TUESDAY, 10 AUGUST 2004
101 Text: Commemoration of U.S. Embassy Bombings
(U.S. honors the memory of those killed and injured six years ago) (190)
102 Trip to Darfur Reveals Alarming Humanitarian Crisis to
Congressmen
(Rep. Wolf reports on Jingaweit/Khartoum connection) (540)
103 Text: Malnutrition Nears 39 Percent Among Darfur Refugee
Children
(FR) (Immediate action necessary to save lives, U.S. Says) (670)
104 Byliner: A Nation on Alert
(Op-ed by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge) (800)
*AEF101 08/09/2004
Text: Commemoration of U.S. Embassy Bombings
(U.S. honors the memory of those killed and injured six years ago) (190)
Following is a statement issued on the sixth anniversary of the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania:
(begin text)
Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
August 7, 2004
Commemoration of Sixth Anniversary of U.S. Embassy Bombings
August 7 marks the sixth anniversary of the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
More than 200 Americans, Kenyans and Tanzanians died in these heinous terrorist attacks, and some 5,000 were injured.
On this solemn occasion, the United States honors their memory, and we express our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families. The tragic events of August 7, 1998, remind us once again of terror's evil and why we all must work together to defeat it.
In the six years since the bombings, we have relentlessly indicted and prosecuted the perpetrators of these crimes. We are cooperating closely with our friends and partners in Africa in the war on terror. We will not rest until justice is done.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of
State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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*AEF102 08/09/2004
Trip to Darfur Reveals Alarming Humanitarian Crisis to Congressmen
(Rep. Wolf reports on Jingaweit/Khartoum connection) (540)
By Bruce Greenberg
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Congressman Frank Wolf is urging President Bush to take greater action against the Sudanese government to halt Arab militia attacks on black populations in the western region of Darfur.
Speaking to a rapt audience at the American Enterprise Institute August 6, the Republican of Virginia reported on his June tour of Darfur.
"The president should say [to the Sudanese] stop the slavery in Sudan," said Wolf, who has made numerous trips to Africa. "This is genocide, and I urge the administration to say so. Thus far 30,000 to 50,000 have died. More than 1 million [black Africans] have been driven from tribal lands and forced to live in deplorable conditions in the 129 or so refugee camps scattered across the western provinces of Darfur. But these are mere numbers, however, and I've come here to talk about real people."
The lawmaker traveled to the Darfur region at the end of June with several other Congressmen to assess conditions in the many makeshift refugee camps that have become sanctuaries for those fleeing from burned out villages, mass executions and gang rapes.
Those he met in these camps, Wolf said, told him and his colleagues of the systematic methods employed by the Sudanese military and its proxies, the horse- and camel-riding militias called Janjaweed or Jinjaweit, which is roughly translated from Arabic as "wild men on horses with guns." Their goal, Wolf said, is to purge the land of blacks, whether they are Muslim, Christian or animist, and supplant these people with Arab populations.
Wolf provided videotapes shot by members of his delegation that showed bombers and helicopters parked on airstrips and roving Jinjaweit on camels as well as interviews with veiled women holding emaciated infants. Many of the women claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the Jinjaweit.
In one scene taped outside a camp, a militiaman stepped in front of the camera lens to block the view of a machine gun emplacement.
Wolf explained, "At first, Sudanese Antonov bombers fly low over black agrarian settlements, dropping their bombs. Helicopter gunships follow with their machine guns, strafing panicked and fleeing villagers. Then the Jinjaweit ride in on horseback killing men and boys, raping women...[and] torching dwellings. [Later] helicopters land with more supplies for the Jinjaweit.
"Those survivors walk with what they have for miles in the desert to these [refugee] camps [littered] with animal and human feces all around. Cholera and measles sicken and kill women and their children," he added.
Wolf said many refugees have been living in cardboard shacks for months, with the Jinjaweit scouting the perimeters of the camps, waiting to apprehend those seeking water and firewood. "The women who do so are often assaulted, raped and marked as slaves."
He said that several camp women had delivered written testimony of their experiences in the form of a letter to the Congressmen pleading for help from the international community.
"This is very much a racial issue," Wolf concluded. "If there is any test for genocide, than this may very well meet this test. We know it now, and the world knows it."
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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*AEF103 08/09/2004
Text: Malnutrition Nears 39 Percent Among Darfur Refugee Children
(Immediate action necessary to save lives, U.S. Says) (670)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that nearly 39 percent of Sudanese children in refugee camps in northeastern Chad are afflicted with acute malnutrition; most also lack clean water, adequate shelter and proper health care.
The CDC conducted the survey at the request of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and released its findings August 7.
According to a CDC press release, the survey recommends an immediate expansion of feeding and vaccination programs, and calls for increased efforts to make clean water, shelter and better sanitation available. All of this work is impeded, however, by the onset of the rainy season in the region and continued threats of violence.
The United States has provided more than $28 million for emergency refugee assistance in eastern Chad this year.
The survey is available at http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ierh/
Following is the text of the CDC press release:
(begin text)
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
For Immediate Release
Press Release
August 6, 2004
Contact: CDC Media Relations
CDC Survey Documents Serious Crisis In Sudanese Refugee Children
HHS/CDC recommend immediate increase in feeding programs, food rations, and public health measures
Sudanese children in refugee camps in northeastern Chad risk serious illness or death from lack of food, clean water, shelter, and health care, say survey findings released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The emergency nutrition and mortality survey performed by CDC in June at the request of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) found acute malnutrition at rates of up to 39% in refugee camps and border settlements. A rate above 20% signals a serious crisis, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).
"Sudanese refugee children in Chad are experiencing a major nutritional crisis similar to those seen in Ethiopia in 1999 and in Goma in 2000," said Dr. Basia Tomczyk, CDC epidemiologist and survey team leader. "The good news is that public health intervention now would save children's lives."
CDC found that among children ages 6 months to 5 years in refugee camps and border
settlements
-- 36-39 percent are malnourished,
-- 35-58 percent have diarrhea, and
-- measles vaccination is inadequate (ranging from 24-83 percent in the camps and
settlements) to prevent outbreaks.
Factors contributing to the crisis, in addition to insufficient food, include lack of drinking water and sanitation and limited availability and access to health and nutritional care. The health crisis is complicated by onset of the rainy season and continuing threats of violence, which make it difficult for aid workers to reach populations along the Chad-Sudanese border.
The CDC survey team recommends immediate steps to reduce the threat:
-- Increase and expand supplemental feeding programs (high-quality dietary supplements for
moderately malnourished people).
-- Increase and expand therapeutic feeding programs (intensive medical care and dietary
treatment for severely malnourished people).
-- Increase the general food ration for the entire refugee population.
-- Expand measles vaccination to children ages 6 months to 15 years.
-- Increase treatment and prevention of diarrheal diseases.
-- Increase water, shelter, sanitation and health services.
"UNHCR welcomes the report and, in close collaboration with partners, has already begun to implement its recommendations," said UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Kamel Morjane.
To date this year, the U.S. Government has provided $28.6 million for emergency refugee assistance in eastern Chad, including $14.2 million to the UNHCR, $8.9 million to the World Food Program, and $5.5 million to other non-governmental organizations and international organizations. Additional international donor support is urgently needed.
The CDC survey report is available at: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ierh/.
The survey project involved multiple agencies, including UNHCR, United Nations Children's Fund, World Health Organization, World Food Program, Chadian Ministry of Health's Centre National de Nutrition et Technique Alimentaire, Médecins Sans Frontières-Belgium, International Medical Corps, and International Rescue Committee.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of
State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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*AEF104 08/09/2004
Byliner: A Nation on Alert
(Op-ed by Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge) (800)
(This column by Tom Ridge, who is Secretary of Homeland Security, was published in The Wall Street Journal August 9 and is in the public domain. No republication restrictions.)
(begin byliner)
A Nation on Alert
By Tom Ridge
In the war on terror, information can be our best weapon. Most of the time the threat intelligence we glean -- while helpful -- is frustratingly general and gray.
Last week that was not the case. The information we received was uniquely specific. In spite of that, some have questioned the relevance of the information and the motivation behind sharing it.
There is no question about all the 40-page casing files found on the laptop computer of an al Qaeda operative. There is no question about the detailed surveillance carried out on the New York Stock Exchange, Prudential Financial, Citigroup, the IMF and the World Bank. There is no question about how the discovery of this information fit together with other intelligence streams to form an undeniable picture of a potential terrorist attack.
Information on the types of uniforms worn by guards, potential escape routes, places where employees hang out -- detail after detail down to the incline that exists on one of the underground parking garages -- is shockingly black and white.
And there was no question on the part of the people who received this information on what had to be done. Those directly involved acted upon this intelligence in a swift and decisive manner. State and local officials and private sector leadership ramped up security procedures, employees showed up to work, and citizens continued to go about their daily lives with the same vigilance and fortitude exhibited since the attacks of 9/11.
Some have also questioned the motivation and timing of the recent terror alert. In an election year, there will be those who want to view the release of this information through a political prism. Let me state what should go without stating: There is no place for politics in homeland security. We cannot allow the current political environment to distract government or private-sector leaders from doing what needs to be done to protect public safety.
As we reported in April, gathered intelligence suggests that al Qaeda is planning a large-scale attack on American soil to disrupt our democratic process. Last Friday morning, we first learned of detailed information about specific locations scouted by al Qaeda for possible attack.
These casing operations occurred in 2000 and 2001 and were recently updated in January of this year. But regardless of when al Qaeda did the groundwork, upon seeing the shocking new detail of their plans we were compelled to share this information immediately.
The 9/11 Commission outlined in great depth how al Qaeda operates. In the commission's own words this is "an enemy that is sophisticated, patient, disciplined, and lethal." And in their report, they detailed the long casing operations this organization undertakes to carry out its attacks.
Additionally, the commission found that the "casing" for the Nairobi embassy bombing in 1998 began in 1993 and that the planning for the horrific attacks of 9/11 began to take shape as early as 1996. Imagine if we had uncovered schematics for flying commercial airliners into the World Trade Towers in early 2001. Would we have dismissed the information because it was from 1996?
No. We would have given anything to have known what the terrorists were planning -- given anything to have been able to warn Americans -- given anything to have had a chance to stop the terrorists from succeeding.
As the 9/11 Commission noted -- "The biggest impediment to all-source analysis -- to a greater likelihood of connecting the dots -- is the human or systemic resistance to sharing information."
It is a tough balance we strike at the Department of Homeland Security between sharing information that makes us safer and sharing information that tips our hand to terrorists. But if we have information that could potentially save lives, we will share it with the American people every single time.
In the end, let's not lose sight of the facts. The facts in this case are that we uncovered detailed surveillance reports from al Qaeda pointing to an operation with the potential to kill many civilians. These reports, coupled with other separate threat information, demanded that action be taken. And, it was. We put out the facts. Government, law enforcement, companies and citizens took the appropriate precautions, put protections in place and have continued on.
And let there be no question that we too will continue to do what we need to as a government and as a nation to defeat terrorism and secure the country and freedoms that we all cherish.
(Mr. Ridge is Secretary of Homeland Security.)
(end byliner)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of
State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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