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Sami Yusuf to headline 'Muslim Live-8' for Darfur crisis
26th August, 2007
A concert in the spirit of Live 8 is being planned in order to raise awareness and funds for the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
Editor of the Muslim magazine Fareena Alam told a press conference last week that the response from the British Muslim community had been an "embarassment".
She had come back from the region as part of a delegation that had gone out to see the devastation caused by civil war and famine.
Around 4 million people in Darfur are dependent on humanitarian aid according to non-governmental organisations and over 20,000 have been killed by the violence. This year alone over a 100,000 civilians have been displaced from their homes, with total numbers estimated to be 2 million.
She said: "It is very shameful that we can get very, very hot and bothered about other issues."
"There is a lot of information about Darfur. There is no doubt this is Muslim-on-Muslim violence. In Iraq, the enemy is externalised."
She added: "In this situation where are the values that we talk about, that killing one life is about killing humanity? This has to be high profile. It is a huge embarrassment to us."
Also part of the delegation were Jehangir Malik from Islamic Relief and Saifuddin Ahmed from Muslim Aid.
The concert is being planned for 21st October at Wembley Arena in London. The organisers say it will celebrate Eid at the end of Ramadan and hope it will be a sell-out. The singer Sami Yusuf (pictured) will headline the event.
"We are going for our own equivalent of Live 8. The concert is being planned for 21st October at Wembley Arena in London. It will be people trying to raise funds and raise the profile. We should hopefully see a sell-out and it will be a milestone," said Mr Malik from Islamic Relief.
Saifuddin Ahmed of Muslim Aid said it was "quite shameful" that Muslim nations had donated less than western countries.
He added: "I feel that the Muslim community must match the level of response that our government has done."
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