[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 82 (Wednesday, June 13, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H3092-H3113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2052, SUDAN PEACE ACT
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules,
I call up House Resolution 162 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 162
Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this
resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule
XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of
the bill (H.R. 2052) to facilitate famine relief efforts and
a comprehensive solution to the war in Sudan. The first
reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. Points of order
against consideration of the bill for failure to comply with
clause 4(a) of rule XIII are waived. General debate shall be
confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally
divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority
member of the Committee on International Relations. After
general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment
under the five-minute rule. Each section of the bill shall be
considered as read. During consideration of the bill for
amendment, the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole may
accord priority in recognition on the basis of whether the
Member offering an amendment has caused it to be printed in
the portion of the Congressional Record designated for that
purpose in clause 8 of rule XVIII. Amendments so printed
shall be considered as read. At the conclusion of
consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall
rise and report the bill to the House with such amendments as
may have been adopted. The previous question shall be
considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to
final passage without intervening motion except one motion to
recommit with or without instructions.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart)
is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, for purposes of debate only, I yield
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall), pending
which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration
of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.
(Mr. DIAZ-BALART asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 162 is an open rule
providing for the consideration of H.R. 2052, the Sudan Peace Act. The
rule provides for 1 hour of general debate, evenly divided and
controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee
on International Relations. This is a completely fair rule. In fact, as
I stated before, it is an open rule allowing all Members the
opportunity to present amendments and, obviously, to debate this very
important issue.
The current situation in Sudan, Mr. Speaker, is extremely grave. More
than 2 million men, women, and children have perished due to war-
related causes; and more than 3 million men, women, and children have
been forced from their homes. Thousands of children have been abducted
and forcibly converted to practices that they reject, and slavery has
become an institution of the so-called National Islamic Front. Many of
these same men, women, and children have suffered harsh beatings and
torture.
In the face of this horrific tragedy, the Government of Sudan has
continually blocked the efforts to provide aid to the people who need
it most. Famine has been a constant, and the World Food Program has
record that 3 million Sudanese will require emergency food aid this
year alone. The situation is clearly intolerable, and we should do what
we can to provide relief to the millions of displaced people in Sudan.
In addition to the human rights abuses in their own region, the
Government of Sudan has also, rightfully so, been considered a rogue
state by much of the international community because of its support for
international terrorism. The Government of Sudan has supported acts of
international terrorism and allows the use of its territory for
terrorist groups. The government there has been a safe haven for major
terrorist figures. To preserve the safety of our Nation and to help
with the safety and the security of the world, the international
community, we must continue to send the message that support for
terrorist activities is simply unacceptable.
The underlying legislation, the Sudan Peace Act, condemns the
prosecution of the war by the National Islamic Front government and the
associated human rights abuses. The legislation also acknowledges the
role that oil has played in the war, expresses this Congress' support
for an internationally sanctioned peace process, and urges the
President to make previously appropriated funds available to the
National Democratic Alliance. Additionally, the legislation requires
businesses engaged in commercial activity in Sudan to publicly disclose
the extent of their activities before raising money in American capital
markets.
The underlying legislation has broad bipartisan support. The Bush
administration has made Sudan a priority by announcing its intent to
dispatch a special envoy; and I believe that now it is our turn,
Congress' turn, to make Sudan a priority by passing this important
piece of legislation.
I would like to thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) and
all those who have worked so hard to bring this important piece of
legislation to the floor. I urge my colleagues in the strongest
possible terms to support both this open rule and the underlying
legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume, and I want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-
Balart) for yielding me the customary time.
This is an open rule. It will allow for consideration of the Sudan
Peace Act. As my colleague has described, this rule will provide 1 hour
of general debate to be equally divided and controlled by the chairman
and ranking minority member of the Committee on International
Relations. The rule permits amendments under the 5-minute rule. This is
the normal amending process in the House.
Mr. Speaker, at a recent hearing of the Committee on International
Relations, Secretary of State Colin Powell described Sudan as one of
the world's greatest tragedies. Sudan is a nation of about 35 million
people. It is on the northeast coast of Africa, south of Egypt and
north of Kenya. It is blessed with rich natural resources. However, an
18-year-old civil war and a very oppressive government have conspired
to create widespread hunger, famine, and suffering.
[[Page H3093]]
{time} 1230
Mr. Speaker, I have been to Sudan three times. There are Members of
this Congress who have been there more, such as my colleague and
friend, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf).
My last trip was in May of 1998. During that trip, I witnessed a
level of human misery as great as any I have ever seen. I saw vultures
cleaning the bones of cattle and people killed by slave raiders. I saw
a man who had just buried his entire murdered family. I saw people who
had nothing to eat but the roots of water lilies in malaria-infested
swamps. I saw children in aid stations who were too weak to cry.
Mr. Speaker, in some ways conditions have worsened since that trip;
although it is hard to imagine that could be possible. Famine still
threatens a large part of the population. Human rights conditions are
shocking, and the practice of slavery continues. What has happened is
that the development of oil fields in the southern part of Sudan has
contributed to more suffering as people and whole villages are removed
to make way for oil drilling and the oil revenues to fuel the war
machine.
Mr. Speaker, the Sudan Peace Act takes a series of steps to promote
peace in this land of tragedy. It requires companies that trade their
securities on U.S. stock exchanges to disclose information about their
business dealings in Sudan. It also urges the administration to take
steps to relieve suffering and to end the civil war in Sudan.
Although I support the purpose of the bill, I am concerned about some
of the language, especially the language that criticizes the efforts of
Operation Lifeline Sudan. This is a food relief effort that is carried
out by UNICEF, the World Food Program, and other organizations.
The bill proposes cutting U.S. assistance to Operation Lifeline Sudan
and redirects funds to other relief efforts. Operation Lifeline Sudan
serves about 90 aid stations every month. The government of Sudan bans
flights to air strips in about one-fifth of the areas that need help.
However, Operation Lifeline Sudan is able to gain access to most of
these areas by road or by using permitted air strips. The ban actually
blocks delivery to only four out of 90 destinations on an average of
every month. The real access problem is the result of ongoing fighting
and poor road infrastructure.
I am afraid that directing U.S. support away from Operation Lifeline
Sudan to other agencies without the experience and the ability of the
United Nations food relief organizations would not improve food
delivery to Sudan and could make matters worse. These organizations are
doing an outstanding job under very, very difficult conditions.
Finally, I wish to offer my support for an amendment which will be
offered by the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) and the gentleman
from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) and myself. This amendment would block
businesses that develop oil or gas in Sudan from raising capital or
trading securities in the United States. Threatening Sudan's oil
development should provide an immediate incentive to bring all warring
parties to the negotiating table. This concept was recommended by the
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Mr. Speaker, I support this open rule. Despite my concerns, I support
the bill and I urge its adoption.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Florida for
yielding me this time. The widespread, systematic, heinous, and brutal
crimes committed against the Sudanese people, the rape, the slavery,
the mutilation, the systematic killing of millions throughout the years
in what many assert is a deliberate campaign of genocide by the regime
in Khartoum demands action by the U.S. Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to render their full support to the
Sudan Peace Act before us today. When the question is posed: What can
the people of the free world and, in particular, the U.S. Government do
about one of the world's most tragic situations? What can be done about
slavery and genocide in Sudan? We should start by calling things as
they are for what they are.
This is why the Sudan Peace Act condemns the gross violations of
human rights, the ongoing slave trade in Sudan, and the pivotal role
played by the Sudanese regime in aiding and abetting these practices.
There are those who may be willing to initiate and expand oil
operations in southern Sudan that will generate billions of dollars in
annual revenue for the terrorist regime in Khartoum. However, the U.S.
must stand firm in the face of egregious violations of international
legal and moral standards.
The Sudan Peace Act seeks to deter the financing of the regime from
access to U.S. capital markets by establishing disclosure requirements
on business activities in Sudan, and prohibiting securities trading in
the U.S. until such requirements are met. The information to be
provided to the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the nature
and the extent of the commercial activity with this pariah state, the
identity of Sudanese government agencies involved in such businesses,
and the linkage to religious persecution and other human rights
violations shall be made available to the public. All of this, in
conjunction with reporting requirements detailing the sources and the
status of Sudan's financing and the construction of the infrastructure
and the pipelines for oil exploitation, will put the spotlight on those
who help to prolong the oppression and the suffering. We will finally
place the spotlight on those oppressors.
These are the people who help to propagate slavery, those who
persecute the religious movement, and other religious human rights
abuses. We are going to stop providing a financial lifeline to the
Sudanese regime.
The U.S. must also help ensure that the humanitarian assistance sent
to Sudan is not being manipulated and is in fact reaching the intended
recipients so we can help alleviate some of the suffering in this war-
torn nation.
The Sudan Peace Act has various provisions to address this critical
issue, including reporting requirements and the development of
contingency plans for the distribution of aid to the affected areas
should the Sudanese regime impose any type of ban on air transport
relief flights.
This bill seeks to provide a comprehensive approach to the war in
Sudan and to facilitate a process which will help bring justice to the
victims of the genocide and achieve this much-desired goal of peace. I,
therefore, ask my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 2052.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez).
(Mr. MENENDEZ asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Sudan
Peace Act. The National Islamic Front, which rules the Sudan, is one of
the most degenerate and depraved regimes this world has ever known. It
kidnaps, rapes, tortures, bombards; and yes, in this 21st century,
enslaves its own civilians. It manipulates, blocks, and even bombs
relief flights to advance its war aims. It attempts to destabilize the
governments of its neighbors, including by assassination. And it
sponsors terrorism abroad, including against the United States.
The situation in the Sudan is not only a humanitarian crisis, it is a
crisis of humanity. Its extreme severity and sheer depravity call for
international action. And it calls especially for United States
leadership, which this bill provides.
While I support the appointment of a diplomatic envoy to advance the
peace process, let me underscore that only international pressure has
moved the thugs of Khartoum to make even the slightest gesture towards
peace. They have been mostly empty gestures and lies at that.
This bill has it right. Only international sanctions and pressures
can affect this regime's unconscionable behavior. This bill will also
have the Secretary of State report on war crimes from all sides. In my
view, it is evident that the Sudanese regime are genocidal war
criminals.
The disclosure requirement on business activities make it clear that
the line has to be drawn somewhere, and I fully support it. National
interests cannot be determined simply by the color of money. But let us
be realistic about any prospects for progress.
[[Page H3094]]
On May 25, the regime said they will cease bombing, and within a week
they were bombing in the south and the western Nuba mountains. In the
last couple of days, the government came close to hitting two World
Food Program food planes, and bombed the civilian areas that were
intended recipients of that aid in Bahr al-Gazal.
Mr. Speaker, we are morally obliged to do what we can to help the
hungry, the abused, the besieged, and enslaved people of the Sudan. Let
us have no illusions as to their intent, but let us do what we can. Let
us pass the Sudan Peace Act.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to my distinguished
colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Weldon).
Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule
and in support of the underlying bill. I just want to say a few numbers
loud and clear for everyone to hear. Over 2 million people are dead.
Over 4 million people have been displaced.
Mr. Speaker, these are not just numbers. These are individuals. These
are people: women, children, mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters.
We hear these numbers from far away, from Africa here in Washington;
and for too long the plight of these oppressed people in the Sudan has
just been ignored. It is imperative that we recognize the total
devastation that has been going on and that we take serious action
against these oppressors.
This is a civil war in the Sudan that has been going on for 14 years
and wreaking devastation on the Sudanese people. The National Islamic
Front government of the Sudan has been on a rampant campaign against
its own people. The Sudan Islamic fundamentalist regime has brought
killings, evictions, and slavery to its own people. The regime is on a
deliberate campaign of genocide against the black Christians and other
non-Islamic people in southern Sudan. Eyewitnesses have testified over
and over again before Congress about the Sudanese government's active
efforts to promote slavery, torture, rape, mutilation, and killing.
Mr. Speaker, myself and other House Members have been taking action
to bring this genocide into the limelight and focusing our efforts on
stopping this brutality. H.R. 2052 is a good bipartisan measure that
will facilitate famine relief efforts and a comprehensive solution to
the war in the Sudan.
Mr. Speaker, although the Islamic government has claimed that they
will end the bombing of civilian targets, as was previously stated by
the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the evidence is directly
in conflict with that claim.
The impending famine in the south and the improved military
technology of the government threaten millions more of these poor,
defenseless civilians in southern Sudan.
Mr. Speaker, we need this bill, and I encourage all my colleagues to
vote for the rule and to vote in support of the underlying bill. Most
importantly, I encourage my colleagues to continue their engagement on
this issue. To simply vote for this bill and forget about the problem
is not doing enough. We must remain engaged.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman
from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise
and extend her remarks.)
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to support not only of
the rule but the underlying bill. I rise to support as well the
leadership of the ranking member of the Committee on Rules who I know
has had a long-standing history on this issue; as has the gentleman
from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart) on the majority side.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this particular legislation
sponsored by the gentleman from (Mr. Tancredo) and the gentleman from
New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
{time} 1245
I thank them both for their leadership, because this is a vital
legislative initiative. I am gratified that the House will consider an
important piece of legislation that condemns slavery and human rights
abuses in Sudan, human rights that have been violated time and time
again.
Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that Sudan and the Sudanese people
have chosen not to listen, and when I say the Sudanese people, those
who are governing, because there are those who have been put upon and
who have been brutalized because of the failure to understand that all
people are created equal. I am thankful that the legislation sets
conditions of genocide as it relates to the Convention on Genocide.
Genocide and war crimes must be addressed by the international judicial
entities to ensure that justice is achieved. I am delighted that this
legislation calls for the United Nations to be used as a tool for peace
and condemns slavery by all combatants. It permits a revision of
Operation Lifeline Sudan; encourages support for an internationally
sanctioned peace process authorized by the Secretary of State to
support the peace process; provides transparency for foreign companies
operating in Sudan that have capital markets in the United States; and
it condemns the bombing of innocent civilians.
As the ranking member of the full committee and the chairman of the
full committee, both the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and the
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) have been on the forefront of human
rights. They realize that we have tried to work continuously to be able
to address the issue of what is going on in Sudan, the violence in
Sudan. Numbers of Congresspersons have visited Sudan, including the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), who have gone in on foot, by
plane, bus and train, attempting to work with those and attempting to
create peace. Yet no one is listening.
Tens of thousands of people have died a slow and painful death by
starvation as a result of the actions by the government in Khartoum
preventing food from getting to the people in need. Will anyone listen?
Do they realize that families are being destroyed? That children are
dying? That Christians who want nothing else but to be able to practice
their faith and live in peace are being destroyed and killed? Not only
is the government of Sudan a terrorist regime but also a genocidal one,
responsible for slavery, bombing raids against humanitarian targets,
massacres and deliberate starvation in the southern part of the country
where Sudan's religious and racial minorities reside. Two million
people have died, Mr. Speaker.
I would simply say as I was able to pass legislation dealing with
children soldiers, prohibiting them and requiring a study by the State
Department authorization bill, H.R. 1646, this bill sends a loud and
resounding sign, no more, no more. No more brutalization, no more loss
of life. Peace in the valley. The Sudanese people must be free and the
Sudanese government must be taught a lesson.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2052, The Sudan
Peace Act. I am gratified that the House will consider an important
piece of legislation that condemns slavery and human rights abuses in
Sudan. I am a cosponsor of this critical legislative initiative because
I believe we must confront the atrocities being committed in the Sudan.
Let me be clear on what the Act does do. First we must be thankful
that the legislation sets the conditions of genocide as it relates to
the Convention on Genocide. Genocide and war crimes must be addressed
by the international judicial entities to ensure that justice is
achieved. But the bill does a great deal more to ensure peace. It calls
for the United Nations to be used as a tool for peace; condemns slavery
by all combatants; it permits a revision of Operation Lifeline Sudan;
encourages support for internationally sanctioned peace process
authorized by the Secretary of State to support the peace process;
provides transparency for foreign companies operating in Sudan that
have capital markets in the United States; and it condemns the bombing
of innocent civilians.
The bill does not amend our Federal securities laws or call for
capital market sanctions, or importing sanctions. It does not address
those issues because we are focused on stopping the atrocities from
continuing in the Sudan.
The staggering scale of atrocities in Sudan has caused me and several
other Members of Congress to support this measure. Tens of thousands of
people have died a slow and painful death by starvation as a result of
the actions by the Khartoum preventing food from getting to the people
in need. Not only is the Government of Sudan a terrorist regime but
also a genocidal one responsible for slavery, bombing raids against
humanitarian targets, massacres, and deliberate starvation in the
[[Page H3095]]
southern part of the country where Sudan's religious and racial
minorities reside. An estimated 1.9 million people have died of causes
linked to Sudan's 17-year-old civil war. Over 4.3 million have been
uprooted. These are simply egregious human rights abuses that must be
addressed by the United States together with the international
community.
While the current stage of this conflict, being waged primarily
between the National Islamic Front (NIF) and other warring factions.
The Government of Sudan has waged a brutal campaign against civilians.
Although the National Islamic Front government recently pledged to end
bombing of civilian targets, there is little evidence that the conflict
is nearing resolution. Indeed, the improved military technology of the
government, combined with an impending famine in the south, threaten to
virtually destroy the population of southern Sudan by the year's end.
H.R. 2052 addresses this situation in a comprehensive manner. The
legislation actually requires the Secretary of State to reinvigorate
international diplomatic peace efforts that are desperately needed to
bring closure to the fighting and an end to the atrocities. We need the
foreign policy team of America to help play a constructive role in the
Sudan.
The legislation also creatively requires all businesses trading
securities in the United States capital markets and operating in Sudan
to disclose fully the extent of their involvement in Sudan. This will
provide transparency to the nature of business being done in the Sudan.
This is an important step, Mr. Speaker.
Let me just add that we must rid the use of child soldiers in
conflict. Children used as soldiers are unacceptable. As a result of an
amendment that I offered and was adopted during consideration of the
H.R. 1646, the State Department authorization bill, the United States
will now begin to collect specific information on those nations that
use children as children soldiers. If children continue to be used in
this conflict as soldiers, the world community will not only know but
the United States will formally have the opportunity to raise this
matter with the Sudanese government.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2052, the Sudan Peace Act, reflects bipartisan
support to end the atrocities being committed in the Sudan. I strongly
urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the bill.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns).
Mr. STEARNS. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.
Mr. Speaker, Edmund Burke, who was a distinguished politician in
England, said it best when he said that the only thing necessary for
the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, Mr. Speaker, let
us not be idle this afternoon.
The size of Sudan's population is about 35 million people. This event
has been going on, off and on, since 1955. This is something that we
should take quite seriously and try to come to grips with in this House
to do something constructively. The humanitarian crisis in southern
Sudan is considered one of the worst in decades. Efforts at national,
regional and international levels to bring peace and stability to the
region have so far been unsuccessful, and outbreaks of fighting and
mass population displacements continue to occur. This vicious operation
against citizens has resulted, as mentioned before, in the loss of 2
million souls and left 4 million homeless.
These statistics fall in this House, but they are so meaningful. The
14-year recent civil war has also brought drought and raids that have
been backed by the government. They back these militias. They have
disrupted the distribution of food aid and obstructed assessments of
need in severely affected areas. In short, we are not able to discern
the exact need. We only know as we stand on the House floor today that
it is great.
The Sudan Peace Act does several things that attempt to address the
many complicated issues that are facing the people of Sudan. First of
all, the reporting requirement included in this bill would serve as a
deterrent to foreign companies raising money in United States markets
for oil development activities in Sudan, activities which undoubtedly
have an effect on human rights and religious freedom. The thriving oil
industry in Sudan, according to the International Monetary Fund, has
allowed the Sudanese government to double its military budget. Some
believe that because of the prosperity of the oil export, the National
Islamic Front, NIF, which is the controlling governmental authority, is
not interested in negotiating seriously to end this war.
More importantly, it condemns the war being waged by the NIF
government in Khartoum. The NIF views itself as the protector of Islam
in Sudan. Any political dissent is seen as being anti-Islam and any
action against religious opposition is understood as justified in what
the NIF believes is a holy war.
According to a March 2001 report by the congressionally established
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, quote, the
government of Sudan continues to commit egregious human rights abuses,
including widespread bombing of civilian and humanitarian targets,
abduction and enslavement by government-sponsored militias,
manipulation of humanitarian assistance as a weapon of war and severe
restrictions on religious freedom.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation is not the total solution to the
humanitarian crisis in Sudan, but, rather, in a small way, it is a
contribution to a larger effort which we should embark on here in
Congress, an effort that will bring a long-term commitment to a
suffering people whom we do not know but whose human freedom we take
seriously today.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman
from New York (Mr. McNulty).
Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Ohio for yielding me
the time. I rise in support of the rule and the Sudan Peace Act. But I
submit, Mr. Speaker, that this is not enough.
I traveled to Sudan in the year 1989 with our late colleague Mickey
Leland, with our late colleague Bill Emerson, and with Gary Ackerman. I
saw firsthand the human devastation in that country. And here we are in
the year 2001 witnessing the same civil war, the same devastation and
basically the same participants. Sadeq al-Mahdi was in charge in
Khartoum when we were there, but he was replaced later that year by
Lieutenant Colonel Bashir, who is still in power. John Garang was then
and is now the leader of the SPLA.
We traveled after we left Khartoum to the south to Muglad and Waw, a
couple of the camps down there. I cannot describe to you the feeling of
looking out at a crowd of thousands and thousands of people who are not
sure where their next meal is going to come from. One of the NGO
officials at the time said, ``Congressman, would you like to see our
hospital?'' I became encouraged for a moment. I was going to see a
medical facility. They took me to their medical facility, which was a
great big tent. It was large, and it was air-conditioned, just to keep
people alive, but the medical facility was primitive at best. It became
clear to me why it was so difficult to get medical personnel from the
continent and elsewhere in the world to donate their time and to go
there. The NGO officials explained to me that initially they had an
outpouring of support from volunteer medical personnel from around the
world but once they got there, the situation was so primitive as far as
what they had to work with that they would get discouraged and leave.
Now, I am suggesting, Mr. Speaker, that we do something more than
just have the Sudan Peace Act. I think that the United States role has
to be much more, and I am not talking about military intervention, but
we have become involved in negotiation for peace in many other areas of
the world where there is much less human devastation. We became heavily
involved in the situation in Ireland, and especially because of my
heritage I am very happy that we did that, and we made significant
progress with the Good Friday Accords. We are not where we want to be
but we are making progress. That is because the President of the United
States got directly involved and got people together and we made
significant progress.
We have been doing that for years in the Middle East. We are not
where we want to be in the Middle East, but we have made significant
progress, most notably starting with the Camp David Accords back during
the Carter administration and we have moved step by step. We are much
better off today than we were a generation ago, but we have a lot of
work to do.
Bosnia. We keep going down the list. We got directly involved.
Why is Africa the forgotten continent when there is so much more
human devastation there? Compare it,
[[Page H3096]]
for example, to the situation in Ireland, which I feel very deeply
about. From the time that the current trouble started in 1969, 3,000
innocent people have died. That bothers me a lot. But in this one
nation on the forgotten continent of Africa, in a shorter period of
time, less than two decades, 2 million people have died. Two million
innocent men, women and children have died. The year before Mickey led
that delegation in 1989, 280,000 people starved to death in that one
country in that one year.
Why is this the forgotten continent? Why can we not become more
directly involved? Members might ask me, what am I suggesting? I am
suggesting that the President of the United States make this a
priority. When I say that, I am not directing anything at the current
President. He just started his term, so this is a new suggestion to
him. Other Presidents, Democratic and Republican before, have not done
that. I am suggesting that he do that and focus on this international
issue, get Bashir and Garang to the negotiating table, get a cease-
fire, and I think if we have the leadership of the President of the
United States, the leader of this country and the leader of the free
world, we can get the international attention that we need to stop the
human devastation in Sudan.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence).
Mr. PENCE. I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me this
time and for his leadership on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, the United States Department of State released a
statement on Friday to report that the National Islamic Front
government of Sudan launched a series of aerial bombings in southern
Sudan 1 week ago. These attacks clearly targeted civilian areas, an act
Khartoum pledged not to do only 2 weeks prior to the bombings.
Mr. Speaker, while the Sudan Peace Act condemns human rights
violations by all sides of this four-decade-old conflict, it is
important to note that it recognizes that the NIF government bears the
greatest responsibility for the violations. The NIF has continually
blocked humanitarian relief efforts and apparently now bombs civilian
areas.
Mr. Speaker, it is important that the American people know that the
heart of this conflict has deep religious origins. As the gentlewoman
from Texas said only moments ago, last year the State Department
designated Sudan as a country of particular concern because the NIF
commits what is commonly believed to be the world's worst acts of
religious persecution.
As a Christian, Mr. Speaker, it particularly grieves me to report
that the worst of these acts of persecutions are against Christian
believers in Sudan. Christian southern Sudanese are sexually abused,
beaten and forced into religious conversion. Matthias Akabd was
arrested in January of 1995 along with his wife and his infant son.
They have not been heard from since. The Akabd family is merely one
example of tens of thousands of persecuted Christians in southern Sudan
who are discriminated against, stripped of their freedom, enslaved,
imprisoned, tortured and even killed.
As the Good Book says, Mr. Speaker, ``Remember those who are in
prison as if we were their fellow prisoners and those who are
mistreated as if we ourselves were suffering.''
Mr. Speaker, by supporting the Sudan Peace Act, the Congress will do
much today to fulfill this noble commission.
{time} 1300
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman
from Iowa (Mr. Boswell).
(Mr. BOSWELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks, and include extraneous material.)
Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlemen who have worked on
this very, very important piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the rule and the passage of the bill,
and I am thankful for this opportunity to give my support. The
situation in Sudan came to my personal attention as a result of
constituent case work, diligently completed by Karen Kinkel of my Iowa
district office staff.
In April of 1999, we received a letter from a constituent, Paula
Friederich of Ames, regarding her passionate concern for a group of
children now commonly referred to as the ``Lost Boys of the Sudan.''
Paula and her husband, Dr. Jim Friederich, expressed their desire and
their commitment to assist financially the plight of two of these lost
boys in particular.
The Friederichs had recently learned of the war in the Sudan from a
young man named Madul Aguan, who is currently a senior at Iowa State
University. I submit for the Record today a copy of the experience of
how he escaped as a young lad of 8 years old. His father had been
killed, who was a Dinka chief, when the war that raged separated him
from his mother. Then they came back and were going to take the
children, and he escaped over into Ethiopia into a refugee camp.
The experience of what he went through is just heartrending. By force
he was returned to the Sudan and then he was shot, broken ribs and
wounded severely, and he survived that. Then he went to another refugee
camp. To make a long story short, he finally landed in the United
States with help from the State Department and many other entities. So
he landed there and as a youngster was going to school in Kansas City,
sleeping on a mattress in a leaky basement but kept pushing on. He
said, I have freedom. It is okay. I have freedom.
Then he landed up in Ames. Now he is in the State University where he
met the Friederichs and told them of his brother and his nephew that
were having a similar situation. So the Friederichs set out to help.
They worked with us and we worked with them, and the work went on and
on and on.
Last winter, on a cold night in Des Moines, Iowa, off the airplane
came the brother and the nephew. The brother and the nephew, which I
will show here, Aguan in the middle, had not seen each other for 15
years, little children at the time, and here they were. They came and
they were reunited in the United States. They are in a warm home with
loving care, getting an education and moving forward in their lives.
That experience to me and for all of us should be a reminder that
being in Congress is a lot more than just casting a vote here and
there. Sometimes the most rewarding experiences that we can have are
for our constituents and the positive role that plays, and such an
important factor in their life. I am hopeful today we will not only
pass this rule and this bill that will help bring this to an end, I
would encourage everybody that is listening and thinking about it, give
it their whole-hearted support. It is the right thing to do.
In 1986, when Aguan was 8 years old, Northern Sudanese troops
attacked his village of Lou Mawein in Southern Sudan. Aguan's father, a
Dinka chief, had been assassinated in 1983. In the confusion of this
battle, Aguan was separated from his mother. After two days of attacks
from the northern troops, the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA),
in Aguan's words, ``came into the village to bury the dead, tend to the
wounded and gather up the children who parents were killed or lost''.
At this time, Aguan began walking, barefoot, to an Ethiopian refuge
camp. It is my understanding that many other children did not survive
the journey to Ethiopia, dying when attacked by crocodiles as they
passed through the Gilo river. During the last three days of his
journey, Aguan had no food or water. Aguan stayed in an Ethiopian
refuge camp for five years, until Ethiopia had it's own civil war. As a
result of this war, Aguan was forced to return to southern Sudan, which
was once again attacked by northern troops. With the assistance of the
United Nations, Aguan went to Kapoeta to be protected by the SPLA.
However Kapoeta was attacked, and Aguan was short. The bullet broke his
ribs, collapsed his lung and caused internal bleeding. He was taken by
the Red Cross to Lokichoggio, Kenya for surgery. At this time, Aguan
was placed in the Kakuma refuge camp, in northern Kenya.
According to Aguan the conditions in the camp were inhumane. The
water was polluted and there was little food. The tents were
overcrowded. After two years, Aguan went to Nairobi for medical exams.
Following results of the exam, he began the process of obtaining a
referral as a refugee for resettlement. When he was approved for
resettlement as a refugee by the Immigration and Naturalization
Service, Aguan immigrated to the United States. This was made possible
through the primary assistance of the Joint Voluntary Agency and the
Red Cross. Aguan worked to
[[Page H3097]]
put himself through high school in Kansas City, Missouri, sleeping on a
mattress in a leaky basement for three years. Aguan told the
Friederich's he was just ``happy to be free''.
Following high school graduation, Aguan attended the Des Moines Area
Community College for one year before transferring to Iowa State
University, where he now majors in International Law. Aguan plans to
attend law school following graduation.
This story of Aguan's escape from the Sudan that was shared with Jim
and Paula Friederich. Aguan then asked the Friederich's if there was
any way they could help him bring two surviving family members, a
brother and a nephew, to the United States for the purpose of family
reunification.
I brought this inquiry to the attention of the appropriate African
Population, Refugee and Migration Bureau (PRM) representative of the
State Department which coordinates overall United States Government
policy on assistance, protection and resettlement of refugees. Refugee
resettlement involves the White House, National Security Council, U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of State, Department
of Health and Human Service, the International Organization for
Migration, the Joint Voluntary Agency (Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
Service), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the
United States Congress.
After working for over two years to facilitate communication with the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the State Department on
behalf of Aguan and the Friederich's, Aguan's brother and nephew were
located, and were granted approved for refugee resettlement in
September 2000. They arrived at the Des Moines International Airport in
January of 2001. Aguan had not seen his brother in over fifteen years.
He last saw his nephew eight years ago. Aguan's brother and nephew have
similar stories of how they survived and escaped and the war in
southern Sudan.
I believe that this reunion would not have been possible without the
assistance of the aforementioned federal agencies, coupled with the
concern and involvement of the Friederich's, and the persistent work of
my casework staff.
Members on both sides of the aisle, there is a civil war in the Sudan
that has been raging for the past 18 years. As a result of this war,
children are lost from their families, and many are sold into slavery.
The fortunate ones escape to surrounding countries, but often with
little hope for a future. I have been touched by this story. It is my
desire to bring an end to this war, and now is the time to take action
on behalf of the helpless who remain in Sudan. Please join me in
support of H.R. 2052.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), a man who has spent a lot of time on this
issue. He has traveled to Sudan. He is an expert on so many countries
in Africa.
(Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I stand in strong support of the rule and
would like to commend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall), who chairs a
hunger committee, for his tireless work not only in Africa but around
the world where he travels at his own danger in some instances to
investigate and bring back the report of what is going on.
I would also certainly like to commend the gentleman from California
(Mr. Lantos), who has given all of the support that we need for issues
in the continent of Africa. I would also like to mention the work of
the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), who is the sponsor of the
Sudan Peace Act.
The first congressional delegation that the gentleman from Colorado
(Mr. Tancredo) went on was a trip with me and Senator Brownback to
southern Sudan. It was quite a way to initiate congressional travel. I
told him that it was not always like this when Congresspeople travel.
His interest, his curiosity, his want to learn inspired him to move
this bill.
Also a long-time warrior, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), has
spent many, many, many hours and days and months traveling, working for
the benefit of people throughout the world and in Sierra Leone and in
Sudan.
The gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the chairman of the
Subcommittee on Africa, has done an outstanding job. So I think this is
a great opportunity for a bipartisan move to talk about probably the
worst scourge on the Earth today, a pariah government, a government
which bombs its own people, starves its own people, tortures its own
people.
There are other people, too, like Charles Jacobs from the anti-
slavery movement and Nina Shay from a commission to deal with religious
discrimination.
What I think is finally happening is that America, the world, is
starting to see about this tragedy of Sudan: 1.9 million people dead,
4.4 million people displaced. Finally, it has been too long but I hope
that the new administration will have vigor to see us change the pariah
government in Khartoum so people can have the ability to live a normal
life.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman
from Tennessee (Mr. Clement).
Mr. CLEMENT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank several people that have
worked so hard concerning the Sudan Peace Act. I do support the rule.
I want to congratulate the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall), the
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Payne), the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), and the gentleman
from California (Mr. Lantos) for their leadership and strong support. I
was one of the authors of the International Religious Freedom Act of
1998, which set in place the framework for U.S. action against
violations of religious freedom around the world.
The Sudan Peace Act is a worthy successor to that act, and I am proud
to be an original cosponsor. The tragedies of Sudan are truly
unspeakable, though we must attempt to make them clear to the world.
Some 2 million people dead in the war, millions more displaced; women
and children abducted and raped by government-backed militia; torture
of dissidents; bombing of hospitals and schools. It is an endless
litany of suffering.
This act clearly condemns these atrocities perpetrated by an
extremist and heartless regime. This act strengthens our ability to
provide assistance to the suffering civilians of Sudan, particularly in
areas barred from relief by the government. It reinforces our
commitment to negotiating peace; and of tremendous importance, it
requires that businesses that want to raise capital from American
investors disclose any dealings in oil development in Sudan. That oil
is blood oil. It has enriched the war machine of the government and
emboldened Khartoum to believe that it will enjoy limitless funds to
crush its own people into submission.
I urge all my colleagues to denounce these atrocities and vote for
the Sudan Peace Act.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I would simply say that the rule is a good rule. It is
in good shape. It is open. The bill is not a perfect bill. It is very
hard to pass a perfect bill on an issue like Sudan, where millions of
people have died. They have fought for years. I am particularly
impressed and glad that in the bill when it talks about the broad
bipartisan support of this bill from the House of Representatives, it
condemns violations of human rights by all sides to the conflict.
I know that for the most part today, what we have heard is the very,
very serious and very troubling human rights violations coming from the
north and coming from the government, but there is blood in the south
as well. Tribes fight tribes. Leaders use innocent people, and there is
blood on both sides. I hope that this bill will not only address some
of those issues but will go a long way in helping bring this terrible
war to an end.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I commend all of my colleagues who have spoken so
eloquently on this very, very important subject and join them in urging
the House to obviously support this open rule, but also the underlying
legislation.
We, I hope, speak on this moral issue in a very united fashion this
afternoon.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the
previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The resolution was agreed to.
[[Page H3098]]
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
GENERAL LEAVE
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and to include extraneous material on H.R. 2052.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simpson). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Diaz-Balart). Pursuant to House
Resolution 162 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the
Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the
consideration of the bill, H.R. 2052.
{time} 1313
In the Committee of the Whole
Accordingly, the House resolved itself into the Committee of the
Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill
(H.R. 2052) to facilitate famine relief efforts and a comprehensive
solution to the war in Sudan, with Mr. Simpson in the chair.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as having
been read the first time.
Under the rule, the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) and the
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce).
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, firstly I would like to thank the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), a member of the Subcommittee on Africa that I
chair, for introducing the Sudan Peace Act.
The ranking member of the Subcommittee on Africa, the gentleman from
New Jersey (Mr. Payne), has been a strong supporter of this
legislation, as has the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos). I want
to thank them for their assistance.
I would also like to thank the chairman of the Committee on
International Relations, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), for
his efforts on behalf of this bipartisan bill.
As we have heard during the debate on the rule, Sudan is suffering
through what is probably today the longest civil war in the world. The
fighting between the radical government in the north and forces in the
south has led to suffering on such a massive scale that it is estimated
today that close to 2 million Sudanese have died of war-related causes
since 1983.
There are 4 million Sudanese internally displaced in that country, 2
million living in squatter areas in Khartoum. Over 3 million Sudanese
will require emergency food aid this year if they are to survive.
{time} 1315
Famine is a constant in Sudan. At a March hearing of the Committee on
International Relations, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that
Sudan is one of the greatest tragedies on the face of the Earth. There
is no greater tragedy, he said.
Well, I think Secretary Powell is right. He recently traveled to
Africa, where Secretary Powell consulted with African leaders about the
crisis in Sudan. Early signs indicate a strong administration
commitment to addressing this crisis, and this legislation is designed
to bolster the administration's effort.
The Sudan Peace Act condemns violations of human rights on all sides
of the conflict. However, it recognizes that it is the Sudanese
government and groups under its control that bears by far the greatest
responsibility for human rights violations.
The Sudanese regime regularly blocks humanitarian relief efforts and
bombs humanitarian and civilian centers. Southern Sudanese are
victimized by slave raids, which this legislation recognizes as
government-backed, as well as by religious persecution, which is
commonly believed to be the worst religious persecution in the world.
Last year, the State Department again designated Sudan as a country
of particular concern due to its systematic and egregious violations of
religious freedom. Sudanese forced into slavery are subject to all
forms of physical abuse, including beatings and sexual abuse, and
forced religious conversions.
Congress has gone on record before expressing concern over the strife
and human suffering that is occurring there in this country. In 1999,
the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the
Sudanese government for ``its genocidal war'' in southern Sudan. The
Sudan Peace Act condemns the government of Sudan in the strongest
possible terms, finding again that its acts constitute what we term
genocide.
Here are some of the particulars in the bill. The bill requires
companies with operations in Sudan to disclose the nature of their
Sudanese operations before they are permitted to trade their securities
in U.S. capital markets. This disclosure includes the nature of those
operations and their relationship to violations of religious freedom
and other human rights in Sudan. This should prove to be a useful tool
in alerting American investors to the troubling nature of their
potential investment, particularly in the energy sector.
Over the last several years, non-U.S. companies have raised money in
the U.S. to develop Sudanese oil fields, located primarily in the
south. Oil reserves have allowed Khartoum to double its military
expenditures, giving it the means to prosecute its war more
aggressively.
The second thing the bill does is it urges the administration to make
available to the National Democratic Alliance $10 million in previously
appropriated funds. This funding should be used to help build the civil
society that has been devastated in the south and which is essential to
the region's long-term future.
The third aspect of the legislation is that it requires the
administration to develop a contingency plan to operate its
humanitarian relief efforts outside Operation Lifeline Sudan, and that
is the United Nations sponsored humanitarian aid operation that has
been shamelessly manipulated by the government of Sudan to advance its
war aims, leading to widespread death by starvation and other causes.
So what has in fact happened with Operation Lifeline Sudan, the
government in Sudan has directed do not bring this relief into the
south; we will direct you as to where you are allowed to take the food
aid. So, again, this will develop a contingency plan to operate outside
and around that Operation Lifeline Sudan.
The Subcommittee on Africa has held several hearings on Sudan over
the last few years. This crisis has increasingly caught the attention
of the American people. The Sudan Peace Act is an effort to bring
further attention to the suffering in Sudan and help along a resolution
to this long-running conflict.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Sudan Peace Act. I
first would like to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Colorado
(Mr. Tancredo), for introducing the measure. I want to express my
special appreciation to my colleague and friend, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Payne), the ranking Democratic member of the Subcommittee
on Africa, for his many years of tireless efforts to bring to the
attention of the Congress and the American people the Sudanese crisis.
I also want to commend my friends, the gentleman from California (Mr.
Royce) and the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde), for moving this
legislation forward and for their deep commitment to the issues.
Mr. Chairman, it appears unreal that at the beginning of the 21st
century we again are talking about genocide and slavery, but it is
genocide and slavery which characterizes the situation in the Sudan.
This is a long-standing crisis. It originated in the early 1950s, and
it became particularly severe since the mid-1980s.
The Islamic government of Sudan is perpetrating genocide on its own
people. This crisis represents the most comprehensive attack against
Christians any place on the face of this planet today; mass rapes,
large scale forced
[[Page H3099]]
starvation, kidnapping, and, as has been stated time and time again in
this debate, we have over 2 million innocent men, women, and children
who have been killed in this process, over 4 million internally
displaced.
This legislation, which I hope will get the unanimous support of this
body, calls for our Secretary of State to collect evidence on war
crimes and crimes against humanity. It is inconceivable that the
perpetrators of these gigantic scale atrocities should escape
appropriate punishment.
A special word needs to be said, Mr. Chairman, about the oil
companies that play a significant coal in this nightmare. I am pleased
to say that there are no American oil companies involved, but it pains
me to no end to indicate that an oil company from Sweden, an oil
company from Canada, and, much less surprisingly, oil companies owned
by Malaysia and Communist China, are providing the funds to this
outrageous government to pursue and perpetrate its atrocities.
We will bring the light of day on the activities of these companies,
and we will make it very clear for any potential American investors
what the nature of their investments would be buying in atrocities in
the Sudan.
I truly believe that Congress acts never more nobly than when it
rises to deal with human rights abuses anywhere on this planet. The
Sudan Peace Act is one such example, and I strongly urge all of my
colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Smith), the vice chairman of the Committee on International
Relations.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, I thank my good friend, the
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the chairman of the African
subcommittee, for yielding and commend him for his outstanding
leadership on behalf of the suffering individuals, not just in Sudan,
but in other countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, who have
been victimized by human rights abuse.
I want to especially thank on this bill my good friend, the gentleman
from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), and all of the bipartisan sponsors of
this Sudanese Peace Act. Is a step clearly in the right direction. It
is an outstanding bill. It tries to advance the ball so that there will
be peace.
We have lost 2 million Sudanese people, many of them women and
children who have been slaughtered. Food has been used as a weapon in
Sudan by the Khartoum government. We know that Operation Lifeline, very
often efforts to feed those in the south have been vetoed by Khartoum
because they wanted to deny access to food and medicines.
Back in 1996, Mr. Chairman, we had a series of hearings really on
what was happening in Sudan, the first hearing of its kind on slavery.
At that point, people objected and said what are you talking about?
Shadow slavery, the buying and selling of people, not unlike what we
had in the United States and in other western countries before the
civil war. A horrific practice. Yet it was going on in modern day
Sudan. Thankfully, there is an effort. At least there is exposure now.
People understand that this has occurred.
The gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) mentioned this forced
religious conversion. I have met people who have lost their children
through forced Islamization, where their young men, their young boys,
have been literally abducted out of their homes and brought to these
camps where they are brainwashed, for want of a better word, day in and
day out, to accept Islam. That is not what conversion is all about.
But this civil war is being financed, and it is not a civil war, it
is a slaughter, increasingly by oil monies. I just bring to the
attention of members that the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) will
be offering an amendment at the appropriate time that will deny the
access of those companies to the capital markets of the United States,
like Talisman.
Talisman is an oil company that, unfortunately, like some of the
others coming out of China and elsewhere, that are building up the
capability of the Sudanese government to get real dollars, hard
currency, which is now funding this slaughter of women and children and
men. They have doubled their military spending. For example, since 1998
much the oil revenues have amounted to about $500 million, and that is
going to grow as a direct result of their ability to get cash at the
New York Stock Exchange and elsewhere to fund this slaughter of
innocent people.
This war might have been over, it certainly would have been much
reduced, had it not been for oil money. If we really want to be
peacemakers, it seems to me we need to deny the access, turning off
that spigot to the best of our ability to deny the killers, the
murderers, the rapists, the ability to do business as usual.
Again I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), the gentleman from California
(Mr. Lantos), who has done great work on this, and the gentleman from
Illinois (Mr. Hyde). Of course, the Bachus amendment, which will be
coming up shortly, is deserving of my colleagues' support.
Mr. Chairman, I thank my good friend, the gentleman from California
(Mr. Royce), the chairman of the African subcommittee, for yielding and
commend him for his outstanding leadership on behalf of the suffering
individuals, not just in Sudan, but in other countries, particularly in
sub-Saharan Africa, who have been victimized by human rights abuse. I
want to thank Chairman Hyde for his leadership in pushing this
legislation.
And I want to especially thank my good friend, the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) the prime sponsor of the bill and all of the
bipartisan sponsors of the pending Sudanese Peace Act. Is a step
clearly in the right direction. It is an outstanding bill. It tries to
advance the ball so that there will be peace.
We have lost 2 million Sudanese people, many of them women and
children who have been slaughtered. Food has been used as a weapon in
Sudan by the Khartoum government. We know that Operation Lifeline has
often been stymied in efforts to feed those in the south. Amazingly the
dictatorship has veto power over both where and whom humanitarian
relief and food dispersements can be made. Khartoum is guilty of
denying access to food and medicines by untold numbers of starving and
emaciated people.
Back in 1996, Mr. Chairman, I chaired a series of hearings on Sudan.
We convened the first hearing of its kind on slavery in Sudan. At that
point, some people objected, were in disbelief and denial and said what
are you talking about? Chattel slavery--the buying and selling and
ownership of people, not unlike what we had in the United States and in
other western countries before the civil war was--is--thriving in
Sudan.
The gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) mentioned forced religious
conversion and at hearings I chaired we heard from victims of the
egregious practice. I have met mothers who have lost their children
through forced Islamization, where their young children were literally
abducted out of their homes and brought to camps where they were
brainwashed. That is not what conversion is all about. Now we know that
the Sudanese genocide is being financed, by oil--petrol dollars. I just
bring to the attention of members that the gentleman from Alabama (Mr.
Bachus) will be offering an amendment at the appropriate time that will
deny the access of oil companies to our capital markets of the United
States, if they are doing business in Sudan.
Talisman of Canada is an oil company that, unfortunately, like some
of the others based in China are building up the capability of the
Sudanese government to get boatloads of money, hard currency, which is
now funding the slaughter of women and children and men. As a direct
result of oil revenue, Sudan has doubled its military spending. Since
1998 the oil revenues per year have amounted to about $500 million, and
that is going to grow as a direct result of Sudan's oil revenue and its
ability to procure funds from U.S. equity sources.
Had it not been for oil revenues, the Sudanese genocide might have
been over. It almost certainly would have been less lethal had it not
been for oil money. If we really want to be peacemakers, it seems to me
we need to deny Sudanese access to cash. We must turn off that spigot.
We must deny the killers, the murderers, the rapists, the ability to
conduct the business of genocide.
Again I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the
gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo). The Chairman of the Full
Committee, Mr. Hyde, always a champion of human rights and the
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), who has also done great work on
this vital cause.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am delighted to yield 5 minutes to the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), one of our colleagues who has
devoted years of his life to this issue and who
[[Page H3100]]
has been a nationally recognized leader on the subject of Sudan.
(Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for that very kind
introduction. I appreciate the support that the gentleman has given
this issue.
Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Sudan Peace Act, H.R.
2052. I certainly would like to thank my colleague, the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), for introducing this legislation. He has
traveled, as I mentioned, to Sudan with me a year or so ago, with
Senator Brownback, and saw firsthand the conditions and has been a
strong advocate for change there.
As you know, it is a very sad situation in Sudan, and we have many
people, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) and the gentleman from
California (Mr. Royce) and the chairman, the gentleman from Illinois
(Mr. Hyde). We have on our side, the gentlewoman from the District of
Columbia (Ms. Norton) and others who have fought.
But we also have people outside the anti-slavery organization,
Charles Jacobs and Mrs. Nina Shay and others. But I also would like to
commend the NAACP that at its last several conventions talked about
this problem of slavery and has opposed the government of Sudan, and
for the talk show host, Joe Madison, who has really given his listening
audience an opportunity to hear about the Sudan and has gotten a great
new constituency, and Reverend Fauntroy here in Washington, Reverend
Jessie Jackson, who intends to go to Sudan soon, and Reverend Al
Sharpton, who has been there.
{time} 1330
We have seen more people become involved.
But this issue is not a simple issue of north versus the south. There
are many very good Northerners who want to see the end of this war,
also. We have many people in the Muslim faith who do not support the
National Islamic Front government. The fact is that it is a bad
government. They are really perpetrating misery on their people, and it
is a strong, small group of people who have just been holding power
against people of good will.
So the bombings continue, and aerial bombings were reintroduced just
last week. The government made an official statement that they were
going to end aerial bombings 2 weeks ago, and last week said they have
rescinded that and they are starting bombing again.
They take these Antonovs, these Soviet-built planes, and it disrupts
the community because the community hear the planes and they keep
wondering, when are the planes coming, therefore making it difficult to
have a normal life. The planes on occasions hit churches and schools
and hospitals.
Another thing that is happening is many of the educated south
Sudanese, many are lacking education now. The schools are not adequate.
Therefore, the people of the south are losing out on education.
This is a horrible, horrible situation, beginning back in 1956 when
it was the first African country to receive its independence; a proud
country, a country that fought victoriously against Egypt and the
British to retain its independence.
The people there are good people, but they are being treated horribly
by a terrible government. Slavery still goes on. People are still being
starved as a weapon. We need to have a strong reassertion that this
government must be changed.
We must ask the Bush administration and Secretary Powell, who has
spoken out against this, and he has spoken out about Sudan more than
any other area in Africa, we want him to continue to push. We want to
see capital market access cut off from foreign countries trying to get
funds from our capital markets to continue to use this blood money.
We would like to see the end to slavery, and youngsters like Ms.
Vogel's class out in Colorado who raise funds and send them over with
church groups to repatriate slaves with their families.
So we have a lot of work to do. We have heard the statistics: close
to 2 million dead, and as a result, there have been over 4.3 million
people displaced. We need to have a strong envoy to go there and to
tell the Khartoum government that time has run out. We no longer will
allow this to go on. It has gone on too long.
There is no reason in this new millenium, when we have supersonic
transports and people going to outer space and living in outer space,
that we would have on Earth a country that uses weapons of war against
its own people, primarily women and children.
We must have a movement in this country to focus on Sudan. We must
make this a number one priority. I would urge my colleagues to vote in
favor of this peace act.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Texas (Mr. Paul), a member of the Committee on International Relations.
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this bill, although I
do not contest for 1 minute the sincerity and the good intentions of
the many, many cosponsors. I do not question the problems that exist in
Sudan. There is no doubt that it is probably one of the most horrible
tales in human history.
But I do question a few things. First, I question whether this is a
proper function for our government. I raised this question in the
committee, suggesting that it could not be for national security
reasons, and it more or less was conceded this has nothing to do with
national security but it had to do with America's soul. I was
fascinated that we are in the business of saving souls these days.
But I do have serious concerns about its effectiveness, because we
have a history of having done these kinds of programs many times in the
past, and even in Africa. It was not too many years ago that we were in
Somalia and we lost men. Our soldiers were dragged in the streets. It
was called nation-building. This is, in a way, very much nation-
building, because we support one faction over the thugs that are in
charge.
I certainly have all the sympathy and empathy for those individuals
who are being abused, but the real question is whether or not this will
work. It did not work in Somalia. We sent troops into Haiti. Haiti is
not better off. How many men did we lose in Vietnam in an effort to
make sure the people we want in power were in power?
So often these well-intended programs just do not work and frequently
do the opposite by our aid ending up in the hands of the supposed
enemy. I seriously question whether this one will, either. Maybe in a
year or 2 from now we will realize that this is an effort that did not
produce the results that we wanted. It is a $10 million appropriation,
small for what we do around here, but we also know that this is only
the beginning, and there will be many more tens of millions of dollars
that will be sent in hopes that we will satisfy this problem.
Members can look for more problems to solve, because right now there
are 800,000 children serving in the military in 41 countries of the
world. That is another big job we would have to take upon ourselves to
solve considering our justification to be involved in Sudan.
Mr. Chairman, with HR 2052, the Sudan Peace Act, we embark upon
another episode of interventionism, in continuing our illegitimate and
ill-advised mission to ``police'' the world. It seemingly matters
little to this body that it proceeds neither with any constitutional
authority nor with the blessings of such historical figures such as
Jefferson who, in his first inaugural address, argued for ``Peace,
commerce and honest friendship with all nations--entangling alliances
with none.'' Unfortunately, this is not the only bit of history which
seemingly is lost on this Congress.
Apparently, it is also lost on this Congress that the Constitution
was a grant of limited power to the federal government from the
citizens or, in other words, the Constitution was not designed to allow
the government to restrain the people, but to allow the people to
restrain the government. Of course, the customary lip service is given
to the Constitution insofar as the committee report for this bill
follows the rule of citing Constitutional authority and cites Art. I,
Section 8, which is where one might look to find a specific enumerated
power. However, the report cites only clause 18 which begs some further
citation. While Clause 18 contains the ``necessary and proper'' clause,
it limits Congress to enacting laws ``necessary and proper'' to some
more specifically (i.e. foregoing) enumerated power. Naturally, no such
``foregoing'' authority is cited by the advocates of this bill.
[[Page H3101]]
Without Constitutional authority, this bill goes on to encourage the
spending of $10 million of U.S. taxpayers hard-earned money in Sudan
but for what purpose? From the text of the bill, we learn that ``The
United States should use all means of pressure available to facilitate
a comprehensive solution to the war in Sudan, including (A) the
multilateralization of economic and diplomatic tools to compel the
Government of Sudan to enter into a good faith peace process; [note
that it says ``compel . . . good faith peace''] and (B) the support or
creation of viable democratic civil authority and institutions in areas
of Sudan outside of government control.'' I believe we used to call
that nation-building before that term became impolitic. How self-
righteous a government is ours which legally prohibits foreign campaign
contributions yet assumes it knows best and, hence, supports dissident
and insurgent groups in places like Cuba, Sudan and around the world.
The practical problem here is that we have funded dissidents in such
places as Somalia who ultimately turned out to be worse than the
incumbent governments. Small wonder the U.S. is the prime target of
citizen-terrorists from countries with no real ability to retaliate
militarily for our illegitimate and immoral interventions.
The legislative ``tools'' to be used to ``facilitate'' this
aforementioned ``comprehensive solution'' are as frightening as the
nation-building tactics. For example, ``It is the sense of the Congress
that . . . the United Nations should be used as a tool to facilitate
peace and recovery in Sudan.''
One can only assume this is the same United Nations which booted the
United States off its Human Rights Commission in favor of, as Canadian
Sen. Jerahmiel S. Grafstein, called them recently, ``those exemplars of
human rights nations . . . Algeria, China, Saudi Arabia, Uganda,
Armenia, Pakistan, Syria and Vietnam.''
The bill does not stop there, however, in intervening in the civil
war in Sudan. It appears that this Congress has found a new mission for
the Securities and Exchange Commission who are now tasked with
investigating ``the nature and extent of . . . commercial activity in
Sudan'' as it relates to ``any violations of religious freedom and
human rights in Sudan.'' It seems we have finally found a way to spend
those excessive fees the SEC has been collecting from mutual fund
investors despite the fact we cannot seem to bring to the floor a bill
to actually reduce those fees which have been collected in multiples
above what is necessary to fund this agencies' previous (and again
unconstitutional) mission.
There is more, however. Buried deep within the bill in Section 9 we
find what may be the real motivation for the intervention--Oil. It
seems the bill also tasks the Secretary of State with generating a
report detailing ``a description of the sources and current status of
Sudan's financing and construction of infrastructure and pipelines for
oil exploitation, the effects of such financing and construction on the
inhabitants of the regions in which the oil fields are located.'' Talk
about corporate welfare and the ability to socialize the costs of
foreign competitive market research on the U.S. taxpayer!
Yes, Mr. Chairman, this bill truly has it all--an unconstitutional
purpose, the morally bankrupt intervention in dealings between the
affairs of foreign governments and their respective citizens in our
attempt to police the world, more involvement by a United Nations
proven inept at resolving civil conflicts abroad, the expansion of the
SEC into State Department functions and a little corporate welfare for
big oil, to boot. How can one not support these legislative efforts?
Mr. Chairman, I oppose this bill for each of the above-mentioned
reasons and leave to the ingenuity, generosity, and conscience of each
individual in this country to make their own private decision as to how
best render help to citizens of Sudan and all countries where human
rights violations run rampant.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 5 minutes to my
good friend and colleague, the gentlewoman from the District of
Columbia (Ms. Norton).
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Chairman, I very much appreciate the gentleman
yielding time to me, and I am grateful to him and to the sponsor of the
bill, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo).
I thank the ranking member, and I must knowledge the gentleman from
California (Mr. Lantos) as a one-man watchdog for human rights in the
world, for which this body and our country are both grateful.
Mr. Chairman, here we have in this bill the first forward movement to
do more than condemn. The unspeakable litany of violations in Sudan
leave out none. I do not, therefore, want to go down them.
I do want to take issue with the last speaker. I am not sure about
our national security, but I do believe that doing something about
Khartoum is vital to the strategic U.S. interests in the world. Oil is
the engine that is driving the war in the north against the southern
Sudanese. They are winning the war. This war is almost over, if we do
not do something about it. The southern Sudanese have been so weakened
that time is running out.
In Khartoum, we see a regime that will soon be a mid-sized oil
exporter at a time when the U.S. and the world have escalated oil
needs. It is very important to build on the Clinton sanctions that have
been in place since 1997.
I support the amendment, but minimally it seems to me we have to
begin to focus, to scrutinize access to our markets. One way to do that
is if we say that if they want access to our markets, tell us about
their business operations in Sudan. If they want to get access, at
least tell us. If we can deny them access constitutionally and legally,
I would be for that.
Investors need to be forewarned that indeed we are trying to have
significant impact on investments, and since we have reached our own
folks, we ought to reach the multinationals, if for no other reason
than to level the playing field.
Let me speak to another strategic interest. When is terrorism in the
world not a strategic interest of the United States of America? Here we
have a major supporter and exporter of international terrorism in
Sudan, and we have felt Sudan in our own country. The region has felt
Sudan in multiple ways. Ask the President of Egypt, Mr. Mubarak, whose
life was attempted on from the exporting of terrorism from this regime.
We have very important strategic interests.
In fact, the last time the world gathered in this way, the last time
we confronted a nation and tried to get worldwide support, was of
course the sanctions against South Africa, which significantly weakened
apartheid. Mr. Chairman, what is happening in Sudan is far more
complicated, and if I may say so, far worse than the despotism we saw
in South Africa.
When the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and I came to the
floor just over a year ago, we were the only two on a special order
trying to kind of wake up the consciousness not so much of this body,
which had already passed a resolution of condemnation, but hoping that
the world out there was looking at us somehow.
I want to simply praise the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) for
pioneering leadership when absolutely nobody was listening. Since then,
since that special order, there have been hearings, press conferences
involving the leadership on both sides of the aisle. There have been
Sudanese, southern Sudanese ex-slaves who had come to the House of
Representatives. We are getting somewhere if we take the leadership for
which our Nation is known in the world.
Therefore, we must minimally pass this bill and go on to pass the
amendment, if we possibly can. Let us make this start now. Let us
signify by this bill that we have only begun to fight for southern
Sudanese freedom.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), who authored this legislation and who, along
with the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), wrote the Sudan Peace
Act.
(Mr. TANCREDO asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman for
yielding time to me. I thank the committee chairman for bringing this
bill forward. I thank the leadership for allowing this bill to come
forward. I also want to thank the thousands and thousands of people
that have communicated with Members of this body from all across this
land in support of this piece of legislation.
It is amazing to me, as the gentlewoman just said a minute ago, how
things have changed in such a short period of time; how hard it was a
few years ago, and I know how hard it must have been for the gentleman
from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) years before that, because of course he was
involved with this before any of us were. But I know how hard it was
just a short 2\1/2\ years ago to get anybody to pay the slightest bit
of attention to the issues in Sudan.
[[Page H3102]]
It is undeniably true what many of my colleagues have said, that the
problems there are incredibly difficult problems to deal with; very
intricate, very interwoven, and many-many-facetted. It is not a simple
solution by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I believe in all
honesty, Mr. Chairman, that if we were to pass this bill today, which I
certainly hope we do, that peace will break out tomorrow in Sudan.
What this bill is is simply another arrow in the quiver; our
accumulation of power, if you will, resources, leverages, whatever we
want to call it, to bring to bear in this country to force peace to
occur. That is really what we have to do.
Many colleagues have come to me, not just colleagues here on the
floor but certainly people in my own district, and asked the question,
why now? What is the deal? What is the issue with Sudan? Why are we
concerned about Sudan? Frankly, I do not have an awful lot of
constituents who have Sudan on the top of their plate, so I do get
questions about this.
I first of all try to explain the effect of going over there and the
effect that trip had on me. When the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Payne) and Senator Brownback and I landed in a little town called Yei
and walked through this village, we had literally hundreds of people
surrounding us and trying to get closer and closer to us because they
thought, they hoped, they prayed, that if they stayed close enough to
us, close to these American Congressmen who were there, that somehow
perhaps the bombs would not fall on them, that the Antonovs would not
come and bomb them at the time.
Of course, the look in their eyes, this look of desperation, of
course that affected me, absolutely. I am a human being. My heart went
out to them. I said then at that time to myself and to them, ``I will
do everything I can. I will do what I can.''
This bill is I guess the end result. It will not be the end result,
but it is a result of that promise I made. But beyond that, Mr.
Chairman, when people ask, why Sudan, why now, I only refer them to the
comment made to General Colin Powell. Secretary Powell, when I did ask
him in the Committee on International Relations what the administration
was prepared to do to bring peace to this troubled land, he responded
that he did not have a plan at his disposal, since he had only been in
his position a relatively short time.
{time} 1345
He said, and I quote, I believe there to be no greater human tragedy
being played out on the face of the Earth.
What more do we need to answer the question, why Sudan? Why now? The
greatest human tragedy being played out on the face of the Earth.
There are many issues with which we can become involved in Sudan in a
more technical way than even this bill lays out. I hope and I pray
that, in fact, we can encourage the leadership in both the north and
the south to earnestly begin discussions leading to peace, because I
fear in my heart of hearts that the people, I know the people of Sudan
both north and south want peace.
Mr. Chairman, I am not sure that the leadership in the north or the
south want peace, because, in fact, you know, a war that has gone on
this long establishes the status quo and in it people begin to achieve
positions of power.
It is difficult to conceive a world in which war is not going on and,
therefore, the power they wield is not able to be wielded. So we must
be fearful of this reticence on the part of both the north and the
south to move toward peace.
We must force that. We must force that movement, and we can do so
with this bill and with the appointment of a special envoy, which I
believe is in the offering.
I sincerely hope that my colleagues will support this piece of
legislation as just one more step in the road to peace, so we can all
answer our constituents and others when they say to us, why Sudan, why
now. Just tell me if not now, when? How many more dead before you act?
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, I have no additional speakers, but I would like to say
a few words before we close debate on this issue. I was profoundly
disturbed by my colleague's remark who asked why do we deal with this
issue? Well, we deal with this issue because, as so many other issues
in this century, it is a fundamental issue of human rights.
I predict that the issue of human rights will be the dominant issue
of the 21st century. Not long ago, we were dealing with hundreds of
thousands of innocent civilians being pushed out of their ancestral
homes in Kosovo, and there were people on the floor of this body who
questioned the relevance of our involvement in trying to see to it that
these people, little children, old women, young families, were just
pushed out of their home, because of their ethnicity and because of
their religion.
In that case, it was Muslims who were persecuted by Milosevic and his
thugs. In this instance, it is principally Christians who are being
persecuted, harassed, raped, killed on a large scale by fundamental
lifts Muslims.
I cannot think of a more noble cause for the Congress of the United
States than to debate these issues and perhaps to try to help in
whatever way we can. Now, there are some who are particularly
preoccupied with the minutiae and the complexities of our tax
legislation. And that is an appropriate subject for us to discuss. But
to question on the floor of the House of Representatives the
appropriateness of dealing with a genocide, a genocide means the
killing of whole peoples.
We are talking about the killing of 2 million black citizens of the
Sudan, men, women and children, whose sole crime is that they are not
Muslims. We are dealing with the displacement of 4 million black
citizens of Sudan who are pushed out of their villages and are in many
instances on the verge of starvation.
To ask whether it is appropriate for the Congress of the United
States to deal with these issues boggles the mind. I suggest, Mr.
Chairman, that this is an issue of very high priority for this body.
It would be high priority only if it would be a human rights issue,
but as the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) so
correctly pointed out, the Sudanese government is one of the prime
sponsors of international terrorism.
Is there anybody in this body who does not feel, in the wake of the
bombing of American embassies, that international terrorism is not a
concern of this body? I want to again commend the people who have
played a key role in this measure. I want to encourage all my
colleagues to vote for this legislation.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New
York (Mr. Gilman), chairman of the Subcommittee on Middle East and
South Asia.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from
California (Mr. Royce) for yielding the time to me.
Mr. Chairman, I want to commend the gentleman from California (Mr.
Royce), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa; the gentleman from
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo); and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne)
for their leadership; and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos),
the ranking member of the Committee on International Relations, for his
poignant expressions in regard to this bill and for their persistent
attention and energy, for bringing the deplorable situation in Sudan to
our attention.
This bill makes funds available for humanitarian assistance to the
Sudanese people, to facilitate our State Department and U.N. efforts to
help the Sudanese government and opposition forces in reaching a
settlement and in sanctioning belligerents who continue to engage in
crimes against humanity.
The civil war in the Sudan continues to be a slow-motion genocide.
Southern Sudanese are dying each and every day, while hundreds of
thousands are at risk from famine and malnutrition.
There are no winners in the Sudan, north or south. If a young man
from Sudan wishes to be admitted to a university, he must first join
the army. And in the army, he has a good chance of being killed in an
immoral, pointless war. And even if the young man survives, he may have
to live with memories of atrocities that he has seen or in
[[Page H3103]]
some cases even been involved in. Either way, this war in the Sudan is
a cancer that is destroying the once vibrant culture of Arab Sudan at
the same time that it wreaks havoc in the African south.
Accordingly, I urge our colleagues to support this measure. I want to
commend Secretary Powell for his recent trip to Africa and for his
intention to devote considerable more attention to the Sudan.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Cantor), a member of the Committee on International
Relations.
Mr. CANTOR. Mr. Chairman, I would like to again to salute the
chairman of the Committee on International Relations (Mr. Royce) and
the subcommittees, as well as the gentleman from Colorado (Mr.
Tancredo) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and, of course,
the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the ranking member of the
Committee on International Relations, for the fine work they have done
in bringing this measure to the floor.
Mr. Chairman, I rise today also in support of the Sudan Peace Act.
Sudan has been ravaged by civil war for over 30 years. And an estimated
2 million people have died; and as has been said before, millions more
displaced due to war-related causes.
As my colleague, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), has
said, there is no greater human tragedy being played out on the Earth
today, and thus we turn our attention to Sudan. As if this is not bad
enough, as if the famine, the slavery, and the death is not bad enough,
there is a particularly troubling situation in the evidence of
religious persecution that prevails in Sudan today.
Unfortunately, we know all too well the results of religious
persecution just looking back to last century with Nazi Germany. The
Sudanese government policies promote Islam as the state religion and
make non-Muslims unwelcome.
According to a State Department report on International Religious
Freedom for 2000, the status of respect for religious freedom has not
changed fundamentally in recent years, and particularly in the South,
the government continues to enforce numerous restrictions.
Authorities continue to restrict the activities of Christians,
followers of traditional indigenous beliefs and other non-Muslims.
Though the government says it respects all religions, the 1994
Societies Registration Act gives churches more freedom, Islam
influences all laws and policies.
According to the State Department, the Government of Sudan denies
permission to build churches, and there have been claims of harassment
and arrest of citizens because of their religious beliefs and
practices.
The law prevents the building of new churches or proselytizing by
non-Muslims. Missionaries claim to be harassed continually and
prevented from doing the work. The atrocities in Sudan cannot and
should not be tolerated.
The individual freedoms familiar to us in America embodied in the
Jeffersonian principles of religious freedom and individual dignity
must be restored to the Sudanese people.
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for the Sudan
Peace Act.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Armey), the majority leader.
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Chairman, let me begin by thanking the committee for
bringing this bill to the floor; thanking my colleagues that have risen
to speak on this bill today.
Mr. Chairman, we are a great Nation. We are a Nation of people that
have led the world in compassion and concern. We are a Nation of people
that have always raised our voice for freedom, fair and decent
treatment, safety and security for all the nations and all the people's
of the world.
It comes as no surprise to anybody in this Chamber to be reminded of
the times when we raised our voice on behalf of the people that were
victimized in Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, and Somalia, but the over 2
million people in Sudan who have been slaughtered represents more
victims than all of those nations combined.
The horror, the torture, the terror, and the slavery is unspeakable.
We are counseled too many times to not speak about them.
How do we draw a picture of this violence and its scope and its
breadth? How do we tell a world that it must not tolerate the horrible
petrifying insanity of it all?
I have selected one story of one victim. Mr. Chairman, this story is
going to break your heart; but the story is true. It is true in the
lives of millions of people in Sudan. It will illustrate to you why we
must demand, intercede, and prevent this from continuing.
The young woman saw her baby's throat slit by an intruder. She then
saw the baby's head severed completely from its body. After she was
raped, she was forced to carry the baby's head on a march north and was
eventually ordered to throw her child's head into a fire before she was
forced into slavery.
{time} 1400
She eventually escaped that bondage and found a way to freedom and
safety. But can one know, can one imagine the horror of the memories,
the fear in her heart for others that she left behind that she loved so
much who she must know are going through these same experiences.
This cannot be tolerated. No nation on this Earth can fail to raise
its voice. We must raise our voice today, and we do. Mr. Chairman, I am
going to predict that every person in this Chamber today is going to
cast a vote that is going to be a vote on behalf of these families,
these babies, these mothers, and these people.
I pray, Mr. Chairman, with all my heart that we need never again be
required to revisit this issue on behalf of these poor souls.
Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma. Mr. Chairman, I would first like to thank
Chairmen Henry Hyde and Ed Royce, Congressmen Tom Tancredo, Tony Hall
and all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have fought so
hard to bring national and international attention to the heinous, on-
going crisis in the Sudan.
Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2052, the Sudan
Peace Act. In America, our problems pale in significance to the war,
slavery and famine in the largest country in Africa. Two million men,
women and children have died in a war that has no end in sight.
Millions more are displaced from their homes, often hungry and poor--
searching for new homes and not knowing where their next meal will come
from. They are refugees within their own country and surrounding
nations. They cry for help. They beg for mercy. They look for any aid
anyone can offer.
Secretary of State Colin Powell testified to Congress this past
March, saying the Sudan is ``the greatest tragedy on the face of the
earth.''
Can any one of us here in this chamber picture himself captured and
forced into slavery, traded for pennies or food? We are so blessed in
this great land of ours--it is impossible to envision ourselves as
captive slaves. But slavery is a way of life for people in southern
Sudan who must live every day in fear of government-sanctioned raiding
parties.
Abraham Lincoln once said: ``Whenever I hear anyone arguing for
slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.''
President Lincoln knew the evils of slavery in America, and the
hypocrisy connected with those who would argue in its favor. But the
end of slavery within our borders has not transcended to the Sudan--
where slavery plagues society.
The National Islamic Front government's unrelenting efforts to
oppress and even eliminate the predominantly black, Christian and
southern Sudanese people must be stopped. They have consistently
interfered with the delivery of food and medicine into southern Sudan.
Government troops have repeatedly bombed international relief sites,
schools and other civilian areas in an attempt to disrupt distribution
of desperately-needed humanitarian supplies. This is unconscionable.
The Sudan Peace Act before us today encourages the development of
alternative means to get food and medicine to the people of these
regions. It also requires business disclosures so investors will be
informed of exactly who and what they are supporting.
My colleagues, we must work to ensure that every effort is made to
get humanitarian aid to an oppressed and starving populace. The peace
process must be encouraged. Slavery must be condemned in no uncertain
terms. The Sudan Peace Act does all of this--and more. I urge passage
of this bill to help the men, women and children in the Sudan who cry
unceasingly, day by day, for help.
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in tremendous
support of H.R. 2052, The Sudan Peace Act. This bill will decrease the
suffering in which the terrible atrocities are inflicting on the people
of The Sudan.
[[Page H3104]]
The Sudan Peace Act declares that Congress denounces any human right
violations by all sides of the conflict in Sudan (including the
Government of Sudan). It directs the U.S. representative to the United
Nations to seek to end the veto power of the Sudanese government over
the relief programs to Sudanese civilians. Further, it revises
Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS); provide additional support for
internationally sanctioned peace process written by the secretary of
state to support the peace process, and condemns the bombing of
innocent civilian targets.
Mr. Chairman, this legislation requires all businesses that operate
in Sudan and trade securities in the U.S. to file disclosure forms with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. Thus if these businesses fail
to file disclosure forms, the Securities and Exchange Commission will
prohibit them from trading securities in U.S. markets. In addition, the
State Department, is required within six months of enactment, to report
to Congress on income generated by the development of Sudan's oil-
producing sector. Finally, the act urges the use of $10 million
provided in the FY 2001 Foreign Operations Appropriations Act.
The civil war in Sudan has raged for nearly twenty years, mainly
between the National Islamic Front government in the north and
Christians and animist rebels in the south, killing more than two
million Sudanese directly or through malnutrition and starvation.
In particular, by regularly outlawing relief flights of the United
Nations' Operation Lifeline Sudan, the Sudanese government has
manipulated the receipt of food and use starvation as a weapon of war.
The government also has been accused of supporting raiding and
enslaving parties to disrupt areas of the country outside its direct
control. As a result, millions have been rendered homeless thereby
creating one of the world's largest refugee problems.
Mr. Chairman, I therefore strongly encourage my colleagues to support
H.R. 2052, the Sudan Peace Act. With thousands of Sudanese people
suffering due to starvation, lack of malnutrition, enslavement, and
wide scale bombing of civilian targets, it is my sincere hope that
through legislation we will establish peace in The Sudan.
Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to speak out against the
horrible atrocities taking place daily in the Sudan as a result of the
eighteen-year civil war and in support of H.R. 2052, the Sudan Peace
Act. I would like to commend my colleague, Mr. Tancredo, and others for
introducing this very important legislation.
Under the Sudan Peace Act, Congress condemns violations of human
rights abuses on all sides of the conflict in Sudan, and calls on the
President to make funds available for humanitarian assistance. This
legislation expresses the sense of Congress that the United Nations
should be used as a tool to facilitate peace and recovery in Sudan. It
calls for an investigation into the practice of slavery, condemns the
aerial bombardment of civilians, and prohibits business entities
engaged in commercial activities in Sudan from trading their securities
in U.S. capital markets unless they make public disclosure of their
activities in Sudan.
It is time for the United States to take a strong stand against this
egregious situation in the Sudan and work together with the
international community to bring peace to the region. Slavery, aerial
bombardment of civilians, and other human rights abuses victimize the
people of Sudan. I believe that the United States must use diplomatic
means to bring an end to the civil war and these serious human rights
abuses.
Since the current conflict erupted in 1983, Sudan has been at war
intermittently from the time its independence was obtained in 1956. An
estimated 2.2 million people have died as a result of war-related
causes, such as, oil production and religious persecution. More than 4
million people, mostly southern Sudanese, have been displaced from
their homes.
I commend President Bush on his appointment of Andrew Natsios, as
special humanitarian coordinator for Sudan to facilitate U.S.
assistance. But I again urge the President to appoint a Special Envoy
to Sudan, who will be afforded the independence necessary to do the
required job of facilitating the peace process. Mr. Natsios'
appointment demonstrates that the United States is taking a leadership
role in resolving the situation in the Sudan, however we as a nation
must continue our efforts to bring an end to the atrocities in the
Sudan.
Also, I applaud Secretary of State Powell for recognizing the tragedy
that is underway in Sudan and for ordering a review of Administration
policy. To begin with, the U.S. should use every means at its disposal
to bring the military hostilities to an immediate end.
At the same time, we should apply every bit of moral persuasion and
condemn in the loudest possible voice the unspeakable violations of
human rights being perpetrated against the weakest members of that
society.
No one has done more to express the outrage of Americans or worked
harder to end the suffering in the Sudan than my dear friend Joe
Madison who has worked endlessly to end the pain and suffering of
slavery in Sudan. Joe along with others has diligently worked to inform
the American public about the human rights abuses taking place in
Sudan. He has traveled to the Sudan region many times on slave
redemption missions freeing slaves and working to end slavery. Mr.
Madison is truly a freedom fighter and I commend him on his efforts.
In the Sudan the world is faced with a human rights nightmare of the
first order. We have the opportunity, indeed the responsibility, to use
our international leadership to bring peace to the region by ending
both the civil war and the heartbreaking enslavement of women and
children which has intensified as a result of the hostilities.
As a nation with first-hand knowledge of the savagery of slavery, of
the misery to its victims, and the suffering of future generations, we
must recoil in horror at the practice of slavery in Sudan. Our ultimate
goal must be to work with the international community to end the brutal
civil war, which is the root cause of these atrocities and bring peace
to the country of Sudan.
Mr. KNOLLENBERG. Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer support for H.R. 2052,
the Sudan Peace Act, which will help facilitate solutions to the
problems of famine and war in Sudan. First, let me say a special thanks
to all the sponsors, especially Tom Tancredo, and the Committee on
International Relations as well as the Subcommittee on Africa, for
their hard work and leadership in developing this bill. I would like to
also commend House leadership for bringing this bill to the House
floor.
The crisis in Sudan has resulted in two million casualties due to
famine and the continuing war. The 18-year civil war in Sudan has
fueled an on-going religious conflict between Muslins and Christians
and has challenged our relations with Sudan due to its human rights
violations and support of international terrorism. Despite this, I am
hopeful this bill can help to address the problems and bring forth a
peaceful resolution to the current situation. With that said, H.R. 2052
should be supported by the House and Senate chambers.
In fiscal year 2000, the United States provided a total of $93.7
million in assistance to Sudan. These funds go to help create a civil
administration, assist in conflict resolution and provide support for
non-governmental organizations. Our financial assistance has eased the
hardship for those in need of food assistance.
Congress should adopt this legislation so we can help Sudan and
improve our relationship with them as well.
Again, I want to express my thanks to Tom Tancredo, and the Committee
on International Relations, and the Subcommittee on Africa for their
dedication and effort on this bill, and I encourage my colleagues to
vote in support of H.R. 2052.
Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support for H.R.
2052, the Sudan Peace Act. The atrocities in the Sudan deserve
immediate attention and aid from the United States. It is our duty as
the ``world's only superpower'' to stand up for those who cannot stand
up for themselves.
Many articles have been written in recent months regarding the
growing support for U.S. intervention in the Sudan. What struck me most
about these articles was their emphasis on how this cause has attracted
broad support across political lines. As Newsweek noted:
The Muslim government's alleged persecution of southern
Christians is the key issue for many of the rebels' fiercest
U.S. supporters. For prominent African-Americans like Coretta
Scott King, the hot button is Khartoum's toleration of
slavery and the use of slave-raiding privateers as
paramilitary forces in the war against the south. For other
activists the overriding concern is the government's ethnic-
cleansing campaign against southern peoples such as the
Dinka. Late last year the United States Holocaust Memorial
Museum joined the fight, declaring through its ``committee on
conscience'' that Khartoum's atrocities against the
southerners warranted an unprecedented ``genocide warning.''
It is not surprising that the fighting in Sudan has attracted
attention from such divergent populations. All humans should be
outraged by the 18 year war that has taken over 2 million lives and
destroyed countless homes, crops, medical facilities, and churches.
Equally appalling is the Khartoum's refusal to allow humanitarian aid.
They have even gone so far as to directly target international
humanitarian relief agencies such as the Red Cross and Doctors Without
Borders by aerial bombings.
Christians have been persecuted, thousands of non-Muslims have been
forced into slavery, the destruction of crops has caused thousands more
to starve. Additionally, the areas north and south of the oil
development center have been the site of the most heinous crimes. In
[[Page H3105]]
order to clear the region to facilitate oil production and thus bring
in money for their government, the military annihilates whole villages.
According to one report the Sudanese military first attacks a village
with bombs to scatter villagers. Then troops and helicopter gunships
enter--torching homes and foodstuffs and killing all they come across.
It is not uncommon for the elderly and young to burn alive in their
homes.
I am ashamed that our wonderful, caring nation has not taken a large
role in stopping this barbarism. Apparently former Secretary of State
Madeline Albright's reasoning was that the cause was ``not marketable
to the American people.'' Marketable or not, this does not excuse our
relative indifference as a nation to our fellow men and women being
tortured and slain in the Sudan. I am proud that today we are taking a
stand--facilitating humanitarian aid, holding businesses accountable
for their activities in the Sudan oil trade that fund the government's
heinous behavior, and most importantly directing the State Department
to take an active role in implementing peace in Sudan.
I am happy that so many of my colleagues and fellow Americans are in
such strong support of this legislation, but even if they weren't it
would still be the right thing to do. ``Marketable'' or not, the United
States must work towards ending the atrocities in the Sudan.
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the
legislation before us, H.R. 2052, which, among other things, condemns
the National Islamic Front Government of Sudan; calls for increased
diplomatic peace efforts including the appointment of a Special Envoy;
supports the famine relief efforts of Operation Lifeline Sudan; and
requires foreign companies doing business in Sudan to publicly disclose
their activities if they seek access to U.S. capital markets.
Mr. Chairman, I congratulate the distinguished gentleman from
Colorado, Mr. Tancredo, for introducing this important measure. I also
wish to recognize the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey, Mr.
Payne, the Ranking Democrat of the House International Relations Africa
Subcommittee, for his longtime leadership and extensive work to bring
peace to Sudan, as well as other nations in the region. I further
commend the Chairman and the Ranking Democratic Member of the House
International Relations Committee, Mr. Hyde and Mr. Lantos, for
bringing this matter to the floor. I am honored to join my colleagues
in support of this bi-partisan legislation.
Mr. Chairman, we must do all that we can to stop the senseless
tragedy in Sudan. Although the civil war has gone on for four decades,
since 1983 the conflict has heightened and resulted in an humanitarian
disaster. The Government of Sudan is responsible and must be condemned
in the strongest terms of committing genocide against its own people.
By aerial bombardment of civilians, mass slavery, rape, unspeakable
war crimes and obstruction of humanitarian relief efforts--over two
million Sudanese have died at the hands of the government in Khartoum.
These atrocities have been compounded by the displacement of four
million other Sudanese, who have been driven from their homes.
Mr. Chairman, last month Secretary of State Colin Powell visited
Sudan, committing the United States to make peace in that nation a
priority.
The legislation before us will significantly assist those efforts by
holding the Government of Sudan accountable for its humanitarian
violations and calling for their immediate end; urging U.S. leadership
of multilateral and bilateral peace processes in Sudan; and encouraging
disinvestment in foreign firms doing business in Sudan, particularly
those oil companies whose activities are directly contributing to the
escalation of war in Sudan.
Mr. Chairman, I strongly urge our colleagues to adopt this important
legislation.
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, three weeks ago, I received two conflicting
messages regarding the situation in Sudan. One was a May 24 press
release from the Sudanese embassy announcing, with great fanfare, that
the Government of Sudan had taken ``a unilateral step toward peace'' by
declaring an immediate halt to aerial bombing attacks in the south and
the Nuba Mountains.
The other message, from Catholic clergy members, reported that the
priests living in southern parts of the El Obeid Diocese had been
driven into the bush by ``ferocious assaults by Sudanese government
forces.''
As additional reports filtered out of this remote area of the Nuba
Mountains from a variety of sources, it became clear that the
Government of Sudan had launched a massive ground and air attack while
it was simultaneously issuing press releases about its commitment to
peace.
Government forces burned more than 2,000 homes during this attack.
They apparently hope to starve the local population, still at large,
into concentration camps called, in the best Orwellian tradition,
``Peace Villages.''
This contrast between word and deed underlines the importance of
today's consideration of the Sudan Peace Act. I am grateful to Mr.
Tancredo for introducing it, and also to Mr. Royce and Mr. Payne for
their excellent leadership of the Africa Subcommittee. The Committee on
International Relations ordered the bill favorably reported on June 6,
2001.
I would also like to call attention to the tireless work of the
Catholic Bishops Conference, the Commission on International Religious
Freedom, the NAACP, and countless individuals and organizations across
the country that have given this matter the profile and attention it
deserves.
The measure before us is more than symbolic. It will give the
President the discretion he needs to reprogram and reallocate quickly
any portion of humanitarian resources the United States currently gives
to Operation Lifeline Sudan. Despite efforts to carry out its
humanitarian mission without interference, Operation Lifeline Sudan has
frequently been manipulated by the government of Sudan. We should make
no mistake: the denial of food is used as a weapon of war in Sudan.
This provision suspends our government's standard but often time-
consuming notification procedures if the President deems it necessary
to deliver life-saving assistance by other means.
In addition, this measure will shed light on those international
companies doing business in Sudan as well as how that business may
support the government's war-fighting ability. This is not a sanction,
but a beam of light directed at some of the hidden aspects of the
global economy.
Given the nationwide, grassroots effort by Americans of all political
parties and races to raise awareness about the suffering of the people
of Sudan, it is only proper that investors should know whether a
particular company is doing business in Sudan.
The Sudan Peace Act is important in what it does, but also in what it
does not do. It does not in any way hinder the executive branch in its
responsibility to conduct the foreign affairs of this nation.
In his first appearance before this Committee as Secretary of State,
Secretary Powell stated that Sudan was a tragedy that would command his
full attention. In characteristic fashion, the Secretary appears to be
backing up what he said.
Against expectations from some in the media, Secretary Powell has
taken an early trip to Africa and has focused to a considerable extent
on the conflict in Sudan. He has indicated that the Administration will
soon appoint an experienced and capable special envoy. He has been
unequivocal in his remarks regarding the ongoing abuses in Sudan. He
has committed $3 million to improve the capabilities of the rebel
alliance to hold its own at the bargaining table.
In short, we are beginning to see the attention we have urged. This
measure supports and encourages those efforts without being unduly
prescriptive to Administration officials, some of whom already know a
thing or two about dealing with rogue nations.
I urge my colleagues to support this measure.
Mr. Chairman, I submit for the Record an exchange of letters between
Chairman Oxley and myself concerning the bill under consideration, H.R.
2052, the Sudan Peace Act.
House of Representatives,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, DC, June 6, 2001.
Hon. Henry J. Hyde,
Chairman, Committee on International Relations, Washington,
DC.
Dear Henry: I understand that the Committee on
International Relations today ordered H.R. 2052, the Sudan
Peace Act, reported to the House. As you know, the Committee
on Financial Services was granted an additional referral upon
the resolution's introduction pursuant to the Committee's
jurisdiction over securities and exchanges under Rule X of
the Rules of the House of Representatives.
Because of the importance of this matter, I recognize your
desire to bring this legislation before the House in an
expeditious manner and will waive consideration of the
resolution by the Financial Services Committee. By agreeing
to waive its consideration of the resolution, the Financial
Services Committee does not waive its jurisdiction over H.R.
2052. In addition, the Committee on Financial Services
reserves its authority to seek conferees on any provisions of
the resolution that are within the Financial Services
Committee's jurisdiction during any House-Senate conference
that may be convened on this legislation. I ask your
commitment to support any request by the Committee on
Financial Services for conferees on H.R. 2052 or related
legislation.
I request that you include this letter and your response as
part of the Congressional Record during consideration of the
legislation on the House floor.
Thank you for your attention to these matters.
Sincerely,
Michael G. Oxley,
Chairman.
[[Page H3106]]
____
House of Representatives,
Committee on International Relations,
Washington, DC, June 6, 2001.
Hon. Michael Oxley,
Chairman, Committee on Financial Services, Washington, DC.
Dear Mike: I have received your letter concerning H.R.
2052, the Sudan Peace Act. It is our intention to take this
bill to the floor in an expeditious manner. We understand
that language in the bill, as ordered reported, falls within
the Rule X jurisdiction of the Committee on Financial
Services.
We recognize your jurisdiction over this subject matter,
and appreciate your willingness to waive your right to
consider this bill without waiving your jurisdiction over the
general subject matter. I will support the Speaker's naming
members of your committee as conferees on the matter should
it proceed to conference.
As you have requested, I will include this exchange of
letters in the Record during consideration of the bill.
I appreciate your assistance in getting this important bill
to the floor.
Sincerely,
Henry J. Hyde,
Chairman.
Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Sudan
Peace Act (H.R. 2052). I would like to thank Congressman Tancredo for
introducing this important legislation and Representatives Donald
Payne, Tom Lantos, and Frank Wolf for their active roles in pushing
Sudan to the top of the foreign policy agenda. It is important for
Members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to speak out in a
collective voice against the suffering of the people of Sudan.
Sudan's civil war and the Sudanese Government's genocidal policies
have taken a terrible toll on the civilians of that country. The horror
that afflicts Sudan is staggering: over 2 million people have been
killed and another 5 million driven from their homes. The situation in
Sudan is rapidly getting worse and must be seriously addressed before
the scale of death and destruction increases. Clearly, there must be
international pressure to promote a just and lasting peace to this
tragic conflict.
Sudan has one of the worst human rights records in the world.
According to the U.S. State Department, the Government of Sudan
continues to abuse human rights including the bombing of civilian and
humanitarian targets, abduction and enslavement by government-sponsored
militias, and manipulation of humanitarian assistance as a weapon of
war.
The Sudan Peace Act offers the beginning of a framework for a
solution to ending the crisis. The bill requires all businesses trading
securities in the United States capital markets and operations in Sudan
to disclose fully the extent and nature of their operations,
particularly oil operations, which are fueling the constant attacks
against the southern Sudanese. The legislation also strongly condemns
the human rights abuses committed by the Government of Sudan, continues
support for humanitarian assistance distribution through Operation
Lifeline Sudan, and urges the President to use $10 million appropriated
last year to assist the Sudanese opposition, the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA).
I am encouraged by the Bush administration's recent statements that
it will soon appoint a high-profile Special Envoy to Sudan to serve as
a catalyst in the stalled peace talks. The appointment of an envoy
could be the difference in bringing peace to Sudan.
I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bipartisan legislation
to help end the campaign of violence against the people of Sudan.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
The CHAIRMAN. All time for general debate has expired.
The bill shall be considered by section as an original bill for the
purpose of amendment; and pursuant to the rule, each section is
considered read.
During consideration of the bill for amendment, the Chair may accord
priority in recognition to a Member offering an amendment that he has
printed in the designated place in the Congressional Record. Those
amendments will be considered read.
The Clerk will designate section 1.
The text of section 1 is as follows:
H.R. 2052
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Sudan Peace Act''.
The CHAIRMAN. Are there any amendments to section 1?
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the remainder
of the bill be printed in the Record and open to amendment at any
point.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from
California?
There was no objection.
The text of the remainder of the bill is as follows:
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Government of Sudan has intensified its prosecution
of the war against areas outside of its control, which has
already cost more than 2,000,000 lives and has displaced more
than 4,000,000 people.
(2) A viable, comprehensive, and internationally sponsored
peace process, protected from manipulation, presents the best
chance for a permanent resolution of the war, protection of
human rights, and a self-sustaining Sudan.
(3) Continued strengthening and reform of humanitarian
relief operations in Sudan is an essential element in the
effort to bring an end to the war.
(4) Continued leadership by the United States is critical.
(5) Regardless of the future political status of the areas
of Sudan outside of the control of the Government of Sudan,
the absence of credible civil authority and institutions is a
major impediment to achieving self-sustenance by the Sudanese
people and to meaningful progress toward a viable peace
process.
(6) Through the manipulation of traditional rivalries among
peoples in areas outside of its full control, the Government
of Sudan has used divide-and-conquer techniques effectively
to subjugate its population. However, internationally
sponsored reconciliation efforts have played a critical role
in reducing human suffering and the effectiveness of this
tactic.
(7) The Government of Sudan utilizes and organizes
militias, Popular Defense Forces, and other irregular units
for raiding and enslaving parties in areas outside of the
control of the Government of Sudan in an effort to disrupt
severely the ability of the populations in those areas to
sustain themselves. The tactic helps minimize the Government
of Sudan's accountability internationally.
(8) The Government of Sudan has repeatedly stated that it
intends to use the expected proceeds from future oil sales to
increase the tempo and lethality of the war against the areas
outside of its control.
(9) By regularly banning air transport relief flights by
the United Nations relief operation, Operation Lifeline Sudan
(OLS), the Government of Sudan has been able to manipulate
the receipt of food aid by the Sudanese people from the
United States and other donor countries as a devastating
weapon of war in the ongoing effort by the Government of
Sudan to starve targeted groups and subdue areas of Sudan
outside of the Government's control.
(10) The acts of the Government of Sudan, including the
acts described in this section, constitute genocide as
defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide (78 U.N.T.S. 277).
(11) The efforts of the United States and other donors in
delivering relief and assistance through means outside of OLS
have played a critical role in addressing the deficiencies in
OLS and offset the Government of Sudan's manipulation of food
donations to advantage in the civil war in Sudan.
(12) While the immediate needs of selected areas in Sudan
facing starvation have been addressed in the near term, the
population in areas of Sudan outside of the control of the
Government of Sudan are still in danger of extreme disruption
of their ability to sustain themselves.
(13) The Nuba Mountains and many areas in Bahr al Ghazal
and the Upper Nile and the Blue Nile regions have been
excluded completely from relief distribution by OLS,
consequently placing their populations at increased risk of
famine.
(14) At a cost which has sometimes exceeded $1,000,000 per
day, and with a primary focus on providing only for the
immediate food needs of the recipients, the current
international relief operations are neither sustainable nor
desirable in the long term.
(15) The ability of populations to defend themselves
against attack in areas outside of the control of the
Government of Sudan has been severely compromised by the
disengagement of the front-line states of Ethiopia, Eritrea,
and Uganda, fostering the belief among officials of the
Government of Sudan that success on the battlefield can be
achieved.
(16) The United States should use all means of pressure
available to facilitate a comprehensive solution to the war
in Sudan, including--
(A) the multilateralization of economic and diplomatic
tools to compel the Government of Sudan to enter into a good
faith peace process;
(B) the support or creation of viable democratic civil
authority and institutions in areas of Sudan outside of
government control;
(C) continued active support of people-to-people
reconciliation mechanisms and efforts in areas outside of
government control;
(D) the strengthening of the mechanisms to provide
humanitarian relief to those areas; and
(E) cooperation among the trading partners of the United
States and within multilateral institutions toward those
ends.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee
on International Relations of the House of Representatives
and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
[[Page H3107]]
(2) Government of sudan.--The term ``Government of Sudan''
means the National Islamic Front government in Khartoum,
Sudan.
(3) OLS.--The term ``OLS'' means the United Nations relief
operation carried out by UNICEF, the World Food Program, and
participating relief organizations known as ``Operation
Lifeline Sudan''.
SEC. 4. CONDEMNATION OF SLAVERY, OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES,
AND TACTICS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN.
The Congress hereby--
(1) condemns--
(A) violations of human rights on all sides of the conflict
in Sudan;
(B) the Government of Sudan's overall human rights record,
with regard to both the prosecution of the war and the denial
of basic human and political rights to all Sudanese;
(C) the ongoing slave trade in Sudan and the role of the
Government of Sudan in abetting and tolerating the practice;
(D) the Government of Sudan's use and organization of
``murahalliin'' or ``mujahadeen'', Popular Defense Forces
(PDF), and regular Sudanese Army units into organized and
coordinated raiding and slaving parties in Bahr al Ghazal,
the Nuba Mountains, and the Upper Nile and the Blue Nile
regions; and
(E) aerial bombardment of civilian targets that is
sponsored by the Government of Sudan; and
(2) recognizes that, along with selective bans on air
transport relief flights by the Government of Sudan, the use
of raiding and slaving parties is a tool for creating food
shortages and is used as a systematic means to destroy the
societies, culture, and economies of the Dinka, Nuer, and
Nuba peoples in a policy of low-intensity ethnic cleansing.
SEC. 5. USE OF APPROPRIATED FUNDS.
The Congress urges the President to promptly make available
to the National Democratic Alliance the $10,000,000 in funds
appropriated for assistance to such group under the heading
``Other Bilateral Economic Assistance, economic support
fund'' in title I of H.R. 5526 of the 106th Congress, as
enacted into law by section 101(a) of Public Law 106-429.
SEC. 6. SUPPORT FOR AN INTERNATIONALLY SANCTIONED PEACE
PROCESS.
(a) Findings.--The Congress hereby recognizes that--
(1) a single viable, internationally and regionally
sanctioned peace process holds the greatest opportunity to
promote a negotiated, peaceful settlement to the war in
Sudan; and
(2) resolution of the conflict in Sudan is best made
through a peace process based on the Declaration of
Principles reached in Nairobi, Kenya, on July 20, 1994.
(b) United States Diplomatic Support.--The Secretary of
State is authorized to utilize the personnel of the
Department of State for the support of--
(1) the ongoing negotiations between the Government of
Sudan and opposition forces;
(2) any necessary peace settlement planning or
implementation; and
(3) other United States diplomatic efforts supporting a
peace process in Sudan.
SEC. 7. MULTILATERAL PRESSURE ON COMBATANTS.
It is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) the United Nations should be used as a tool to
facilitate peace and recovery in Sudan; and
(2) the President, acting through the United States
Permanent Representative to the United Nations, should seek
to--
(A) revise the terms of OLS to end the veto power of the
Government of Sudan over the plans by OLS for air transport
relief flights and, by doing so, to end the manipulation of
the delivery of relief supplies to the advantage of the
Government of Sudan on the battlefield;
(B) investigate the practice of slavery in Sudan and
provide mechanisms for its elimination; and
(C) sponsor a condemnation of the Government of Sudan each
time it subjects civilians to aerial bombardment.
SEC. 8. DISCLOSURE OF BUSINESS ACTIVITIES IN SUDAN.
(a) Disclosure Requirements.--No entity that is engaged in
any commercial activity in Sudan may trade any of its
securities (or depository receipts with respect to its
securities) in any capital market in the United States unless
that entity has disclosed, in such form as the Securities and
Exchange Commission shall prescribe--
(1) the nature and extent of that commercial activity in
Sudan, including any plans for expansion or diversification;
(2) the identity of all agencies of the Sudanese Government
with which the entity is doing business;
(3) the relationship of the commercial activity to any
violations of religious freedom and other human rights in
Sudan; and
(4) the contribution that the proceeds raised in the
capital markets in the United States will make to the
entity's commercial activity in Sudan.
(b) Disclosure to the Public.--The Securities and Exchange
Commission shall take the necessary steps to ensure that
disclosures under subsection (a) are published or otherwise
made available to the public.
(c) Enforcement Authority.--The President may exercise the
authorities he has under the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act to assist the Securities and Exchange Commission
in carrying out this section.
SEC. 9. REPORTING REQUIREMENT.
Not later than six months after the date of the enactment
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State
shall prepare and submit to the appropriate congressional
committees a report regarding the conflict in Sudan. Such
report shall include--
(1) a description of the sources and current status of
Sudan's financing and construction of infrastructure and
pipelines for oil exploitation, the effects of such financing
and construction on the inhabitants of the regions in which
the oil fields are located, and the ability of the Government
of Sudan to finance the war in Sudan with the proceeds of the
oil exploitation;
(2) a description of the extent to which that financing was
secured in the United States or with involvement of United
States citizens;
(3) the best estimates of the extent of aerial bombardment
by the Government of Sudan, including targets, frequency, and
best estimates of damage; and
(4) a description of the extent to which humanitarian
relief has been obstructed or manipulated by the Government
of Sudan or other forces.
SEC. 10. CONTINUED USE OF NON-OLS ORGANIZATIONS FOR RELIEF
EFFORTS.
(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress
that the President should continue to increase the use of
non-OLS agencies in the distribution of relief supplies in
southern Sudan.
(b) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a detailed report
describing the progress made toward carrying out subsection
(a).
SEC. 11. CONTINGENCY PLAN FOR ANY BAN ON AIR TRANSPORT RELIEF
FLIGHTS.
(a) Plan.--The President shall develop a contingency plan
to provide, outside the auspices of the United Nations if
necessary, the greatest possible amount of United States
Government and privately donated relief to all affected areas
in Sudan, including the Nuba Mountains and the Upper Nile and
the Blue Nile regions, in the event that the Government of
Sudan imposes a total, partial, or incremental ban on OLS air
transport relief flights.
(b) Reprogramming Authority.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, in carrying out the plan developed under
subsection (a), the President may reprogram up to 100 percent
of the funds available for support of OLS operations (but for
this subsection) for the purposes of the plan.
SEC. 12. INVESTIGATION OF WAR CRIMES.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of State shall collect
information about incidents which may constitute crimes
against humanity, genocide, war crimes, and other violations
of international humanitarian law by all parties to the
conflict in Sudan, including slavery, rape, and aerial
bombardment of civilian targets.
(b) Report.--Not later than six months after the date of
the enactment of this Act and annually thereafter, the
Secretary of State shall prepare and submit to the
appropriate congressional committees a detailed report on the
information that the Secretary of State has collected under
subsection (a) and any findings or determinations made by the
Secretary on the basis of that information. The report under
this subsection may be submitted as part of the report
required under section 9.
(c) Consultations With Other Departments.--In preparing the
report required by this section, the Secretary of State shall
consult and coordinate with all other Government officials
who have information necessary to complete the report.
Nothing contained in this section shall require the
disclosure, on a classified or unclassified basis, of
information that would jeopardize sensitive sources and
methods or other vital national security interests.
The CHAIRMAN. Are there amendments to other sections of the bill?
Amendment No. 1 Offered by Mr. Bachus
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 1 offered by Mr. Bachus:
Insert the following after section 8 and redesignate the
succeeding sections, and references thereto, accordingly:
SEC. 9. PROHIBITION ON TRADING IN U.S. CAPITAL MARKETS.
(a) Prohibition.--The President shall exercise the
authorities he has under the International Emergency Economic
Powers Act to prohibit any entity engaged in the development
of oil or gas in Sudan--
(1) from raising capital in the United States; or
(2) from trading its securities (or depository receipts
with respect to its securities) in any capital market in the
United States.
(b) Definition.--For purposes of this section, an entity is
``engaged in the development of oil or gas in Sudan'' if that
entity is directly engaged in the exploration, production,
transportation (by pipeline or otherwise), or refining of
petroleum, natural gas, or petroleum products in Sudan.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, there was an article on the front page of
the
[[Page H3108]]
Washington Post on Monday, and it says, ``Oil money is fueling Sudan's
war''. It goes on to say that Arab is killing non-Arab or African and
Muslims are killing Christians. But one thing is in common, and that is
that, and it says, Nile Blend crude is fueling this entire war.
It talks about the four oil companies that are in Sudan drilling for
oil, turning the proceeds of that development over to the government.
The government is hiring guns and arms and airplanes and helicopter
gunships, and they are bombing the people of Sudan.
The quote in that article is the fighting follows the oil. If you can
stop the oil revenue, you have a chance at stopping the fighting. That
is exactly what this amendment does.
In fact, I offered this amendment to the Foreign Relations
Authorization Act, this amendment and a disclosure amendment, which the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) offered; and he got the
disclosure amendment included in this bill.
I will introduce at this time a report of the United States
Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan commission.
They recommended that this Congress do two things. One is require
disclosure, and that is in the bill; and, number two, that we stop
these five oil companies from raising funds in the United States to
develop these oil fields. They said that both would be necessary. So
with this amendment, we will add the other half of what is a necessary
action.
Mr. Chairman, I include for the Record pages 131 and 132 of that
report, as follows:
Report of the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom
The U.S. government should strengthen economic sanctions
against Sudan and should urge other countries to adopt
similar policies. The United States should prohibit any
foreign company from raising capital or listing its
securities in U.S. markets as long as it is engaged in the
development of oil and gas fields in Sudan. The U.S.
government should not issue licenses permitting the import of
gum arabic from Sudan to the United States.
U.S. economic sanctions against Sudan should be
strengthened and not reduced. They should be strengthened by
(a) prohibiting access to U.S. capital markets for those non-
U.S. companies engaged in the development of the Sudanese oil
and gas fields, and (b) not issuing further licenses for the
import of gum arabic to the United States.
The Commission is aware of the current debate both
internationally and in the United States on the effectiveness
of economic sanctions generally. Unilateral economic
sanctions by the United States have not prevented foreign
investment in Sudan's oil business, which has, in turn,
provided the Sudanese government with significant financial
support for its egregious human rights and humanitarian
abuses. However, it has not been established that U.S.
sanctions have been completely ineffective. They can
continue, for example, to slow the rate of increase of
foreign investment in Sudan and oil revenues to the Sudanese
government. One way to increase the potential effectiveness
of the sanctions is to convince other economic powers to
adopt similar policies. In this regard, the Commission urges
the U.S. government to encourage economic pressure on the
Sudanese government in its bilateral relations at all levels
with countries that engage in substantial trade with or
provide significant foreign investment in Sudan.
Current sanctions prohibit investment by U.S. companies in
Sudan. They also prohibit transactions between U.S. companies
and the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (Sudan's oil
consortium) or Sudapet (Sudan's petroleum company).
In the absence of multilateral economic sanctions, however,
preventing access to U.S. capital markets by foreign
companies engaged in the oil-development business in Sudan
targets a specific weakness in the current U.S. sanctions
regime. The Commission recommends that foreign corporations
doing business with Sudan's petroleum industry be prohibited
from issuing or listing its securities on U.S. capital
markets.
The Commission does not lightly recommend these significant
restrictions on U.S. capital markets access, but believes
that the specific conditions in Sudan warrant them. The
government of Sudan is committing genocidal humanitarian and
human rights abuses. There is a direct connection between oil
production and those abuses. Foreign investment is critical
to the development of Sudan's oil fields and maintaining oil
revenues. Expanding U.S. sanctions in the area of capital
markets access specifically targets what is likely the most
significant resource that the Sudanese government has to
prosecute the war.
Moreover, the issue of continuing economic sanctions
against Sudan is one of principle as well as effectiveness.
Reducing sanctions against Sudan at this time--after the
Sudanese government has made no concessions but rather has
increased its civilian bombings and other atrocities--would
be to reward it for worsening behavior. This will send the
wrong message to the government of Sudan and the
international community.
With respect to licenses granted in 1999 and 2000 to permit
U.S. imports of gum Arabic, the purpose of granting those
licenses was to allow U.S. importers time to identify
alternative sources of supply. Because a reasonable amount of
time has elapsed, no further licenses should be granted, and
efforts should be continued to identify alternate suppliers
of this product.
If the government of Sudan demonstrates substantial,
sustained, and comprehensive improvement in the human rights
conditions for people throughout the country, the U.S.
government should seriously re-evaluate its sanctions regime.
Companies that are doing business in Sudan should be
required to disclose the nature and extent of that business
in connection with their access to U.S. capital markets.
There is a significant, undesirable gap in U.S. law
regarding Sudan and other CPC countries: In many cases,
foreign companies that are doing business in Sudan can sell
securities on U.S. markets without having to disclose fully
(1) the details of the particular business activities in
Sudan, including plans for expansion or diversification; (2)
the identity of all agencies of the Sudanese government with
which the companies are doing business; (3) the relationship
of the business activities to violations of religious freedom
and other human rights in Sudan; or (4) the contribution that
the proceeds raised in the U.S. debt and equity markets will
make to these business activities and hence, potentially to
those violations. Across-the-board full disclosure of these
details would prompt corporate managers to work to prevent
their companies from supporting or facilitating these
violations. It also would aid (1) U.S. investors in deciding
whether to purchase the securities; (2) shareholders in
exercising their ownership rights (including proposing
shareholder resolutions for annual meetings and proxy
statements); (3) the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign
Assets Control in enforcing existing sanctions; and (4) U.S.
policymakers in formulating sound policy with resect to Sudan
and U.S. capital markets. The Commission recommends that the
United States require such disclosure.
Mr. Chairman, let me say this, the question was asked, should we get
involved? I would like to remind my colleagues of a story in the book
of Esther where Esther is asked by Mordecai, ``Do you think if you hold
your peace at a time like this that you shall escape judgment?'' Let me
tell, my colleagues, it is a time such as this. It is a time when
millions of people are being slain, where genocide is going on.
Mordecai also reminded Esther that she had been placed in a position
of leadership and just to make such decisions as this. I believe that.
I believe that those who serve here have been placed in a position of
trust and leadership, and I think that, if we do not act, and we do not
act decisively, I do not think that we can expect to escape. We have
been placed here for a reason. We ought to undertake that obligation.
That trust has been placed in us.
People have said to me, well, what will this interfere with? What
will this do? We deny U.S. oil companies the right, and we should, to
go over to Sudan and drill. We say, if you go over there, we will put
you in jail. If you go over there, we will fine you. You should not be
engaged in that activity.
But the paradox is that a foreign oil company can go over there. They
can develop these oil fields. What they do with helicopter gunships and
jet planes, they clear the land of people. They burn down the houses on
the oil concessions and kill the people that live there and develop the
oil. We need to say to those five oil companies, if they are going to
do that, they are not going to raise money in the United States capital
markets.
This will be a meaningful, positive step. I commend the gentleman
from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo). I commend the gentleman from California
(Mr. Royce). I commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos). Let
me say that by putting this amendment in the bill, it will be another
decisive case in drying up the flow of oil revenue, which is blood
money, which is resulting in the death of millions of people.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.
Mr. Chairman, first of all, I want to thank the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Bachus) for this very important amendment, which I
strongly support and urge all of our colleagues to support.
This amendment deals with the operation of foreign oil companies in
the Sudan. The complicity of the foreign oil industry in this human
destruction is one of the most shameful factors in this 17-year-old
slaughter.
[[Page H3109]]
Canadian-owned Talisman Oil Company has publicly admitted that, in
the year 2000, its Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company's airstrips
were used for offensive military purposes by military aircraft of the
government of Sudan against innocent men, women and children who live
in the south of the country.
We should not allow oil companies that are helping to prolong this
bloody slaughter to raise capital or trade securities in the United
States.
The call for sanctions in this amendment, Mr. Chairman, is consistent
with efforts by the American people to send a strong message to oil
companies doing business in Sudan. Major public institutional
investors, such as the City of New York or the Texas Teachers Pension
Fund, have divested themselves from Talisman Oil in protest of its
explicit dealings with the Sudanese government.
Recently, a European coalition on oil in Sudan was launched,
indicating that the campaign has now reached Europe to end the role of
oil companies in the ongoing destruction of the Sudanese people.
Mr. Chairman, I strongly urge all Members to support this amendment,
because it would be shameful to allow foreign oil companies to raise
funds which are ultimately used for the genocide of the Sudanese
people.
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
(Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Chairman , we are in a full committee markup, and I ran
out because I wanted to be here when this bill came up. One, I rise in
strong support of the bill. I want to thank the gentleman from Colorado
(Mr. Tancredo) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) and the
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and the gentleman from New Jersey
(Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and also
Senators Brownback and Frist and the others over in the Senate for
their good work.
I also rise in strong support of the amendment because oil is
basically fueling this, bringing about death. There have been 2.2
million people that died in Sudan in the last 15 to 16 years. Every
major terrorist group operating in the Middle East has an operation, a
training camp outside of Khartoum. Disease, the sleeping sickness and
so many of the diseases are running rampant in Sudan, particularly in
the southern Sudan.
So the passage of this bill will send a message that the American
people and the Congress care deeply about stopping the fighting,
stopping the death, stopping the oil and stopping slavery. This is one
of two or three countries in the world today where there is actually
organized slavery.
So I just want to thank the committee and both sides of the aisle for
bringing this up and for the good work. When the people in Sudan find
out tomorrow, through whatever sources that they find out, that this
bill passed, hopefully by an overwhelming vote, hopefully with almost
no ``no'' votes, it will send a message that the American Congress and
the American Government cares, and we are committed to doing everything
we can.
The Tancredo bill and this bill will do it, and the amendment, to
bring about a just, and I stress the word ``just'', and a lasting
peace.
Mr. Chairman, I want to thank my colleague from Colorado, Mr.
Tancredo, for his hard work on this legislation. We are considering
this legislation today because of his leadership and persistence. He
has been solid on Sudan issues and it is a pleasure to work with him to
help bring a just peace to Sudan.
I also want to thank my colleague from New Jersey, Mr. Payne, the
ranking member of the Africa subcommittee. I know he and Mr. Tancredo
worked together on this legislation and his commitment on Sudan
throughout the years' has been outstanding.
I also want to thank Mr. Royce, the chairman of the Africa
subcommittee, and Mr. Hyde, chairman of the International Relations
Committee, for bringing the Sudan Peace Act to the floor for a vote
today.
The Sudan Peace Act is good legislation and I believe that passing
this legislation today will be a step forward in helping to end the
suffering, death and destruction in Sudan.
I have been to Sudan four times since 1989, most recently visiting
southern Sudan in January of this year. I have seen the conditions on
the ground first-hand.
Since 1983, the government of Sudan has been waging a brutal war
against factions in the south who are fighting for self-determination
and religious freedom. More people have died in Sudan than in Kosovo,
Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda combined with the war resulting in over 2
million deaths and 4 million displaced people. Most of the dead are
civilians--women and children--who die from starvation and disease
caused by the war.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has issued a genocide warning for
Sudan. The Holocaust Museum's warning is a hallowed reminder of our
very moral standing as human beings and compels us to never again be
silent witnesses to the mass enslavement, mass starvation, mass murder
of a people.
The Sudanese Government routinely attacks civilian targets, such as
hospitals, churches, feeding centers, and uses aerial bombings to
intimidate and kill the southern population. In the past several
months, numerous hospitals, schools and feeding areas in the south have
been bombed by the government, killing numerous innocent men, women and
children.
By conservative estimates, the U.S. Committee on Refugees (USCR)
confirms that the Government of Sudan bombed innocent civilians in
southern Sudan over 167 times last year.
This year alone, the USCR confirms 20 bombings of civilians in
southern Sudan, although this number now is certainly much higher.
Recently, a Sudanese Government Antonov bomber dropped at least 16
bombs on the town of Narus, killing a 9-year-old child.
This year during the Easter holiday, the Government of Sudan bombed
innocent civilians in the Nuba Mountains. The Roman Catholic Bishop of
the area, Bishop Maccram Gassis, was on the ground and witnessed the
attack. Bishop Gassis writes on the attack:
It was Easter Monday, and I had just completed my Easter
pastoral visit to my parishes in the Nuba Mountains--among
the most important of my periodic visits during the year. At
the airstrip, my personnel were loading our plane for
departure when the Antonov bomber was spotted above the
field. Everyone scattered and fell to the ground as four to
six shells (by our calculations) fell some 500 feet from the
end of the runway. . . .
And the bombing continues. According to the Associated Press, just a
few days ago, the Khartoum regime reportedly killed 4 people in a
bombing attack during a delivery of aid by the World Food Program. The
bombing and killing of innocent civilians must stop and this
legislation rightly condemns the Government of Sudan for its wonton
bombardment of civilians.
Fueling Khartoum's ability to conduct its genocide against southern
Sudan is oil. Today, major international oil companies are generating
billions of dollars of annual revenue for the Khartoum regime. Khartoum
has openly pledged to use this revenue for modern bombers, helicopter
gun ships and other weapons in its war against the people of southern
Sudan. Indeed, the June 11, 2001, Washington Post reports that because
of its new oil revenue, the Government of Sudan has doubled its
military spending since 1998 totaling $327 million in 2000.
In a recent speech I made at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, I said:
The U.S. Commission on Religious Liberty has bravely called
on the President to limit oil companies that finance the
regime from access to U.S. capital markets. Here in this
museum, in the literal shadow of exhibits of the slave labor
practices of many German companies, in the face of what we
know about the victimization of Jews at the hands of European
banks, insurance companies, art galleries and other
institutions, a clear message must be sent to the following
oil companies: Talisman of Canada, the China National
Petroleum Company, Petronas of Malaysia, Lundin of Sweden,
Total/Fina/Elf of France, OMV of Austria--Enter into oil
contracts with the genocidal regime in Sudan, and produce
revenue for it, only at grave risk of losing--financially and
otherwise--far more than you can possibly gain from those
contracts.
This legislation takes a significant step in addressing the
connection between oil and the Sudan Government's atrocities by stating
that no company can list securities on U.S. exchanges unless a company
fulfills comprehensive disclosure requirements about its business
activities in Sudan.
While the acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC), Laura Unger, has initiated several new disclosure requirements
applying to companies invested in Sudan, the SEC requirements in this
legislation go a long way toward ensuring the world knows what
companies are aiding and abetting the regime in Khartoum.
Slavery exists today in the 21st century and this legislation rightly
condemns the Government of Sudan's role in the ongoing slave trade. The
Sudanese government has done nothing to stop the slavery. Slave traders
from the north sweep down into southern villages and kidnap women and
children who are then
[[Page H3110]]
sold for use as domestic servants, concubines or other purposes. This
is real life chattel slavery.
The Department of State 2000 Human Rights report describes slavery in
Sudan, stating:
. . . slavery persists, particularly affecting women and
children. The taking of slaves, particularly in war zones,
and their transport to parts of central and northern Sudan,
continued. Credible reports persist of practices such as the
sale and purchase of children, some in alleged slave markets
. . . 10,000 to 12,000 slaves remain in captivity at year's
end.
The Sudanese regime is also involved in the support of global
terrorism. The National Commission on Terrorism reported in June 2000
that Sudan continues to support global terrorism by providing funding,
refuge, training bases, and weapons to terrorists. The Sudan government
was implicated in the 1995 assassination attempt on Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak. Nearly every major terrorist organization in the world
is welcomed in Sudan.
Over the past decade, the U.S. has contributed over a billion dollars
for relief and humanitarian aid for Sudan. I am glad that this
legislation urges President Bush to promptly make available to the
National Democratic Alliance $10 million in non-lethal, non-military
aid previously authorized by Congress.
The Bush Administration is making the right moves on Sudan,
appointing USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios as special coordinator
for humanitarian assistance, approving more aid for the suffering in
Sudan, and indicating a willingness to make bringing a just peace to
Sudan a priority. As the appointment of a special envoy for Sudan by
the Bush Administration is imminent, I am hopeful that the U.S. will
play a more aggressive and assertive role in achieving a real and just
peace. But we also need to bear down on the Khartoum government to stop
its aggression against the south and reach a lasting peace.
The actions of the Sudanese government regarding human rights abuses
and religious persecution toward its own people cannot be tolerated.
Far too long and in too many circumstances the repressive and
intolerable governments of the world have been allowed to engage--
unopposed--in widespread human rights and religious freedom violations
that strike at the core of being evil. We in Congress have an
obligation not to let these governments or regimes go unopposed.
The Sudan Peace Act addresses one of the greatest humanitarian issues
of our day--over 2 million have died--and yet it is tough on the regime
in Khartoum. I strongly support this legislation and urge a unanimous
vote.
Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise, not only as a member of the Committee on
International Relations, but as a member of the Committee on Financial
Services.
Just a few weeks ago, I had a chance to tour both NASDAQ and the New
York Stock Exchange. These exchanges are not only the center of
American capitalism and the American securities market, they will soon
be the unchallenged center for a world capital market. They are
critical to the large international oil companies, not just those based
in the United States, but those based in Europe and Japan as well. In
fact, I think we will soon have a seamless market in which one invests
through the two great exchanges of the United States in companies based
anywhere in the world.
As others have said, it would simply be immoral if this great
resource of the United States, our great securities markets, were to be
used to raise capital, not just to do business from Sudan, but actually
to support the Sudanese government. Because as others have pointed out,
this is the source of money for this repressive regime. In fact, this
is not just a repressive regime. This is the worst government in the
world that benefits from substantial international investment. It is a
country that practices a form of genocide and slavery, and that should
not taint the American financial markets.
I will be back on this floor tomorrow to try to do everything I can
to strengthen the American financial markets by reducing the fees that
are imposed on each securities transaction. But as we strengthen these
markets financially, we must also make them stronger morally and
ethically. We can do that today by making sure that those companies
that invest in the Sudanese oil sector do not take advantage of these
increasingly important financial markets.
So I would hope that all of those who are concerned with the brutal
mass murders and genocide in Sudan and all of those who are concerned
with building the strongest possible financial markets in the United
States would be here on this floor if a recorded vote is called to vote
in favor of this amendment.
{time} 1415
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment,
mainly because I do not think it is a good move to have the SEC
internationalized to begin with, and to further internationalize it
does not seem to make a whole lot of sense.
For one thing, cracking down more on foreign oil companies that are
doing business in Sudan will not necessarily prohibit the benefits that
may flow to the American oil companies if there is a change in
government. We should not ignore that. We go to war over oil. We went
to war over oil in the Persian Gulf, and certainly we had oil as an
influence to send in many dollars and much equipment down into
Colombia.
But just let me read from the bill. It says the Secretary of State
will report back on a description of the sources and the current status
of Sudan's financing and construction of infrastructure and pipelines
for oil exploitation; the effects of such financing and construction of
the inhabitants of the region. It goes on, which in a way does a lot of
research and benefit for our oil companies that may benefit. So I think
oil is involved, but in quite a different way than I think we should be
involved in dealing with the foreign oil companies today. So I am not
going to support this amendment.
I would like to take another moment to mention something which is
considered an esoteric point, but I consider very important, and that
has to do with the authority to do these kinds of things that we are
doing today, no matter how well intended. The committee report explains
the authority, and the supporters of the bill says the authority comes
from article one, section 8, clause 18. And they look to the right
place. Article one, section 8 gives us our 18 enumerated powers that we
are permitted to do. The clause 18 is the necessary and proper clause:
to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into
execution the foregoing powers.
The foregoing powers were those 18 issued. To use this in a
generalized sense means there is no constitution left. That means any
power we want, we can do whatever we want. That was specifically
designed to pass laws to enforce those 18 enumerated powers. So this
bill, in spite of all the good intentions that we hope it will do,
really undermines the whole concept of the Doctrine of Enumerated
Powers.
And we should not take that lightly, although this generally is not
of much interest to so many people because we do so much and we have
such great hopes that it will always do so much good. From just
observing history, recent history, the last 20, 30, 40 years since
World War II, so often when we get involved and we send money to help
the good guys, it is not infrequent the good things that we send in,
goods and services and weapons, end up in the hands of the opposition
and the enemy. So that is always a possibility once again. These
commodities and services and the things that we send and the money may
well end up literally being used against the people we are trying to
help.
The other thing that we tend to ignore here is we concentrate on the
good things that we are going to accomplish. Miraculously, we are going
to solve this problem by putting $10 million in today and $100 million
in the next 5 years, and everything is going to be solved. We do not
think about it failing, because that would be a negative, and we do not
want to think about that. We do not think about the Constitution, and
we do not think about who pays. Somebody always has to pay. This is
token. Who cares about $10 million? When we take $10 million out of the
economy, there is somebody who suffered; somebody did not get a house
or somebody lost a job. But they are not identifiable. They do not have
a lobbyist. They are lost. But they are penalized. There is always a
cost.
And even if we assume we have a surplus and the money is already in
the
[[Page H3111]]
budget, we still should be concerned because we are making a choice. We
are saying that we are going to take this money and take the risk of
sending it over there. Maybe it will help. Maybe I am right, maybe it
will not do quite as much good as we think, but we make a trade-off. We
say today that we will send this money with the hope that it will do
good at the expense of a domestic program. Do my colleagues think every
poor person in this country has been taken care of, their medical care
needs or housing? So we do make choices continuously, but we forget
about that.
We never really think about the choices that we make, and there is
always a trade-off. And we generally always forget about finding the
point in the Constitution that gives us authority. In this case, this
is the wrong authority, and it is not a proper interpretation of the
Constitution as described in the committee report.
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I stand in strong support of the Bachus amendment, the
amendment to prohibit any foreign company from raising capital or
listing its securities in the U.S. markets as long as the company is
engaged in oil and gas development in Sudan. Currently, the China
National Petroleum Company, through its PetroChina subsidy; Talisman
Oil of Canada; Royal Dutch Shell, Netherlands; Lundin Oil, Sudan; and
TOTAL NEL from France all list their stocks on the New York Stock
Exchange or NASDAQ.
We have been talking about what more can we do. As we know, it is not
the policy any longer to send U.S. troops abroad. If this were 50 years
ago, 40 years ago, with the atrocities of this nature, we may have sent
in an intervention group. We did it in Haiti, we did it in the
Dominican Republic, we have done it around the world. But today is a
different time, a different day, and we do not do that. So our
resources are limited as to how we can force a dictatorial regime to
change its ways.
I think we should cut off access to capital markets in this country.
This country is the world's power economically, and the next war is
going to be an economic war. We have moved ahead of the Euro, where it
is 20 percent, 15 percent stronger than the Euro. This is where
everyone is coming to get the money.
I wonder why some people serve in Congress. To hear a person talk
about $10 million as too much to spend, when if it was not for the
Marshall Plan the world would still be trying to come out of the
degradation of World War II. We spent billions and billions and
billions of dollars to do the right thing because it was the right
thing to do. When someone questions $10 million that might go in to try
to help a country build a social society or that a vehicle may be taken
by the enemy, that is absolutely ludicrous, makes no sense; and I do
not know why some people even spend time in this House, because they
have absolutely nothing to offer.
So I just think that it is imperative upon us to try to use the
weapons that we have. We do not have military weapons any longer to go
into countries. People wonder, well, why should we do this. Well,
because this is supposed to be the land of the free, the home of the
brave. We have the Statute of Liberty still standing there. We have to
stand for something. When I hear people say why should we be concerned
about the new independent states in Central Europe, it is because there
has to be someone who is the moral leader of the world. We are in the
responsible position.
It is like a basketball player. When I speak to young men like
Iverson, who plays for the 76ers or a Carter, who plays with the
Toronto Raptors, I say whether you like it or not, you are a role
model. Young people look up to you; therefore you have a responsibility
to act right, to do the right thing. Whether you like it or not, you
are looked upon as something that other people want to follow. And this
country is the one country in the world that other countries want to
follow. We have a moral responsibility whether we like it or not.
We cannot move back from the world. We are the world, and we have a
responsibility to remain the world's leader. If we cannot do any more
than to cut a couple of oil companies off from Wall Street, then what
can we do? This is a small thing we are acting on. It will not even
have an impact on that trillion dollar industry that trades hundreds of
billions of dollars daily, but it will have a massive impact on those
companies who come here with blood dripping off their hands to get more
money so that more blood will come dripping as they continue to push
people from their lands so that they can fill their pockets with
dollars.
At some point we have a moral obligation and a responsibility. The
time is now. I urge support of the Bachus amendment.
Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I do want to stress that this legislation is not
directed against Islam. This legislation is directed against religious
persecution, and this includes the issue of forced conversion. Again, I
think we need to be clear. Congress is saying nothing here against the
religion of Islam, which is an increasingly important part of our
national fabric.
I think we need to be clear that what we are saying here with this
bill and with this amendment that we are adding to the bill is that we
are bringing attention to Sudan, we are addressing shortcomings in the
delivery of humanitarian relief, and we are providing tools to the
administration and the American public to attempt to end the massive
suffering of the Sudanese people.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ROYCE. I yield to the gentleman from Alabama.
Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Chairman, when someone stands in the well and
questions the constitutionality of an amendment, then I think the
Members ought to listen. I think they ought to take note, because that
is a serious charge.
It would be a convincing argument if one was not familiar with the
history of legislation in this body. If one was, they would know one of
our first Congresses, which contained many men who signed the original
constitution, that drafted it, imposed sanctions of a financial and
capital nature against foreign fur trading companies. So the folks that
drafted that and enumerated those powers then stood in this Congress
and imposed such sanctions, and these sanctions have been imposed
during several war periods.
It is particularly ironic that we would defend four foreign oil
companies when we have in this body passed legislation, including fines
and terms of imprisonment, if our oil companies go over there and
drill. So it is quite ironic that we would impose these restrictions on
our own oil companies for going overseas, and do that with a clear
conscience, which I have, and yet allow their competition to go over
there, kill innocent men, women and children, strafe hospitals, engage
in all sorts of atrocities, and then not only look the other way when
that happens, but we will allow them to raise the money to finance
their operations in our capital markets, those same markets which
restrict Americans from participating in and would not restrict the
very bad actors who avoid the sanctions that we have now imposed. Truly
an argument that I will never accept.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite
number of words.
First of all, Mr. Chairman, let me again say that the underlying bill
is a good bill. This is a strengthening amendment, and I rise in very
strong support of it. This amendment is about stopping genocide, Mr.
Chairman, the deliberate and systematic attempt to eliminate an entire
people in southern Sudan, by cutting off the flow of U.S. dollars to
entities that are making genocide possible.
The whole world knows, Mr. Chairman, that the Khartoum regime
routinely bombs schools and hospitals, and uses enslavement, mass rape,
and starvation as weapons of war against black Christians and animists
in the south. The good news, until 1997, was that the south was likely
to win its independence and an end to the bloodshed. However, then
Khartoum got foreign companies from China, Malaysia, and even Canada to
develop oil fields and build a pipeline.
{time} 1430
The equation is simple: By selling oil to the west, Khartoum can buy
an
[[Page H3112]]
army that can destroy the south and is destroying the south. We all
know that the devastation is absolutely numbing and frightful. Two
million people have been killed. Millions more have been wounded, and
over 4 million people have been displaced.
Oil revenues have enabled the government to double spending on its
war machine since 1998. The government has used roads and air strips
built for oil projects to launch military attacks. As one Sudanese
victim put it, ``Oil has done nothing but bring us death.''
Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and I have
worked very hard to get New Jersey out of the mix with Talisman, which
is a Canadian company. We held over 60,000 equities in that Talisman
company as part of our New Jersey commitment to our State employees.
Thankfully they got out of it, at some point kicking and screaming; but
they are only one of many. There are many individual shareholders who
will never read the disclosure information sent to them and maybe will
not even care.
Mr. Chairman, we need to act in a collective manner that will have a
high utility to say we want out. We want no part of this killing
machine going on in Sudan. It is worth pointing out that the speaker of
the Sudanese parliament does not make any bones about it. He said that
the oil revenues will be used to buy war weapons. They are taking this
oil revenue and buying guns and planes, and all kinds of other
implements of destruction that are used against innocent men, women,
and children.
The Talisman chief executive said that 70 percent of the oil revenue
from the partnership will be going to the government. We are talking
about a massive amount of money, $500 million per year, being put into
the coffers of this war machine.
Finally, let me say the Bachus-Hall-Smith amendment prohibits any
foreign company from raising capital or listing its securities in U.S.
markets as long as the company is engaged in oil development in Sudan.
We have trade sanctions in place against Sudan, but foreign companies
continue to invest in Sudan, and then they freely and openly raise
money in the U.S. stock market and bond market to finance these
activities.
Shame on us, Mr. Chairman, if we do not realize that we are
facilitating the deaths of so many innocent children. The gentleman
from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) should be commended as should the gentleman
from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and all of us who are trying to make some
difference here to stop this facilitation.
Mr. Chairman, we can make a difference; and hopefully our European
and other allies will follow suit. We must lead by example. That is
what this amendment does.
Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.
First of all, Mr. Chairman, let me again say that the underlying bill
is a excellent piece of legislation. The Bachus-Hall-Smith
strengthening amendment improves the Sudan Peace Act. This amendment is
about stopping genocide, Mr. Chairman, the deliberate and systematic
attempt to eliminate an entire people in southern Sudan, by cutting off
the flow of U.S. dollars to entities that are making genocide possible.
The whole world knows, Mr. Chairman, that the Khartoum regime
routinely bombs schools and hospitals, and uses enslavement, mass rape,
and starvation as weapons of war against black Christians and animists
in the south.
The good news, until 1997, was that the south was likely to win its
independence and an end to the bloodshed. However, then Khartoum got
foreign companies from China, Malaysia, and even Canada to develop oil
fields and build a pipeline.
The equation is simple: By selling oil to the west, Khartoum can buy
an army that can destroy the south and is indeed destroying the south.
We all know that the devastation is absolutely numbing and frightful.
Two million people have been killed. Millions more have been wounded,
and over 4 million people have been displaced.
Oil revenues have enabled the government to double spending on its
war machine since 1998. The government has used roads and air strips
built for oil projects to launch military attacks. As one Sudanese
victim put it, ``Oil has done nothing but bring us death.''
Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and I worked
very hard a couple of years ago to get New Jersey out of complicity
with genocide. We worked--and succeeded--in convincing state officials
to divest its stock holdings of Talisman, which is a Canadian oil
company. Before divestiture, New Jersey owned over 600,000 shares of
Talisman. Thankfully, New Jersey got out, but New Jersey is only one of
many institutional holders of this stock. There are many individual
shareholders who own Talisman oblivious to its facilitation of
genocide. Some argue mere disclosure is adequate. I respectfully
disagree. Disclosure information sent to shareholders or potential
buyers of the stock may or may not make any difference.
Mr. Chairman, we need to act in a collective manner in unison, if we
are to help end this horrific slaughter. We want no part of this
killing machine. It is worth pointing out that the speaker of the
Sudanese parliament does not make any bones how oil money equals a more
lethal military force. He has said that the oil revenues will be used
to buy war weapons. The Sudanese dictatorship is taking oil revenues
and buying weapons of every stripe to be used against innocent men,
women, and children. We are talking about a massive amount of money,
$500 million per year, being put into the coffers of this war machine.
The bottom line is this I say to my distinguished colleagues. The
Bachus-Hall-Smith amendment prohibits any foreign company from raising
capital or listing its securities in U.S. markets as long as the
company is engaged in oil development in Sudan. We have trade sanctions
in place against Sudan, but foreign companies continue to invest in
Sudan, and then they freely and openly raise money in the U.S. stock
market and bond market to finance these activities.
Shame on us, Mr. Chairman, if we do not realize that we are
facilitating the deaths of so many innocent children. The gentleman
from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) should be commended for crafting this
humanitarian amendment.
Mr. Chairman, we can make a difference; and hopefully our European
and other allies will follow suit. We must lead by example. We must be
serious about ending the nightmare endured by the Sudanese people.
Mr. TERRY. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of
words.
Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Bachus amendment and the
underlying Sudan Peace Act. I come from Omaha, Nebraska, Mr. Chairman,
and we have been blessed with new folks who have immigrated from Sudan.
They have come to my office, and we have spent several hours together
talking about the tragedies that these folks have lived through,
escaped from and come to America, come to my hometown, and are now
integral parts of our community of Omaha, Nebraska.
These stories, they are true. These people have suffered. Over the
past 18 years, Sudan's Khartoum government has killed more than 2
million of its own citizens through this civilian war. This is more
than the entire population of Nebraska. This is almost four times the
population of this city that we stand in right now. Men, women,
children, some of these folks that have come to my office that I have
sat down with are young men, and to hear their stories of what they had
to escape: starved, beaten, friends taken for slavery, executed because
of their beliefs, whether they are Christian or a different sect of
Islam. And the people they are escaping are those with the government-
sponsored guns. The National Islamic Front has bombed civilian centers,
camps, relief hospitals. They have blocked humanitarian aid such as
food and medical supplies, tortured and killed those who refuse to
convert to their brand of religion. These appalling attacks on human
rights have created one of the greatest tragedies in the history of
mankind.
Now this government is using profits from new oil development to
accelerate this genocidal war. That is why I came here today to support
the Bachus amendment. I stand up here in full support of it. This act,
the Sudan Peace Act, will send a clear signal to the leaders of Sudan
and those who wonder whether we care more about oil than people. It
will tell the other civilized nations of the world that we also care
about religious freedom, and to follow our example and stop financing
this extremism.
It will open up those doing business with the Khartoum government to
the crucible of public pressure and help ensure that humanitarian aid
ends up in the hands of the people, not the government officials waging
this war. I hope this legislation will help end the bloodshed and
provide relief to those suffering Sudanese people.
Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to vote in support of this
amendment and support the Sudan Peace Act.
[[Page H3113]]
The CHAIRMAN. The question is on the amendment offered by the
gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus).
The amendment was agreed to.
The CHAIRMAN. If there are no further amendments, under the rule, the
Committee rises.
Accordingly, the Committee rose; and the Speaker pro tempore (Mr.
Shaw) having assumed the chair, Mr. Simpson, Chairman of the Committee
of the Whole House on the State of the Union, reported that that
Committee, having had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2052) to
facilitate famine relief efforts and a comprehensive solution to the
war in Sudan, pursuant to House Resolution 162, he reported the bill
back to the House with an amendment adopted by the Committee of the
Whole.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the rule, the previous question is
ordered.
The question is on the amendment.
The amendment was agreed to.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the engrossment and third
reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was
read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that
the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a
quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not
present.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Evidently a quorum is not present.
The Sergeant at Arms will notify absent Members.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 422,
nays 2, not voting 8, as follows:
[Roll No. 160]
YEAS--422
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Akin
Andrews
Armey
Baca
Bachus
Baird
Baker
Baldacci
Baldwin
Ballenger
Barcia
Barr
Barrett
Bartlett
Barton
Bass
Becerra
Bentsen
Bereuter
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Biggert
Bilirakis
Bishop
Blagojevich
Blumenauer
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonilla
Bonior
Bono
Borski
Boswell
Boucher
Boyd
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Brown (FL)
Brown (OH)
Brown (SC)
Bryant
Burr
Burton
Buyer
Callahan
Calvert
Camp
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Capps
Capuano
Cardin
Carson (IN)
Carson (OK)
Castle
Chabot
Chambliss
Clay
Clayton
Clement
Clyburn
Coble
Collins
Combest
Condit
Conyers
Cooksey
Costello
Cox
Coyne
Cramer
Crane
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cubin
Culberson
Cummings
Cunningham
Davis (CA)
Davis (FL)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Jo Ann
Davis, Tom
Deal
DeFazio
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
DeLay
DeMint
Deutsch
Diaz-Balart
Dicks
Doggett
Dooley
Doolittle
Doyle
Dreier
Duncan
Dunn
Edwards
Ehlers
Ehrlich
Emerson
Engel
English
Eshoo
Etheridge
Evans
Everett
Farr
Fattah
Fletcher
Foley
Ford
Frank
Frelinghuysen
Frost
Gallegly
Ganske
Gekas
Gephardt
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gilman
Gonzalez
Goode
Goodlatte
Gordon
Goss
Graham
Granger
Graves
Green (TX)
Green (WI)
Greenwood
Grucci
Gutierrez
Gutknecht
Hall (OH)
Hall (TX)
Hansen
Harman
Hart
Hastings (FL)
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Herger
Hill
Hilleary
Hilliard
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Hoeffel
Hoekstra
Holden
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Horn
Hostettler
Houghton
Hoyer
Hulshof
Hunter
Hutchinson
Hyde
Inslee
Isakson
Israel
Issa
Istook
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Jefferson
Jenkins
John
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (IL)
Johnson, Sam
Jones (NC)
Jones (OH)
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Keller
Kelly
Kennedy (MN)
Kennedy (RI)
Kerns
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind (WI)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kirk
Kleczka
Knollenberg
Kolbe
Kucinich
LaFalce
LaHood
Lampson
Langevin
Lantos
Largent
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latham
LaTourette
Leach
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Linder
Lipinski
LoBiondo
Lofgren
Lowey
Lucas (KY)
Lucas (OK)
Luther
Maloney (CT)
Maloney (NY)
Manzullo
Markey
Mascara
Matheson
Matsui
McCarthy (MO)
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum
McCrery
McDermott
McGovern
McHugh
McInnis
McIntyre
McKeon
McKinney
McNulty
Meehan
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Menendez
Mica
Millender-McDonald
Miller (FL)
Miller, Gary
Miller, George
Mink
Mollohan
Moore
Moran (KS)
Moran (VA)
Murtha
Myrick
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal
Nethercutt
Ney
Northup
Norwood
Nussle
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Osborne
Ose
Otter
Owens
Oxley
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Pence
Peterson (MN)
Peterson (PA)
Petri
Phelps
Pickering
Pitts
Platts
Pombo
Pomeroy
Portman
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Quinn
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Rehberg
Reyes
Reynolds
Riley
Rivers
Rodriguez
Roemer
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Ross
Rothman
Roukema
Roybal-Allard
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Ryun (KS)
Sabo
Sanchez
Sanders
Sandlin
Sawyer
Saxton
Scarborough
Schaffer
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrock
Scott
Sensenbrenner
Serrano
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Sherwood
Shimkus
Shows
Shuster
Simmons
Simpson
Skeen
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (MI)
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Souder
Spence
Spratt
Stark
Stearns
Stenholm
Strickland
Stump
Stupak
Sununu
Sweeney
Tancredo
Tanner
Tauscher
Tauzin
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thomas
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Thornberry
Thune
Thurman
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Toomey
Towns
Traficant
Turner
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Upton
Velazquez
Visclosky
Vitter
Walden
Walsh
Wamp
Waters
Watkins (OK)
Watson (CA)
Watt (NC)
Watts (OK)
Waxman
Weiner
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Wexler
Whitfield
Wicker
Wilson
Wolf
Woolsey
Wu
Wynn
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
NAYS--2
Flake
Paul
NOT VOTING--8
Allen
Dingell
Ferguson
Filner
Fossella
Johnson, E. B.
Morella
Rush
{time} 1502
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
Stated for:
Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 160, I was unavoidably
detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''
____________________