By RAHUL KANAKIA

SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND) plans today to ask students to send letters to Congress, urging lawmakers to expedite the deployment of a 20,000-member peacekeeping force to the war-torn region of the Sudan.

The United Nations (U.N.) authorized the mission last May to quell ethnic violence that has resulted in the deaths of over 400,000 people, but the operation has stalled after protests from the Sudanese government.

At tables in White Plaza, as well as in Stern, Wilbur and Lagunita dining halls and various other locations on campus, STAND will ask students to sign pre-written letters to their senators and representatives. The campus-wide event will last from noon until 8 p.m. and will begin with a performance by Talisman in White Plaza.

Students who sign three letters at Moonbeans will get a free cup of coffee.

The letters call on the U.S. government to impose sanctions on Sudan and to put diplomatic pressure on the U.N. to deploy the authorized peacekeeping force without the consent of the Sudanese government; the letters also ask the U.S. to commit to funding the effort and for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states to deploy additional forces.

The purpose of the event is to re-energize student activity on the Darfur issue. STAND co-coordinator Nikki Serapio ‘07 warned against ennui on the part of students, pointing to progress over the years.

“It might seem that change is not happening, but over the last two and a half years the Bush administration has changed its position on Darfur,” he said. “Two-and-half years ago they were saying that this is an African Union problem. And now it has completely flip-flopped because of constituent pressure and the realization that we really need multinational peace-keepers in order to stop genocide.”

According to STAND co-coordinator Elissa Test ‘07, peacekeepers are the only way to end the genocide.

“The peacekeepers are entirely an attempt to provide a real cease-fire,” she said. “There has been cease-fire after cease-fire declared and broken. It’s been demonstrated time and again that the only thing that will really end the violence and make way for a sustainable peace agreement to be reached is the presence of a multi-national peace-keeping effort.”

The Darfur conflict began in 2003 after a rebel uprising in the region by members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa tribes. The conflict was declared a genocide by then-U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2004 after reports that government-backed militias were targeting civilians belonging to the rebelling tribes.

Serapio said the humanitarian network, which provides four million refugees with food and medicine, is about to collapse due to security problems that contributed to the deaths of 13 aid workers last month.

“In the last few weeks there were 14 humanitarian organizations that sent out a letter,” Serapio said. “It was a pretty unprecedented move, making it public that they’re holding the line on Darfur. They’re saying that if that humanitarian system [does] not receive adequate protection, it will collapse entirely. If that happens, it’s simple; it’s millions of people dead.”