Diocese has been advocating for increased international pressure to stop the violence.  Along with coordinating a Diocesan-wide fund-raising effort to provide relief supplies to the refugees of the violence, Bishop Aykazian has also taken part in protests outside the Sudanese embassy in 2004, during which several leading protestors were arrested for civil disobedience.

 For more on the protest and the postcard campaign, visit www.savedarfur.org.