[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 26 (Friday, March 3, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S1678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             AFRICAN UNION

  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I wish to discuss the genocide in Darfur. 
While there have been many speeches given on this critical subject, I 
want to take a moment to talk about a subject that has all too often 
been overlooked--the efforts of the African Union, AU.
  At present, the Bush administration is helping to spearhead 
discussion on how to absorb the African Union force in Darfur into a 
larger U.N. contingent with a far greater capacity to protect 
civilians. I wholeheartedly agree with the administration that the 
current formula for combating brutality in Darfur is insufficient. In 
fact, in December, Senator Brownback and I wrote an op-ed in the 
Washington Post advocating this very course of action.
  At the same time, many government officials, and outside observers, 
have given little regard to the efforts of the African Union Mission in 
Sudan, AMIS.
  We must start reversing this trend. I tip my hat to AMIS for its 
strong efforts, under the most difficult of circumstances, over the 
course of the last 2 years.
  The AU leadership, along with individual troop contributing 
countries--such as Rwanda, Senegal, and Nigeria--made a decision to put 
African lives on the line when the campaign of terror waged against 
civilians was at its height. The AU leadership just as easily could 
have said ``its too difficult, its too dangerous, this is somebody 
else's problem.''
  Instead, they took action.
  In a geographically diverse and inhospitable terrain, the AU built 
its operations--the most complex in the organization's history--from 
scratch, at a time when thousands of Darfurian civilians were being 
ethnically cleansed every month.
  Although AMIS has just 5,000 troops and 2,000 observers and police 
spread out over a region the size of France, it has made a difference. 
Civilians on the ground in Darfur have reported that, where AU forces 
are present, they feel safer. An estimated 2 million civilians are now 
living in camps. These civilians depend on humanitarian aid for their 
survival, and aidworkers report that their convoys would not be able to 
navigate key areas without the invaluable escorts supplied by AMIS.
  As security has deteriorated in Darfur over the last 4 months, 
lightly armed AMIS troops are increasingly the targets of assault, 
kidnapping, and murder.
  Mr. President, has AMIS been a perfect mission? No. Is there room for 
improvement? Yes. But, I know that those of us in the Senate who follow 
this issue closely support what the AU is doing and want the AU to do 
more of it.
  In July, I traveled to the United Nations and met with 
representatives of the AU and their member-states. There is no question 
that it is a young organization in need of capacity-building. But, I 
sensed that there was great resolve to ensure AMIS succeeded.
  Moving forward, I think it is important to recognize that the AMIS 
has been an important first step for the AU. At the same time, I think 
there is widespread recognition--belatedly in my view--that the 
genocide in Darfur is an international, not only an African, issue.
  I will use an analogy, albeit an imperfect one, with U.S. efforts in 
Afghanistan. While the United States is heavily involved in this 
nation, I believe that this is a situation with international 
ramifications; a key reason that the international community should be 
doing more to help stabilize this nation.
  The same holds true for Darfur, where the challenges presented by a 
savage conflict spilling across international borders outstrip the 
resources currently in place to effectively deal with it. The United 
Nations and NATO should become more active.
  This is not to take anything away from the efforts of the AU, who 
stepped in on their own to try to fill the security vacuum in Darfur. 
The AU will be indispensable in the coming year at a time when security 
conditions are deteriorating, but before additional troops can be 
deployed. As discussions progress about follow-on forces, it is clear 
that those same African countries leading the current AU efforts in 
Darfur will be the essential core of any successor mission.
  In my view, it is essential that the United States government take 
the lead in rallying for AMIS the financial, military, and political 
support it needs to continue its essential work in Darfur and to 
transform itself into the backbone of a larger, more mobile UN mission.
  Again, I thank the AU for its efforts and believe now more than ever 
that African leadership will be key to international success in Darfur.

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