URGENT: The Genocide of the Anuak People

January 8, 2004

U.S. Representative Gil Gutknecht
1530 Green view Dr. # 108
Rochester, MN 56001

Dear Rep. Gutknecht,

I am writing you with a sense of the utmost urgency on behalf of the relatives of 1,200 Minnesotans, namely the Anuak people of Ethiopia and Sudan.

Last month, more than 400 Anuak were killed in a single day by uniformed Ethiopian soldiers in Gambella, Ethiopia. The killings have continued on a daily basis and dozens of Anuak men are also presently imprisoned in federal prisons in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, where they are being held without charge.

The 1,200 Minnesota Anuak are desperately trying to get some international attention to this genocide, in order to help their suffering relatives.

In addition, more than 10,000 Anuak refugees have fled across the border into southern Sudan, where most are now trying to survive near the town of Pocalla. There is insufficient food and medicine and many are dying.

Congressman Gutknecht, we sincerely ask for your help bring pressure to bear upon the Ethiopian government and its international supporters, as well as upon the governments of the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations. These are the most urgent and immediate goals:

1) To immediately stop the ethnic cleansing of the Anuak people;
2) To bring food and medicine to the Anuak refugees in Pocalla;
3) To release all Anuaks held in federal prison in Addis Ababa’
4) To urge the U.S. government to appoint a team to investigate this genocide and to identify the victims in mass graves.

We sincerely ask for your help as soon as possible on the above matters.

Thank you and may God Bless America.

Sincerely yours,

Okony Cham
1400 Monks Avenue
Mankato, MN 56001
Tel: 507-345-1926