SYDNEY: The Armenian National Committee of Australia (ANC Australia) has released a statement welcoming a decision by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to join a United Nations mission in Darfur.
The Prime Minister announced last week that Australia will send a nine-man military team to help restore peace in the Genocide-torn region of Sudan, while also promising financial assistance to the tune of five million dollars.
"Darfur has been a continuing tragedy and the Australian government has a responsibility to act and this contribution demonstrates our commitment to the UN and restoring peace and stability in Darfur," Mr. Rudd said.
ANC Australia President, Mr. Varant Meguerditchian welcomed the Prime Minister’s announcement, describing it as a "win for humanity".
"Our Prime Minister's commitment, although small, will begin a process that will bring an end to the Genocide in Darfur," said Mr./ Meguerditchian, speaking on behalf of the Armenian-Australian community. "As descendents of victims of the first modern genocide [The Armenian Genocide], it is our moral duty to highlight the atrocities in Darfur and support measures designed to put an end to the Darfur Genocide."
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Since 2003, the Genocide in Darfur has seen the deaths of more than 250,000 African tribespeople through massacre, starvation, torture, deportation and disease. Government forces and Janjaweed militias have destroyed countless villages whose now displaced occupants have been forced to relocate to Chad and the neighbouring regions.
