FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Editors, please note. High-res photos of the hearing, including Bishop Andudu and Chairman Chris Smith with the Avaaz petition, are available on the Enough Project's Flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
C-SPAN covered the hearing live. Here is the video: http://cspan.org/Events/House-
Contacts:
Jonathan Hutson, Enough Project, 202-386-1618, [email protected]
Brianna Cayo Cotter, Avaaz, 415-305-1943, [email protected]
WASHINGTON – Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail, the Anglican Bishop of Kadugli in Sudan’s South Kordofan, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Africa on Thursday, August 4, 2011. C-SPAN broadcast the proceedings live.
The emergency hearing, called by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), focused on the ethnic-based violence in Sudan’s South Kordofan region. In June and July 2011, the Sudanese army carried out mass killings of civilians in Kadugli and a sustained bombing campaign in the Nuba Mountains.
Bishop Andudu, whose Episcopal congregation witnessed many of the killings, came to the United States in May. He testified about his experiences and helped inform the Congress Members’ policy of dealing with the Khartoum regime. Also testifying was Brad Phillips, conservative commentator and president of the Persecution Project Foundation and Dr. Luka Biong Deng from Kush, Inc., a Sudanese NGO working on peace and security issues in Abyei and the border regions.
Bishop Andudu delivered an Avaaz petition on behalf of nearly half a million citizens from around the world calling on the US and the international community to take decisive action to stop the brutal ethnic cleansing ongoing in Sudan, including making all efforts to arrest President al-Bashir and others indicted by the International Criminal Court and imposing robust sanctions on those responsible for mass killings. On August 5, the Avaaz petition will be delivered to United Nations representatives in New York City.
The Avaaz petition is available at http://www.avaaz.org/en/sudan_