Advocacy Action for Southern Sudan ... please take 60 seconds and act now!

Friends,

this alert just came from the Episcopal Public Policy Network. Please take a minute and take this simple action, which is so critical for our sisters and brothers in Southern Sudan.

We here in Missouri have had a companion relationship with the Diocese of Lui in Southern Sudan for several years now. Over the past few weeks we have heard increasing reports of violence in the neighboring diocese of Mundri with refugees streaming into Lui. This is a critical action at a critical time ... and it takes no more than 60 seconds.

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During his campaign, President Obama spoke of the need to stop he so-called "Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)," a Uganda-based rebel group that has been active in South Sudan and other parts of the region for more than two decades Over the past six weeks, the people of South Sudan, already living precariously with their northern neighbors, have been terrorized by an unremitting campaign of LRA militia attacks on civilians.

Christianity is the majority religion in South Sudan and the violence has had a particular effect on the Episcopal Church of the Sudan,. Some of the earliest attacks – which included killings, child abductions, decapitation, and other unspeakable crimes at the hands of the LRA – were directed at parishes and villages in the Dioceses of Mundri and Ezo. Tragically, the violence appears to be spreading, with reports from bishops and others in Sudan that LRA activity has reached across southern Sudan to Torit, Kajokeji, Lainya, Yei, Yambio, Ibba, Maridi, and Lui.

Last week, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori urged Americans to learn more about the situation, advocate for a U.S. government response, give to the work of Episcopal Relief and Development in the region, and pray for peace. To read the Presiding Bishop's statement, click here.

WHAT ONE CAN DO:

Click here to send a message to the White House, asking President Obama to take urgent action with other international leaders to stop the violence.

Ask him now to work to ensure:

(1) a viable strategy to arrest LRA leaders and bring them to justice;

(2) robust protection for civilians as the governments of Southern Sudan, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue a joint effort to apprehend LRA leaders;

(3) a negotiated end to the LRA's activity in the region; and

(4) an adequate deployment to the region of UN peacekeepers.

"Emergency for Congo Church after Recent Violence" -- An Episcopal Public Policy Network Alert

**EMERGENCY ALERT FROM THE EPISCOPAL PUBLIC POLICY NETWORK**: Conflict in the Congo Strands Bishop and Church Delegates. Tell President Bush to Increase Pressure on Parties to Sign Peace Agreement

Late last week, a rebel uprising in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo stranded Bishop Henri Isingoma and 150 delegates to an Anglican Church diocesan synod meeting in the town of Boga. This came on the heels of a fresh wave of violence that has forced thousands of people from their homes in Africa's third largest country, where two wars and subsequent fighting have claimed more than four million lives since 1994.

President Bush and his Administration must continue to push, as they did at the UN last month, for an end to the violence.

Rebel attacks in northern Congo have intensified in recent weeks, largely in response to violence perpetrated by the northern-Uganda-based Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), whose long campaign of violence in Uganda has reverberated to other countries in the region, particularly the DR Congo, the Central African Republic, and the Sudan. Late last month, 90 school children in the northern Congo were abducted by the LRA and tens of thousands were displaced from their homes as a result of increased attacks. According to Frederick Ngadjole, liaison officer for the Anglican Church in the Congo, people have been forced "to run for their dear lives in various directions."

The Anglican delegates from Bukiringi have returned to their homes following the attacks. However, many found that their houses and community institutions had been raided and looted – some for the fourth or fifth time. According to one report shared with the Episcopal Church Center, "The remaining delegates from the Gety/Isura/Aveba area have traveled with Bishop Isingoma and other delegates on the road west to Eringeti, using three vehicles and five motorbikes. They slept on the road last night and the road is in a very bad state."

WHAT ONE DO
The present wave of violence that has affected the Anglican Church and many other Congolese in recent weeks is a product of instability brought on by the Uganda-based Lord's Resistance Army, which has waged a two-decade campaign of war, abduction, and terror in northern Uganda. The LRA and the Ugandan government have been in the final stages of peace negotiations for many months, but progress at the moment appears stalled. President Bush met last month at the United Nations with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and discussed the LRA Conflict.

Click here to send a message to the President urging his Administration to follow up on that meeting by working with the UN and regional governments to advance peace negotiations, protect civilians, and develop a strategy for bringing the leaders of the LRA to justice.

EPPN alert: Climate Change, Global Poverty and the G8

An action alert from the Episcopal Public Policy Network.

This summer marks the half way point for the targeted achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Despite high promises from G8 leaders, a new report this week by DATA, one of the Episcopal Church’s partner organizations, shows that while progress has been made in some of the anti-poverty commitments made by G8 leaders at their 2005 summit, much bolder action is needed if the MDGs are to be met by 2015.

In a few short weeks, leaders of the G8 nations, including President Bush, will meet in Germany with an agenda that includes addressing the onset of climate change throughout the world, as well as the world’s progress toward eradicating deadly poverty and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Tell President Bush, the G8 must keep their commitments to the MDGs and need to address the role that climate change will play in their success.


This is a critical time for the climate and the MDGs. On Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle printed Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s opinion column urging that world leaders consider the two issues simultaneously, as climate change propels global poverty and global poverty propels climate change. "By understanding how the two crises, and the people they affect, are connected, we can begin to understand how humanity can triumph over both," wrote the Presiding Bishop. To read the full article, click here.

Click here to send a message to President Bush now -- Urge him to work with other G8 leaders to keep the promises they have made toward meeting the MDGs, and in particular, to address the relationship between global poverty and climate change as part of this meeting’s agenda.

MDG Update from EPPN/ONE Episcopalian

Alex Baumgarten filed this report for Tuesday night's EGR conference call.

FARM BILL: The farm bill continues to be the top MDG priority currently pending in Congress. Delegations of religious leaders – many chaired by Episcopal bishops – are in the process of setting up meetings for the Memorial Day congressional recess with approximately 60 key lawmakers around the country. Our EPPN alert last week encouraged all Episcopalians to do the same, and provided resources on how to set up a visit, what to say during the meeting, and what information to leave behind with the office. All of that is available online.

All participants in meetings will be invited to participate in a conference-call briefing next Tuesday for final key information for the meetings. Participants will be given a choice of two different conference-call times, one in the afternoon and one in the evening.

The ONE Campaign will do a targeted email this week to their members in the 60-or-so key districts we have identified, urging messages to be sent to their lawmakers. ONE organizers will also be joining our meetings in districts around the country. Bread for the World’s June national conference in Washington will also focus on the farm bill, bringing more than 700 people to Washington to lobby their lawmakers. It’s not too late to join. Information can be found at www.bread.org. There will be an opportunity for all Episcopalians at the conference to meet as a group for a separate briefing.

ONE: By way of advance notice, the ONE Campaign will launch its presidential initiative – called “ONE Vote” – in the first couple of weeks of June (date TBA) in a forum that is likely to highlight faith participation in the MDGs. I will send information to the EGR list (and we'll post it on the blog - MK) as soon as I have it.

BISHOP KATHARINE’S OP-ED ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE MDGs: As part of the lead-up to the G8 meeting in early June – which will focus primarily on climate change but also devote discussion to global poverty – the San Francisco Chronicle this past Sunday published an op-ed by the Presiding Bishop urging world leaders to consider the two issues simultaneously, as climate change propels global poverty and vice versa. It's posted below on the EGR blog.

DEBT CANCELLATION: With the strong support of the Episcopal Church, the JUBILEE Act – a piece of comprehensive legislation to bring debt cancellation to those countries who need it to meet the MDGs – will be introduced in Congress in the next several weeks. The lead sponsors are Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Spencer Bachus (R-AL). The legislation was drafted in close consultation with our office, other coalition partners, and Jubilee USA and is based on some of the innovative debt-relief proposals offered by Chancellor (and likely soon-to-be Prime Minister) Gordon Brown in the UK. The legislation has the strong support of Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the chairman of the House committee with jurisdiction, who has pledged to us that he will move the legislation through his committee and hold a major hearing this year focusing on the vital need for further debt cancellation around the world. The Jubilee Act also has the strong support of the ONE Campaign, where it is one of the top seven legislative priorities for the year.

Folks should also know that the week of October 14-20 is an international week of action on debt cancellation and will see a major advocacy focus in the U.S. and around the world. A congressional prayer breakfast on debt and the MDGs will be among the events scheduled for that week. Archbishop Ndungane of South Africa has been invited to keynote that prayer breakfast.

Finally, folks should know that Jubilee USA’s annual grassroots conference will take place in Chicago during the third weekend in June. I sit on the Board of Jubilee USA on behalf of TEC, and our Church will have a major role at that event. People can register at jubileeusa.org.

EPPN Alert: Action Needed During Congressional Recess

Here's a note from the Episcopal Public Policy Network about an important lobbying opportunity you can take advantage of without leaving your home town! Read on!

Beginning next week, key congressional committees will begin drafting the 2007 U.S. farm bill. As we highlighted in our Lenten EPPN series, the farm bill affects every American – and most people around the world – in one way or another. US farmers and rural communities. have an important stake in the legislation, as do hungry people in our own country and people living in deadly poverty around the world. To learn more, click here.

Reform of the current U.S. commodity-payment system would allow Congress to invest billions of dollars in farms and rural communities that need it most, and better support programs that fight hunger and poverty at home and around the world.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
During the week of May 27, when lawmakers are home in their districts for the Memorial Day recess, Episcopalians will be joining with other people of faith to visit their Senators and Representatives and share the message of farm-bill reform. The effort will include bishops, clergy, lay people, community organizers, farmers, and others who want to see a fair and just farm bill.

If you have never set up a meeting with your member of congress, it’s easy to do – here are some simple instructions. Ask others in your congregation to join.

Interested, but nervous you won’t know what to say? Register here, so that we can invite you to a special conference call that will walk through the important information. Even if you can’t make the call, all the information you need to talk about the farm bill in these meetings is here in a short front and back summary.

Together, we can help pass a 2007 farm bill that makes historic strides against hunger and poverty at home and around the world.

Please write and tell us about your visits. The information you gather will give us important insights into the concerns, questions and positions of Members of Congress as the legislative process continues.