[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 455 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 455

                      Calling for peace in Darfur.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 14, 2008

 Mr. Durbin (for himself, Mr. Biden, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Feingold, Mr. 
   Coleman, Mr. Voinovich, and Mr. Menendez) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
                      Calling for peace in Darfur.

Whereas, during the past 4 years in Darfur, hundreds of thousands of innocent 
        victims have been murdered, tortured, and raped, with more than 
        2,000,000 people driven from their homes;
Whereas some but not all of the parties to the conflict in Darfur participated 
        in the first round of a United Nations-African Union peace process 
        launched in October 2007 in Sirte, Libya;
Whereas the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) reached between the Government 
        of Sudan and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in January 
        2005 has not been fully or evenly implemented;
Whereas the Government of Sudan has continued to obstruct the deployment of a 
        joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force to Darfur that 
        would include non-African elements;
Whereas elements of armed rebel movements in Darfur, including the Justice and 
        Equality Movement (JEM), have made violent threats against the deploying 
        peacekeeping force;
Whereas 13 former world leaders and current activists, including former 
        president Jimmy Carter, former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi 
        Annan, Bangladeshi microfinance champion Muhammed Yunus, and Archbishop 
        Desmond Tutu, have called for the immediate deployment of the 
        peacekeeping force; and
Whereas, while these and other issues remain pending, it is the people of 
        Darfur, including those living in refugee camps, who suffer the 
        continuing consequences: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) calls upon the Government of Sudan and other 
        signatories and non-signatories to the May 5, 2006, Darfur 
        Peace Agreement to declare and respect an immediate cessation 
        of hostilities, cease distributing arms to internally displaced 
        persons, and enable humanitarian organizations to have full 
        unfettered access to populations in need;
            (2) calls upon the Government of Sudan to facilitate the 
        immediate and unfettered deployment of the United Nations-
        African Union peacekeeping force, including any and all non-
        African peacekeepers;
            (3) urges all invited individuals and movements to attend 
        the next round of peace negotiations and not set preconditions 
        for such participation;
            (4) calls upon the diverse rebel movements to set aside 
        their differences and work together in order to better 
        represent the people of Darfur and end their continued 
        suffering;
            (5) encourages the participation in future talks of 
        traditional Arab and African leaders from Darfur, women's 
        groups, local nongovernmental organizations, and leaders from 
        internally displaced persons (IDP) camps;
            (6) condemns any intimidation or threats against camp or 
        civil society leaders to discourage them from attending the 
        peace talks, whether by the Government of Sudan or rebel 
        leaders;
            (7) condemns any action by any party, government or rebel, 
        that undermines or delays the peace process in Darfur; and
            (8) calls upon all parties to the Comprehensive Peace 
        Agreement (CPA) to support and respect all terms of the 
        agreement.
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