Gov. Richardson meets a Darfurian during a stop in Iowa

Gov. Bill Richardson signs a book for Makki Makki following a discussion about foreign policy and the genocide in Darfur. Makki is from Darfur.

SCOTT MUSSELL / Courier Staff Photographer

http://www.wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/04/21/news/metro/c1f4ada08a62ac45862572c40014c0ec.txt

Presidential candidate Richardson talks of need for diplomacy

From Iowa:

Presidential candidate Richardson talks of need for diplomacy

By EMILY CHRISTENSEN, Courier Staff Writer

CEDAR FALLS --- Bad guys like Gov. Bill Richardson.The New Mexico governor has worked with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to broker a fragile 60-day cease fire agreement in Darfur. He has helped a scared wife rescue her journalist husband from a Sudanese prison thanks to his relationship with the African leader.More recently Richardson was in North Korea, collecting the remains of six soldiers lost during the Korean War, from a country that has been less-than-friendly with the United States in recent history.Richardson, a Democratic presidential hopeful, said it is his commitment to diplomacy that has afforded him the opportunity to arrange such meetings.
It is that same diplomacy Richardson said is needed in Washington to begin moving this country in the right direction. "We should have a foreign policy that we do things not just for our own interest, but because it is right," Richardson told a group of about 150 on the University of Northern Iowa campus Friday. "... We have forgotten that element in our foreign policy. ... I think that buys us goodwill and eventually that translates into something that advances our issues." He was in Cedar Falls as part of a larger program sponsored by the Center for International Peace and Security Studies that focused on conflict and conflict resolution in Africa. "What you do here, mediation and conflict resolution, that's the reason I am running for president," Richardson said. If elected, Richardson said he will make Africa and the Darfur region and other third-world countries that he said have been neglected under the current administration a top priority of his international agenda.
But, Richardson said he isn't interested in starting another war on the behalf of these countries. Instead he wants to use United Nations peace-keeping envoys, economic sanctions and diplomacy to end the wars now raging in many third-world countries. He also would divert funds currently being used in Iraq --- his first order of business would be to remove troops from that area --- to fund additional foreign aid and refocus our military efforts at U.S. ports and in Afghanistan." America also has to protect its own interests. ... The war in Iraq is taking away from the real threats to America," he said.
Richardson, who is in his second term as the New Mexico governor, served as the Secretary of Energy under President Bill Clinton, was a Congressman and an Ambassador to the United Nations. His work has earned him four nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Richardson Vows More Emphasis on Africa

From the Associated Press

NEW YORK - Democrat Bill Richardson told black leaders Thursday that he would make Africa a major foreign policy priority if he's elected president in 2008.
Speaking to a meeting of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, the New Mexico governor said the continent had been neglected by the Bush administration in favor of the Middle East and other regions thought to have greater strategic significance.
"Somehow it's not considered by American policymakers to have the importance it deserves," Richardson said. "Issues related to AIDS, refugees, issues related to governance, international poverty - somehow this continent is forgotten."
Richardson, a former ambassador to the United Nations, said that as president he would press to add an African nation to the U.N. Security Council. He also touted his recent efforts to help bring about a fragile cease-fire in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan.
"Why is it that America forgets about the Rwandas and the Sudans but is quick to move into other areas that are considered more strategically important?" he asked.
With black voters a key part of the Democratic electoral base, all the major Democratic candidates were scheduled to speak to the NAN conference during its three-day annual convention.
Attendees were getting a double dose of the Clintons: President Bill Clinton was set to address the group later Thursday, and Hillary Rodham Clinton was scheduled to speak Friday afternoon.
Richardson acknowledged he was not well known to most voters, but said he felt "very good" about his campaign so far. A Hispanic American, he said he was proud to be part of a diverse field of candidates that includes a woman - Mrs. Clinton - as well as a black man, Barack Obama.
"I'm going to be, hopefully, the first Hispanic elected president," he said to applause. "If it's not me, we may have the first African-American president, or the first woman president.
"We may also have the first Mormon president," he said, referring to Republican Mitt Romney. "Although I'd prefer the other three."

GOVERNOR RICHARDSON BROKERS CEASE FIRE IN SUDAN

More to follow on this extraordinary story - but for starters, here is the transcript from Daily Kos and Gov Bill Richardsons Online Ops Team's diary :


This morning at 6:55 MST, Governor Bill Richardson and members of the Save Darfur coalition delegation arrived in Albuquerque after their trip to Sudan. We held a press conference where Governor Richardson spoke about what he saw first-hand the human toll taken by the ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan as he toured a relocation camp and spoke with citizens forced from their homes and villages by war. The Governor visited the As Salaam IDP (internally displaced persons) Camp in El Fasher, home to more than 43,000 people, mostly women and children.

He also received a briefing from top United Nations officials in Sudan and met with the Commander of the African Union peacekeeping forces, Major General Luke Aprezi. General Aprezi expressed his frustration that the relatively small numbers of AU troops cannot provide adequate security for the 65 IDP camps as well as serving as observers and running patrols to protect civilian activities such as gathering firewood.
In addition, the Governor urged several field commanders from different rebel Sudanese forces to do their part to reduce violence against women and humanitarian workers and to undertake efforts to restore peace and stability to their region and throughout Sudan.

But the most successful part of trip came when he secured a commitment from Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir to agree to a 60-day cease fire in the Darfur region to allow for a new political process under the Darfur Peace Agreement and the auspices of the African Union and the United Nations.

There's still a long road ahead for the people in the Darfur region but this cease fire is definitely a step in the right direction.

Accompanying Governor Richardson on the trip were 5 members of the Save Darfur Coalition delegation. They were:
David Rubenstien, Coordinator, Save Darfur Coalition
Michael Bergman, Dep. Chair of Mitigating Religious and Ethnic Conflict, Clinton Global Initiative
Ambassador (ret) Lawrence G. Rossin, Senior International Coordinator, Save Darfur Coalition
Kenneth H. Bacon, President of Refugees International
Amjad Atallah, President of Strategic Assessments

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Governor Richardson's remarks:

Thank you for being here so early.

I will try to summarize what we have been able to accomplish over the past several days, and then I’d like to ask each member of our delegation to introduce themselves and say a few words as well. Then we’d be happy to take your questions.

First, I would like to thank the members of the Save Darfur Coalition for the important work that they do. For joining my delegation and for paying for this trip.

Usually when I am asked to take on a mission like this it is to help get one or two or a few people out of a dangerous situation. In this case we are talking about millions of people in the Darfur region of Sudan who are victims of a brutal, seemingly endless conflict. They are facing the loss of family members, their homes, and their lives.

During our trip we saw with our own eyes just how desperate the situation is. We met twice with President Omar Al-Bashir and spoke with top officials of his government. We spent a day in Darfur hearing from representatives of the United Nations and African Union, as well as rebel commanders who are fighting this war. We visited one of the camps for those left homeless by the war, and met some of the courageous Sudanese people caught up in this human tragedy.

I believe we made important progress on this trip, and took some critical steps toward finding a solution that will provide a lasting peace for the people of Darfur, and all of Sudan.

Most importantly, we got a commitment from President Bashir and the leaders of the rebel factions for a 60-day cessation of hostilities. This is critical. Before more African Union and UN troops can provide effective protection for the people of Darfur, there must be a cease-fire. You can’t have peacekeepers if there is no peace to keep.

The cease-fire will give the African Union and the United Nations an opportunity to build a framework for the political process to address the remaining differences between those who signed the Darfur Peace Agreement, or D-P-A, and those who did not.

President Bashir reaffirmed his commitment, as he had agreed with the UN Secretary General, under the DPA, to allow the deployment of UN personnel and equipment into Darfur.

We reiterated that sexual violence must be condemned and prosecuted no matter which party or organization is responsible, and the government agreed to extend existing efforts to support Sudanese women against all gender-based violence.

We got an agreement from the government not to paint their military aircraft white, the same as the aircraft of the UN and other relief agencies, and we underscored the need to disarm all armed groups, in particular the government-supported janjaweed militia.

The President agreed to have government forces improve security conditions in all areas of Darfur and provide protection for humanitarian convoys and workers.

President Bashir also agreed to cut the red tape for humanitarian workers in Sudan, and he agreed to allow and facilitate the travel of journalists from around the world to report on the situation in Darfur.

And, importantly, President Bashir has opened a dialogue with the Save Darfur Coalition and committed to building that relationship, toward the goal of ending the violence in Darfur and achieving a lasting political solution to the crisis.

I believe we have opened the door for the peace process to take hold and move forward. It is now up to the leaders of the UN and AU to monitor and ensure implementation by the Sudanese government and rebels, and to use this opening to pursue the durable political solution that will end the tragedy afflicting the people of Darfur.

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Please visit: :: :: Gov Bill Richardsons Online Ops Team's diary :: :: on Daily Kos

Special thanks to the marvelous Joaquin Guerra for fielding questions today on the Kos Diary and for taking his time to chat with readers -- muchas gracias, Joaquin!