Day for Darfur

The humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan has been described as "one of the greatest tragedies of our time"... Since 2003, more than 200,000 people have been killed, and more than 2 million people displaced.

Today - Day for Darfur - rallies and protests have taken place in 30 cities across the world in an attempt to draw the world's attention to the violence in Darfur, and a new single by Mattafix - "Living Darfur" - was released. The video for the single - backed by Mick Jagger, George Clooney and Nelson Mandela - to name but a few, was filmed in the Darfur region. The picture below shows Marlon from Mattafix with children in Darfur. Marlon's diary from the visit to Darfur is here.

Amazingly, I have watched the news several times today, and there has been no mention of Darfur, the rallies, or the single, at all. Why not?

Some months ago, the US Holocaust Museum put together a series of photographs, eyewitness testimonies and data, using Google Earth to give some indication of the scale of the genocide in Darfur. http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/

Crisis in Darfur

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Google Earth have launched a new project today, to increase awareness and understanding of the conflict and violence that have resulted in more than 300,000 people being killed and about 2,500,000 people being driven from their homes in the Darfur region of Sudan since 2004.

If you already have Google Earth, then the Darfur region should be highlighted. If not, you can download GE here.

The BBC coverage of the story is here, and you can find out more about the project from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum website.