New Report Calls on States to Provide Helicopters to Darfur Peacekeepers

On anniversary of Darfur mission, a new report targets Czech Republic, India,
Italy, Romania, Spain and Ukraine for needed peacekeeping helicopters

NEW YORK, July 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Marking the one year anniversary
of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1769 -- which authorized deployment of the
Darfur peacekeeping mission -- a new report sets out for the first time which
countries have the critically-lacking helicopters needed to protect civilians
in Darfur.

The report, titled "Grounded: the International Community's Betrayal of
UNAMID" carries a foreword by the group of Elders who visited Sudan recently,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Lakhdar Brahimi, President Jimmy Carter and Graca
Machel and is endorsed by more than thirty human rights groups, think tanks
and NGO's including the Cairo Institute for Human Rights, International Crisis
Group, the Sudan Organisation Against Torture and the Save Darfur Coalition.

To demonstrate that critically needed helicopters are available to send to
Darfur -- if there is the political will to get them there -- the Save Darfur
Coalition plans to "present" a Eurocopter, A-Star 350 helicopter to the UN
this morning. The event will take place at 12 p.m. on 2nd Avenue and E. 47th
St., New York, NY10017, and will feature speakers Jerry Fowler, president of
the Save Darfur Coalition; Dr. Mahmoud Braima, a Darfuri and Save Darfur
Coalition board member; and Thomas Withington, author of the report and one of
the world's foremost helicopter experts.

"Early this month peacekeepers were attacked in Darfur. They were outmanned
and outgunned. Because no country has provided helicopters for the UN force
there was no back-up and seven peacekeepers paid with their lives. On today's
anniversary of the mission it's time the international community got serious
about enabling peacekeepers to do their job of protecting civilians and handed
over these helicopters," said Amjad Atallah, a spokesperson for the coalition.

The report is the first to look in detail at which countries have available
resources that could be provided to the mission. It finds that:

-- Of the 18 transport helicopters required by the force, not a single one has
yet been offered; this compares to an estimated 350 such helicopters in use in
Iraq.
-- The report identifies more than 20 countries with surplus aircraft that
could be made available for the mission.
-- The six countries best placed to provide transport helicopters, Italy,
Ukraine, India, Spain, Romania and the Czech Republic, between them have an
estimated 71 helicopters available, four times the requirement.
-- NATO member states alone could jointly provide 104 such helicopters, almost
six times the requirement.

The report's conclusions are based on extensive research of helicopter
capacity and investigations into the number of helicopters already deployed in
theatre. The report assumes a three helicopter rotation i.e. for every one
helicopter deployed, two others need to be available on rotation.

In the foreword to the report, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Lakhdar Brahimi,
President Jimmy Carter and Graca Machel state:

"This report sets out for the first time which states have the necessary
helicopters and estimates how many are available for deployment to Darfur. It
identifies a number of countries -- including the Czech Republic, India,
Italy, Romania, Spain and Ukraine -- that have large numbers of helicopters
that meet the required specifications and are not on mission or mission
rotation elsewhere. Many of these helicopters are gathering dust in hangars
or flying in air shows when they could be saving lives in Darfur."

The report notes that the resourcing issue is much deeper than simply an issue
of helicopters and that many other basic supplies, from boots to ration packs,
are also yet to be provided. It also makes clear that UNAMID is only part of
the solution to the situation in Darfur and that a peace process is essential
to a long term solution.

Actor and Darfur activist George Clooney, who has been appointed by U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as a "UN Messenger of Peace" for his work on
Darfur said:

"Many governments have offered expressions of concern, but few have offered
the most basic tools necessary to keep civilians safe and for peacekeepers to
do their job. To ensure the success of UNAMID and the safety of peacekeepers,
we do not need more rhetoric, we need resources. It is time for governments
to put their helicopters where their mouths are."

The report recommends:
-- Countries with the ability to provide these helicopters must do so
immediately.
-- Security Council members - especially the P5 - must engage in concerted
diplomacy to make sure this happens.
-- Any upgrades needed should be resourced by the member state, the UN or
third countries.
-- Those countries without helicopters should redouble their efforts to assist
the UN to fill the other gaps in resources for the force.
-- Pressure should be maintained on the Government of Sudan to stop
obstructing the full deployment of UNAMID.

At today's helicopter event in New York City, activists will also highlight a
petition with more than 50,000 signatures - urging the permanent five members
of the U.N. Security Council to fulfill their obligations and commitments to
the Darfuri people.

Editors Notes:

-- The full text of the report is available here: www.globefordarfur.org

-- On July 31, 2007, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1769, which
authorized a peacekeeping force 26,000 strong to protect the Darfuri people.
The mission - the largest authorized force in U.N. history - has only deployed
9,000 to the region, many of which were held over from the African Union force
that preceded it. The resolution's passage was marked by much
self-congratulation, but the U.N. Security Council has failed to match words
with deeds that would ensure the swift, full and effective deployment of the
UNAMID mission.

-- Organizations endorsing the report include: Aegis Trust , Americans Against
Darfur Genocide, The Arab Program for Human Rights Activists (APHRA), ARI, The
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, The Centre for Army Conversion and
Disarmament Studies, Collectif Urgence Darfour, Darfur Action Group of South
Carolina, Darfur Australia Network, Darfur Call, Darfur Hilfe, Darfur Relief
and Documentation Centre, Darfur Union, ENOUGH, European Union of Jewish
Student, FEMNET, Genocide Alert, Genocide Intervention Network, The Human
Rights Institute of South Africa (HURISA), International Crisis Group,
International Refugee Rights Initiative, Italians for Darfur, Japanese for
Darfur, NAS International, Dream for Darfur, Physicians for Human Rights, San
Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition, Save Darfur Coalition, Save Darfur
Canada, Society for Threatened People, Sudan Advocacy Action Forum, Sudan
Organization Against Torture (SOAT), STAND Canada, Team Darfur, United Nations
Association (UNA), Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, Waging Peace.

Media Contacts:
Leslie Kerns
202-478-6184
lkerns@mrss.com

Paula Chrin
202-478-6138
pchrin@mrss.com

SOURCE Save Darfur

Leslie Kerns, +1-202-478-6184, lkerns@mrss.com; or Paula Chrin,
+1-202-478-6138, pchrin@mrss.com, both for Save Darfur