Calgary MLA David Swann and several members of the city’s Sudanese community are heading to Ottawa December 3 to pressure the Canadian government to increase its support for a UN mission to the Darfur region of Sudan.

In July, the UN Security Council authorized a 26,000-troop United Nations/African Union hybrid mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to enforce a peace agreement in the troubled area of western Sudan. However, the African-led mission — which is scheduled take over from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) on December 31 — is short on supplies like helicopters and vehicles, the BBC reports.

“Canada should do more,” says Ameera Abbo, 28, an immigrant from Darfur who’s lived in Calgary for the past seven years. “Because the Sudanese government fails to protect its own people, it is time for the international community to intervene now.” Abbo’s parents and other family members are still living in Darfur, and she will be travelling to Ottawa with Swann. “[Canada] has to do something and stop those human rights violations,” she says. “Why do they deserve to suffer? Why do they deserve to be killed? They are human beings like us.”

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when fighting broke out between rebel groups and Arab militias allied with the Sudanese government. The UN estimates that more than 200,000 people have died and at least two million have been displaced. The militias, known as the janjaweed, have ravaged countless villages, raping and killing the inhabitants.

The Calgary contingent will be asking Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government to contribute $330 million to UNAMID. The Harper government contributed $48 million towards the mission in August, but the group says it’s not enough. (Canada isn’t sending any troops to be part of UNAMID.) “It may be true to say that we don’t have soldiers, says Swann. “But we do have money, and we do have technical resources, communications and military equipment and training. That is really, really valuable.” Swann is encouraging Canadians to write their MPs and ask them to step up support for UNAMID. His call for more support is echoed by groups like Save Darfur Canada, Project Ploughshares and Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND).

The Calgary contingent will hold a press conference in Ottawa December 4 with Lt.-Gen. Romeo Dallaire, among others. Dallaire led the failed UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda in 1994. He is now a Liberal senator. About 800,000 people died in the Rwandan genocide, and in October Dallaire was quoted in the Toronto Star as saying that if Harper and other world leaders don’t seriously support efforts to end the killing in Darfur, they will have “blood on their hands.” (JK)

Correction

In the November 22 issue of Fast Forward, the Winter Guide article “Canadian winter tradition alive and well” included an incorrect web address. The website founded by Gaurav Mehra is canadahockeyinfo.com.