Below is a petition put together and being circulated by the 9-11 Emergency National Network. We urge you to sign it, get your organization to sign it, and circulate it widely. We urge you to take other action as you can to focus attention on the massive humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

We hope to hear from you soon. Write to us at <refugeecrisis@igc.org>, or fax to 973-338-2210.

An Urgent Call for Leadership

To: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the U.S. Congress

We are writing out of urgent concern for the millions of Afghan people literally facing starvation, now and over the next several months. We urge you to speak up and work for an immediate cessation to U.S./Britain military actions in Afghanistan.

The 10/17/01 New York Times tells the story plainly: "The United Nations believes that 7.5 million Afghans will need food over the winter--2.5 million more than on September 11. Relief groups said today that the 275,000 packets of food dropped in the country so far are at best a minor public relations gesture and at worst a source of mistrust."

In the same article the president of Oxfam America, Raymond C. Offenheiser, is quoted as saying, "The bombing has demonstrated that we cannot get food to hungry Afghan people in relative safety. We've run out of food, the borders are closed, we can't reach our staffs, and time is running out."

Already, UNICEF estimates that 100,000 more children than would have otherwise will die due to nutritional problems related to the war. There is general agreement among relief agencies on the ground that if large-scale food deliveries are not made by mid-November and safe distribution networks reestablished, the world will be witness to massive numbers of deaths due to starvation and disease.

We mourn the deaths of close to 6,000 people in New York City, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania on September 11th, and we condemn those responsible. But two wrongs do not make a right. The death of innocents does not justify the death of other innocents.

People of good conscience cannot stand by and let a human catastrophe of incalculable proportions take place this winter in Afghanistan. Continued bombing and military action must stop and humanitarian aid must be allowed to get to the people. We urge our national and international leaders to speak and act accordingly, and to do so right away.

Initial signers:

• Ellen Barfield, Veterans for Peace, WILPF, WRL
• *Charles Barron, Dynamics of Leadership
• *Humberto Brown, Intl. Secretary, Black Radical Congress
• Leslie Cagan, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism
• Gordon S. Clark, former Executive Director, Peace Action
• *David Cline, Vietnam Veterans Against the War and Veterans for Peace
• Rev. John Collins, United Methodist pastor
• Dr. Sheila Collins, William Patterson U.
• Theresa El-Amin, Southern Anti-Racist Network (SARN)
• Todd Ensign, Director, Citizen Soldier
• *Mary France-Daniels, Independent Progressive Politics Network (IPPN)
• *Ted Glick, IPPN
• *Connie Hogarth, Hogarth Center for Social Action
• *Kensington Welfare Rights Union
• *Rev. Paul Mayer
• *Chris Ney, War Resisters League
• Karen Talbot, International Center for Peace and Justice
• Vietnam Veterans Against the War
• Veterans for Peace
• *Washington Peace Center

*Member of Continuations Committee of 9-11 Emergency National Network