Hawa Salih outside UN. Photo: Njideka Emenogu
[United Nations]
Every year during the United Nations General Assembly in New York City voices that are unusually not heard get some notice as media gather to cover the world leaders.
Yesterday, Hawa Salih and her colleagues who are from a contested region between Sudan and South Sudan, showed up to demand for a referendum for the oil-rich region known as Abyei.
She says the government of the Sudan, in Khartoum, has been committing atrocities including massacres in in its attempt to control the region and its riches.
“We are here to support the Abyei people for their referendum,” Salih said. “We are here to stand with mothers, sisters and brothers who really want to be free. We are supporting them to be united; every human being is entitled to freedom, justice and peace.”
Salih added: “We are calling on the international community [that leaders] who have committing crimes against humanity including the Sudanese government [leaders] to be arrested. We are calling on the African community to unite and support these issues to end this violence in Abyei.”
