[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 124 (Thursday, September 26, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H6770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 STANDING FIRM FOR THE PEOPLE OF SUDAN

  (Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, for nearly 20 years, the people 
of Sudan have been engaged in a civil war. The government in Khartoum, 
known as the National Islamic Front, has been ruthlessly terrorizing 
its own citizens in the south, killing and starving those who are not 
Muslim Arabs.
  This religious hatred has evolved into genocide. Christians in 
southern Sudan are the subject of ethnic cleansing. Over 2 million 
people have died. Over 4 million people have been displaced. The war in 
Sudan is clearly one of good versus evil.
  If this persecution was not bad enough, southern Sudan is a source of 
enormous oil reserves, causing the National Islamic Front to literally 
clear a path of black Christians in order to reap the benefits of this 
commodity.
  Sudan is perhaps the most prominent purveyor of slavery, an atrocity 
of unspeakable proportions. Women and children are subjected to extreme 
cruelty. Men are removed from their families and given Arabic names 
before experiencing the worst of conditions.
  There have been many prayers and vigils for the people of Sudan 
recently. I commend those who speak up for the persecuted and enslaved 
in the south of Sudan, and I urge the Sudanese government to resume 
peace talks with the Sudan People's Liberation Army. We must have 
peace, Mr. Speaker, in Sudan.

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