[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 631 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 631

   Urging the Government of Sudan and the international community to 
implement the agreement for a peacekeeping force under the command and 
                control of the United Nations in Darfur.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             December 9 (legislative day, December 8), 2006

  Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Biden, Mr. 
 Reid, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Frist, Mrs. Dole, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Smith, Mr. 
Cornyn, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Levin, Mr. Hagel, Mr. Martinez, Mrs. Clinton, 
and Ms. Snowe) submitted the following resolution; which was considered 
                             and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Urging the Government of Sudan and the international community to 
implement the agreement for a peacekeeping force under the command and 
                control of the United Nations in Darfur.

Whereas Congress declared on July 22, 2004 that the atrocities in Darfur were 
        genocide;
Whereas, on September 9, 2004, Secretary of State Colin Powell testified that 
        ``genocide has been committed in Darfur'';
Whereas, on June 30, 2005, President Bush confirmed that ``the violence in 
        Darfur region is clearly genocide [and t]he human cost is beyond 
        calculation'';
Whereas, on May 8, 2006, President Bush stated, ``We will call genocide by its 
        rightful name, and we will stand up for the innocent until the peace of 
        Darfur is secured.'';
Whereas hundreds of thousands of people have died and over 2,500,000 have been 
        displaced in Darfur since 2003;
Whereas the Government of Sudan has failed in its responsibility to protect the 
        many peoples of Darfur;
Whereas the international community has failed to hold persons responsible for 
        crimes against humanity in Darfur accountable;
Whereas, on May 5, 2006, the Government of Sudan and the largest rebel faction 
        in Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Minni Minnawi, signed 
        the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA);
Whereas the Government of Sudan has not disarmed and demobilized the Janjaweed 
        despite repeated pledges to do so, including in the DPA;
Whereas violence in Darfur escalated in the months following the signing of the 
        DPA, with increased attacks against civilians and humanitarian workers;
Whereas violence has spread to the neighboring states of Chad and the Central 
        African Republic, threatening regional peace and security;
Whereas, in July 2006, more humanitarian aid workers were killed than in the 
        previous 3 years combined;
Whereas increased violence has forced some humanitarian organizations to suspend 
        operations, leaving 40 percent of the population of Darfur inaccessible 
        to aid workers;
Whereas, on August 30, 2006, the United Nations Security Council passed Security 
        Council Resolution 1706 (2006), asserting that the existing United 
        Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) ``shall take over from [African Mission 
        in Sudan] AMIS responsibility for supporting the implementation of the 
        Darfur Peace Agreement upon the expiration of AMIS' mandate but in any 
        event no later than 31 December 2006'', and that UNMIS ``shall be 
        strengthened by up to 17,300 military personnel . . . up to 3,300 
        civilian police personnel and up to 16 Formed Police Units'', which 
        ``shall begin to be deployed [to Darfur] no later than 1 October 2006'';
Whereas, on September 19, 2006, President Bush announced the appointment of 
        Andrew Natsios as Presidential Special Envoy to Sudan to lead United 
        States efforts to bring peace to the Darfur region in Sudan;
Whereas, on November 16, 2006, high-level consultations led by Kofi Annan, 
        Secretary General of the United Nations, and Alpha Oumar Konare, 
        Chairperson of the African Union Commission, and including 
        representatives of the Arab League, the European Union, the Government 
        of Sudan, and other national governments, produced the ``Addis Ababa 
        Agreement'';
Whereas the Agreement stated that the Darfur conflict could be resolved only 
        through an all-inclusive political process;
Whereas the Agreement stated that the DPA must be made more inclusive, and 
        ``called upon all parties--Government and DPA non-signatories--to 
        immediately commit to a cessation of hostilities in Darfur in order to 
        give [the peace process] the best chances for success'';
Whereas the Agreement included a plan to establish a United Nations-African 
        Union peacekeeping operation;
Whereas the Agreement stated that the peacekeeping operation would consist of 
        17,000 military troops and 3,000 police, and would have a primarily 
        African character;
Whereas the Agreement stated that the peacekeeping operation must be 
        logistically and financially sustainable, with support coming from the 
        United Nations;
Whereas the Agreement stated that command and control structures for the United 
        Nations-African Union force would be provided by the United Nations;
Whereas the Government of Sudan's Foreign Minister agreed to the conclusions of 
        the High Level Consultation on the Situation in Darfur, though the 
        Foreign Minister indicated that he would need to consult with his 
        government on the size of the peacekeeping mission;
Whereas, at an international press conference on November 27, 2006, Sudanese 
        President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir rejected the Addis Ababa Agreement and 
        reiterated his objections to any substantive United Nations involvement 
        in Darfur, saying, ``Troops in Darfur should be part of the [African 
        Union] AU and under command of the AU'';
Whereas it is imperative that a peacekeeping force in Darfur have the sufficient 
        strength and mandate to provide adequate security to the people of 
        Darfur; and
Whereas Presidential Special Envoy Andrew Natsios set December 31, 2006 as the 
        deadline for the Government of Sudan to comply with the demands of the 
        international community or face serious consequences: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) supports, given the rapidly deteriorating situation on 
        the ground in Darfur, the principles of the Addis Ababa 
        Agreement in order to increase security and stability for the 
        people of Darfur;
            (2) declares that the deployment of a United Nations-
        African Union peacekeeping force under the command and control 
        of the United Nations, as laid out in the Addis Ababa 
        Agreement, is the minimum acceptable effort on the part of the 
        international community to protect the people of Darfur;
            (3) further supports the strengthening of the African Union 
        peacekeeping mission in Sudan so that it may improve its 
        performance with regards to civilian protection as the African 
        Union peacekeeping mission begins to transfer responsibility 
        for protecting the people of Darfur to the United Nations-
        African Union peacekeeping force under the command and control 
        of the United Nations, as laid out in the Addis Ababa 
        Agreement;
            (4) calls upon the Government of Sudan to immediately--
                    (A) allow the implementation of the United Nations 
                light and heavy support packages as provided for in the 
                Addis Ababa Agreement; and
                    (B) work with the United Nations and the 
                international community to deploy United Nations 
                peacekeepers to Darfur in keeping with United Nations 
                Security Council Resolution 1706 (2006);
            (5) calls upon all parties to the conflict to immediately--
                    (A) adhere to the 2004 N'Djamena ceasefire; and
                    (B) respect the impartiality and neutrality of 
                humanitarian agencies so that relief workers can have 
                unfettered access to their beneficiary populations and 
                deliver desperately needed assistance;
            (6) urges the President to--
                    (A) continue to work with other members of the 
                international community, including the permanent 
                members of the United Nations Security Council, the 
                African Union, the European Union, the Arab League, 
                Sudan's trading partners, and the Government of Sudan 
                to facilitate the urgently needed deployment of the 
                peacekeeping force called for by United Nations 
                Security Council Resolution 1706;
                    (B) ensure the ability of any peacekeeping force 
                deployed to Darfur to carry out its mandate by 
                providing adequate funding and working with our 
                international partners to provide technical assistance, 
                logistical support, intelligence gathering 
                capabilities, and military assets;
                    (C) work with members of the United Nations 
                Security Council and the international community to 
                develop and impose a set of meaningful economic and 
                diplomatic sanctions against the Government of Sudan 
                should the Government of Sudan continue to refuse to 
                cooperate with the implementation of United Nations 
                Security Council Resolution 1706 and the principles 
                contained in the Addis Ababa Agreement; and
                    (D) work with members of the United Nations 
                Security Council and the international community to 
                address escalating insecurity in Chad and the Central 
                African Republic; and
            (7) strongly supports United Nations Security Council 
        Resolution 1706 and the principles embedded therein.
                                 <all>