Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Archbishop of Mainz and president of the German Bishops’ Conference has appealed for “attention to be aroused and solidarity expressed for the suffering populations of Darfur, who are deprived of all their rights”. He condemned “the massive violations of human rights” in the Sudanese region during a press conference held in Bonn yesterday. If the fact that the protagonists of the civil war that has been lacerating the country for over twenty years met for the first time in parliament on 31 August is “a sign of hope”, for the inhabitants of Darfur freedom is still a distant prospect: ethnic cleansing, violence of every type and arson attacks have caused the death of over 300,000 people, according to UN observers, apart from the over 2 million refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries. Despite all this, Cardinal Lehmann said, “the conflict in Darfur has still not reached the international political scene, or aroused the necessary interest to respond to the needs of so many people”.
