[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2052 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2052

To facilitate famine relief efforts and a comprehensive solution to the 
                             war in Sudan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 5, 2001

Mr. Tancredo (for himself, Mr. Armey, Mr. Wolf, Mr. Payne, Mr. Watts of 
  Oklahoma, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Bentsen, Mr. Clement, Ms. Jackson-Lee of 
Texas, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Upton, Mr. Weldon of Florida, Mr. 
 Bryant, Mr. Goodlatte, Mr. Camp, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Lampson, Mr. Lewis of 
  Kentucky, Ms. Rivers, Mrs. Tauscher, and Mr. Shays) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on International 
Relations, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To facilitate famine relief efforts and a comprehensive solution to the 
                             war in Sudan.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Sudan Peace Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Government of Sudan has intensified its prosecution 
        of the war against areas outside of its control, which has 
        already cost more than 2,000,000 lives and has displaced more 
        than 4,000,000 people.
            (2) A viable, comprehensive, and internationally sponsored 
        peace process, protected from manipulation, presents the best 
        chance for a permanent resolution of the war, protection of 
        human rights, and a self-sustaining Sudan.
            (3) Continued strengthening and reform of humanitarian 
        relief operations in Sudan is an essential element in the 
        effort to bring an end to the war.
            (4) Continued leadership by the United States is critical.
            (5) Regardless of the future political status of the areas 
        of Sudan outside of the control of the Government of Sudan, the 
        absence of credible civil authority and institutions is a major 
        impediment to achieving self-sustenance by the Sudanese people 
        and to meaningful progress toward a viable peace process.
            (6) Through the manipulation of traditional rivalries among 
        peoples in areas outside of its full control, the Government of 
        Sudan has used divide-and-conquer techniques effectively to 
        subjugate its population. However, internationally sponsored 
        reconciliation efforts have played a critical role in reducing 
        human suffering and the effectiveness of this tactic.
            (7) The Government of Sudan utilizes and organizes 
        militias, Popular Defense Forces, and other irregular units for 
        raiding and enslaving parties in areas outside of the control 
        of the Government of Sudan in an effort to disrupt severely the 
        ability of the populations in those areas to sustain 
        themselves. The tactic helps minimize the Government of Sudan's 
        accountability internationally.
            (8) The Government of Sudan has repeatedly stated that it 
        intends to use the expected proceeds from future oil sales to 
        increase the tempo and lethality of the war against the areas 
        outside of its control.
            (9) By regularly banning air transport relief flights by 
        the United Nations relief operation, Operation Lifeline Sudan 
        (OLS), the Government of Sudan has been able to manipulate the 
        receipt of food aid by the Sudanese people from the United 
        States and other donor countries as a devastating weapon of war 
        in the ongoing effort by the Government of Sudan to starve 
        targeted groups and subdue areas of Sudan outside of the 
        Government's control.
            (10) The acts of the Government of Sudan, including the 
        acts described in this section, constitute genocide as defined 
        by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime 
        of Genocide (78 U.N.T.S. 277).
            (11) The efforts of the United States and other donors in 
        delivering relief and assistance through means outside of OLS 
        have played a critical role in addressing the deficiencies in 
        OLS and offset the Government of Sudan's manipulation of food 
        donations to advantage in the civil war in Sudan.
            (12) While the immediate needs of selected areas in Sudan 
        facing starvation have been addressed in the near term, the 
        population in areas of Sudan outside of the control of the 
        Government of Sudan are still in danger of extreme disruption 
        of their ability to sustain themselves.
            (13) The Nuba Mountains and many areas in Bahr al Ghazal 
        and the Upper Nile and the Blue Nile regions have been excluded 
        completely from relief distribution by OLS, consequently 
        placing their populations at increased risk of famine.
            (14) At a cost which has sometimes exceeded $1,000,000 per 
        day, and with a primary focus on providing only for the 
        immediate food needs of the recipients, the current 
        international relief operations are neither sustainable nor 
        desirable in the long term.
            (15) The ability of populations to defend themselves 
        against attack in areas outside of the control of the 
        Government of Sudan has been severely compromised by the 
        disengagement of the front-line states of Ethiopia, Eritrea, 
        and Uganda, fostering the belief among officials of the 
        Government of Sudan that success on the battlefield can be 
        achieved.
            (16) The United States should use all means of pressure 
        available to facilitate a comprehensive solution to the war in 
        Sudan, including--
                    (A) the multilateralization of economic and 
                diplomatic tools to compel the Government of Sudan to 
                enter into a good faith peace process;
                    (B) the support or creation of viable democratic 
                civil authority and institutions in areas of Sudan 
                outside of government control;
                    (C) continued active support of people-to-people 
                reconciliation mechanisms and efforts in areas outside 
                of government control;
                    (D) the strengthening of the mechanisms to provide 
                humanitarian relief to those areas; and
                    (E) cooperation among the trading partners of the 
                United States and within multilateral institutions 
                toward those ends.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term 
        ``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee on 
        International Relations of the House of Representatives and the 
        Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
            (2) Government of sudan.--The term ``Government of Sudan'' 
        means the National Islamic Front government in Khartoum, Sudan.
            (3) OLS.--The term ``OLS'' means the United Nations relief 
        operation carried out by UNICEF, the World Food Program, and 
        participating relief organizations known as ``Operation 
        Lifeline Sudan''.

SEC. 4. CONDEMNATION OF SLAVERY, OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, AND TACTICS 
              OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN.

    The Congress hereby--
            (1) condemns--
                    (A) violations of human rights on all sides of the 
                conflict in Sudan;
                    (B) the Government of Sudan's overall human rights 
                record, with regard to both the prosecution of the war 
                and the denial of basic human and political rights to 
                all Sudanese;
                    (C) the ongoing slave trade in Sudan and the role 
                of the Government of Sudan in abetting and tolerating 
                the practice;
                    (D) the Government of Sudan's use and organization 
                of ``murahalliin'' or ``mujahadeen'', Popular Defense 
                Forces (PDF), and regular Sudanese Army units into 
                organized and coordinated raiding and slaving parties 
                in Bahr al Ghazal, the Nuba Mountains, and the Upper 
                Nile and the Blue Nile regions; and
                    (E) aerial bombardment of civilian targets that is 
                sponsored by the Government of Sudan; and
            (2) recognizes that, along with selective bans on air 
        transport relief flights by the Government of Sudan, the use of 
        raiding and slaving parties is a tool for creating food 
        shortages and is used as a systematic means to destroy the 
        societies, culture, and economies of the Dinka, Nuer, and Nuba 
        peoples in a policy of low-intensity ethnic cleansing.

SEC. 5. USE OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS.

    The Congress urges the President to promptly make available to the 
National Democratic Alliance the $10,000,000 in funds appropriated for 
assistance to such group under the heading ``Other Bilateral Economic 
Assistance, Economic Support Fund'' in title I of H.R. 5526 of the 
106th Congress, as enacted into law by section 101(a) of Public Law 
106-429.

SEC. 6. SUPPORT FOR AN INTERNATIONALLY SANCTIONED PEACE PROCESS.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress hereby recognizes that--
            (1) a single viable, internationally and regionally 
        sanctioned peace process holds the greatest opportunity to 
        promote a negotiated, peaceful settlement to the war in Sudan; 
        and
            (2) resolution of the conflict in Sudan is best made 
        through a peace process based on the Declaration of Principles 
        reached in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 20, 1994.
    (b) United States Diplomatic Support.--The Secretary of State is 
authorized to utilize the personnel of the Department of State for the 
support of--
            (1) the ongoing negotiations between the Government of 
        Sudan and opposition forces;
            (2) any necessary peace settlement planning or 
        implementation; and
            (3) other United States diplomatic efforts supporting a 
        peace process in Sudan.

SEC. 7. MULTILATERAL PRESSURE ON COMBATANTS.

    It is the sense of the Congress that--
            (1) the United Nations should be used as a tool to 
        facilitate peace and recovery in Sudan; and
            (2) the President, acting through the United States 
        Permanent Representative to the United Nations, should seek 
        to--
                    (A) revise the terms of OLS to end the veto power 
                of the Government of Sudan over the plans by OLS for 
                air transport relief flights and, by doing so, to end 
                the manipulation of the delivery of relief supplies to 
                the advantage of the Government of Sudan on the 
                battlefield;
                    (B) investigate the practice of slavery in Sudan 
                and provide mechanisms for its elimination; and
                    (C) sponsor a condemnation of the Government of 
                Sudan each time it subjects civilians to aerial 
                bombardment.

SEC. 8. DISCLOSURE OF BUSINESS ACTIVITIES IN SUDAN.

    (a) Disclosure Requirements.--No entity that is engaged in any 
commercial activity in Sudan may trade any of its securities (or 
depository receipts with respect to its securities) in any capital 
market in the United States unless that entity has disclosed, in such 
form as the Securities and Exchange Commission shall prescribe--
            (1) the nature and extent of that commercial activity in 
        Sudan, including any plans for expansion or diversification;
            (2) the identity of all agencies of the Sudanese Government 
        with which the entity is doing business;
            (3) the relationship of the commercial activity to any 
        violations of religious freedom and other human rights in 
        Sudan; and
            (4) the contribution that the proceeds raised in the 
        capital markets in the United States will make to the entity's 
        commercial activity in Sudan.
    (b) Disclosure to the Public.--The Securities and Exchange 
Commission shall take the necessary steps to ensure that disclosures 
under subsection (a) are published or otherwise made available to the 
public.
    (c) Enforcement Authority.--The President may exercise the 
authorities he has under the International Emergency Economic Powers 
Act to assist the Securities and Exchange Commission in carrying out 
this section.

SEC. 9. REPORTING REQUIREMENT.

    Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State shall prepare and 
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report regarding 
the conflict in Sudan. Such report shall include--
            (1) a description of the sources and current status of 
        Sudan's financing and construction of infrastructure and 
        pipelines for oil exploitation, the effects of such financing 
        and construction on the inhabitants of the regions in which the 
        oil fields are located, and the ability of the Government of 
        Sudan to finance the war in Sudan with the proceeds of the oil 
        exploitation;
            (2) a description of the extent to which that financing was 
        secured in the United States or with involvement of United 
        States citizens;
            (3) the best estimates of the extent of aerial bombardment 
        by the Government of Sudan, including targets, frequency, and 
        best estimates of damage; and
            (4) a description of the extent to which humanitarian 
        relief has been obstructed or manipulated by the Government of 
        Sudan or other forces.

SEC. 10. CONTINUED USE OF NON-OLS ORGANIZATIONS FOR RELIEF EFFORTS.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that the 
President should continue to increase the use of non-OLS agencies in 
the distribution of relief supplies in southern Sudan.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a detailed report describing the progress made toward 
carrying out subsection (a).

SEC. 11. CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR ANY BAN ON AIR TRANSPORT RELIEF FLIGHTS.

    (a) Plan.--The President shall develop a contingency plan to 
provide, outside the auspices of the United Nations if necessary, the 
greatest possible amount of United States Government and privately 
donated relief to all affected areas in Sudan, including the Nuba 
Mountains and the Upper Nile and the Blue Nile regions, in the event 
that the Government of Sudan imposes a total, partial, or incremental 
ban on OLS air transport relief flights.
    (b) Reprogramming Authority.--Notwithstanding any other provision 
of law, in carrying out the plan developed under subsection (a), the 
President may reprogram up to 100 percent of the funds available for 
support of OLS operations (but for this subsection) for the purposes of 
the plan.

SEC. 12. INVESTIGATION OF WAR CRIMES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall collect information 
about incidents which may constitute crimes against humanity, genocide, 
war crimes, and other violations of international humanitarian law by 
all parties to the conflict in Sudan, including slavery, rape, and 
aerial bombardment of civilian targets.
    (b) Report.--Not later than six months after the date of the 
enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State 
shall prepare and submit to the appropriate congressional committees a 
detailed report on the information that the Secretary of State has 
collected under subsection (a) and any findings or determinations made 
by the Secretary on the basis of that information. The report under 
this subsection may be submitted as part of the report required under 
section 9.
    (c) Consultations With Other Departments.--In preparing the report 
required by this section, the Secretary of State shall consult and 
coordinate with all other Government officials who have information 
necessary to complete the report. Nothing contained in this section 
shall require the disclosure, on a classified or unclassified basis, of 
information that would jeopardize sensitive sources and methods or 
other vital national security interests.
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