[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 62 (Thursday, May 6, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4940]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SUDAN

  Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, I rise in support of S. Con. Res. 99, 
condemning the Government of the Republic of the Sudan for its 
participation and complicity in the attacks against innocent civilians 
in the impoverished Darfur region of western Sudan.
  I commend my fellow cosponsors of this resolution for taking this 
essential first step in addressing the dual crises in Sudan. We must 
condemn the Government of Sudan for its complicity in the human rights 
abuses and their gross failure to put an end to the current genocide.
  In addition to the gross human rights violations, we now face a 
humanitarian disaster. Over a million people are displaced and well 
over a hundred thousand have fled over the border to Chad.
  The Government of Sudan is only making matters more difficult by 
resisting, delaying, frustrating the work of humanitarian assistance 
groups, and the situation gets worse. Roads in the region are only 
accessible to the most sturdy of jeeps and trucks, and once the rainy 
season starts in just a couple of weeks, those roads will be wiped out, 
cutting off aid altogether. The clock is ticking. We certainly cannot 
control Mother Nature, so the world must act now.
  I believe there are a few essentials that we should do immediately. 
First, the United States must push the United Nations Security Council 
to authorize a stability and support operation under chapter VII to 
help stop the atrocities and help distribute humanitarian aid. I would 
also like to see an expansion of the civilian protection monitoring 
teams into the Darfur region. The Government of Sudan has had long 
enough time to stop the killing and facilitate the flow of aid. With 
the rainy season coming, we cannot tell the people of Darfur to give 
their government more time to comply.
  This may sound as if it is a radical step, but this step is needed. 
We should not be, and do not want to be, in the situation 6 months or a 
year or 2 years from now where we look back and say we should have 
taken this step--oh, if we only would have sent this U.N. force in; if 
we only would have sent these troops in we could have saved hundreds of 
thousands of lives--because that is the situation we are going to be 
in. We are going to look back and say, if we only would have acted, if 
the world only would have acted, these lives could have been saved. Why 
didn't we act? That is what has to take place. That, clearly, is what 
should take place.
  Second, I believe Congress should amend the Sudan Peace Act to 
require improvements in Darfur. We have the ability here in Congress to 
do that.
  Third, the United States should target sanctions against any members 
of the Sudanese Government found to be involved in these atrocities. We 
have done it in regard to other individuals in other governments in 
other countries. We should do it in regard to these individuals. We 
should make it very clear to them they will be held accountable.
  Finally, the international community must act now. We need a special 
session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission to appoint a special 
rapporteur for Sudan. The international community should also consider 
a special tribunal to investigate the atrocities.
  These steps form a broad outline of what must be done. We must work 
together with the administration in the coming days to iron out the 
details so we can move forward. The crisis is here, it is now, and this 
is what we must do. Clearly, this is a case of genocide, and the 
international community must face its moral responsibility to act.

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