Los Angeles, CA – On September 15, 2007 the Armenian National Committee-Western Region (ANC-WR) will host an information and activism booth at the “Songs for Darfur” benefit concert. Supported by a coalition of grassroots organizations such as the Save Darfur Coalition and Stop Genocide Now, the benefit concert will be held at the Topanga Community House Fairgrounds located at 1440 N. Topanga Cyn. Blvd., Topanga, CA.

The concert will feature live music, guest speakers, poets, literature, art, and dancers. Concert goers will also be able to partake in the Camp Darfur interactive experience. Camp Darfur is a mock refugee camp intended to humanize the suffering of Darfur’s genocide victims.

All Proceeds from the concert will benefit the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) refugee camps at Kounoungo and Mile in Chad in order to provide much needed relief to thousands of survivors of the genocide in Darfur.

In harmony with the purpose of “Songs for Darfur” and in an effort to combat genocide denial, the ANC-WR will be hosting a booth to help raise awareness about community efforts and will provide concert goers with opportunities to promote justice for the Armenian Genocide and stand up against the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

“Although the United States government has publicly acknowledged that what is going on in Darfur is genocide, more can be done to put an end to it,” said Allen Yekikan, an ANC activist who will be coordinating the ANC-WR booth at the event. “As Armenian-Americans fighting for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide, we cannot stand idly by while millions of people suffer the same fate.”

Darfur is a western region within Sudan, a northeastern African nation. Since 2003, the Janjaweed, a Sudanese government sponsored militia, has been carrying out a genocide in Darfur, Sudan. So far, the genocide in Darfur has claimed over 400,000 lives and has resulted in the brutal displacement of millions of people, who face the scourge of death on a daily basis and are in desperate need of foreign aid to ensure their survival.

Earlier this year the Armenian National Committee and the Genocide Intervention Network organized a national advocacy day in Washington D.C. urging members of congress to support pending Armenian and Darfur Genocide-related legislation. While more recently, the ANC-WR joined Jewish World Watch, the Olympic Dream for Darfur, and the Save Darfur coalition outside the Los Angeles Consulate of the People’s Republic of China to urge China to use its relationship with Khartoum to help end the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

“When it comes to confronting genocide, it’s not just important for us to speak the truth but to act on it as well,” said ANC-WR Community Relations Director Haig Hovsepian. “We look forward to our community joining us at ‘Songs for Darfur’ and becoming active participants this effort to confront the specter of genocide today.”

For more information about the “Songs for Darfur” concert, please visit www.songsfordarfur.org.

The Armenian National Committee – Western Region is the largest and most influential Armenian American grassroots public affairs organization in the Western United States. Working in coordination with a network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the Western United States and affiliated organizations around the country, the ANC-WR promotes awareness of issues of concern to the Armenian American community.

Photo caption #1: “Songs for Darfur” benefit concert.

Photo caption #2: The Darfur region of Sudan.