[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 82 (Monday, June 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           WORLD REFUGEE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 20, 2005

  Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to represent 
in the U.S. Congress thousands and thousands of refugees who live in 
St. Paul and the East Metro area. Whether they are originally from East 
Asia, East Africa, Eastern Europe or Central America, Minnesota is now 
their home and we call them our neighbors, our co-workers and our 
friends.
  The resettlement of refugees in Minnesota is a success story. We 
should all celebrate the economic, social and cultural contributions 
made over the past generation who found peace, hope and opportunity in 
Minnesota. For the refugees and the communities that welcomed them it 
has not always been easy, but it has worked and worked to the benefit 
of our state.
  Let me acknowledge the state, county and local government officials 
as well as the staff and educators from our school districts who work 
so hard to get families settled and transitioned to life in Minnesota. 
Let me also thank the resettlement agencies, community based non-
profits, the faith community and the many families and volunteers. This 
collective effort has kept the refugee resettlement experience positive 
for both new Minnesotans as well as long-time residents.
  While today is a celebration of sorts, I do not want anyone here to 
forget that suffering also continues for the more than 19 million 
people around the world fleeing persecution. The fact that more than 
nine million people are refugees and almost eight million more are 
internally displaced inside their own country due to violence--while 
millions more are stateless or seeking asylum.
  Earlier this year I traveled to Eastern Chad to visit refugees in 
camps along the border of Sudan's Darfur region. The men, women and 
children I met had escaped the horrors of mass murder, mass rape, the 
burning of their villages, the killing of their animals and the 
poisoning of their wells. These exhausted souls were the survivors a 
genocide that continues to go on today--at this very moment.
  Just as Minnesota has been a refuge--a place of safe, I want to 
publicly commend the people of Chad, a very, very poor nation with 
difficult geography, little water and few resources, for providing 
nearly a million Sudanese survivors of genocide a safe place. In normal 
times the people of Chad have very little, now they are sharing what 
they have with the Darfur refugees.
  In Darfur, at least 180,000 people have been killed, starved to death 
or died of disease because of the intentional campaign of cleansing by 
the militias sponsored by the government of Sudan. Tens of thousand of 
women and girls have been raped and tortured in this campaign of 
terror.
  Inside Sudan almost 2 million people are displaced--driven from their 
homes. Let me praise the work that Hugh Parmer and his staff at the 
American Refugee Committee are doing to keep people alive in Sudan--
they are true heroes.
  In the camp I visited in Chad the women were exhausted, the children 
were restless and the men were few--most had been killed. The struggles 
of daily life were unimaginable--little water, little food, almost no 
shelter and only very limited health services. The trauma of escaping 
genocide, surviving rape, watching one's family be murdered is almost 
too much to comprehend. Yet, these brave souls fight on to care for 
their children, hope for the future and work together to make the most 
of every day.
  The people of the U.S. are helping--and helping a lot. More than $1 
billion in aid and emergency humanitarian relief has been provided to 
keep people alive. The courageous humanitarian workers who help deliver 
this relief take big risks and work tirelessly and they deserve both 
our praise and our prayers.
  The crisis in Darfur is man-made, not some natural catastrophe. This 
is genocide--mass, planned murder of thousands. This is a horror. 
Ending the genocide in Darfur requires more than humanitarian aid--it 
requires the political will of nations--especially the United States 
willing to stand up and say these lives have value--this killing must 
be stopped. Every diplomatic, political, and if necessary--military 
tool--must be used to stop the killing.
  This brings me to a disturbing and shameful recent episode. For all 
the good the U.S. has done with humanitarian relief for the victims of 
Darfur--our government also appears committed to working with the 
perpetrators of the genocide.
  It was recently reported that in April of this year, a U.S. 
government jet owned by the CIA flew Major General Salah Abdullah 
Gosh--the head of Sudan's intelligence agency--to Washington for 
meetings with high level CIA officials. This was a reward for his 
government's work with the U.S. on the war on terrorism.
  The government of Sudan is officially designated a ``state sponsor of 
terrorism.'' The government of Sudan has participated in the murder and 
terrorizing of tens of thousands of their own citizens. The women and 
children I met in the refugee camps were victims of the Sudanese 
government's terror.
  It is beyond my belief that a senior official complicit in this 
terror, this genocide could be jetted to Washington with our tax 
dollars to be commended for his ``counter-terrorism'' efforts. This 
episode is offensive, a slap in the face to every survivor of this 
horrible ethnic cleansing and is truly a betrayal of the value we share 
as Americans. A likely perpetrator of genocide should never be the 
dinner guest of our government.
  As a superpower, as a free people, as a people who will generously 
reach out anywhere in the world to help people in need, we cannot be on 
the side of the victims and the murders at the same time. The terror 
the people of Darfur are experiencing every day must be the same War on 
Terror our Nation is fighting--those people's lives have value and it 
is wrong for the CIA or anyone else in Washington to sell them out.
  Let me say in conclusion, that I respect and admire the courage, the 
determination and amazing spirit of the refugees I have had the 
privilege to meet and know--both in Minnesota and in Chad.
  The struggle and journey to find peace, security, hope and 
opportunity is real for refugees and anyone forced to flee their home. 
This is exactly what all human beings seek in life. It is my hope and 
it will be my determined commitment to myself, the families I work for 
in Washington, and the women and children I met from Darfur, that our 
government work tirelessly to make sure there are fewer refugees, fewer 
displaced persons and much, much more peace, security, hope and 
opportunity over the next twenty-five years.
  This is truly the world I hope we can build together.

                          ____________________