[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 119 (Thursday, September 19, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H6408]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORT SUDAN PEACE ACT
(Mr. ARMEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. ARMEY. Mr. Speaker, over the past 20 years, over 2 million people
have died and over 4 million have been driven from their homes in
Sudan. Not by famine, flood or pestilence, but at the hands of people
who claim a right to govern.
Mr. Speaker, people who engage in a systematic campaign of killing,
terror, starvation, destruction and expulsion against the people of
southern Sudan are not the fearless leaders we hope to see in power
when times are rough. Rather, they are the heartless leaders who make
times tough for their own people.
The government in Khartoum continues to brutalize the people in the
south. Why? While we cannot know the darkness within their hearts, we
know the roots of their hatred. We know that the Khartoum Government,
known as the National Islamic Front, consists of those who are seeking
to impose their version of Islam on the black Christians in the south,
or destroy them if they do not get along. This is a religious crusade
that uses genocide to convert disbelievers. The government wants to
destroy the southern people because they are of a different race and
religion.
We have one of the greatest humanitarian crises of our time.
Khartoum's self-proclaimed jihad against the south, driven by religious
and racial hatred and a lust for oil, has killed more people than died
in Kosovo, Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia combined.
Yesterday, September 18, marked the first day of the Vigil for Sudan.
Thousands of people will be gathering outside the State Department at
Galvez Park here in Washington to pray for the people of Sudan. We in
Congress and all Americans should join with them. We cannot stand by.
Let us finish our work on the Sudan Peace Act and be among those
leaders who are fearless and who are not heartless.
____________________