[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 75 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 75

    Condemning the National Islamic Front (NIF) government for its 
 genocidal war in southern Sudan, support for terrorism, and continued 
            human rights violations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 1999

Mr. Payne (for himself, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Gilman, Ms. Lee, Mr. Kildee, Ms. 
Norton, Mrs. Meek of Florida, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. 
 Wynn, Mr. Upton, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. King, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. 
  Frank of Massachusetts, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Doyle, Mr. Traficant, Mr. 
 Brown of Ohio, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Frost, and Mr. Canady of Florida) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
    Condemning the National Islamic Front (NIF) government for its 
 genocidal war in southern Sudan, support for terrorism, and continued 
            human rights violations, and for other purposes.

Whereas according to the United States Committee for Refugees (USCR) an 
        estimated 1,900,000 people have died over the past decade due to war and 
        war-related causes and famine, while millions have been displaced from 
        their homes and separated from their families;
Whereas the National Islamic Front (NIF) government's war policy in southern 
        Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, and the Ingessena Hills has brought untold 
        suffering to innocent civilians and is threatening the very survival of 
        a whole generation of southern Sudanese;
Whereas the people of the Nuba Mountains and the Ingessena Hills are at 
        particular risk, having been specifically targeted through a deliberate 
        prohibition of international food aid, inducing manmade famine, and by 
        routinely bombing civilian centers, including religious services, 
        schools, and hospitals;
Whereas the National Islamic Front government is deliberately and systematically 
        committing crimes against humanity in southern Sudan, the Nuba 
        Mountains, and the Ingessena Hills;
Whereas the National Islamic Front government is deliberately and systematically 
        committing genocide in southern Sudan;
Whereas the Convention for the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of 
        Genocide, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, 
        defines ``genocide'' as official acts committed by a government with the 
        intent to destroy a national, ethnic, or religious group, and this 
        definition also includes ``deliberately inflicting on the group 
        conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction, 
        in whole or in part'';
Whereas the National Islamic Front government systematically and repeatedly 
        obstructed peace efforts of the Intergovernmental Authority for 
        Development (IGAD) over the past several years;
Whereas the Declaration of Principles (DOP) put forth by the Intergovernmental 
        Authority for Development mediators is the most viable negotiating 
        framework to resolve the problems in Sudan and to bring lasting peace;
Whereas humanitarian conditions in southern Sudan, especially in Bahr al-Ghazal 
        and the Nuba Mountains, deteriorated in 1998, largely due to the 
        National Islamic Front government's decision to ban United Nation's 
        relief flights from February through the end of April in 1998 and the 
        government continues to deny access in certain locations;
Whereas an estimated 2,600,000 southern Sudanese were at risk of starvation late 
        last year in southern Sudan and the World Food Program currently 
        estimates that 4,000,000 people are in need of emergency assistance;
Whereas the United Nations-coordinated relief effort, Operation Lifeline Sudan 
        (OLS), failed to respond in time at the height of the humanitarian 
        crisis last year and has allowed the National Islamic Front government 
        to manipulate and obstruct the relief efforts;
Whereas the relief work in the affected areas is further complicated by the 
        National Islamic Front's repeated aerial attacks on feeding centers, 
        clinics, and other civilian targets;
Whereas relief efforts are further exacerbated by looting, bombing, and killing 
        of innocent civilians and relief workers by government-sponsored 
        militias in the affected areas;
Whereas these government-sponsored militias have carried out violent raids in 
        Aweil West, Twic, and Gogrial counties in Bahr el Ghazal/Lakes Region, 
        killing hundreds of civilians and displacing thousands;
Whereas the National Islamic Front government has perpetrated a prolonged 
        campaign of human rights abuses and discrimination throughout the 
        country;
Whereas the National Islamic Front government-sponsored militias have been 
        engaged in the enslavement of innocent civilians, including children, 
        women, and the elderly;
Whereas the now common slave raids being carried out by the government's Popular 
        Defense Force (PDF) militias are undertaken as part of the government's 
        self-declared jihad (holy war) against the predominantly traditional and 
        Christian south;
Whereas Christian Solidarity International (CSI) stated in its recent report 
        that ``the institution of chattel slavery continues in a large scale in 
        National Islamic Front-controlled areas of Sudan, especially in southern 
        Darfur and southern Kordofan'';
Whereas the Department of State, in its report on Human Rights Practices for 
        1997, affirmed that ``reports and information from a variety of sources 
        after February 1994 indicate that the number of cases of slavery, 
        servitude, slave trade, and forced labor have increased alarmingly'';
Whereas the enslavement of people is considered in international law as ``crime 
        against humanity'';
Whereas Christian Solidarity International estimates the number of people 
        enslaved by government-sponsored militias to be in the tens of thousands 
        and that Christian Solidarity International alone has helped redeem an 
        estimated 5,942 slaves since 1995;
Whereas United Nations Special Rapporteur for Sudan, Gaspar Biro, reported on a 
        number of occasions the routine practice of slavery and the complicity 
        of the Government of Sudan;
Whereas the National Islamic Front government abuses and tortures political 
        opponents and innocent civilians in the North and that many northerners 
have been killed by this regime over the years;
Whereas the vast majority of Muslims in Sudan do not subscribe to the National 
        Islamic Front's extremist and politicized practice of Islam and moderate 
        Muslims have been specifically targeted by the regime;
Whereas the National Islamic Front government is considered by much of the world 
        community to be a rogue state because of its support for international 
        terrorism and its campaign of terrorism against its own people;
Whereas according to the Department of State's Patterns of Global Terrorism 
        Report, ``Sudan's support to terrorist organizations has included 
        paramilitary training, indoctrination, money, travel documentation, safe 
        passage, and refuge in Sudan'';
Whereas the National Islamic Front government has been implicated in the 
        assassination attempt of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia in 
        1995 and the World Trade Center bombing in 1993;
Whereas the National Islamic Front government has permitted Sudan to be used by 
        well-known terrorist organizations as a refuge and training hub over the 
        years;
Whereas the Saudi-born financier of extremist groups and the mastermind of the 
        United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, Osama bin-Laden, 
        used Sudan as a base of operations for several years and continues to 
        maintain economic interests there;
Whereas on August 20, 1998, United States Naval forces struck a suspected 
        chemical weapons facility in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in 
        retaliation for the United States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es 
        Salaam;
Whereas relations between the United States and Sudan continue to deteriorate 
        because of human rights violations, the government's war policy in 
        southern Sudan, and the National Islamic Front's support for 
        international terrorism;
Whereas the United States Government placed Sudan in 1993 on the list of seven 
        states in the world that sponsor terrorism and imposed comprehensive 
        sanctions on the National Islamic Front government in November 1997; and
Whereas the struggle by the people of Sudan and opposition forces is a just 
        struggle for freedom and democracy against the extremist regime in 
        Khartoum: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the Congress--
            (1) strongly condemns the National Islamic Front government 
        for its genocidal war in southern Sudan, support for terrorism, 
        and continued human rights violations;
            (2) strongly deplores the government-sponsored and 
        tolerated slave raids in southern Sudan and calls on the 
        government to immediately end the practice of slavery;
            (3) calls on the United Nations Security Council to condemn 
        the slave raids and bring to justice those responsible for 
        these crimes against humanity;
            (4) calls on the President--
                    (A) to increase support for relief organizations 
                that are working outside the United Nations-coordinated 
                relief effort, Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), in 
                opposition-controlled areas;
                    (B) to instruct the Administrator of the United 
                States Agency for International Development (USAID) and 
                the heads of other relevant agencies to increase and 
                better coordinate with nongovernmental organizations 
                outside the Operation Lifeline Sudan system involved in 
                relief work in Sudan and work to strengthen Operation 
                Lifeline Sudan's independence from the National Islamic 
                Front regime;
                    (C) to increase development funds for capacity 
                building, democracy promotion, civil administration, 
                judiciary, and infrastructure support in opposition-
                controlled areas;
                    (D) to instruct the Administrator of the United 
                States Agency for International Development to provide 
                humanitarian assistance directly, including food, to 
                the Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Association (SRRA) 
                and other indigenous groups in southern Sudan and the 
                Nuba Mountains;
                    (E) to intensify and expand United States 
                diplomatic and economic pressures on the National 
                Islamic Front government;
                    (F) to provide the Sudan People's Liberation Army 
                with defensive anti-aircraft weapons in order to stop 
                the indiscriminate bombings against civilian 
                populations by the National Islamic Front's air force;
                    (G) to take the lead to strengthen the 
                Intergovernmental Authority for Development's (IGAD) 
                peace process; and
                    (H) not later than 3 months after the adoption of 
                this resolution, to report to the Congress about the 
                administration's efforts or plans to end slavery in 
                Sudan; and
            (5) calls on the United Nations Security Council--
                    (A) to impose an arms embargo on the Government of 
                Sudan;
                    (B) to condemn the enslavement of innocent 
                civilians and take appropriate measures against the 
                perpetrators of this crime;
                    (C) to swiftly implement reforms within the 
                Operation Lifeline Sudan to enhance independence from 
                the National Islamic Front regime;
                    (D) to implement United Nations Security Council 
                Resolution 1070 relating to an air embargo;
                    (E) to make a determination that the National 
                Islamic Front's war policy in southern Sudan and the 
                Nuba Mountains constitutes genocide; and
                    (F) to create ``no-fly zones'' in southern Sudan, 
                the Nuba Mountains, and the Ingessena Hills in order to 
                protect innocent civilians from aerial bombardment by 
                the National Islamic Front's air force.
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