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SRI Alert Statements and Events:

 

April 2006 Newsletter

March 2006 Newsletter

February 2006 Newsletter

SRI dissolves as a 501(c)(3) due to lack of funding

 

Press Release: Khartoum, Darfur

 

Ethiopia Report

 

D.R. Congo: New Strategies Needed to End Military Impunity, Foreign Arms Transfers and Sexual Violence amidst Rising Terrorism in Eastern DRC

 

DRC: Unrealistic Expectations, Inhuman Conditions

 

Petition to boycott mineral trade with DRC and surrounding nations until conflict is resolved.
Download the Signature Page

 

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): The international community must immediately address ongoing conflict, military occupation, lawlessness, and impunity for ongoing acts of genocide and crimes against humanity, including widespread sexual violence, in DRC.

 

Ethiopia: International Community Should Investigate Government Role in Ongoing Gambella Violence

 

April 2004 Report: State Department Reporting Under the Sudan Peace Act

 

Ethiopia: U.S. government calls on Ethiopian government to investigate

 

Genocide Watch & SRI Field Report: "Today is the Day of Killing Anuaks"

 

SRI Situation Report: Shari'a Law in Northern Nigeria

 

Update of Genocide Watch: Genocidal massacres in Gambella, Ethiopia

 

Press Release: SRI Answers to a UN Expert's Call on the International Community to Intervene in DRC to End Genocide

 

ICEG Letter to Prime Minister of Ethiopia: Massacres of Anuak in and around Gambella

 

Follow-up Report: Severe Persecution and Violence under the Taliban's Veil

 

SRI Press Release: Psychological Suffering as a Result of the Conflict in Algeria

 

Sudan: A Prominent Case for the International Criminal Court

 

SRI Alert: Martial Law declared in Aceh

 

SRI On-Site Action Alert: Rohingya Refugees of Burma

 

SRI Country Briefing: Liberia

 

SRI Background Alert: Arakan (Northern Rakhine State), Burma

 

Action Alert: Sri Lanka

 

Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation Between Venezuela and Ecuador

 

SRI Action Alert: Burma

 

Burundi Initiative for Peace (BIP) Making Progress in Burundi

 

Alien Tort Claims Act Alert

 

How to Address the Massacres Perpetrated in Algeria's Civil Conflict

 

Trafficking in Persons: Latin America and the Caribbean

 

SRI Press Release: Survivors' Rights International Praises the First Indictments of the Special Court for Sierra Leone

 

Cote d'Ivoire: Update

 

SRI Background Alert: Liberia

 

Open letter to Kofi Annan and to African and western heads of state and government: We demand the deployment of an international police force throughout Ivory Coast to protect the whole civilian population.

 

Burundi Press Release

 

The Great Lakes Region of Central Africa

 

Sri Lanka: Post-Conflict Alert

 

Regroupment Efforts in Burundi Violate International Law and Constitute Crimes Against Humanity

 

SRI Hails Congress and the Bush Administration for Passage of the Sudan Peace Act and its Separate Mandate to Investigate Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes by all Parties to the Conflict

 

Ogonis file class action complaint in New York against Dutch Shell under the Alien Tort Claims Act

 

Presbyterian Church of Sudan, et. al., v. Talisman Energy, Inc., and the Republic of Sudan. 01 CV 9882 (AGS)

 

SRI Alert: Cote d'Ivoire

 

Nigeria and the Increased Extension of the Implementation of Sharia

 

Burundi: Genocide and Transition

 

Shell leads in the destruction of the Niger Delta and is complicit in the commission of atrocities/human rights abuses against Ogonis

 

Representatives Urge Senator Daschle and Senator Lott to Appoint Senate Conferees on Sudan Peace Act

 

SRI Board Member and Federal Prosecutor, Jonathon Drimmer, Proves John Demjanjuk Assisted In Murder of Jews as Nazi Guard and U.S. Revokes His U.S. Citizenship

 

SRI invited to observe the Dinka-Nuer Peace and Reconciliation Conference in Washington, D.C.

 

SRI joins "The International Campaign to End Genocide"

 

Severe Persecution and Violence in Afghanistan Press Release

 

Severe Persecution and Violence Under the Taliban's Veil (pdf download)

 

Tribunal for Sudan

 

SRI and WAPHA JOINT PRESS RELEASE

LETTER TO SRI

 

SRI PRESS RELEASE

 

SRI SPECIAL REPORT: Khartoum and Terrorism (PDF download)

 

Sidwell Friends School writes to Fellow Heads recommending SRI's School Program

 

Sidwell Friends and SRI Host Youth-led Rally on Sudan this Fall — POSTPONED

 

PRESS RELEASE — Sudan Peace Act

 

URGENT: Capital Markets Sanctions Remain Key to Cessation of Atrocities and Peace in Good Faith by Khartoum

 

The Need for a Strong and Effective Sudan Peace Act

 

Demand for an End to Khartoum's Genocidal Campaign and for the Imposition of a Just and Lasting Peace

 

What Amounts to Genocide in Sudan?

 

Important News:

Washington Post.com: Sudan, Newly Helpful, Remains Wary of U.S.

 

Terrorism? Sudan Gave Us No Help

 

Democratic Fund-Raiser Pursues Agenda on Sudan

 

allAfrica.com: US Pressure Groups Urge Tough Line on Khartoum

 

Taliban reportedly holding women, children hostage – Tactic to deter Afghan fighters from surrender

 

allAfrica.com: Focus on US Efforts to Be "A Catalyst for Peace"

 

U.S. accuses Iraq, North Korea of developing biological weapons

 

Opposition Website: Afghan Government (not the Taliban)

 

BBC News South Asia Taleban "leaving last strongholds"

 

United Nations Press Release

 

BBC News Africa US peace envoy starts Sudan mission

 

Islamic Terror Groups Form Unholy Alliance

 

New Casualty: Sudan Peace Act Activists Fear Crackdown on Khartoum May be Sidelined

 

Sudan: Coming out of the Cold

 

Unholy trinity in chemical weapons pact

 

Wall Street Journal article: House Bill to Impose Sanctions...

 

Oil inflames Sudan civil war

 

NYTimes.com article: Papers show U.S. knew of genocide in Rwanda

 

Sudan uses missiles against rebels

 

Khartoum Using Cheap Oil to Expand Its Clout

 

US Official Urges Sudan to Invest Oil-Money in Fighting Hunger

 

Would Buying Sudan's Oil Undermine Peace Efforts?

 

Defusing Terrorism at Ground Zero: Why a New U.S. Policy Is Needed for Afghanistan by James Phillips

 

Backgrounder on Sudan

 




The Washington Post
April 29, 1997, Tuesday, Final Edition
A SECTION; Pg. A01
David B. Ottaway, Washington Post Staff Writer
 

Democratic Fund-Raiser Pursues Agenda on Sudan

 
Mansoor Ijaz, a 35-year-old businessman, was precisely the kind of political activist the White House was seeking last year to help finance President Clinton's reelection campaign.

 
Wealthy and well-connected, Ijaz was more than willing to pitch in. By Election Day in November, he had raised $525,000 for the Democratic cause, including $250,000 from his personal funds and $200,000 donated by guests at a fund-raising reception for Vice President Gore at Ijaz's New York penthouse in September, according to Federal Election Commission records, White House documents and Ijaz.

 
Now Ijaz is trying to reap what he has sown. Having earned access to the Clinton administration through his fund-raising prowess, Ijaz has met with a succession of senior officials in the White House, State Department and Congress to further his business interests through changes in U.S. policy toward Islamic countries, particularly Sudan, a government long accused of sanctioning international terrorism. Much of the 1996 campaign fund-raising controversy has centered on questions about big donors currying influence and gaining access to administration officials. Ijaz's case illustrates the blurring of lines between fund-raising and the pursuit of personal political and financial agendas by those whose donations helped finance Clinton's reelection.

 
Since last summer, Ijaz has worked relentlessly to broker a reconciliation between the United States and Sudan, an emerging African oil producer the Clinton administration has sought to isolate because of Khartoum's alleged support for international terrorism.

 
In a half-dozen trips to Khartoum since July, Ijaz repeatedly has met with Sudan's president, Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Bashir, and the country's militant Islamic leader, Hassan Turabi, advising them on how to soften the Clinton administration's position, according to Sudanese officials, Ijaz and U.S. officials familiar with his activities.

 
During that period, Ijaz also met with senior White House and State Department officials—including Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger, now national security adviser—to urge a policy toward Sudan of "constructive engagement," which would include enlisting Turabi's help in curbing international terrorists. A White House spokesman confirmed Berger's meeting with Ijaz last August and said the businessman had provided helpful "insight."

 
Ijaz, who displays photographs in his New York office of himself with Clinton and Gore, acknowledged during six hours of interviews the leverage his fund-raising provided in gaining "political prominence" in Washington for the advancement of his causes.

 
"Everybody knows who I am," he said, adding, "Donations give you access once or twice. But in order to be meaningful in the policy process, you have to have something important to say, and information."

 
Ijaz also acknowledged his commercial interests in effecting a reconciliation between the United States and Sudan. As chairman of Crescent Investment Management, a New York firm that he said handles a $ 2.7 billion investment portfolio—much of it on behalf of Middle East governments—Ijaz said he is particularly interested in new oil field development. Sudan, with moderate reserves estimated at 3.5 billion barrels, is expected to become a petroleum exporter soon and Ijaz said he hopes to manage some of Khartoum's foreign investment of oil profits.

 
Sudan's fortunes depend in some measure on the extent to which the United States relents in squeezing the country economically, oil industry analysts said. Sudan has been on the U.S. government's list of terror-supporting nations since 1993, and Washington accused Khartoum of aiding Islamic militants who tried to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in June 1995. The U.N. Security Council has imposed diplomatic sanctions on Sudan, while Washington has pressed the United Nations for additional economic penalties.

 
Ijaz said his Democratic Party "political credentials" also have been very helpful in winning access to political leaders in other countries where he has current or prospective business dealings. He cited Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Israel and various Persian Gulf states as examples, adding, "Their leaders wouldn't give you the time of day if you're not politically prominent."

 
Ijaz, whose father was a prominent nuclear physicist who immigrated to the United States from Pakistan in 1960, was born in Florida and educated at the University of Virginia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to his resume. He began pressing his case for better relations with Khartoum after Congress last spring banned all financial transactions between U.S. companies and Sudan as a punitive measure. Ijaz's first trip to Khartoum, he said, came in July as State and Treasury Department officials contemplated how to put the ban into effect.

 
When the regulations were published in late August, the administration effectively gutted the prohibition by allowing a broad range of financial transactions by U.S. businesses dealing with Sudan. That loose interpretation remains in effect despite sharp protests from some members of Congress.

 
Ijaz's personal donations in the last campaign included contributions to Democratic Senate and House candidates as well as to the Democratic National Committee. The reception for Gore on Sept. 16 drew 25 guests who contributed a minimum of $5,000 each, according to White House documents. Ijaz said he has met the president and Hillary Rodham Clinton on a dozen occasions.

 
Whether Ijaz's activities have had any influence on U.S. policy toward Sudan remains unclear. "We have not found his analysis on Sudan compelling in any way," said David Johnson, a White House spokesman, who added that Ijaz "had provided a valuable perspective."

 
Ijaz is not registered with the Justice Department as a lobbyist for Sudan and said he has received no compensation from the Khartoum regime. He acknowledged that the congressional ban, as originally devised, would have impinged on his business aspirations in Sudan. But his larger ambition, he said, is to parlay his Democratic connections into a powerful Muslim American lobby with influence on U.S. foreign policy.

 
Besides his session with Berger, Ijaz's U.S. government contacts in recent months have included meetings with Susan E. Rice, special assistant to the president for African affairs; senior officials in the State Department's African affairs office; and several senior members of Congress, including Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), ranking minority member on the House International Relations Committee, according to government sources. Ijaz also has had meetings with FBI and U.S. intelligence officials, according to a source familiar with his activities.

 
Earlier this month, Ijaz returned from another trip to Khartoum with a letter from Bashir to Hamilton. Bashir offered in the letter to allow FBI agents unrestricted access in Sudan to determine whether the government supports international terrorists, according to a Sudanese official. Hamilton, who forwarded the letter to the State Department, said in an interview that he met with Ijaz three or four times in recent months and found him "a very bright, energetic guy" with "a lot of contacts in the Sudan."

 
Ijaz argues that his proposal for better relations with oil-wealthy Islamic nations would serve U.S. interests because they control 72 percent of the world's known reserves. He also has promulgated his views in several opinion pieces published earlier this year in the Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.

 
"I am of the view that Doctor Turabi has access to every single major fringe radical group on the face of the planet," Ijaz said. "Let's use him to be our bridge to all of these fringe radical groups."

 
As a precedent, Ijaz cited Turabi's role as a mediator between France and Algerian Islamic militants responsible for bombings in Paris in 1995. He also noted Sudan's cooperation in the 1994 extradition to France of the international terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal," who had been living for years in Khartoum.

 
A month after Ijaz first visited Sudan last July, Turabi sent Clinton a letter mentioning that he had met the Pakistani American and saying he strongly supported Ijaz's proposal for "constructive engagement on all fronts."

 
A senior U.S. official said the administration has not replied to Turabi's letter and regards Sudanese steps toward reconciliation as "cosmetic."

 
"Actions," the official added, "speak louder than words."

 
Staff researcher Nathan Abse contributed to this report.

 




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