The ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan has already claimed the lives of at least 200,000 innocent men, women and children, and perhaps as many as 400,000, and uprooted 2.5 million people from their homes. Efforts by the international community have thus far failed to stop the slaughter. The St. Louis Save Darfur Coalition, a consortium of local religious and volunteer organizations, is planning a major event called “Voices for Darfur,” coordinated by the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, one of the founders and major member groups of the Coalition. The event will be held 4 p.m., Sunday, April 29, 2007 at the Sheldon Concert Hall, 3648 Washington Boulevard in St. Louis.

The Sudan regime, headed by President Omar Hassan Bashir continues to play “bait and switch” with the international community, preventing a meaningful peacekeeping force from joining with the overwhelmed 7,000-member force from the African Union to stop the violence. Sudan, according to The New York Times has even disguised its own attack planes as white U.N. aircraft in order to deceive inspectors. President George W. Bush, in remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington last week warned that the United States will consider establishing a no-fly zone over Darfur if Sudan does not comply with the terms of the cease-fire agreements which have been worked out over the past few months and years. Bush said he was giving diplomats a “short time” to persuade Sudan’s government to allow in more peacekeepers and end militia attacks on civilians.

Yes, the killing goes on, and that is all the more reason that our efforts to stop it must continue. Let your voices join with those of others to demand that the killing stop. The time to act is now!