R.E.M. Helping to Raise Money for Sudanese

AP, Sep 4, 2004 7:00 am PDT
A new album featuring exclusive tracks from Ash, R.E.M . and David Gray has been released to raise money for the hundreds of thousands of people who have been driven from their homes in Sudan's Darfur region.

Badly Drawn Boy, Futureheads and Faithless also are featured on the 14-track album, "Songs for Sudan," being launched for Oxfam's Sudan appeal. "By buying this album you can help Oxfam save lives," a spokesman for the relief agency said Friday.

Arab militias known as the Janjaweed are blamed for violence that has killed up to 30,000 people and forced more than 1.2 million to flee their homes in the large Darfur region of western Sudan.

The Sudanese government is accused of backing the Janjaweed to put down black African rebel groups that took up arms against the government in February 2003.

Khartoum denies backing the militiamen.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for an expanded international force to help decrease the level of violence and enhance the protection of civilians in Darfur.

Food and medicine are desperately needed in 147 refugee camps scattered across a region the size of France.

All artists and record labels donating tracks to the album are forgoing their royalties. The album sells for $14.32, of which $8.96 will go directly to the appeal. The donation from each album sale could be used to provide 15 refugees with clean drinking water, Oxfam said.

The album can be bought at record stores in England or downloaded from the Oxfam Web site.

___

On the Net:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/sudanemergency.

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