[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 42 (Wednesday, April 5, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1461-H1475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DARFUR PEACE AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2006
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules
and pass the bill (H.R. 3127) to impose sanctions against individuals
responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, to
support measures for the protection of civilians and humanitarian
operations, and to support peace efforts in the Darfur region of Sudan,
and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H.R. 3127
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Darfur
Peace and Accountability Act of 2006'' .
(b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents of this Act
is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Definitions.
Sec. 3. Findings.
Sec. 4. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 5. Sanctions in support of peace in Darfur.
Sec. 6. Additional authorities to deter and suppress genocide in
Darfur.
Sec. 7. Multilateral efforts.
Sec. 8. Continuation of restrictions.
Sec. 9. Assistance efforts in Sudan.
Sec. 10. Reports.
Sec. 11. Rule of construction.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means the Committee
on International Relations of the House of Representatives
and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
(2) Government of sudan.--
(A) In general.--The term ``Government of Sudan'' means the
National Congress Party, formerly known as the National
Islamic Front, led-government in Khartoum, Sudan, or any
successor government formed on or after the date of the
enactment of this Act (including the coalition National Unity
Government agreed upon in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
for Sudan), except that such term does not include the
regional Government of Southern Sudan.
(B) Officials of the government of sudan.--The term
``Government of Sudan'', when used with respect to an
official of the Government of Sudan, does not include an
individual--
(i) who was not a member of such government prior to July
1, 2005; or
(ii) who is a member of the regional Government of Southern
Sudan.
(3) Comprehensive peace agreement for sudan.--The term
``Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan'' means the peace
agreement signed by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in Nairobi, Kenya,
on January 9, 2005.
SEC. 3. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On July 22, 2004, the House of Representatives and the
Senate declared that the atrocities occurring in the Darfur
region of Sudan are genocide.
(2) On September 9, 2004, Secretary of State Colin L.
Powell stated before the Committee on Foreign Relations of
the Senate, ``genocide has been committed in Darfur,'' and
``the Government of Sudan and the [Janjaweed] bear
responsibility--and genocide may still be occurring''.
(3) On September 21, 2004, in an address before the United
Nations General Assembly, President George W. Bush affirmed
the Secretary of State's finding and stated,``[a]t this hour,
the world is witnessing terrible suffering and horrible
crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan, crimes my government
has concluded are genocide''.
(4) On July 30, 2004, the United Nations Security Council
passed Security Council Resolution 1556, calling upon the
Government of Sudan to disarm the Janjaweed militias and to
apprehend and bring to justice Janjaweed leaders and their
associates who have incited and carried out violations of
human rights and international humanitarian law, and
establishing a ban on the sale or supply of arms and related
materiel of all types, including the provision of related
technical training or assistance, to all nongovernmental
entities and individuals, including the Janjaweed.
(5) On September 18, 2004, the United Nations Security
Council passed Security Council Resolution 1564, determining
that the Government of Sudan had failed to meet its
obligations under Security Council Resolution 1556, calling
for a military flight ban in and over the Darfur region,
demanding the names of Janjaweed militiamen disarmed and
arrested for verification, establishing an International
Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to investigate violations of
international humanitarian and human rights laws, and
threatening sanctions should the Government of Sudan fail to
fully comply with Security Council Resolutions 1556 and 1564,
including such actions as to affect Sudan's petroleum sector
or individual members of the Government of Sudan.
(6) The Report of the International Commission of Inquiry
on Darfur, submitted to the United Nations Secretary-General
on January 25, 2005, established that the ``Government of the
Sudan and the Janjaweed are responsible for serious
violations of international human rights and humanitarian law
amounting to crimes under international law,'' that ``these
acts were conducted on a widespread and systematic basis, and
therefore may amount to crimes against humanity,'' and that
Sudanese officials and other individuals may have acted with
``genocidal intent''.
(7) The Report of the International Commission of Inquiry
on Darfur further notes that, pursuant to its mandate and in
the course of its work, the Commission had collected
information relating to individual perpetrators of acts
constituting ``violations of international human rights law
and international humanitarian law, including crimes against
humanity and war crimes'' and that a sealed file containing
the names of those individual perpetrators had been delivered
to the United Nations Secretary-General.
(8) On March 24, 2005, the United Nations Security Council
passed Security Council Resolution 1590, establishing the
United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), consisting of up to
10,000 military personnel and 715 civilian police tasked with
supporting implementation of the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement for Sudan and ``closely and continuously liais[ing]
and coordinat[ing] at all levels with the African Union
Mission in Sudan (AMIS) with a view towards expeditiously
reinforcing the effort to foster peace in Darfur''.
(9) On March 29, 2005, the United Nations Security Council
passed Security Council Resolution 1591, extending the
military embargo established by Security Council Resolution
1556 to all the parties to the N'djamena Ceasefire Agreement
of April 8, 2004, and any other belligerents in the states of
North Darfur, South Darfur, and West Darfur, calling for an
asset freeze and travel ban against those individuals who
impede the peace process, constitute a threat to stability in
Darfur and the region, commit violations of international
humanitarian or human rights law or other atrocities, are
responsible for offensive military overflights, or violate
the military embargo, and establishing a Committee of the
Security Council and a Panel of Experts to assist in
monitoring compliance with Security Council Resolutions 1556
and 1591.
(10) On March 31, 2005, the United Nations Security Council
passed Security Council Resolution 1593, referring the
situation in Darfur since July 1, 2002, to the prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court and calling on the
Government of Sudan and all parties to the conflict to
cooperate fully with the Court.
(11) In remarks before the G-8 Summit on June 30, 2005,
President Bush reconfirmed that ``the violence in Darfur is
clearly genocide'' and ``the human cost is beyond
calculation''.
(12) On July 30, 2005, Dr. John Garang de Mabior, the newly
appointed Vice President of Sudan and the leader of the Sudan
People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) for the past 21
years, was killed in a tragic helicopter crash in southern
Sudan, sparking riots in Khartoum and challenging the
commitment of all Sudanese to the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement for Sudan.
(13) Since 1993, the Secretary of State has determined that
the Republic of Sudan is a country which has repeatedly
provided support for acts of international terrorism and,
pursuant to section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act of
1979, section 40 of the Arms Export Control Act, and section
620A of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, designated Sudan
as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, thereby restricting United
States assistance, defense exports and sales, and financial
and other transactions with the Government of Sudan.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the genocide unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan is
characterized by acts of terrorism and atrocities directed
against civilians, including mass murder, rape, and sexual
violence committed by the Janjaweed and associated militias
with the complicity and support of the National Congress
Party-led faction of the Government of Sudan;
(2) the Secretary of State should designate the Janjaweed
militia as a foreign terrorist organization pursuant to
section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act;
(3) all parties to the conflict in the Darfur region have
continued to violate the N'djamena
[[Page H1462]]
Ceasefire Agreement of April 8, 2004, and the Abuja Protocols
of November 9, 2004, and violence against civilians,
humanitarian aid workers, and personnel of the African Union
Mission in Sudan (AMIS) is increasing;
(4) the African Union should rapidly expand the size and
amend the mandate of the African Union Mission in Sudan to
authorize such action as may be necessary to protect
civilians and humanitarian operations, and deter violence in
the Darfur region without delay;
(5) the international community, including the United
Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the
European Union, and the United States, should immediately act
to mobilize sufficient political, military, and financial
resources to support the expansion of the African Union
Mission in Sudan so that it achieves the size, strength, and
capacity necessary for protecting civilians and humanitarian
operations, and ending the continued violence in the Darfur
region;
(6) if an expanded and reinforced African Union Mission in
Sudan fails to stop genocide in the Darfur region, the
international community should take additional, dispositive
measures to prevent and suppress acts of genocide in the
Darfur region;
(7) acting under Article 5 of the Charter of the United
Nations, the United Nations Security Council should call for
suspension of the Government of Sudan's rights and privileges
of membership by the General Assembly until such time as the
Government of Sudan has honored pledges to cease attacks upon
civilians, demobilize and demilitarize the Janjaweed and
associated militias, and grant free and unfettered access for
deliveries of humanitarian assistance in the Darfur region;
(8) the President should use all necessary and appropriate
diplomatic means to ensure the full discharge of the
responsibilities of the Committee of the United Nations
Security Council and the Panel of Experts established
pursuant to section 3(a) of Security Council Resolution 1591
(March 29, 2005);
(9) the United States should not provide assistance to the
Government of Sudan, other than assistance necessary for the
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for
Sudan, the support of the regional Government of Southern
Sudan and marginalized areas in northern Sudan (including the
Nuba Mountains, Southern Blue Nile, Abyei, Eastern Sudan
(Beja), Darfur, and Nubia), as well as marginalized peoples
in and around Khartoum, or for humanitarian purposes in
Sudan, until such time as the Government of Sudan has honored
pledges to cease attacks upon civilians, demobilize and
demilitarize the Janjaweed and associated militias, grant
free and unfettered access for deliveries of humanitarian
assistance in the Darfur region, and allow for the safe and
voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced
persons;
(10) the President should seek to assist members of the
Sudanese diaspora in the United States by establishing a
student loan forgiveness program for those individuals who
commit to return to southern Sudan for a period of not less
than five years for the purpose of contributing professional
skills needed for the reconstruction of southern Sudan;
(11) the President should appoint a Presidential Envoy for
Sudan with appropriate resources and a clear mandate to
provide stewardship of efforts to implement the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement for Sudan, seek ways to bring stability and
peace to the Darfur region, address instability elsewhere in
Sudan and northern Uganda, and pursue a truly comprehensive
peace throughout the region;
(12) to achieve the goals specified in paragraph (10) and
to further promote human rights and civil liberties, build
democracy, and strengthen civil society, the Presidential
Envoy for Sudan should be empowered to promote and encourage
the exchange of individuals pursuant to educational and
cultural programs, including programs funded by the
Government of the United States;
(13) the international community should strongly condemn
attacks against humanitarian workers and demand that all
armed groups in the Darfur region, including the forces of
the Government of Sudan, the Janjaweed, associated militias,
the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), the Justice and
Equality Movement (JEM), and all other armed groups refrain
from such attacks;
(14) the United States should fully support the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan and urge rapid
implementation of its terms; and
(15) the new leadership of the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM) should--
(A) seek to transform the SPLM into an inclusive,
transparent, and democratic body;
(B) reaffirm the commitment of the SPLM to bringing peace
not only to southern Sudan, but also to the Darfur region,
eastern Sudan, and northern Uganda; and
(C) remain united in the face of efforts to undermine the
SPLM.
SEC. 5. SANCTIONS IN SUPPORT OF PEACE IN DARFUR.
(a) Blocking of Assets and Restriction on Visas.--Section 6
of the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act of 2004 (Public Law
108-497; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended--
(1) in the heading of subsection (b), by inserting ``of
Appropriate Senior Officials of the Sudanese Government''
after ``Assets'';
(2) by redesignating subsections (c) through (e) as
subsections (d) through (f), respectively; and
(3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new
subsection:
``(c) Blocking of Assets and Restriction on Visas of
Certain Individuals Identified by the President.--
``(1) Blocking of assets.--Beginning on the date that is 30
days after the date of the enactment of the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act of 2006, and in the interest of
contributing to peace in Sudan, the President shall,
consistent with the authorities granted in the International
Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), block
the assets of any individual who the President determines is
complicit in, or responsible for, acts of genocide, war
crimes, or crimes against humanity in Darfur, including the
family members or any associates of such individual to whom
assets or property of such individual was transferred on or
after July 1, 2002.
``(2) Restriction on visas.--Beginning on the date that is
30 days after the date of the enactment of the Darfur Peace
and Accountability Act of 2006, and in the interest of
contributing to peace in Sudan, the President shall deny
visas and entry to any individual who the President
determines is complicit in, or responsible for, acts of
genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity in Darfur,
including the family members or any associates of such
individual to whom assets or property of such individual was
transferred on or after July 1, 2002.''.
(b) Waiver.--Section 6(d) of the Comprehensive Peace in
Sudan Act of 2004 (as redesignated by subsection (a)) is
amended by adding at the end the following new sentence:
``The President may waive the application of paragraph (1) or
(2) of subsection (c) with respect to an individual if the
President determines that such a waiver is in the national
interests of the United States and, prior to exercising the
waiver, transmits to the appropriate congressional committees
a notification which includes the name of the individual and
the reasons for the waiver.''.
(c) Sanctions Against Certain Janjaweed Commanders and
Coordinators.--The President should immediately consider
imposing the sanctions described in section 6(c) of the
Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act of 2004 (as added by
subsection (a)) against the Janjaweed commanders and
coordinators identified by the former United States
Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes before the Subcommittee on
Africa of the House International Relations Committee on June
24, 2004.
SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL AUTHORITIES TO DETER AND SUPPRESS GENOCIDE
IN DARFUR.
(a) United States Assistance to Support AMIS.--Section 7 of
the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-
497; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended--
(1) by striking ``Notwithstanding'' and inserting ``(a)
General Assistance.--Notwithstanding''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(b) Assistance to Support AMIS.--Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, the President is authorized to
provide assistance, on such terms and conditions as the
President may determine and in consultation with the
appropriate congressional committees, to reinforce the
deployment and operations of an expanded African Union
Mission in Sudan (AMIS) with the mandate, size, strength, and
capacity to protect civilians and humanitarian operations,
stabilize the Darfur region of Sudan and dissuade and deter
air attacks directed against civilians and humanitarian
workers, including but not limited to providing assistance in
the areas of logistics, transport, communications, materiel
support, technical assistance, training, command and control,
aerial surveillance, and intelligence.''.
(b) NATO Assistance to Support AMIS.--The President should
instruct the United States Permanent Representative to the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to use the voice,
vote, and influence of the United States at NATO to advocate
NATO reinforcement of the African Union Mission in Sudan
(AMIS), upon the request of the African Union, including but
not limited to the provision of assets to dissuade and deter
offensive air strikes directed against civilians and
humanitarian workers in the Darfur region of Sudan and other
logistical, transportation, communications, training,
technical assistance, command and control, aerial
surveillance, and intelligence support.
(c) Denial of Entry at United States Ports to Certain Cargo
Ships or Oil Tankers.--
(1) In general.--The President should take all necessary
and appropriate steps to deny the Government of Sudan access
to oil revenues, including by prohibiting entry at United
States ports to cargo ships or oil tankers engaged in
business or trade activities in the oil sector of Sudan or
involved in the shipment of goods for use by the armed forces
of Sudan until such time as the Government of Sudan has
honored its commitments to cease attacks on civilians,
demobilize and demilitarize the Janjaweed and associated
militias, grant free and unfettered access for deliveries of
humanitarian assistance, and allow for the safe and voluntary
return of refugees and internally displaced persons.
(2) Exception.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect
to cargo ships or oil tankers involved in an internationally-
recognized demobilization program or the shipment of non-
lethal assistance necessary to carry out elements of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan.
(d) Prohibition on Assistance to Countries in Violation of
United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1556 and 1591.--
(1) Prohibition.--Amounts made available to carry out the
Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) may
not be used to provide assistance (other than humanitarian
assistance) to the government of a country that is in
violation of the embargo on military assistance with respect
to Sudan imposed pursuant to United Nations Security Council
Resolutions 1556 (July 30, 2004) and 1591 (March 29, 2005).
(2) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of
paragraph (1) if the President determines and certifies to
the appropriate congressional committees that it is in the
national interests of the United States to do so.
[[Page H1463]]
SEC. 7. MULTILATERAL EFFORTS.
The President shall direct the United States Permanent
Representative to the United Nations to use the voice and
vote of the United States to urge the adoption of a
resolution by the United Nations Security Council that--
(1) supports the expansion of the African Union Mission in
Sudan (AMIS) so that it achieves the mandate, size, strength,
and capacity needed to protect civilians and humanitarian
operations, and dissuade and deter fighting and violence in
the Darfur region of Sudan, and urges Member States of the
United Nations to accelerate political, material, financial,
and other assistance to the African Union toward this end;
(2) reinforces efforts of the African Union to negotiate
peace talks between the Government of Sudan, the Sudan
Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), the Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM), and associated armed groups in the Darfur
region, calls on the Government of Sudan, the SLM/A, and the
JEM to abide by their obligations under the N'Djamena
Ceasefire Agreement of April 8, 2004 and subsequent
agreements, urges all parties to engage in peace talks
without preconditions and seek to resolve the conflict, and
strongly condemns all attacks against humanitarian workers
and African Union personnel in the Darfur region;
(3) imposes sanctions against the Government of Sudan,
including sanctions against individual members of the
Government of Sudan, and entities controlled or owned by
officials of the Government of Sudan or the National Congress
Party in Sudan until such time as the Government of Sudan has
honored its commitments to cease attacks on civilians,
demobilize and demilitarize the Janjaweed and associated
militias, grant free and unfettered access for deliveries of
humanitarian assistance, and allow for the safe and voluntary
return of refugees and internally displaced persons;
(4) extends the military embargo established by United
Nations Security Council Resolutions 1556 (July 30, 2004) and
1591 (March 29, 2005) to include a total prohibition on the
sale or supply of offensive military equipment to the
Government of Sudan, except for use in an internationally-
recognized demobilization program or for non-lethal
assistance necessary to carry out elements of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan; and
(5) calls upon those Member States of the United Nations
that continue to undermine efforts to foster peace in Sudan
by providing military assistance and equipment to the
Government of Sudan, the SLM/A, the JEM, and associated armed
groups in the Darfur region in violation of the embargo on
such assistance and equipment, as called for in United
Nations Security Council Resolutions 1556 and 1591, to
immediately cease and desist.
SEC. 8. CONTINUATION OF RESTRICTIONS.
(a) Continuation of Restrictions.--Restrictions against the
Government of Sudan that were imposed pursuant to Executive
Order 13067 of November 3, 1997 (62 Federal Register 59989),
title III and sections 508, 512, 527, and 569 of the Foreign
Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs
Appropriations Act, 2006, or any other similar provision of
law, shall remain in effect and shall not be lifted pursuant
to such provisions of law until the President transmits to
the appropriate congressional committees a certification that
the Government of Sudan is acting in good faith to--
(1) peacefully resolve the crisis in the Darfur region of
Sudan;
(2) disarm, demobilize, and demilitarize the Janjaweed and
all government-allied militias;
(3) adhere to United Nations Security Council Resolutions
1556 (2004), 1564 (2004), 1591 (2005), and 1593 (2005);
(4) negotiate a peaceful resolution to the crisis in
eastern Sudan;
(5) fully cooperate with efforts to disarm, demobilize, and
deny safe haven to members of the Lords Resistance Army; and
(6) fully implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for
Sudan without manipulation or delay, including by--
(A) implementing the recommendations of the Abyei
Commission Report;
(B) establishing other appropriate commissions and
implementing and adhering to the recommendations of such
commissions consistent with the terms of the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement for Sudan;
(C) adhering to the terms of the Wealth Sharing Agreement;
and
(D) withdrawing government forces from southern Sudan
consistent with the terms of the Comprehensive Peace
Agreement for Sudan.
(b) Waiver.--The President may waive the application of
subsection (a) if the President determines and certifies to
the appropriate congressional committees that it is in the
national interests of the United States to do so.
SEC. 9. ASSISTANCE EFFORTS IN SUDAN.
(a) Additional Authorities.--Section 501(a) of the
Assistance for International Malaria Control Act (50 U.S.C.
1701 note) is amended--
(1) by striking ``Notwithstanding any other provision of
law'' and inserting the following:
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
law'';
(2) by inserting ``civil administrations,'' after
``indigenous groups,'';
(3) by striking ``areas outside of control of the
Government of Sudan'' and inserting ``southern Sudan,
southern Kordofan/Nuba Mountains State, Blue Nile State, and
Abyei'';
(4) by inserting at the end before the period the
following: ``, including the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
for Sudan''; and
(5) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(2) Congressional notification.--
``(A) In general.--Assistance may not be obligated under
this subsection until 15 days after the date on which the
President has provided notice thereof to the congressional
committees specified in section 634A of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2394-1) in accordance with
the procedures applicable to reprogramming notifications
under such section.
``(B) Rule of construction.--The notification requirement
of subparagraph (A) shall not apply in the case of assistance
subject to notification in accordance with section 634A of
the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 pursuant to any provision
of an Act making appropriations for foreign operations,
export financing, and related programs.''.
(b) Exception to Prohibitions in Executive Order No.
13067.--Section 501(b) of the Assistance for International
Malaria Control Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended--
(1) in the heading, by striking ``Export Prohibitions'' and
inserting ``Prohibitions in Executive Order No. 13067'';
(2) by striking ``any export from an area in Sudan outside
of control of the Government of Sudan, or to any necessary
transaction directly related to that export'' and inserting
``activities or related transactions with respect to southern
Sudan, southern Kordofan/Nuba Mountains State, Blue Nile
State, or Abyei''; and
(3) by striking ``the export or related transaction'' and
all that follows and inserting ``such activities or related
transactions would directly benefit the economic recovery and
development of those areas and people.''.
SEC. 10. REPORTS.
(a) Report on African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS).--
Section 8 of the Sudan Peace Act (Public Law 107-245; 50
U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (c) as subsection (d); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the following new
subsection:
``(c) Report on African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS).--In
conjunction with reports required under subsections (a) and
(b) of this section, the Secretary of State shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report, to be
prepared in conjunction with the Secretary of Defense, on--
``(1) efforts to fully deploy the African Union Mission in
Sudan (AMIS) with the size, strength, and capacity necessary
to stabilize the Darfur region of Sudan and protect civilians
and humanitarian operations;
``(2) the needs of AMIS to ensure success, including in the
areas of housing, transport, communications, equipment,
technical assistance, training, command and control,
intelligence, and such assistance as is necessary to dissuade
and deter attacks, including by air, directed against
civilians and humanitarian operations;
``(3) the current level of United States assistance and
other assistance provided to AMIS, and a request for
additional United States assistance, if necessary;
``(4) the status of North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) plans and assistance to support AMIS; and
``(5) the performance of AMIS in carrying out its mission
in the Darfur region.''.
(b) Report on Sanctions in Support of Peace in Darfur.--
Section 8 of the Sudan Peace Act (Public Law 107-245; 50
U.S.C. 1701 note), as amended by subsection (a), is further
amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new
subsection:
``(d) Report on Sanctions in Support of Peace in Darfur.--
In conjunction with reports required under subsections (a),
(b), and (c) of this section, the Secretary of State shall
submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report
regarding sanctions imposed under subsections (a) through (d)
of section 6 of the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act of 2004,
including--
``(1) a description of each sanction imposed under such
provisions of law; and
``(2) the name of the individual or entity subject to the
sanction, if applicable.''.
SEC. 11. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act (or any amendment made by this Act) or
any other provision of law shall be construed to preempt any
State law that prohibits investment of State funds, including
State pension funds, in or relating to the Republic of the
Sudan.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H.R. 3127, the Darfur
Peace and Accountability Act, and I want to commend the gentleman from
Illinois (Chairman Hyde) of the International Relations Committee for
drafting a bill that has the best chance of becoming law and dealing
with the genocidal situation in Sudan. Despite sometimes difficult and
complex efforts needed to move this legislation, Mr. Hyde has remained
steadfast in moving forward and that is why I have continued to support
his efforts throughout this process.
Madam Speaker, no single country in Africa has been subject to
greater partisan and bipartisan attention and deliberation by the
United States Congress than the Republic of Sudan. Over
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the past 3 years, at least nine major bills and resolutions regarding
Sudan have been passed by this body, including an historic declaration
that genocide was occurring in the Darfur region of western Sudan in
September of 2004.
For its own part, the administration of President Bush has led both
humanitarian and diplomatic efforts to address the crisis in Darfur.
The United States has provided more than $617 million in assistance to
help ease the suffering of those most affected by the conflict, and
more than $150 million to support the African Union mission in Darfur.
I would say parenthetically, last August Greg Simpkins, our expert on
the subcommittee, and I went to Darfur. We spent several days in
Khartoum and then made our way up to Mukjar and Kalma camp. Mukjar is a
very remote camp, where we saw the beneficiaries of that aid, men and
women and children, who have suffered so much, lost so many of their
loved ones to this genocide. But it was reassuring and quite
gratifying, to be blunt, to see American aid providing them with
healthy and nutritious meals as well as the medicines and at least some
of the security that they so desperately need.
We also knew, especially with Mukjar, that if you traveled just a
kilometer outside camp, the Janjaweed and other killers were waiting to
continue their genocidal deeds. It was very sobering to know the risks
and the security fright that they face each and every day knowing that
they cannot go past the perimeters of the refugee camps.
We also met in Khartoum with not only Salva Kiir, the Vice President,
who is doing an extraordinarily good job to try to bring peace to the
region, but we also met with President al-Bashir. He and his junta
continue to be largely responsible for many of the crimes committed
both in Darfur and earlier in the south of Sudan.
Let me finally point out to my colleagues that at the direction of
the President, President Bush, the United States Ambassador to NATO has
pressed for NATO reinforcement of the African Union mission. We all
know they do not have enough people to do the job. The mission was
designed and configured in a way that almost doomed it to failure
despite herculean efforts on their part. We are now pressing for
reinforcement of those AU troops.
The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, continues to
seek authorization to incorporate the African Union Mission into a
larger, more robust U.N. peacekeeping mission. As Mr. Lantos knows when
we traveled to New York just a week ago and met with Kofi Annan and
others, that was one of the key topics we talked about: How do we get
this AU mission blue helmeted so they can grow the mission, as well as
boots on the ground to try to mitigate this misery.
The United States also continues to play a significant role in
facilitating peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria, between the Government of
Sudan and the rebels of Darfur.
Notwithstanding the multiple legislative initiatives and the best
efforts of this administration and many of our friends in Europe, and
despite the conclusion of a peace agreement for southern Sudan, the
passage of six U.N. Security Council resolutions and the deployment of
nearly 7,000 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur and the conduct of
seven rounds of peace talks, the crisis in Darfur continues with
catastrophic consequences. This conflict is real. It is ongoing, it is
every day, and it demands our resolute attention.
Madam Speaker, as many as 400,000 people have died and more than 2
million people have been forced from their homes. Entire villages have
been looted and destroyed, and countless men, women and children have
been abducted, murdered, abused and raped. Weapons continue to flow
into the region unabated despite the existence of an arms embargo, and
attacks against civilians, humanitarian convoys, and African Union
peacekeepers increase almost daily as peace talks in Nigeria flounder.
Despite 14,000 aid workers that make up some 82 NGOs, 13 U.N.
agencies and the International Committee for the Red Cross, a lack of
security and reliable transportation means that food aid and other
humanitarian assistance is becoming increasingly more difficult to
deliver. While it is clear that something must be done, it is also
clear that we cannot legislate an end to the atrocities and no number
of forces from the African Union, NATO, U.N. or even the U.S. can
impose a permanent peace without the commitment of the Sudanese
themselves to lay down their arms.
Still, as humanitarians we cannot stand by idly as the Sudanese
government officials and rebel commanders jockey for power while
tragedy continues to unfold in Darfur and threatens to return to the
rest of Sudan.
According to a recent International Crisis Group report, Sudan's
ruling National Congress Party lacks the will to implement the North-
South peace agreement and has frustrated the Darfur peace process by
``facilitating increased chaos on the ground and promoting divisions
within the rebels.''
We are all aware of the complexity of the situation in Sudan and must
respond accordingly to all of its facets and manifestations. This
legislation, I believe, attempts a comprehensive effort to deal with
the tragedy of that country. The committee amendment before you, which
is the result of 8 months of bipartisan collaboration, contains the
following measures:
One, while it does not authorize the use of United States Armed
Forces in Darfur, it confers upon the President the authority to
provide assistance to reinforce the deployment and operations of an
expanded AU mission with the mandate, size, strength and capacity to
protect civilians and humanitarian operations.
Two, it encourages the imposition of targeted sanctions against the
Janjaweed commanders and coordinators.
Three, it calls for the extension of the military embargo established
pursuant to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1556 and 1591 to include
the government of Sudan.
Four, it amends the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act of 2004 to
impose an asset freeze and travel ban against individual perpetrators
of genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Next, it asserts that existing restrictions imposed against Sudan
shall not be lifted until the President certifies to the Congress that
the government of Sudan is acting in good faith to:
One, peacefully resolve the crisis in Darfur;
Two, disarm, demobilize and demilitarize the Janjaweed;
Three, adhere to U.N. Security Council resolutions;
Four, negotiate a peaceful resolution to the crisis in eastern Sudan;
Five, cooperate with efforts to disarm and deny safe havens to the
Lord's Resistance Army; and
Six, fully implement the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
The legislation also amends the International Malaria Control Act to
enable the United States Government to continue providing assistance to
southern Sudan and other marginalized areas and lift restrictions on
imports and exports for those same areas.
It also adds a section regarding the preemption of State laws that
prohibit investment of State pension funds in Sudan.
Madam Speaker, Sudan is a very sensitive and emotional issue for
Members of this body. While Sudan may be providing the United States
with valuable information relevant to the global war on terror, or so
it says, it is still on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. It is a
country where the government has unleashed campaigns of terror and
genocide against its own citizens.
It is a country where slavery still exists. Back in 1996, I chaired
the first hearing ever on the continuing use of chattel slavery in
Sudan, something that we thought was abolished in the 1860s.
For many, the National Congress Party-led faction of the Sudanese
government represents pure evil. Although we may differ on our views on
how best to confront the regime in Khartoum, the need to promote peace
and accountability throughout Sudan is not a partisan issue. Members,
such as the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and the gentleman
from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo), have been tenacious on this. Of course
the ranking member, Mr. Lantos, and all of us have worked on both sides
of the aisle to try
[[Page H1465]]
to ensure that this body remains focused on Sudan in a meaningful and
constructive way. Their leadership has been inspiring, and I want to
thank them all.
That being said, the bill that lies before you today is the result of
8 months of inclusive consultations and intense negotiations, and
represents a truly bipartisan compromise on the efforts to address
genocide in Darfur while supporting the consolidation of peace in
southern Sudan.
{time} 1100
And while it represents a compromise, don't be mistaken. This is a
strong bill. It is an important bill. It is an urgent bill. The people
of Darfur cannot afford to wait while we continue discussions on how
best to confront Khartoum. They need our help now.
I would also like to thank our esteemed ranking member of the
Judiciary Committee, the chairman and ranking member, Mr. Sensenbrenner
and Mr. Conyers, for acting so quickly to allow us to get this measure
to the floor without further delay.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution,
and I am very pleased to yield 1 minute to the distinguished Democratic
leader who is in the forefront of every single fight globally on behalf
of human rights and who has just returned a few weeks ago from a visit
to Darfur, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
Ms. PELOSI. Thank you very much, Mr. Lantos, our distinguished
ranking member on the International Relations Committee, also a cochair
of the Human Rights Caucus. Thank you for your great leadership on
fighting for human rights throughout the world. You have a long history
of that. You have personal experience in terms of being the only Member
of Congress who escaped the Holocaust, and you have brought that
conviction, your ideas, your courage to this fight once again in
helping the people of Darfur.
And I want to commend Mr. Chris Smith. He and Frank Wolf have been
such leaders on this issue for so very many years, and all of us who
are concerned about Sudan, in particular now, Darfur are deeply in your
debt.
I join the gentleman in commending Henry Hyde, as well as Mr. Lantos
and Donald Payne, our colleague, who have brought this issue to the
forefront in the Congress of the United States. I thank you for
authorizing this legislation, for your steadfast leadership in calling
attention to the crisis in Darfur.
Mr. Speaker, I bring to the floor a picture of the children, a
picture of the children of Darfur. All of us on our trip that Mr.
Lantos mentioned, who visited Darfur, 11 members of a bipartisan
delegation, all of us wanted to take these children home with us, but
that wasn't possible. There were so many of them. And it wouldn't be
right anyway, because they wanted to go home. They wanted to go home to
their homes which no longer existed.
When we were there, we visited with them. And after a day in the
refugee camp, our bipartisan delegation traveled to Khartoum to meet
with Vice President Taha. He asked us, he said, ``The Sudanese people
want to know, why are you so interested in Sudanese domestic affairs? I
know the American people are free-thinking people, but maybe your free-
thinking does not create a clear understanding of the facts in my
country.''
Vice President Taha was denying what we had seen with our very own
eyes that day, refugee children struggling in the heat without shade,
without adequate clothing and sleeping in make-shift tents that were
made, some of them, from USAID food bags stitched together.
The Darfuris are forced to walk miles outside the camps for firewood
and water, with the constant fear that they may be attacked.
As Vice President Taha was denying all of this, we could not help
recalling the stories of villages torched, women raped, children
kidnapped and men tortured and killed. But even in the horror of all of
that, we saw hope in the bright and playful eyes of the toddlers. That
hope, however, was diminished in the eyes of the older children. They
had really seen too much. They had seen too much.
The camps we visited were homes to over 100,000 people. That was just
what we saw when we were there. There are many more. That is just a
fraction of the staggering toll of the violence in Darfur. But you can
see these camps, and you can see that some of them are made out of
USAID food bags.
According to the United Nations, 3 million people are in need of
assistance. Two million Darfuris have been displaced, pushed out of
their homes and their villages, and nearly 200,000 people have been
killed thus far, and that is a conservative estimate.
Furthermore, the full human toll is yet to be exacted. Concentrated
in camps with deplorable conditions, when the rainy season comes,
Darfuris are now vulnerable to further death from disease. Sicknesses
like cholera and dysentery could take tens of thousands more lives.
We have seen variations on this ``problem from hell,'' most recently
in Rwanda. And at that time, that short time ago, we promised never
again. We have heard never again over and over again.
The humanitarian disaster in Darfur challenges the conscience of the
world. It is the systemic destruction of a people. It is genocide.
While we were in the Sudan, back home President Bush reaffirmed that
this is, indeed, genocide. When some of us, Mr. Payne, Mr. Joe Wilson
and Mr. Clyburn and I met with the President at the White House to
thank him for his leadership and report on our trip, we also asked him
to appoint a special envoy, special U.S. envoy for the Sudan. This
envoy would signal that bringing peace and stability to the Sudan is a
priority of the United States, and it is a part of this legislation
that is on the floor today. This envoy, U.S. special envoy, is
necessary because it will help stop the violence, bring the parties to
the negotiating table, and get humanitarian relief to the people who
need it.
Essential to stopping the violence is stopping the Janjaweed. I heard
Congressman Smith talking about the Janjaweed in his remarks, and after
persistent questioning in our meeting with Vice President Taha,
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, in a very diplomatic but persistent way,
questioned him about the Sudanese government's support of the
Janjaweed, which he first denied but later admitted that they had
supported the Janjaweed in the past. This was the first admission that
we had seen.
Before we went into Darfur, the U.S. military briefed us that the
Janjaweed is an extension of the Sudanese military, and they are
engaged in state sponsored violence. This must end.
The African Union is to be commended for its efforts to protect
Darfur. We saw the AU's camps there where people were getting at least
something to eat and perhaps some medical attention for the first time.
But so much more needs to be done.
So that is why this legislation on the floor today is so important,
because I don't even know if these children are even alive 1 month
after we came home, these beautiful children.
Many people in our country have been actively involved in the effort
to get more support and humanitarian assistance on the ground. The
United Nations dollars for Darfur were running out in March.
Humanitarian workers in Sudan are harassed, their convoys diverted
and attacked, and some of these workers have been kidnapped.
Humanitarian workers bring no political agenda or no destabilizing
intentions to the Sudan. They carry with them hope and sometimes
health. They must be protected. Their supplies must not be diverted,
and their volunteers must not be detained.
So that is why I am very pleased that we were able to pass, in the
supplemental, the President's request for $439 million, and that Mr.
Capuano's initiative to add $50 million for assistance was accepted by
the House. We hope it will be considered in the Senate.
So this legislation, as was spelled out by Mr. Lantos and Mr. Smith,
so I won't go into it again, contains very, very important initiatives
to help make matters better. Stop the violence, bring the parties to
the table, get the humanitarian assistance to the people.
This brings us back to Vice President Taha's question, why is the
United
[[Page H1466]]
States so interested in Sudan? The answer is that genocide is not the
domestic affair of any nation. It concerns the world. And as our
colleague, Joe Wilson, said to him, Americans care about people. Our
care is reflected in the working done for the people of Darfur here in
this Congress, in State legislatures, in corporate board rooms, on
college campuses, even on high school campuses and yes, indeed, even in
the White House.
This care was spurred by our religious communities which have taken
the lead in our efforts. I salute many of the religious leaders who
have taken the lead on this. And on April 30, many people will
converge, thousands will converge on Washington, and there will be
events around the country put together by the Save Darfur Coalition.
Each day that the genocide continues, and each day that we wait, the
hope we saw in the eyes of the youngest children can disintegrate into
disease, despair and death.
Again, on April 30, Americans of conscience will come to Washington
to echo the call, never again. These citizens will demonstrate on
behalf of the children of Darfur and demonstrate that, not only is
America great, but America is good. And this legislation on the floor
today is a reflection of that goodness. I support it, and salute the
bipartisan cooperation that wrote it and brought it to floor.
Again, I thank Mr. Lantos for his exceptional leadership on human
rights throughout the world and in the Sudan, and Mr. Smith, Mr. Payne
and Mr. Frank Wolf for their exceptional leadership as well.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may
consume to my good friend and colleague from Ohio (Mrs. Schmidt).
(Mrs. SCHMIDT asked and was given permission to revise and extend her
remarks.)
Mrs. SCHMIDT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R.
3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. I commend Chairman Hyde
and Chairman Smith for their work in moving this important legislation
forward.
Defending the basic human rights of the world's most vulnerable
populations should be a priority for all of us. Sudan, the largest
country in Africa, has been ravaged by civil war intermittently for
four decades. An estimated 2 million people have died due to war-
related causes and famine, and millions more have been displaced from
their homes. This ongoing crisis in the Darfur region in Western Sudan
has led to a major humanitarian disaster.
Estimates are that up to 300,000 people have been killed in the
Darfur region over the past 24 months alone. In 2004, the House, the
Senate and the White House declared the atrocities taking place in
Darfur as genocide.
I am proud to be a cosponsor of this important legislation to impose
sanctions against individuals responsible for genocide, support
humanitarian operations and promote peace efforts in the region. This
is not only an issue of religion or politics. This is a matter of mercy
and humanity.
I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 3127.
I want to thank Chairman Smith, again, for this great bipartisan
legislation.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I first would like to thank my colleagues, Chairman Henry Hyde and
Chairman Chris Smith and the ranking member, my good friend from New
Jersey, Donald Payne, for keeping this House focused on the grave
atrocities unfolding every single day in Darfur.
Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Congress determined some 2 years ago that the
atrocities in Darfur are genocide. We don't use that term lightly. I
certainly don't. But it was my privilege to lead the debate on the
Democratic side designating what is unfolding in Darfur a genocide.
President Bush later addressed the U.N. General Assembly and reaffirmed
that our government also designates what is happening in Darfur a
genocide.
The United Nations Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs
yesterday reported that the government of Sudan is preventing him from
visiting Darfur as an eyewitness to the most recent wave of war crimes
taking place there. In the past few months, marauding Arab militia,
backed by Khartoum, have killed an estimated 10,000 children and women
and men.
{time} 1115
These Arab militias attacked 60 villages, sending thousands of people
fleeing into the desert. As we speak, Mr. Speaker, Khartoum's Arab
surrogates continue to disrupt U.N. humanitarian services, kill and
displace civilians, and destabilize the entire security situation in
Darfur.
While the government of Sudan grudgingly acceded to the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement, so-called, it continues to block every effort to
protect civilians, stop the genocide, and bring peace to Darfur.
The numbers of individuals killed, raped, tortured, and displaced is
staggering. Genocide has destroyed well over 60 percent of the villages
in Darfur. It has displaced over 2 million human beings and killed an
estimated 400,000 and driven additional hundreds of thousands into
refugee camps in neighboring Chad.
Meanwhile, the escalating violence on the Chad-Sudan border between
Chadian rebels and the Chadian military is threatening thousands in
refugee camps and making humanitarian assistance almost impossible.
Refugee men and boys are forced into recruitment into the rebel
militia. Rather than getting better, the situation for Darfur refugees
is becoming all the more precarious with every passing day.
The President has proposed to our allies that the United Nations have
a concrete plan to stop the violence in Darfur, deploy NATO staff and
resources to the region immediately to aid the embattled African Union
peacekeepers, and within 6 months establish a formal United Nations
peacekeeping mission in Darfur. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this
plan.
And yesterday I had the occasion to talk to the distinguished Foreign
Minister of Germany, and I am pleased to state that Germany and the
United States will stand together as members of NATO in Darfur.
In a cynical move, the government of Sudan is putting up every
possible roadblock to prevent this from happening. The regime even
threatened to pull out of the African Union if it endorsed a U.N.
handover.
The government of Sudan opposes a U.N. peacekeeping force for one
simple reason: it wants to complete the genocide. Working with the
African Union, the United Nations, and our NATO allies, we have a moral
obligation to foil this plan by actively bolstering African Union
forces already there before a U.N. force can finally be deployed.
The African Union has an urgent need for underground NATO advisers
and mentors in the areas of command and control, use of intelligence,
enhanced communications, and for NATO to continue its current
assistance such as strategic airlift for troop protection and training
at African Union headquarters.
As the most powerful countries in the world, all of the governments
of NATO have a responsibility to contribute in whatever way we can to
stopping this genocide. It is not a matter of means, Mr. Speaker. It is
a matter of political will.
To this end my distinguished colleague Congressman Joe Pitts and I
have introduced House Resolution 723 that calls on the African Union,
the United Nations, and NATO to work closely together to strengthen the
African Union's capacity to deter the ongoing violence until the U.N.
peacekeepers are fully deployed.
Recently, the other body passed a similar resolution sponsored by my
friends and colleagues Joe Biden and Sam Brownback. This effort to
bridge between the current African Union mission and the fully
implemented U.N. peacekeeping operation will save tens of thousands of
lives and allow uninterrupted humanitarian access to the vast numbers
today in camps in Chad and in Darfur. I urge all of my colleagues to
cosponsor H. Res. 723, the Lantos-Pitts resolution.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3127, under consideration today, demands
accountability on the part of the government of Sudan and those most
responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in
Darfur. Our bill imposes sanctions against the perpetrators who either
directly or indirectly are causing such large-scale human suffering and
devastation.
I encourage all of my colleagues to support this important bipartisan
bill.
[[Page H1467]]
Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride and respect for his work on this
subject that I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr.
Payne), who has been our conscience on the issue of the Darfur
genocide.
(Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in absolute strong support of
H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. I thank Mr. Lantos,
our ranking member of the International Relations Committee, for his
continued leadership on issues of importance to the committee, a person
who can speak of genocide, being the only Member in Congress who is a
Holocaust survivor. So this is very personal, as it is with all of us.
I would like to thank Chairman Hyde for the work that he and his
staff did for being open to negotiations with me and my staff and other
Members as well as those of other members of the Subcommittee on
Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, chaired by
Representative Smith, my friend from New Jersey, who has done an
outstanding job chairing the subcommittee.
I would also like to thank Congressman Wolf for his continued work,
who for many, many years has been involved in Sudan; and Congressman
Tancredo, who went to Southern Sudan on his first CODEL a number of
years ago with Senator Brownback and myself; and to Melvin Watt of the
Congressional Black Caucus and Barbara Lee and others who have stood
shoulder to shoulder opposing this horrendous genocide.
It was nearly 2 years ago on June 24 in 2004 where I stood with the
Congressional Black Caucus, Leader Pelosi, and Tom Tancredo and
introduced H. Con. Res. 467, declaring that genocide was occurring in
Darfur, Sudan and that the government of Sudan was responsible. This is
the government which harbored Osama bin Laden for 5 years in his
country and aided and abetted him and assisted him.
Tragically and to our own shame, the genocide continues today, almost
2 years later, unabated. Many people were surprised when the Congress
approved the genocide resolution. And then the next night Senator
Frist, with unanimous consent in the Senate, had the genocide
resolution passed in the Senate and the President indicated at the
United Nations that genocide was going on after Colin Powell declared
it for the State Department.
Mr. Speaker, I have walked through the camps of the Darfur people who
were violently forced by government troops and the Janjaweed
mercenaries to run for their lives. I have seen the faces in the
pictures that Leader Pelosi showed and to hear the horror stories.
Try to imagine what it is like to run away from everything you have
known in an instance at gunpoint, to look back at your home, at your
village, to see them engulfed in flames. Imagine the cries of scores of
men and women, young and old, being brutally killed, terrorized, raped,
beaten.
What continues to go on in Darfur today is the ultimate form of
terrorism. An estimated 400,000 have already died from murder,
starvation, diarrhea, and preventable diseases. Nearly 3 million were
forced from their homes into other parts of the region or into Chad.
Now the security nightmare has spilled over because the Janjaweed has
gone into Chad. And this is the same government that for 20 years had a
North-South war where 4 million people were displaced and 2 million
people died. So this is a government responsible for 6 million
displaced people, 2\1/2\ million people dead. This government does not
deserve to even be called a government.
Truthfully, it is difficult to imagine. We are half a world away,
safe. That is why we bear even a greater responsibility.
What can we do? We must call on President Bush to immediately push
the National Congress Party to disarm the Janjaweed, to give the
command to the government troops to stop killing innocent people, stop
raping, to send those responsible for atrocities in Darfur to
appropriate international authorities as called for in Security Council
Resolution 1593, and to comply with Security Council Resolutions 1564,
1591, and 1556.
Whether they are government officials such as Security and
Intelligence Chief Salah Gosh or Vice President Taha, who leads the
Janjaweed, as alleged, we must make sure that this ends.
I would like to just conclude by saying even in my district on
Sunday, April 9, the End the Genocide-Save Darfur will be having a
rally with the American Jewish Congress, the American Jewish World
Service, the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest, Help Darfur Now.
So everyone is coming together.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4 minutes to my good
friend and distinguished colleague from California, an indefatigable
fighter for human rights, Ms. Barbara Lee.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank our ranking member for
yielding, and also for your leadership and for making sure that
wherever genocide is occurring, you take action to stop it, Mr. Lantos.
Thank you so much.
I want to thank also Chairman Hyde and Chairman Smith for their
leadership and for making sure that as we move forward in addressing
this atrocity that we work together in a bipartisan fashion. It is so
important that the world see Democrats, Republicans, Independents, all
of us coming together on this issue.
And to Mr. Payne, let me just thank you again for your leadership,
for being oftentimes the lone voice in the wilderness and for staying
there and plugging along and making sure that this House and the other
body puts this as a priority because you knew early on what was taking
place when many did not. So thank you for your leadership.
And let me also thank Mr. Royce and all of those who have been
working and in the forefront of this effort because all of us
understand now that we can no longer stand by as millions of innocent
people are being displaced and hundreds of thousands are being
murdered.
I visited Chad and Sudan last year with Chairman Royce and the
Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle, and let me tell you we visited those
refugee camps on the Chadian-Sudanese border.
{time} 1130
Children drew pictures of airplanes flying with bombs dropping. Then
they had the helicopters going underneath the airplanes. Then the
militia, the Janjaweed on the horses, coming in burning and raping
women and kidnapping people. These pictures were vivid that the
children painted. It convinced me that the Khartoum government was
clearly responsible for this slaughter.
We visited also just recently with our great minority leader, Nancy
Pelosi, El Fasher and the refugee camps around the AU headquarters.
Quite frankly, it has gotten worse. I want to thank Congresswoman
Pelosi for her leadership, because we were able once again, and you
heard her earlier, to visit the refugee camps and talk to people and
see and learn what we must do in order to stop this slaughter.
This is an important bill. It addresses not only the immediate needs
of the Darfurian people, but also the long-term goals of a political
settlement. First of all, it also asks the Secretary of State to
declare the Janjaweed a terrorist organization, because that is what it
is, and we need to be very clear on that. The AU is currently doing a
remarkable job, and this legislation helps us to help the AU in a
better way in terms of providing for more support. They need more
troops.
This legislation also blocks assets and restricts travel of any
individual the President determines is responsible for acts of
genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.
It also supports the International Criminal Court's efforts to
prosecute those responsible for acts of genocide in Darfur.
Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that my provision for capital market
sanctions, which our subcommittee approved unanimously, did not stay in
the bill as it moved forward, but my provision to support state-
sponsored divestment campaigns throughout our Nation is in there.
I want to thank our Chairs for making sure that that is there,
because efforts to divest from companies that support the Khartoum
regime should be applauded and the growing divestment movement must be
supported.
[[Page H1468]]
The University of California is getting ready to divest, Harvard
University has divested, Stanford has divested, as well as the States
of Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon. These provisions with regard to
divestment are very important.
Mr. Speaker, this bill makes sure that we step up to the plate now
and put some teeth into our declaration of genocide. We cannot have
another Rwanda, Mr. Speaker. One million people died, and all we could
do there was go there later and apologize. Sometimes you see some of us
wearing ``Not on Our Watch, Save Darfur,'' because we do not intend to
have on our watch another genocide of that magnitude. 200,000 people is
too many already. One person is too many.
So this bill will help us address the growing humanitarian crisis,
and also the security crisis. In the long run, of course, we know that
we must have a political solution and a peace accord.
I want to thank all of you, again, for making sure this remained a
bipartisan effort.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to my
good friend and distinguished colleague from Rhode Island (Mr.
Langevin).
(Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. LANGEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I want to commend Mr. Lantos on his outstanding
leadership on this issue, as well as Chairman Hyde and Chairman Smith
on this all-important issue. I commend their leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace
and Accountability Act of 2006. I also want to express my deep concern
as well as the concern of an overwhelming number of my constituents
over the situation in Sudan.
The ongoing violence and humanitarian disaster in Sudan has led to as
many as 400,000 villagers killed by militias and left more than 2
million Sudanese in refugee camps. This dire situation has also
strained the resources of countries bordering Sudan.
In the past, I have supported measures that call on the President to
improve the security in Darfur and increase funding for peacekeeping
forces and humanitarian assistance. Today, I am proud to be a cosponsor
of H.R. 3127, which directs President Bush to impose sanctions on the
government of Sudan as well as freeze the assets of anyone responsible
for acts of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity in Sudan.
This measure also calls on NATO to send a civilian protection force to
assist the African Union mission in Sudan, which has been expanded.
Mr. Speaker, the plight of the people in Darfur resonates with all of
us, and we should all be ashamed that the atrocities that have taken
place and that are taking place right now are happening in our time.
Where is the world's outrage? Why have we not learned from the mistakes
of the past, the Holocaust, Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda?
Mr. Speaker, now is the time to act. It is our duty to end this
humanitarian suffering, and I will remain steadfast in my commitment to
stopping this conflict and promoting peace in Sudan.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The time of the gentleman from
California has expired.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that an additional
20 minutes of debate time be made available, equally divided between
the two sides.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from California?
There was no objection.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to my good
friend from Massachusetts, our distinguished colleague, Michael
Capuano.
Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, first I would like to add my voice to
congratulate the leadership of the International Relations Committee
and to this House for bringing this bill to the floor. I will be
honest, I had some doubts that this bill would ever get to the floor,
and the fact that it is here I think is something that deserves
recognition.
I think everybody here and everybody who is listening who cares about
this issue already knows what is going on in the Sudan.
I just wanted to rise today to express my opinion that this bill
coming to this floor at this time is representative of what America can
be in the world. It is representative of what America is. It is the
best of America. I am not so sure that this bill or anything we can do
here will actually stop the genocide in Sudan, but we need to do what
we can do, and that is what this bill does.
This bill represents the hopes and dreams of the world, for all the
people who care, honestly care, about human rights, basic human rights.
I am not talking about the kinds of things we talk about here in
America which are the extra-human rights we would all like to see.
These are basic: life and death; enslavement and freedom; torture and
no torture.
This bill addresses those issues to the best of our ability, and I
think just for a moment, every American who cares about this issue
should take a second and congratulate themselves and to feel good about
their country and their representatives here in the House who have
taken action today that we don't need to take. I don't think any of us
will get a single vote at home because of this action. But it is the
morally correct thing to do if America wants to continue to be the
beacon of hope for the entire world.
Mr. Speaker, I repeat what I said before. I congratulate the
leadership of this House, and thank them for bringing this bill to the
floor.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to my fellow
Californian and good friend, who is a fighter for human rights in
Africa and everywhere, Ms. Maxine Waters.
Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California. I
would like to commend the bipartisan effort of the International
Relations Committee, and thank you for the work that you have done on
this most important issue.
I was just part of a bipartisan delegation led by minority leader
Nancy Pelosi to the Sudan. Genocide is taking place as we stand here
today. We met with Vice President Taha. He was unapologetic, he was
arrogant and he was uncompromising on their position in Darfur. They
don't like the use of the word ``genocide,'' but he admitted that they
had funded the Janjaweed because they retaliated against the rebels of
the south who were resisting the Sudanese government.
We are on the right track. This Congress has been good in helping to
identify that, number one, genocide is indeed taking place. Over
200,000 people have died.
We watched what happened in Rwanda. We have noted over and over again
the atrocities of the Holocaust. Yet we can't seem to get the U.N. and
others to move fast enough to stop this genocide that is taking place
in Darfur.
I support this resolution today, this Darfur Peace and Accountability
Act of 2006 today, because this will impose sanctions on the government
of Sudan and it will block the assets of and restrict travel for
individuals who are responsible for acts of genocide, war crimes or
crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan. It is long past
due. We should be tough about it. The sanctions movement is growing. We
need to squeeze them. We need to make sure that we have the kinds of
actions that will be felt.
I was up in the camps. As far as the eyes can see, millions of
displaced persons who have been driven from their homes, driven from
their camps, living literally on the ground with little tarps just
covering them. It is unconscionable that this should continue.
Again, I thank the International Relations Committee.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 4 minutes to our
distinguished colleague and my good friend from Texas, Sheila Jackson-
Lee.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me again applaud the
International Relations Committee, Chairman Hyde and the ranking member
for never stepping away from a very difficult challenge on the
international arena.
Mr. Smith, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, let me again
acknowledge your ongoing stand against the brutalization of peoples who
are disenfranchised around this world and taking the responsibility
that this moral Congress has, the one entity that is looked upon around
the world for that extended helping hand.
[[Page H1469]]
I, too, traveled to Chad and to Sudan and looked at this whole
complex situation. On the one hand, the Sudanese government in a
certain sense having a mea culpa, ``not me, not I.'' The African Union
being somewhat helpless to the extent that the charge they are given is
only to watch and to see. And then in Chad, a country that is now being
in essence not destroyed, but certainly charged and challenged with
responsibilities that they cannot handle, thousands upon thousands of
displaced persons, many of them women and children.
I visited in the heat of the spring and saw no water for the children
to go to school, women being raped as they were leaving the camps to
find survival, the Chad economy not being able to survive because of
this enormous influx of new human beings. Yet, the Sudanese government
continues, continues, to deny.
Might I say that in the course of this work, Mr. Lantos, you know
that I have worked very hard to be, as many Members of Congress, a
bridge builder between nations in the Mideast. But it is important for
our friends, our Arab friends and our friends in China, to understand
that they are participants, that they are doing all that is good; if
they become implementers or affirmers of the genocide, that this
excellent legislation that has the handprint of the outstanding
gentleman from New Jersey, Mr. Payne, who consistently has been on the
battlefield, along with, of course, the excellent leadership of Leader
Pelosi, who passionately went to the Sudan just a couple of months ago
with members of the Congressional Black Caucus and others, who
symbolize the concern of this Congress, that if they don't understand
our allies, China being an emerging ally, certainly the work we are
trying to do in the Mideast, that they are affirming this disaster.
{time} 1145
Then they are not reading the tea leaves. So I come to this floor
acknowledging the excellence of H.R. 3127, asking for the other body to
immediately move forward. This is not a can-do piece of legislation.
This is an emergency piece of legislation. And the President, who
should have listened to Secretary Powell over a year ago, who declared
after we pressed as Members of Congress, members of the congressional
black caucus in particular, that genocide was going on, that it was
crucial that the genocide that is going on, that Americans, Americans
in every corner of this particular nation would be empathetic and
sympathetic to say stop this massive killing. And when I say that, it
is like horses going into your suburban neighborhoods, men and women or
men on horses and attacking your homes and sending you out of your
homes and burning your homes. That is what is going on in Sudan.
So let me join in the sanctions of this particular legislation, but
let me say to the gentleman on this floor, I do think it is time to re-
energize the movement that expressed to the Sudanese government by way
of the embassy, to be very honest with you, that people be at the
embassy to again express our disappointment with their lack of
sensitivity. And then I must say that what I intend to do is to begin a
movement of divestiture. I want to see the investment houses of America
divest of any investment in the Sudan, and we will begin this as others
have done in their States, and Texas needs to hear my call. Get your
money out of Sudan. They are not listening. And the only way that they
can be heard or we can be heard is the same way that apartheid was
destroyed in South Africa, was to isolate them and to determine that
they cannot any longer murder and pillage without impunity in this
particular country.
I thank the distinguished gentleman, but I hope that we will be able
to wage an effort, a bipartisan effort of divestiture, which ultimately
brought South Africa to its recognition, that of separation of black
and white and the brutality that occurred had to stop, and look at
South Africa today. Sudan can be the kind of nation we all can be proud
of.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all my colleagues on both
sides of the aisle for their powerful and impassioned statements. This
is a legislation of conscience. I urge all of my colleagues to support
it.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back
the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I
may consume.
Mr. Speaker, let me just say, in closing, how grateful I am to
Members on both sides of the aisle for working so steadfastly on this
legislation. There were some glitches, there were some areas where
there was broad agreement as well as disagreement. We worked out those
differences, and I want to thank the Members, but also the staff. Joan
Condon has done an incredibly good job in walking us through this
legislation and writing many parts of it. Greg Simpkins, our Africa
specialist on the subcommittee, who also worked on this legislation, as
I said earlier, accompanied me to Darfur last August. We saw firsthand
the devastating impact of this horrific genocide on men, women, and
children in that beleaguered land. Pearl-Alice Marsh is always a great
friend of the Africa Subcommittee, who provides very good insights. I
want to thank her, as well as Noelle Lusane, Don Payne's lead staffer
who works very well with us, and Ted Dagne. Together we were able to
work through these differences.
Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3127, the
Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, legislation aimed at stopping the
ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.
As a longtime cosponsor of this critical legislation, I'm pleased
that this bill has been brought before us today for a vote. With as
many as 400,000 killed by the orchestrated violence in Darfur, it's
imperative that the U.S. act quickly and decisively to put an end to
the crisis.
H.R. 3127 goes after the individuals both inside and outside the
Sudanese government who are responsible for the ongoing bloodshed by
directing the President to seize the assets of and refuse future visas
to any individual (or their family members) responsible for acts of
genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity in Sudan. It also
forbids any U.S. port from accepting any goods or cargo from Sudanese
ships should the Sudanese government continue to fail to take steps to
resolve the crisis. Furthermore, in order to give military protection
for victims on the ground, H.R. 3127 authorizes the President to
provide assistance for an expanded peacekeeping force in Sudan; the
African Union Mission in Sudan, AMIS, and directs the President to seek
NATO reinforcement of AMIS, upon the request of the African Union.
Last month I voted for and the House passed the Capuano Amendment to
the FY2006 Supplemental Appropriations Bill for Iraq and Other
International Activities, which added $50 million in funding to expand
the African Union's peacekeeping operations in Darfur. This critical
funding will help the African Union forces provide humanitarian relief
and protection until further assistance arrives from the U.S. and the
international community.
For the past three years I have voted for and cosponsored legislation
condemning the atrocities in Darfur and appropriately labeling them
``genocide.'' Both Houses of Congress have concurred with this
assessment, but little has been effective in stopping the killings and
displacement. We need to do more, and we need to come up with new
methods to target those perpetuating the violence. The provisions
within the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act will give us a fresh set
of tools to apply to the situation and deliver assistance to those who
need it. I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 3127.
Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, for three years the Sudanese government and
its armed militia have been engaged in a violent conflict against two
major rebel groups in Sudan. This struggle has evolved into an ongoing
campaign of government-backed violence and ethnic cleansing, but the
international community has failed to take sufficient action to put an
end to these atrocities. Congress and the Bush Administration have
recognized the slaughter in Darfur as genocide, but it is time to also
hold the government in Khartoum accountable for the horrendous actions
against civilians and provide international assistance to the victims
in Darfur.
To date, more than two million people in Darfur have been driven from
their homes and hundreds of thousands have been brutally murdered. Many
who have been fortunate enough to escape the violence in Darfur have
sought sanctuary in the neighboring country of Chad, but now acts of
violence and genocide are following them over the border. The New York
Times reported on February 28 that Chadians are now becoming the target
of cross-border attacks by Sudanese militia. These assaults are sending
civilians from Chad over the border to Sudan, directly into the heart
of the violence and bloodshed.
The African Union Mission in Sudan, AMIS, is charged with monitoring
an ineffective
[[Page H1470]]
ceasefire that has been consistently ignored by both sides of the
conflict. But the African Union does not have the resources, training
or mandate to provide real protection for the people of Darfur. The
African Union needs support from the international community, and H.R.
3127 is the first step in this process. This legislation directs the
President to instruct the U.S. representative to NATO to advocate for
NATO reinforcement of AMIS and to urge the Security Council to adopt a
resolution supporting the expansion of AMIS.
Today I offer my support for the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act,
and I hope that Congress, the Bush Administration and the International
Community can work together to put an end to crisis in Darfur.
Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act, and urge my colleagues to join me in voting yes on
this important piece of legislation. I commend Chairman Hyde and my
fellow New Jerseyans, African Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith and
Ranking Member Donald Payne for bringing this bill to the floor and
helping keep our focus on the terrible crisis in Darfur and
humanitarian needs in Sudan.
Three years ago, the people of Sudan began a bloody civil war, with
two rebel groups in the South rising up against the government in
Khartoum. The response from the Sudanese government was swift and
brutal, and its aerial bombardment and support of the criminal militia
known as the Janjaweed continues today throughout the country. But what
has been done in the Southern region of Darfur is beyond anything we
have seen in many years.
Mr. Speaker, it was not lightly that Congress declared the situation
in Darfur a genocide on July 22, 2004. The government and its Janjaweed
allies have killed hundreds of thousands of its non-Arab citizens in
the region, and this genocide continues unabated today. More than two
million civilians have been displaced from their homes, over 100,000
fleeing to neighboring Chad, and these refugees live in the most
difficult situations, still surrounded by Janjaweed abusers and fearful
for their safety. Rape has been widespread, and as the Janjaweed move
across the region they leave a path of destruction that makes living
nearly impossible for the few survivors left behind.
The military of the African Union, now 7,000 strong in Sudan, is
doing valiant work but has never received adequate support. The recent
discussions with NATO and the United Nations to bring additional forces
and military material to the peacekeeping and stabilization mission are
promising, but are not enough. The bill under consideration today would
authorize much needed assistance to the African Union Mission in Sudan,
and direct the President to support the expansion of this force to
strengthen their work to bring peace to the region.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a cosponsor of this bill, which lends
significant support to ongoing efforts to end the crisis in Darfur. The
bill supports the use of sanctions on the government of Sudan to
pressure it to end its support for the Janjaweed and return to
the negotiating table. Only through strong U.S. involvement will there
be an end to the violence in Darfur, and this bill provides the backing
the administration needs to take further action.
Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that the American people are in
firm support of the U.S. taking action on Darfur, and are strongly
moved by this tragedy, which some have likened to the Holocaust. In my
own district, a wide range of faith communities have joined together in
the South Jersey Interfaith Coalition to Save Darfur. I am proud to be
an honorary co-chair of this group which brings together people from
southern New Jersey to take action on this issue. I am also proud of
the students of Voorhees Middle School, who, with the help of their
teacher Joyce Laurella, organized ``Project: Save Darfur,'' which has
raised awareness of the crisis as well as money for UNICEF activities
in Sudan. Individual action can make a difference, and the U.S.
government should join its citizens in mobilizing on this important
issue.
Mr. Speaker, time is of the essence in this matter, which grows more
dire every day. We cannot stand idly by, as we did in the face of the
genocide in Rwanda and in the early stages of the Nazi holocaust, and
then report sadly from the gravesites of those who died. I strongly
urge my colleagues to vote yes on the Darfur Peace and Accountability
Act, and support these steps to end the genocide.
Mr. McNULTY. Mr. Speaker, I join today with many of my colleagues in
strongly supporting H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act
of 2006. As a co-sponsor of this measure since July 2005, I am
extremely pleased this measure is finally being considered by the full
House.
I traveled to Sudan in 1989. I did not know much about the Horn of
Africa at the time. But I knew this: 280,000 people starved to death
the year before and it was not because there was not enough food. There
was a tremendous outpouring of support from people all over the world,
and I am proud to say that it came primarily from the United States of
America. But that food did not get through to the innocent civilian
populations because of this civil war.
I went to Sudan with the late Mickey Leland and the late Bill Emerson
and my colleague Gary Ackerman. I watched in awe as Mickey Leland
negotiated with tyrant Sadiq al-Mahdi and with the leader of the SPLA
John Garang, and even that unsavory character next door President
Mengistu of Ethiopia to create'' corridors for peace.'' He was
successful that year. And in the following year, deaths due to
starvation dropped dramatically.
But in the time since then, we have focused our attention elsewhere.
We have looked away from this tragedy, and the situation today
continues to deteriorate.
Over 2 million people have already died over the past two decades due
to war-related causes and famine in Sudan and millions more are
internally displaced--more than any other nation on the face of the
Earth. And we continue to look the other way.
As we approach the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, we must
also recognize that what has been happening in the Darfur region of
Sudan is also genocide. On July 22, 2004, the House of Representatives
declared that the atrocities occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan
are genocide. This bill, H.R. 3127, also includes this declaration.
We need to get our priorities straight. Let's stop this war and end
this human suffering. We can start by passing and implementing the
provisions of this important measure, the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act.
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today I am offering my support
for H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. This bill would
be an important step in ending the crisis that continues to plague the
Darfur region of Sudan.
Since civil unrest erupted in Sudan in February 2003, roughly 400,000
people have died and an astounding 2.5 million have become displaced as
a result of policies by the government of Sudan and attacks by
government troops and government-backed militias. The human inhabitants
of that beautiful land suffer daily from unimaginable torments
including rape, hunger, looting, and indiscriminate killing.
The U.S. government has officially acknowledged that what is
happening in Darfur is genocide. Now, it is imperative that the U.S.
and the global community act in defense of those in Sudan who are
suffering at the hands of their government. If we do not do all that we
can to bring stability to this humanitarian crisis, then we are
essentially participating in the problem.
H.R. 3127 aims to end this deplorable violence through a variety of
means including increasing asset and travel sanctions, urging the
expansion and a stronger mandate for the African Union Mission, AMIS,
bringing perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, or crimes against
humanity in Darfur to justice through the International Criminal Court,
and urging the President to apply additional methods of diplomatic
pressure.
As a member of the Congressional Sudan Caucus, I have had the
opportunity to express my commitment to developing a solution that will
put an end to this continuing genocide. Furthermore, I intend to do
what I can in my capacity as a Member of Congress to demonstrate this
august body's dedication to supporting human rights around the world. I
am optimistic that, by working with advocates and the international
community, peace will return to Sudan.
I support the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. I also urge my
colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important legislation.
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong
support of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. This legislation is
a much needed step towards ending the unprecedented tragedy taking
place in Sudan, and its consideration today is long overdue.
Over the past 3 years, the world has watched as the situation in
Darfur has escalated into an unprecedented humanitarian and human
rights crisis. Since February 2003, civilians in the impoverished
Darfur region of Sudan have been subject to indiscriminate killings,
abductions, torture and rape at the hands of the Janjaweed--a lawless
militia that has the alleged support of the Sudanese government. It is
clear that the government of Sudan has offered their tacit approval for
these attacks, and in many instances has engaged in air and ground
strikes to augment the Janjaweed assaults on the people of Darfur.
The scope of this ongoing tragedy is hard to imagine. The numbers,
unfortunately, speak for themselves. An estimated 3.5 million people
are starving and some 2 million have been displaced from their homes,
including hundreds of thousands who have fled to Chad for refuge. When
then Secretary of State Colin Powell called the crisis in Darfur
``genocide'' in September 2004, an estimated 50,000 people had been
killed. That number may now reach
[[Page H1471]]
as high as 400,000 today, with 180,000 of these deaths occurring in the
past 18 months alone according to the United Nations. These numbers
continue to grow everyday; however we may never fully appreciate the
enormous human toll these atrocities have taken on Sudan, the continent
of Africa, and the world.
The atrocities taking place are nothing less than a human tragedy, a
world wide cause that we cannot ignore--and yet the international
community remains essentially paralyzed and unable to stop it. To date,
there have been 8 rounds of peace talks, the deployment of 6,000
African Union troops, 6 U.N. Security Council resolutions and
declarations of genocide by the administration and this Congress.
Despite this pressure, the Sudanese government has steadfastly refused
to take any constructive steps towards ending this humanitarian crisis.
As the leader of the free world and a role model for human rights and
democracy, we must live up to our own example. To this end, the Darfur
Peace and Accountability Act takes several important steps toward
increasing pressure on the government of Sudan to end the current
crisis. Among its many provisions, this legislation strengthens
sanctions on individuals and governments responsible for, or connected
to, the atrocities in Darfur. It also provides strong support for the
expansion of humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts in the region, and
calls for the suspension of Sudan's membership in the United Nations.
While this legislation alone will not end the atrocities in Darfur, it
will send a strong message to Sudan and the world community that the
U.S. is serious about bringing an end to the violence.
Many grassroots groups around the country, such as the Connecticut
Coalition to Save Darfur, have been working to educate policymakers and
the public on the urgent need for action in this troubled region of the
world. Their efforts have ensured that the crisis in Darfur stays in
the public mind and today's consideration of the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act is a testament to their tireless work. I am proud to
support this legislation, and strongly urge its quick approval in
conference so that we can get this important bill to the President's
desk without delay.
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3128, the
Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006.
Three years ago, the United Nations Security Council declared its
grave concern at the widespread human rights violations in Darfur and
expressed its determination to do everything possible to halt a
humanitarian catastrophe. Since then, at least 300,000 people are
estimated to have died in Darfur. Currently, more than 3.5 million
Darfurians depend on international aid for survival and another 2
million have been driven from their homes.
In 2004, pressure from Congress and American citizens prompted the
Bush administration to become the first government to recognize the
mass killing in Darfur as a genocide. Since then, the U.S. has played
an important role by pressing for an international response to the
crisis in Darfur at the U.N. supporting the deployment and expansion of
the African Union Mission In Sudan (AMIS), and providing critical
humanitarian aid. Unfortunately, the U.S. and the international
community have yet to muster the will or cooperative action necessary
to adequately protect civilians, end the killing, and broker lasting
peace.
Last week the U.N. Security Council issued a resolution reaffirming
that the situation in the Sudan continues to constitute a threat to
international peace and security. In Darfur large scale attacks on
villages have been replaced by rampant banditry, a campaign of sexual
violence, and the practical entrapment of civilians in camps.
Government backed militias have not been reined in and rebel groups are
contributing to violence on the ground. Civilians continue to be
attacked, women and girls raped, humanitarian workers harassed, and
critical aid supplies disrupted. For people of Darfur, the situation
remains one of daily violence and insecurity, desperate living
conditions, and the persistent threat of hunger and disease.
Sixty years ago, in the wake of the Holocaust, the international
community vowed, ``Never again.'' Ten years ago, confronted with the
death toll of the Rwandan genocide, leaders of the same nations again
declared, ``Never again.'' Today, tens of thousands of women, men, and
children have been murdered and hundreds of thousands continue to
suffer in Darfur. The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act reminds the
administration and the international community that the genocide in
Darfur demands urgent attention and action, and calls upon the
President to use both economic and political leverage to elicit
cooperation from the Sudanese government.
Passing the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act is a small, but
important demonstration of this nation's commitment to human rights. I
hope that passage of this important legislation will spur more
concerted national and international efforts to bring security and
stability to the people of Darfur.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support and as a co-sponsor
of H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006.
Since February 2003, the Sudanese government--through its proxy, the
Janjaweed Arab militia--has carried out a campaign to loot and burn
African villages in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Hundreds of
thousands of people have been killed, and over 2 million people have
been displaced. This systematic pattern of attacks against civilians
includes arbitrary killings, abductions, looting, torture, and rape,
and such attacks are supported by air and land strikes by Sudanese
government forces. Congress declared in the summer of 2004 that
genocide was occurring in Darfur, and the administration followed suit
in the fall of 2004.
This bill strengthens the Sudan Peace Act of 2004 by expanding
sanctions, authorizing funding for humanitarian and peacekeeping
efforts, and by taking additional steps to bring international
attention to this conflict.
First, this bill specifically targets individuals in the government
as opposed to punishing the coalition government as a whole. It holds
Sudanese government officials and Janjaweed officers accountable for
genocidal acts. The bill also targets oil revenues of the Sudanese
government by denying access to U.S. ports to any ships involved in the
Sudanese arms or oil industries. It is important that we force those
responsible for the violence to account for their actions and that we
prevent the Sudanese government from continuing to profit while
thousands are being killed.
Second, the bill increases humanitarian aid to southern Sudan and
other marginalized areas, which are currently under the control of the
Sudanese government and thus sanctioned. With this provision, our aid
will more efficiently reach those in need, even if they live under the
coalition government. In this way, we can hope to protect those who
have lost their homes and their livelihoods to the violence of the
region.
Third, the bill reinforces the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS)
in order to protect civilians and carry out humanitarian operations.
Currently, the African Union Mission in Sudan consists of only a few
thousand troops, and AMIS will require a significant number of supplies
and additional troops to effectively carry out its mission. The United
Nations Security Council should also consider authorizing a separate,
more robust peacekeeping force under U.N. auspices.
I was pleased that the House appropriated $500 million last month in
emergency assistance to southern Sudan and Darfur. I urge the House to
adopt this legislation today, which takes important steps to stop the
ongoing genocide in Darfur.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3127, the Darfur
Peace and Accountability Act of 2006. I wish to thank my good friends
and colleagues on the House International Relations Committee, in
particular Chairman Henry Hyde and Ranking Member Tom Lantos. I would
also like to thank the honorable gentleman from New Jersey,
Representative Donald Payne, for his leadership on Darfur and peace in
Sudan, as well as my Massachusetts colleague, and Co-Chair of the Sudan
Caucus, Representative Michael Capuano.
Mr. Speaker, the genocide in Darfur is an affront to the world, and a
challenge to the moral and political leadership of the U.S., the
European Union, the NATO Alliance, the African Union, and the
international community and its representative body, the United
Nations. To date, we have failed, individually and collectively, to
rise and meet this challenge.
Every day, the carnage continues.
Every day, villages are destroyed.
Every day, women and girls are raped.
Every day, children are held in servitude.
Every day, the Sudanese government in Khartoum and its terrorist
allies, the Janjaweed militias, sit fat and happy, secure in their
knowledge that the world is all bark, and no bite--and they continue
their pillage and their terror and their violent acts with impunity.
This bill, Mr. Speaker, attempts to hold the Government of Sudan, its
leadership and its militia allies accountable for their acts and their
crimes.
It is not enough, Mr. Speaker, but it takes important steps to
strengthen current sanctions, increase the pressure on Khartoum, demand
greater support for the African Union peacekeeping mission (AMIS), and
require greater action by the international community, including the
U.S., to put an end to the slaughter.
[[Page H1472]]
I wish the bill would have required the establishment and enforcement
of a no-fly zone over Darfur, but at least it includes a sense of
Congress provision in support of the no-fly zone. But I warn you, Mr.
Speaker, in the absence of controlling the skies over Darfur,
government planes and helicopters will continue to support and protect
the terrorist militias as they carry out genocidal acts against the
defenseless population.
Mr. Speaker, everyone talks about Darfur. For the past 3 years the
world has called what is happening in Darfur genocide. And yet the
situation continues, the crisis worsens, the blood continues to flow,
smoke still rises over the few remaining villages, refugees from the
region pour into over-crowded camps, hunger and famine stalk the
refugees, and the conflict spills over into neighboring countries.
We cannot continue to talk about Darfur, yet turn our eyes away.
We cannot continue to talk about Darfur, yet take no actions to stop
the killing.
I fear, Mr. Speaker, the peace of the dead.
This is not an African problem, this is a crime against humanity--all
humanity--our humanity.
I support H.R. 3127; it is a good step in the right direction; but it
is not enough.
We in this Congress; we in this Nation; we in this world have failed
to meet the test of Darfur--and we will continue to fail until the
killing stops, peace is achieved, and the murderers--and all those who
aid and abet them--are held accountable and brought to justice.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3127.
Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking Chairman Hyde,
Ranking Member Lantos, Africa Subcommittee Chairman Smith and my good
friend and long time collaborator on Sudan related legislation and
issues, Donald Payne of New Jersey.
Mr. Speaker, we all know the numbers: the genocide in Darfur has
claimed 400,000 lives and displaced over 2.5 million people. More than
100 people continue to die each day; 5,000 die every month.
Led and supported by their puppet masters in Khartoum, the Janjaweed
militia have raped, pillaged, killed and according to this Congress,
have committed acts of genocide against Darfur's innocent inhabitants.
Mr. Speaker, despite the efforts of this Congress and the numerous
governmental and non-governmental organizations who are active on the
ground in Darfur, the situation continues to deteriorate: atrocity
crimes are continuing and people are still dying in large numbers from
malnutrition and disease.
The humanitarian situation remains catastrophic, due to layers of aid
obstruction, the lack of an overall humanitarian strategic plan, and
the weakened state of displaced Sudanese. Refugees and internally
displaced civilians (IDPs), a disproportionate number of them women,
are in terribly weakened states, subject to sexual abuse and without
adequate shelter. The numbers of at-risk civilians continue to
increase. And as need far outstrips the ability of agencies to deliver
aid, localized famine is feared.
To be perfectly frank, I find it reprehensible, Mr. Speaker; simply
reprehensible that the international community has failed to act on the
promises made after the Holocaust that never again would genocide occur
on this planet.
While I stand here today as a Member of Congress and applaud my
colleagues for their efforts, I also stand here outraged that the
United Nations and NATO have allowed despicable war criminals in
Khartoum, the same criminals that once provided safe harbor to Osama
Bin Laden and as of Monday, have denied a senior U.N. official from
entering Darfur, to dictate the method by which the international
community may respond to acts of genocide.
Despite my sadness Mr. Speaker, despite my outrage, I come to the
floor today slightly uplifted over the fact that later today this body
will vote on and hopefully pass H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act.
As I have stated repeatedly during the various markups of this
legislation, the final version of this bill is certainly not what I had
hoped for; despite the best efforts of my staff and others, there is no
authorization of force language; the sanctions could have been
stronger; there was no mention of a no fly zone; the list goes on.
Despite these shortcomings, Chairman Hyde's legislation provides the
President with the necessary authorization authority to help alleviate
the suffering of the people of Darfur;
It denies entry to U.S. ports to certain cargo ships if the
Government of Sudan fails to take specified peace measures in Darfur;
prohibits, with waiver authority, U.S. assistance to a country that
violates U.N. Security Council Resolutions that prohibit military sales
to Sudan; and while the bill provides the President with the authority
to direct our Ambassadors to NATO and the U.N. to take various action
to stop the genocide in Darfur; and while those Ambassadors have acted
accordingly; as I mentioned earlier, both of those organizations have
been sluggish and as of now ineffective in taking proactive action to
prevent further atrocities.
Mr. Speaker, no matter how stringent this piece of legislation could
have been, it would not have ended the killing, the rape and the
pillaging that continues to occur in Darfur.
While the President has taken some action to alleviate the suffering
of innocent Darfurians, some is simply not enough when a genocide is
occurring on our watch.
As I conclude, it is my hope that this piece of legislation sends a
signal to Khartoum that this Congress will not stand by idly while the
innocent are slaughtered; in addition, I hope the President will
increase his pressure on the international community to take decisive
action to end the genocide and bring those responsible to justice.
Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3127, The
Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006. As the entire world
already knows and our Government has already recognized, genocide is
today occurring in the Sudanese region of Darfur. Hundreds of thousands
of civilians have died and almost 1.5 million displaced by Sudanese
government backed militias. It is a shame that much of the world has
stood idly by while the slaughter continues and Sudan's vulnerable
neighbors are left to cope with the tragedy. Additionally, the
perpetrators have not been held to account.
I commend my 162 bi-partisan colleagues who have co-sponsored this
important bill. It includes additional targeted economic and diplomatic
sanctions against the Sudanese regime and increases support for the
African Union Mission in Sudan, AMIS, by offering assistance from NATO.
As privileged citizens of the free world we must be ever vigilant
toward those who commit barbaric acts in our world. Unfortunately, our
country has a poor record in this respect. Therefore, we must work to
ensure that the future generations will not bear this same guilt by
acting decisively now. As a cosponsor of The Darfur Peace and
Accountability Act, I will continue to work with my colleagues to see
that the genocide in Darfur is finally halted and urge the House to
pass this important legislation.
Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Darfur
Peace and Accountability Act, H.R. 3127.
This important bill would block the assets and deny visas and entry
to any individual (and family member) responsible for acts of genocide,
war crimes, or crimes against humanity in Sudan. H.R. 3127 authorizes
support for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur. It
prohibits U.S. assistance to a country in violation of U.N. Security
Council embargo on military assistance to Sudan. It also urges a
Security Council resolution supporting expanding the African Union
peacekeeping mission.
For too long the world community turned its back to the ongoing
genocide in the Sudan. But the actions of students, religious leaders,
and concerned citizens in the United States and around the globe raised
awareness about the horrors occurring in Darfur. I want to thank all
who shared with me their concern about Darfur in town hall meetings,
letters, phone calls, and e-mails over the last three years.
Today the Congress is answering their calls for action. Passing this
bill is an all important step to ending the genocide and beginning to
hold those who are guilty accountable.
Yet, today there is great suffering in Darfur. The murders continue.
The brutal violence still occurs. The rapes persist. People still live
in fear. Since 2003, over 200,000 innocent civilians have been
slaughtered. More than two million Sudanese civilians are displaced and
many live in temporary refugee camps. More disturbing, over three
million Sudanese are in need of humanitarian assistance.
[[Page H1473]]
The images are stark. The stories are horrifying and sickening. But
each one is the picture or story of a single person: a fellow human. We
need to remember that we are all bound together in a common existence
and a member of the global community. Those who have been slaughtered
and those who are suffering in Darfur are family. They are our
brothers, they are our sisters. They share the same earth we do and we
share a commitment to their safety and wellbeing. My faith, and the
faith of many others, says that it is immoral to sit idly by.
Our commitment to end this conflict and to the people of the region
must not begin and end today. We must remain focused and dedicated to
ending the genocide and healing the wounds of a prolonged civil war.
Justice must be served on those who perpetrated these heinous immoral
crimes and we must help rebuild and restore the lives of the people
who, through the grace of God, survive this hellish civil war.
We, here in Congress, have worked to end this civil war before. We
went on record in September of 2004, declaring Darfur a genocide. Just
recently, the House approved over $550 million to pay for additional
peacekeepers, increased humanitarian assistance and resettlement of
refugees. This money is essential to maintaining the current
peacekeeping mission and ease the suffering of those who are displaced.
It is long past time for the United Nations to become involved in
Sudan. The UN needs to deploy a robust and sizable international
mission to end the genocide and then work to bring peace to the Sudan.
After the systematic genocide of the Holocaust, we said never again.
After the horrors of Rwanda and the Kosovo we committed ourselves to
preventing genocide before it surfaced elsewhere. Sadly, we are close
to adding Darfur to this list.
I call on the President to continue to push this issue with world
leaders and push in the United Nations to end the genocide in Darfur
and to internationalize the response. I pray that the suffering will
soon end, but that we will not soon forget our brothers and sisters in
Africa.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the United Nations has identified the
situation in Darfur, Sudan, as the worst current humanitarian and human
rights statement of crisis in the world. And, the United States has
labeled the killings in Darfur as genocide.
History is littered with examples of the international community
recognizing the existence of genocide, while at the same time failing
to put an end to the murder, rape and dislocation of innocent men,
women and children.
Sadly, the case of Sudan is yet another sorry demonstration of the
international community's collective lack of will to confront those
would commit such horrific acts of cowardice.
The nations of the world must stop turning a blind eye to the
suffering of innocents.
I am pleased that we are considering legislation to provide further
assistance to the African Union Mission in Sudan, and to strengthen the
arms embargo against the Janjaweed militia.
But we must not delude ourselves: the resolution before us today will
not by itself solve the crisis or put an end to the suffering in Sudan.
As recognized in this legislation, the mission of the African Union
peacekeepers must be expanded to allow them to intervene when acts of
violence are being committed against innocent Sudanese.
How can we not have learned the lessons of Bosnia, Kosovo and Rwanda,
where we watched in horror as troops in blue helmets stood by and
witnessed the rape, murder and displacement of thousands?
The humanitarian crisis currently taking place in Sudan is among the
most grave the world has seen in the past decade, and at its heart is
the genocidal campaign being waged by the Khartoum government.
The most important, immediate step the world can take to stem the
violence is to empower the forces already in place to actually protect
the people of Darfur.
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. And, I urge the
U.S. Representatives at the United Nations to carry out their mission
as directed in this bill to provide to African Union peacekeepers the
authority to stop this genocide.
Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act
passed the House today, Wednesday April 5, 2006. This Act calls for
action. The specific intent and purpose of this Act must be implemented
immediately by the Administration. It is too late for more words on the
horrors of Darfur no matter how strong the words. As Nicholas Kristoff
in his persistent, piercing Times columns has pointed out that for
years, we have said ``Never Again, Again.'' And yet, the slow genocide
continues in Darfur. Babies die of hunger and thirst, women suffer a
deliberate policy of rape; men are castrated and shot in the head. The
starvation, the deaths, the burning of villages, the poisoning of
wells, the slaughter of domestic animals on which people depend, the
brutal killing of children in front of their mothers continues while
the world watches. ``Uncover Your Eyes'' Mr. Kristoff tells us.
``Uncover Your Eyes.'' (Nicholas D. Kristoff, June 7, 2005).
The killing in Darfur is the first Genocide of the 21st Century.
There is only one approach to a genocide: It must be stopped using all
necessary means; and those that perpetuate it must be held accountable.
There is no excuse for failing to hold accountable those who arm,
condone and assist in genocide; most especially the excuse for a
failure to hold a government accountable must not be ``the war on
terror.'' Those who arm and support the Janjaweed militia as the
government in Khartoum continues to do are terrorists. If you doubt it,
then uncover your eyes: the Janjaweed seized nine boys from a village
called Saleya, stripped them naked, tied them up, cut off their noses
and ears, gouged out their eyes and shot them to death before leaving
them near a public well. Nearby villagers got the message and fled.
Currently rapes take place when women collect firewood. If the men
collect the firewood, they are castrated and then shot in the head.
The United States has given a great deal of humanitarian aid to the
refuge camps where thousands of people of Darfur live. They cannot go
back to their villages. The representatives from the State Department
say the starvation and malnutrition rates for these people have slowed
since 2004. However, they are unable to feed themselves; if they go
back to their villages and try to restore their dwellings and grow
crops; they will be killed. There is nothing to indicate the genocide
has been called off. The non-Arab tribes from the Darfur region of
Sudan are marked for death because of their tribal membership and the
fact that they are non-Arab Africans.
We know what needs to be done. We have the time to do what needs to
be done. We have the means, the influence, and the power. What we need
is the will and the leadership. First the United States must recognize
that if the genocide is to be stopped, the United States will have to
stop it. This is a most wonderful opportunity never before presented to
a leader or a country. President Bush on behalf of all the
compassionate citizens of this country must seize this opportunity.
Second, the State Department with the leadership of the President
must recognize that neither the mandate nor the troop strength of the
African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) is adequate to protect civilians
in Darfur. Third, although the United Nations Security Council has
taken steps toward establishing a United Nations peacekeeping mission
for Darfur, it could take up to a year for such a mission to deploy
fully and the people of Darfur cannot wait that long. Therefore, the
African Union must request assistance not only from the United Nations
but also from NATO. NATO is needed immediately; Pursuant to Chapter VII
of the Charter of the United Nations a peacekeeping force for Darfur
must be approved. It must be well trained and equipped and have
adequate troop strength to protect the people of Darfur and stop the
deaths of helpless, unarmed civilians many of whom are under the age of
five.
In order to achieve this, President Bush must propose that NATO
consider how to implement and enforce a declared no-fly zone in Darfur
and deploy troops to Darfur to support to the African Union Mission in
Sudan (AMIS) until a United Nations peacekeeping force is fully
deployed in the region. President Bush must also approve supplemental
funding to support a NATO mission in Darfur and the African Union
Mission in Sudan and called upon NATO allies led by the Untied States
to support such a mission and to call upon NATO headquarters staff to
begin planning for such a mission.
President Bush has the opportunity that comes once in a presidency
and perhaps once in a lifetime. He can save an entire people, their
elders, their parents, their children. He can stop the rapes, the
maiming of children and women, the acts of barbarism we have shut our
eyes to because they are unbearable to look at. I implore President
Bush on behalf of his fellow Americans, uncover your eyes and open your
heart. Stop the genocide in Darfur.
Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3127, the
Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006.
Nearly 2 years ago, I joined my colleagues in Congress to declare the
atrocities in Darfur ``genocide.'' Despite this declaration, hundreds
of thousands are dead, millions remain displaced and peacekeepers
continue to lack needed support. It is clear that additional action is
needed and I am pleased to join my colleagues today in supporting
passage of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006.
The Khartoum government must be held accountable. It is my hope that
with this legislation President Bush will exercise the influence of the
United States at the United Nations to
[[Page H1474]]
garner greater support from the world community to end the crisis in
Darfur and bring peace to the Sudanese people.
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the
passage of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. This bill reflects
the United States' continued commitment to see that the violence ends
and a lasting peace is achieved in Darfur.
Darfur has already been acknowledged as the worst human rights
tragedy since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Nowhere else have we recently
seen such a massive attack on innocent civilians who are left to suffer
in complete isolation, cut off from the rest of the world.
Nearly 400,000 people have already died in Darfur and over two
million people continue to live as refugees and internally displaced
persons. Thousands of women have been raped and sexually abused and
children are left to die from malnutrition, dysentery and infectious
diseases.
Mr. Speaker, last month's approval by the House of funding for Sudan
is a solid commitment that brings us closer to resolving the crisis in
Darfur and helping those in need. But it is not enough. Congress must
continue and hold steadfast to the basic principles of freedom and
human rights that we stand for and press on until justice is brought to
the Darfurians.
Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reiterate my grave concern
about the situation in Darfur and to express my support for H.R. 3127,
the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006. International efforts
to end the genocide now occurring in Darfur have been lackluster. We
should be doing more to intervene on behalf of the thousands of
innocent men, women and children in that region. I am hopeful that this
legislation will give added momentum to ending that genocide.
Authorizing the President to provide assistance to the African Union
Mission on the ground through NATO is just one of the ways that we can
fight to bring an end to the violence.
In addition to supporting H.R. 3127, there are several other measures
that send a message to the Sudanese that the United States cannot
accept the current state situation such as supporting H. Res. 675, a
resolution expressing disapproval of the Arab League's decision to hold
its 2006 summit in Khartoum, Sudan. The resolution calls on the Arab
League, the government of Sudan, the Sudanese rebels, and the world
community to do all they can to end acts of genocide in the Darfur
Region of Sudan.
One of the most effective tools in sending a message to the Sudanese
government is divestment. I, along with many colleagues, have requested
that the University of California Office of the President develop a
plan of divestment from Sudan.
Mr. Speaker, the Sudanese government is in complete denial of their
role in supporting genocide and we must act now to send a message that
the U.S. will not tolerate this situation--we must pass H.R. 3127.
Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3128, the
Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006.
Three years ago, the United Nations Security Council declared ``its
grave concern at the widespread human rights violations'' in Darfur and
``expressed its determination to do everything possible to halt a
humanitarian catastrophe.'' Since then, at least 300,000 people are
estimated to have died in Darfur. Currently, more than 3.5 million
Darfurians depend on international aid for survival and another 2
million have been driven from their homes.
In 2004, pressure from Congress and American citizens prompted the
Bush Administration to become the first government to recognize the
mass killing in Darfur as a genocide. Since then, the U.S. has played
an important role by pressing for an international response to the
crisis in Darfur at the UN, supporting the deployment and expansion of
the African Union Mission In Sudan (AMIS), and providing critical
humanitarian aid. Unfortunately, the U.S. and the international
community have yet to muster the will or cooperative action necessary
to adequately protect civilians, end the killing, and broker lasting
peace.
Last week the UN Security Council issued a resolution reaffirming
``that the situation in the Sudan continues to constitute a threat to
international peace and security.'' In Darfur large scale attacks on
villages have been replaced by rampant banditry, a campaign of sexual
violence, and the practical entrapment of civilians in camps.
Government backed militias have not been reined in and rebel groups are
contributing to violence on the ground. Civilians continue to be
attacked, women and girls raped, humanitarian workers harassed, and
critical aid supplies disrupted. For people of Darfur, the situation
remains one of daily violence and insecurity, desperate living
conditions, and the persistent threat of hunger and disease.
Sixty years ago, in the wake of the Holocaust, the international
community vowed, ``Never again.'' Ten years ago, confronted with the
death toll of the Rwandan genocide, leaders of the same nations again
declared, ``Never again.'' Today, tens of thousands of women, men, and
children have been murdered and hundreds of thousands continue to
suffer in Darfur. The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act reminds the
Administration and the international community that the genocide in
Darfur demands urgent attention and action, and calls upon the
President to use both economic and political leverage to elicit
cooperation from the Sudanese government.
Passing the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act is a small, but
important demonstration of this nation's commitment to human rights. I
hope that passage of this important legislation will spur more
concerted national and international efforts to bring security and
stability to the people of Darfur.
Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my strong support
for the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act and urge my colleagues to
vote for it. This important bill takes critical steps towards ending
the genocide in Darfur by authorizing the President to provide
assistance to expand the African Union Mission in Sudan while also
strengthening sanctions on countries that provide military assistance
to Sudan.
The crisis in Darfur, Sudan began in February 2003 when two rebel
groups emerged to challenge the National Islamic Front government in
Darfur. Since then, over 300,000 people have died and nearly 2 million
have been displaced from their homes. It is unfortunate that it took
the United States until July of 2004 to recognize that these events in
Darfur constituted genocide and it has taken until April of 2006 for
the House of Representatives to consider this bill. We have seen far
too many times the consequences of ignoring genocide or failing to get
involved quickly.
The fact is that while we take a crucial step today, more remains to
be accomplished to ensure a lasting peace in the Darfur region of
Sudan. Yesterday, in the New York Times, Jan Egeland, the U.N. under-
secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief,
stated, ``Many believe the problems are over in Darfur. They are
getting worse.'' The United States government must continue to work in
conjunction with the United Nations and other allies to put pressure on
the Sudanese government to allow U.N. peacekeeping forces into the
country.
I have introduced legislation expressing disapproval of the Arab
League's decision to hold its 2006 summit in Khartoum, Sudan. The world
community needs to join us as one in condemning the tragedy in Darfur
and pressing the Sudanese government to end it.
Mr. Speaker, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act is a crucial
step towards ending the violence. We need to remember, however, that we
have more to do to end this humanitarian crisis. With nearly two
million people displaced from their homes and hundreds of thousands
dead, resolving this conflict should be a priority for Congress and the
Administration. We cannot allow a tragedy of this magnitude to occur in
today's world.
Ms. SCHWARTZ of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, since February 2003, it is
estimated that the government-sanctioned violence in Darfur has
displaced 2 million people, forced 200,000 people into exile and led to
the murder of 300,000 civilians. In July 2004, the United States
Congress declared the atrocities in Darfur genocide.
Mr. Speaker, I have a deep and personal understanding of the horrors
of genocide. My mother, Renee Perl, was forced to flee Austria--alone--
at the age of 14 to escape the Holocaust, leaving behind her family and
friends.
As my mother fled the Nazis, the world stood by as Hitler sent Jews
to their deaths at Auschwitz, Dachau and Treblinka. Six million deaths
later, the world pledged ``Never Again''.
Yet, only years after the Nazi-era, millions were sent to their
deaths in places such as Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda, and the world
once again took too long to act. And today, millions of innocent
Darfurian men, women and children are being persecuted by the Sudanese
government and government-backed militias. To date, however, the
perpetrators of these atrocities have faced little to no punishment for
their actions and the genocide continues.
The 20th century taught us how far unbridled evil can and will go
when the world fails to confront it. It is time that we heed the
lessons of the 20th century and stand up to these murderers. It is time
that we end genocide in the 21st century.
The bill we are considering today is an important step in this
direction. By imposing direct penalties on those responsible for crimes
in Darfur, we are sending a strong message to the Sudanese government.
But, more must be done.
The serious crimes by the Sudanese government and the government-
supported militias must be met with serious consequences. We must work
for tough international economic sanctions on the Sudanese government.
We must continue to support efforts to
[[Page H1475]]
bring those responsible for crimes against humanity before the
International Criminal Court. And, most importantly, we must continue
pressing for a strong, international military engagement with a robust
mandate to protect civilians in Darfur.
All across America, millions of Americans are demanding that we take
action. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and I urge the
administration to do all it can to end this genocide.
Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3127, the Darfur
Peace and Accountability Act. Passage of this bill, which is long
overdue, will help fulfill the U.S.'s role in ending the genocide in
Sudan.
More than a year and a half ago, Congress voted unanimously to
condemn the genocide in Darfur. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell
declared the atrocities in Darfur to be genocide, a statement that was
hailed as significant and meaningful coming from the highest echelons
of the U.S. government. Despite these clear pronouncements, however,
more people die every day and the slow genocide in Darfur persists
unabated.
It is beyond imagination that the collective might and concerted will
of the nations of the world cannot find a way to end this daily toll of
human misery. I hope and pray that Sudan will allow the proposed UN
peacekeeping mission to move forward so that we can end this
devastation. While we wait, however, we must find ways to make the
African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) stronger, and to bolster these
efforts with a NATO support.
We must also send the message to those who perpetrate genocide that
there will be consequences. The Darfur Peace and Accountability Act
would impose harsh sanctions against those who are complicit in or
responsible for acts of genocide, freezing their assets and restricting
their ability to travel, and would block the Government of Sudan's
access to the oil revenues used to fund the ongoing genocide.
The bill also properly recognizes that ending the genocide in Darfur
is not a challenge to be solved by the United States alone. It provides
clear support for efforts to establish a U.N. peacekeeping presence in
Darfur and other multilateral initiatives to pressure the Sudanese
government to end the genocide.
My colleagues, ``Never Again'' is a phrase we have all heard before.
We have all said it before. It is one of the most powerful expressions
of the natural human inclination to stop suffering, to end the death
and destruction that stems from senseless hatred and indifference to
human life.
Never Again will we let 6,000,000 Jews perish under the noses of the
civilized world. Never Again will we let Rwandans be rounded up and
indiscriminately killed because of their tribal affiliation. Never
Again will we allow ethnic cleansing in the Balkans.
The problem with the phrase ``Never Again,'' however, is that it is
usually uttered after the violence is over, as a rallying cry against
history repeating itself. We have seen, time and time again, that
history does repeat itself, and it is simply not enough to say that we
will prevent it next time. We must end the genocide in Darfur now.
The Darfur genocide is not a Sudanese problem or an African problem.
It is a human tragedy, and it is ours to solve. If we are serious about
``Never Again,'' let passage of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act
today be just one step along this long and arduous road.
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The question is on the motion
offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3127, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will
be postponed.
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