Capital University News, California State University, Sacramento
February
28, 2006
Eyewitness to conflict in
Darfur
to speak at Sacramento State
Brian Steidle,
a former Marine captain who served as the United States representative on the
African Union’s peacekeeping mission to monitor the conflict in Darfur
— where the world’s worst refugee crises is unfolding — will
discuss what he saw and photographed in the region during a talk at Sacramento
State at 3 p.m., Monday, March 6 in Hinde Auditorium in the University Union.
Steidle's appearance is
part of the “Tour for Darfur: Eyewitness to Genocide,” a 21,000-mile
speaking tour of 22 cities in 11 states. His campus visit is sponsored by Sacramento
State’s Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution in association
with the Sacramento Committee on Conscience. The talk is free and open to the
public.
The United States and several
other nations have said genocide has occurred in Sudan’s ravaged Darfur
region, where more than 200,000 people have died. The United Nations says the
Sudanese government has backed the Janjaweed, Arab militias, against civilians
and driven about two million Africans from their villages, and calls it one
of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
One of only three Americans
to have served with a coalition of African representatives, Steidle says he
witnessed mass murder, rape and other atrocities in Darfur and took hundreds
of photographs to provide documentation during the peacekeeping mission from
September 2004 to February 2005. Steidle has been interviewed for stories by
ABC’s “World News Tonight,” the “CBS Evening News,”
CNN’s “Wolf Blitzer Reports,” NPR’s “Morning Report,”
PBS’ “The News Hour with Jim Lehrer” and The New York Times.
The tour is an attempt to
raise awareness and to encourage the U.S. government to do more to end the violence
in Darfur. Donations can be made at the lecture to the Save Darfur Coalition,
which is sponsoring the tour in cooperation with more than 150 faith-based,
advocacy and humanitarian aid organizations.
For media assistance, contact
the Sacramento State public affairs office at (916) 278-6156.
####
California
State University, Sacramento • Public Affairs
6000 J Street • Sacramento, CA 95819-6026 • (916) 278-6156 •
infodesk@csus.edu
California State University, Sacramento • Public Affairs
6000 J Street • Sacramento, CA 95819-6026 • (916) 278-6156 • infodesk@csus.edu
