[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 131 Engrossed in House (EH)]

103d CONGRESS

  1st Session

                            H. CON. RES. 131

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 Expressing the sense of the Congress with respect to the situation in 
                                 Sudan.






103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 131

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Whereas the war-induced famine in southern Sudan is threatening the lives of an 
        estimated 4,000,000 people, and an estimated 80 percent of children in 
        some areas of southern Sudan are reportedly malnourished;
Whereas the civil war between the Government of Sudan and the factions of the 
        Sudanese People's Liberation Army, as well as fighting within the 
        Sudanese People's Liberation Army, have resulted in the displacement of 
        millions of civilians;
Whereas the United States Government provided over $85,000,000 in humanitarian 
        assistance to Sudan in fiscal year 1993;
Whereas access for humanitarian relief organizations has been inconsistent and 
        subject to the military and political objectives of the Government of 
        Sudan and Sudanese People's Liberation Army factions;
Whereas a human rights group reported in early 1993 that the Government of Sudan 
        is engaged in a program of military action which appears to amount to 
        ``ethnic cleansing'' in the Nuba Mountains and that it continues to 
        torture political prisoners;
Whereas an estimated 500 unarmed civilians were reportedly executed by security 
        forces on suspicion that they had collaborated with the Sudanese 
        People's Liberation Army after its incursions into Juba in June and July 
        of 1992;
Whereas the Government of Sudan executed Andrew Tombe and Baudoin Talley 
        (foreign national employees of the United States Government) and Mark 
        Laboke Jenner (an employee of the European Community) in Juba in mid-
        August 1992;
Whereas all factions of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army also are 
        reportedly responsible for serious abuses of human rights, including the 
        killing in September 1992 of 4 foreign citizens, the killing of 87 
        civilians by the Nasir faction of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army 
        in January 1992 in Pagarau, and the killing of 200 ``deserters'' by the 
        Torit group near Tonj in Bahr al-Ghazal;
Whereas the government of General Omar Hassan al-Bashir, which came to power by 
        overthrowing the democratically elected civilian government on June 30, 
        1989, formed a 15-member Revolutionary Command Council, abolished the 
        constitution, the National Assembly, political parties, and trade 
        unions, and declared a state of emergency;
Whereas the political, religious, and military policies of the Bashir government 
        have heightened political and religious tensions in the country;
Whereas the government in Khartoum has become a threat to regional stability in 
        part because of its reported activities in neighboring countries and its 
        relations with known terrorist and political extremist groups;
Whereas the conflict in southern Sudan, which has dragged on for over 3 decades, 
        is the result of decades of political, religious, and economic 
        discrimination against the people of southern Sudan by successive 
        governments in the north;
Whereas the people of southern Sudan have not exercised their political rights 
        freely, except for a brief period after the Addis Ababa agreement, and 
        the lack of serious efforts by successive governments in Khartoum has 
        resulted in deep mistrust;
Whereas the 1991 division of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army into factions 
        has resulted in untold suffering for the people of southern Sudan;
Whereas the Government of Sudan continues its indiscriminate aerial bombardment 
        of civilians in southern Sudan;
Whereas the factions of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army agreed on an 8 
        point peace plan, including an immediate cessation of hostilities, at a 
        peace conference in Washington in October 1993; and
Whereas the resolution of the conflict in southern Sudan will not guarantee 
        respect for human rights and political freedom in other regions of the 
        country: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress--
            (1) strongly condemns the Government of Sudan for its 
        severe human rights abuses, and calls upon that government to 
        improve human rights conditions throughout the country;
            (2) deplores the internecine fighting among the Sudanese 
        People's Liberation Army factions which has caused untold 
        suffering for the people of southern Sudan;
            (3) calls on the Government of Sudan and all factions of 
        the Sudanese People's Liberation Army to cease hostilities and 
        resolve their differences through peaceful means;
            (4) urges the Government of Sudan and all factions of the 
        Sudanese People's Liberation Army to provide full access for 
        and to cooperate with relief organizations;
            (5) encourages the Government of Sudan to hand over 
        political power to an elected civilian government as soon as 
        possible;
            (6) urges the Government of Sudan to lift the press ban 
        which was imposed after it took power in June 1989;
            (7) recognizes the right of the people of southern Sudan to 
        self-determination;
            (8) urges the Government of Sudan and all factions of the 
        Sudanese People's Liberation Army to allow free access to human 
        rights organizations;
            (9) commends the Clinton Administration for placing Sudan 
        on the list of states having a government that has repeatedly 
        provided support for acts of international terrorism;
            (10) commends the Government of Kenya, the Government of 
        Nigeria, the Government of Uganda, and the Organization of 
        African Unity for their mediation efforts;
            (11) calls upon the President--
                    (A) to appoint a special representative for 
                mediation, reconciliation, and peace in Sudan;
                    (B) to increase the level of humanitarian 
                assistance for Sudan that is provided through 
                nongovernmental organizations, including local church 
                groups; and
                    (C) to explore other means necessary to force the 
                Government of Sudan to halt its war policies should the 
                humanitarian conditions further deteriorate and the 
                Government of Sudan continue to impede relief efforts; 
                and
            (12) further calls upon the President--
                    (A) to urge the United Nations to exert all efforts 
                to bring an early end to the conflict in Sudan;
                    (B) to urge that the situation in Sudan be brought 
                to the attention of the United Nations Security 
                Council; and
                    (C) to urge the United Nations Security Council--
                            (i) to consider the creation of 
                        demilitarized zones for war and famine victims 
                        in southern Sudan that would be off limits to 
                        all warring factions;
                            (ii) to consider the creation of safe 
                        havens for war and famine victims should the 
                        warring factions reject the creation of 
                        demilitarized zones;
                            (iii) to facilitate safe passage for war 
                        and famine victims to and from conflict zones; 
                        and
                            (iv) to impose an arms embargo on Sudan.

            Passed the House of Representatives November 21, 1993.

            Attest:






                                                                 Clerk.