[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 45 (Friday, April 2, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E518-E519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       STOP THE KILLING IN SUDAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 2, 2004

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, Raphael Lemkin in his book Axis Rule in 
Occupied Europe coined the word ``genocide.'' Greek word ``genos'' 
(race), Latin word ``cide'' (killing). Genocide means ``the deliberate 
and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.''
  It has been said the way we behave is really an indicator of what we 
truly believe, and belief drives behavior. It will be 59 years this 
April that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was marched from his prison cell at the 
Flossenburg concentration camp in Germany and was hung. Bonhoeffer was 
a Protestant minister who opposed Hitler. He refused to keep silent 
about the discrimination and persecution of Jews. He spoke out 
repeatedly and fearlessly until the Nazis executed him.
  ``Never again''--words that were uttered, beliefs that were expressed 
by many in the West after the full-scale horror of the Holocaust became 
known. And yet, genocide has happened again and again this century, 
while world leaders and governments have been slow or hesitant to 
respond.
  This is the theme of the excellent book on genocide in the 20th 
century--A Problem from Hell, by Harvard University instructor Samantha 
Power. More than ever, Ms. Power's book reminds all of us, especially 
those in public service, of the unique power and responsibility of our 
voice in confronting evil and our moral responsibility to speak out.
  Is genocide happening again? As the world waits and watches, the 
people of the Darfur region in Sudan are being wiped out. This crisis 
began in February 2003 when two rebel groups in Darfur state began to 
fight government security forces. In early February 2004, the 
government launched a major military offensive against the rebel 
forces. The result has been brutal attacks by ground and air forces 
against innocent civilians and undefended villages. Thousands have been 
killed. Millions more remain beyond the reach of aid.
  The United Nations resident coordinator to Sudan recently described 
the situation in Darfur as the world's greatest humanitarian crisis and 
possibly its greatest humanitarian catastrophe. Richard S. Williamson, 
the U.S. representative to the Commission on Human Rights, said on 
March 25: ``the U.S. views with grave concern the deepening crisis in 
the Darfur region of western Sudan. A lack of civil order and the 
refusal of local as well as national authorities to permit unrestricted 
access for humanitarian workers have put as many as one million people 
at imminent risk of life and livelihood.''
  Below is the text of H. Con. Res. 403, a sense of Congress resolution 
I introduced April 1, condemning the Government of the Republic of the 
Sudan for its reported involvement in the attacks against innocent 
civilians and calls on the president to direct the United States 
representative to the United Nations to seek an official investigation 
by the UN to determine if crimes against humanity have been committed. 
I fear it is happening again and it is only going to get worse.
  I urge the House to pass this resolution and go on the record to 
speak out against what is happening in Darfur.

                    House Concurrent Resolution 403

       Whereas, since early 2003 a conflict between forces of the 
     Government of the Republic of the Sudan and rebel forces in 
     the impoverished Darfur region of western Sudan has resulted 
     in attacks by Sudanese Government ground and air forces 
     against innocent civilians and undefended villages in the 
     region;
       Whereas, Sudanese Government forces have also engaged in 
     the use of rape as a weapon of war, the abduction of 
     children, the destruction of food and water sources, and the 
     deliberate and systematic manipulation

[[Page E519]]

     and denial of humanitarian assistance for the people of the 
     Darfur region;
       Whereas, United Nations officials and nongovernmental 
     organizations have indicated that the humanitarian situation 
     in the Darfur region is extremely urgent, particularly in 
     light of restrictions by the Government of Sudan on the 
     delivery of humanitarian assistance for the people of the 
     region;
       Whereas, on December 18, 2003, United Nations 
     Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Jan Egeland, 
     declared that the Darfur region was probably ``the world's 
     worst humanitarian catastrophe'';
       Whereas, on February 17, 2004, Amnesty International 
     reported that the organization ``continues to receive details 
     of horrifying attacks against civilians in villages by gov 
     ernment warplanes, soldiers and pro-government militia'';
       Whereas, on February 18, 2004, United Nations Special Envoy 
     for Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan, Tom Eric Vraalsen, 
     declared following a trip to the Darfur region that ``aid 
     workers are unable to reach the vast majority [of the 
     displaced]'';
       Whereas, Doctors Without Borders, the Nobel Peace 
     Prizewinning medical humanitarian relief organization and one 
     of the few aid groups on the ground in the Darfur region, 
     reported that the region is the scene of ``catastrophic 
     mortality rates''; and
       Whereas, nearly 3,000,000 people affected by the conflict 
     in the Darfur region have remained beyond the reach of aid 
     agencies trying to provide essential humanitarian assistance 
     and United Nations aid agencies estimate that they have been 
     able to reach only 15 percent of people in need and that more 
     than 700,000 people have been internally displaced in the 
     past year: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate 
     concurring: That Congress--
       (1) strongly condemns the Government of the Republic of the 
     Sudan for its attacks against innocent civilians in the 
     impoverished Darfur region of western Sudan and demands that 
     the Government of Sudan immediately cease these attacks;
       (2) calls on the international community to strongly 
     condemn the Government of Sudan for these attacks and to 
     demand that they cease;
       (3) urges the Government of Sudan to allow the delivery of 
     humanitarian assistance for the people in the Darfur region; 
     and
       (4) urges the President to direct the United States 
     representative to the United Nations to seek an official 
     investigation by the United Nations to determine if crimes 
     against humanity have been committed by the Government of 
     Sudan in the Darfur region.

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