[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 9, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1194-E1195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CALLING FOR STRONGER UNITED STATES ACTION TO END THE WORLD'S LONGEST 
                          RUNNING WAR IN SUDAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TONY P. HALL

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 9, 1999

  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call my colleagues' 
attention to a recent editorial appealing for higher-level United 
States diplomatic attention to pressing for an end to the war in Sudan 
(Christian Science Monitor, ``Sudan: to End a War,'' June 2, 1999).
  I ask that the text of this editorial be entered into the Record. It 
echoes the appeal twenty colleagues and I sent to Secretary of State 
Madeline Albright in a June 1, 1999 letter (renewing a similar appeal 
made one year ago) to appoint a special envoy of stature to focus 
diplomatic attention on the resolution of the political issues and 
civil war that are the root cause of Sudan's crisis. Two Washington 
Post editorials on Sudan in the past year have also supported our 
approach.
  Mr. Speaker, war is hell, but Sudan's war is like no other in the 
suffering it has inflicted. Sudan's brutal conflict is the longest 
running civil war in the world, and has killed nearly 2 million people, 
far surpassing the death toll in Kosovo and many humanitarian disasters 
combined. Since 1983, Sudan's civil war has killed 180 people per day, 
on average, most of them Christian or non-Muslim Southerners.
  More than 2.5 million Sudanese were at risk of starvation when I last 
visited Sudan in May, 1998 during the last major famine in which an 
estimated 100,000 people died. the potential for serious food shortages 
and large-scale malnutrition continues. As long as it drags on, Sudan's 
war will continue to perpetuate the cycle of misery that has already 
claimed nearly two million lives over the past 15 years.
  Throughout the war, the rebels and the Government of Sudan each have 
made repeated predictions of decisive military victories over the other 
side that have never materialized, and no significant shift in the 
current stalemate or in the military balance of power is foreseen in 
the near future. Despite limited progress, peace talks continue to 
founder, and that pattern is sure to continue without sustained high-
level diplomatic attention from the United States and the international 
community. By all indications, without concerted international 
diplomatic attention and intervention, Sudan's war can and will 
continue to drag on as it has almost without interruption for the past 
four decades.
  Humanitarian aid aimed at saving lives and easing human suffering 
must continue. Nonetheless, the United Nations, relief agencies and 
others have questioned whether aid has enabled the endless pursuit of 
war and terrorism. In late 1998, the State Department declared Sudan an 
emergency--for the 10th consecutive year--so that another $70 million 
to $100 million in U.S. disaster aid could be sent to those in need. 
The total U.S. contribution during the last decade has been more than 
$700 million. We all must ask ourselves how long this can continue, and 
what could be accomplished if even a fraction of those resources could 
be invested in helping Sudan to build a more peaceful future.
  There is a diplomatic leadership void on Sudan that only the United 
States can fill. A

[[Page E1195]]

United States Special Envoy to Sudan's peace process would not unsurp 
or undermine the regional Kenyan-led peace process. Rather it would 
serve to enhance and accelerate the work of the Inter-Governmental 
Authority on Development. The Declaration of Principles established by 
the IGAD and agreed to by all parties should remain the one and only 
negotiating framework. These principles include the right of self-
determination, separation of religion and the state, and a referendum 
to be held in the South that offers secession as an option. The Envoy 
we propose would press for progress on these core issues, and serve to: 
(1) Signal the United States' seriousness and commitment to supporting 
Sudan's peace process--failing which we would have stronger 
justification to shift to a policy of accelerated overt support for the 
opposition; (2) maintain pressure on all parties to negotiate a serious 
political settlement, and (3) establish as a stronger behind-the-scenes 
U.S. presence in forging consensus and coherence among outside 
supporters of Sudan's peace process (the allies and international 
organizations that count themselves among the ``International Partners 
Forum'' on Sudan).
  The United States cannot solve all the world's problems. But we can 
exercise diplomatic leadership in regions where we can make a 
difference--and where the risks of inaction become intolerable. In 
Sudan, these risks include no end in sight to the world's longest 
running civil war and another decade of death, despair, and suffering 
for the people of Sudan.

  I urge my colleagues' support for higher level diplomatic attention 
to ending Sudan's war and the threat it poses to security in the 
region, and to the hopes and aspirations of Sudan's people.

                        ``Sudan: To End a War''

       Civil war has raged in Sudan since 1955, with an 11-year 
     break in the 1970s and '80s. Since 1983, the world's longest-
     running war has killed 2 million of the nation's 28 million 
     people and displaced millions of others.
       The causes are complex: The Arabic and Muslim north wants 
     to impose Islamic law on the African, Christian, and animist 
     south. Southerners complain they have never been adequately 
     represented in the Khartoum government, which controls 
     natural resources in their region.
       The Khartoum regime has turned a blind eye to religious 
     persecution and slavery. But the southern rebels have 
     contributed to the list of human-rights violations too.
       What originally was a north-south civil war, however, has 
     evolved into a conflict involving 10 warring parties in every 
     section of the country. Flip-flopping alliances add to the 
     disorder.
       Last year a disastrous famine threatened 2.6 million people 
     with starvation. While peace efforts are under way, including 
     one organized by neighboring states, they have been spasmodic 
     at best.
       The world is currently spending $1 million a day in 
     humanitarian aid to the war's refugees, while the Khartoum 
     government spends $1 million a day fighting the war. This 
     can't go on. It's time the world moved Sudan to the front 
     burner and put an end to the conflict, which would help stop 
     the slave trade in the south. The United States should:
       Press the United Nations Security Council to take the 
     matter up, get a cease-fire, and arrange a settlement.
       Appoint a U.S. special envoy to bolster the peace process.
       Help fund a permanent office, with commissioner and staff, 
     for the Intern-Governmental Authority on Development, the 
     neighboring countries' mediation committee. This will allow 
     regular negotiations to continue without interruption.
       Fund university scholarships for selected southern Sudanese 
     students, who have been cut off from educational 
     opportunities by the war. Educated people will be needed to 
     help run any future government and develop the region.
       The U.S. has spent $700 million during the last decade on 
     aid to the war's victims. The prospect of even one more year 
     of this tragedy ought to be enough to spur U.S. and U.N. 
     officials to action.

     

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