[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 106 (Friday, July 31, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9544-S9545]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE CRISIS IN SUDAN

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, as an original cosponsor of the sense-of-
the-Senate on providing humanitarian relief to the Sudan, I believe it 
is important that we focus on the tragedy that is unfolding before our 
eyes. The people of southern Sudan are starving. Khartoum is using the 
denial of food as a weapon in its war against the rebels in the south--
and we are letting the government of Sudan get away with this odious 
practice by allowing Khartoum to have a veto over aid deliveries.
  Sudan has been torn by a devastating civil war between the Muslim 
north and the predominantly Christian and animist south for most of 
history since independence. The current phase of the war started in 
1983 when the then-President embarked on an Islamization program. 
Recurring famine is just one of the tragic outcomes of Khartoum's 
brutal method of warfare where women, children, and livestock are taken 
as prizes of war. It has also resulted in institutionalized slavery, 
more than 4 million internally displaced people, and more than 1.5 
million casualties in the past 14 years.
  Our State Department lists Sudan as a terrorist state. We have 
sanctions on Sudan which prohibit American investment. But we respect 
the right of the

[[Page S9545]]

National Islamic Front regime in Khartoum to veto the delivery of 
humanitarian relief to the south. That just doesn't make sense.
  Most of the aid flowing to southern Sudan is through non-governmental 
organizations (NGOs) participating in a United Nations relief program, 
Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS). While traveling through east Africa in 
December, I had the opportunity to visit the OLS Southern Sector 
headquarters and see firsthand the efforts of the NGOs. These NGOs are 
on the ground, along with UNICEF, mounting a heroic effort to 
distribute aid to these starving people. And I know that many of them 
share my frustration with the UN's political agreement with the 
government of Sudan which allows Khartoum to have the final say in the 
distribution of aid to the south. This has resulted in the starvation 
of citizens and soldiers alike when Khartoum decides it is advantageous 
to halt the delivering of aid.
  For the past few years, Khartoum has restricted flights during the 
planting season so that aid organizations cannot deliver the seeds and 
tools necessary to help the people of southern Sudan feed themselves. 
This year Khartoum went a step further. Khartoum didn't just restrict 
flights. It banned relief flights in the Bahr el Ghazal region. It 
should be no surprise that another poor harvest is predicted in the 
Fall. According to the UN World Food Program, 2.6 million people in 
Southern Sudan are in imminent peril of starvation. Quite frankly, 
until we can find a way to deliver seeds and tools to southern Sudan 
during planting season, I see this cycle of famine continuing 
indefinitely. This is a warfare tactic of cowards.
  The flight ban wasn't the only problem that OLS had in delivering aid 
effectively. When the flight ban was lifted and aid could once again be 
provided, OLS faced another barrier put in its way by Khartoum. OLS was 
forced to wait for Khartoum's permission to add four Ilyushin cargo 
planes to the handful of C-130s that deliver relief supplies to 
southern Sudan. Any agreement by the United Nations which permits 
Khartoum a veto over the number of relief planes as well as when and 
where they can fly is fatally flawed. The President should aggressively 
seek to change the terms of this agreement which restricts the ability 
of Operation Lifeline Sudan to distribute aid effectively to southern 
Sudan.
  As chairman of the International Operations subcommittee, I have to 
say I hold little hope that the United Nations will take any 
significant steps in this direction. That leaves, of course, the option 
of unilateral action by the United States to bypass Khartoum's veto. 
Currently, U.S. AID funnels aid to Sudan almost exclusively through 
OLS-affiliated groups. That must change if we are to have any chance to 
effectively combat the use of starvation as a tactic of war. The United 
States government shouldn't just cooperate with these non-OLS groups 
when Khartoum institutes restrictions on the delivery of aid--as we did 
during the Bahr El Ghazal flight ban. The United States should actively 
assist and develop relief distribution networks outside of Operation 
Lifeline Sudan's umbrella which are not subject to the whims of 
Khartoum. If we don't, yet another planting season will pass without 
seeds being sown, and hundreds of thousands of more people will starve.

                          ____________________