[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 19 (Wednesday, February 3, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1129-S1130]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN SUDAN

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I want to bring to the Senate's 
attention something that, when I first saw it, I found it just to be 
unbelievable, that the type of situation that is going on is happening 
in the world today, in 1999.
  I am speaking of what is taking place and the human rights abuses 
that are occurring in the Sudan today. The northern Sudanese Government 
is waging a vicious war in the south against its own people, who are 
suffering extraordinary human rights abuses on a massive scale. 
Slavery--slavery--and Government-induced famine not only exist but are 
increasing. It is unpardonable that slavery continues in the modern 
world today, that in 1999 we have slavery going on in the world. And it 
does in the Sudan.
  It is even more dismaying that this offense against humanity is 
officially tolerated, even perpetrated, by a national government 
against its own people. I believe that America has the moral authority 
and the duty to protest this outrageous practice.
  Joined by other Members of Congress, I will be introducing a 
resolution which demands the end of slavery in the Sudan. Legislation 
will also be introduced which challenges the famine-induced practices 
of the Government. Consider this a modern-day abolitionist movement, 
inspired by the legacy of some of the great freedom advocates such as 
Martin Luther King or William Wilberforce who ended the slavery trade 
in Britain nearly two centuries ago.
  Let the facts speak for the victims. There are 1.9 million Sudanese 
who have died at the hands of their own Government, more people than 
Bosnia, Rwanda, and Kosovo combined. Over 2 million people have been 
displaced, driven from their ancient communities--that is nearly 10 
percent of the population--and they now wander homeless, without 
resources, education, or hope for a decent future for their children. 
This is the largest internally displaced population in Africa. Most 
alarming, 2.6 million risk starvation this year--this year--because of 
Government policies deliberately calculated to produce food shortages.

  Reportedly, 1998 was the worst famine in 10 years because of the 
official Government practices of denying food distribution to its own 
starving people. Experts warn that 1999 will even be worse because of 
the now weakened condition of the population. How could this happen 
when so much aid stands waiting for shipment? The answer is because the 
Government denies humanitarian aid organizations access to famine-
stricken areas in the south. They deliberately withhold American-
sponsored aid from the starving population to manufacture a famine.
  Now, why would a government deliberately starve its own people? They 
have made starvation a weapon of war to crush those fighting for self-
determination and religious freedom. Through this weapon of starvation, 
they can drive the people into refugee centers, which they cynically 
call ``peace camps,'' and there break them with humiliating treatment, 
deprivation, rape, more starvation, and even bombings in peace camps.
  The Sudanese people suffer terrible treatment in these so-called 
peace camps; they are forced to renounce their own deeply held 
religious beliefs as a condition to being given food. Christians and 
traditional tribal believers report this is a routine practice.
  The U.S. Committee for Refugees issued a report recently which 
describes the bombing of refugee centers by the Government. The 
Government bombs these unarmed refugees, the women, the children, the 
sick, the starving, the elderly, all of whom have taken refuge in these 
camps as their last resort for food.
  Recently, reports on female refugees state that virtually every woman 
interviewed--virtually every woman interviewed--was raped or nearly 
raped during induction to the camps. Moreover, young boys in these 
camps are abducted into the northern cause and used as front-line 
fodder. These are the so-called peace camps.
  Yet the most incredible crime against humanity practiced in the Sudan 
today is slavery. In 1999, slavery still exists in this world, and it 
is officially tolerated, even perpetrated, by the National Government 
against its own people. Tens of thousands of Sudanese presently exist 
as chattel property, owned by masters who force their captives into 
hard labor and sexual concubinage. They are branded, beaten, starved, 
and raped at their master's whim. Forced religious conversion is 
routine. Christian and tribal traditional believers experience 
starvation and whippings until they renounce their own personal faiths. 
All slaves with Christian or African names are given new Arab names by 
their masters. The girls undergo a terrible practice, lightly referred 
to as ``female circumcision,'' better described as ``female genital 
mutilation,'' which is permanently disfiguring, extremely painful, and 
physically dangerous. Some Moslems also have this act forced upon them.
  I asked my personal staff to investigate this situation in September. 
That trip to the Sudan produced extraordinary photos of children who 
have been redeemed by John Eibner of Christian Solidarity 
International.
  Mr. Eibner is a modern-day abolitionist, an American who redeems 
people from slavery for about $50 a person--50 bucks a person to redeem 
a slave today. He has rescued over 5,000 people from slavery in the 
Sudan since 1995. These photos from that trip show some of those 
redeemed slaves. I want to show those photos to the Senate. These are 
people my staff went and met with, who have been enslaved in the 
northern part of Sudan. You can see young children here in this picture 
who were gathered together, beautiful young children who have suffered 
the bonds of slavery in 1999. Here is the broader group, and a picture 
of the group they met with who had all been enslaved.
  Then I want to show you these next two pictures up close. This is the 
face of slavery today in the world, in Sudan. This young boy, 
approximately the age of my son, was a slave in 1999, in this world 
today in the Sudan. You can see he is holding his arm out here as they 
were looking at his arm and his slave brand that he had. We have a 
closer picture of that brand that this young boy suffered that was put 
on under his slave master's hand--slavery in the world today. It still 
goes on. It still goes on. And it is going on in the Sudan.
  Both victims and experts report that the slave practice has actually 
even increased since 1996. It appears that the Sudanese Government 
employs slavery as a deliberate means of demoralizing the civilian 
population and fragmenting communities. Slavery is also used to reward 
government soldiers fighting

[[Page S1130]]

this civil war. These women and children are captured as war booty, as 
a type of salary for the soldiers. It is repugnant that any country 
would permit, let alone promote the demeaning cruelties described here. 
Therefore I invite anyone who is touched by this account of suffering 
to join me in this cause to end slavery before the next millennium and 
stop this insane practice of man-made famines in the Sudan.
  We have the capacity to do this. We need to do this. And we must do 
it now.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. GRAMS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.
  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I first ask unanimous consent that at the 
conclusion of my statements the Senator from Illinois, Senator Durbin, 
be recognized to speak for up to 15 minutes as in morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The Senator from Minnesota is recognized.
  MR. GRAMS. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Grams pertaining to the introduction of S. 347, 
S. 351, S. 357, and S. 358 are located in today's Record under 
``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.

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