LEWISTON – A rally will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 30, in Lewiston to demand that the U.S. government work for international involvement to end the genocide in Darfur, a region of Sudan in East Africa.

The rally will be held the Lewiston Multi-Purpose Center, 145 Birch St. It will coincide with a large rally in Washington that is expected to draw thousands of people from all over the country. The local rally is an opportunity for those who are unable to make it to Washington to be heard in support of ending the tragedy in Darfur. Rabbi Hillel Katzir, coordinator of the committee planning the local rally, hopes that hundreds of people will attend to show that public opinion in Maine favors U.S. efforts to stop the mass killings in Darfur.

“We are told that over 400,000 people have died, about two and a half million people have been displaced from their homes, and three and a half million people, including many children, are at risk of starvation,” Katzir said in a prepared statement. “The United Nations is calling this the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. We must act before it gets any worse.”

Dr. Stephen Sokol of Lewiston recently returned from a year in Darfur, and is honorary chairman of the local planning committee.

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