[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 114 (Thursday, September 14, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S9617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 DARFUR

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I will not take my colleagues' time for 
long, but I draw attention to a situation that has further developed--
or devolved and deteriorated--and that is the situation in Darfur. It 
is a situation this Senate has spoken to often. We have spoken on 
resolutions, on amendments; we have added funds.
  What we have feared is now upon us. We are now seeing in the IDP 
camps, the individuals that are displaced internally, diseases such as 
asthma, malaria, cholera and dysentery. We have had 12 humanitarian 
workers killed in the last 2 months. That is driving a number of the 
humanitarian groups out of the region. The NGO, the nongovernment 
organizations, currently now serve only 60 percent of the people they 
were serving. The Government of Sudan has reportedly resumed aerial 
bombings taking place in the northern and southern parts of Darfur.
  The situation is growing worse. We don't know how many people have 
died already, but it is set to escalate rapidly. NGOs are fleeing 
because people are getting killed. The people are concentrated in the 
camps. They are now not getting food and clean water.
  Now we have cholera, more misery, malaria and the numbers of people 
getting killed escalating dramatically. It is going to escalate further 
and more dramatically if we do not act.
  We have the government in Khartoum saying they want the African Union 
troops out.
  We do not have a big enough force there now. They are scheduled to 
leave the end of September. We have a United Nations group that is 
forming to go in, and the government in Khartoum, Sudan, is saying, We 
are not going to let them in.
  We have African Union troops preparing to leave. We have the U.N. 
troops not yet prepared to come in or being allowed in. And we have 
chaos. There are a lot of people dying in this region. It is 
escalating. It is time we step up and push again.
  This Senate has been excellent on this issue. The administration has 
been very good. I cite particularly Assistant Secretary Zoellick who 
spent a lot of time working on this issue, trying to bring people 
together, getting a peace agreement signed a couple of months ago. It 
was an important peace agreement.
  The problem that has taken place now, after the peace agreement was 
signed, the African Union troops were starting to organize to pull out, 
the government of President al-Bashir in the Sudan decided: This is our 
time to take over because the rest of the world is looking at Lebanon, 
they are dealing with Hezbollah, the United States is focused on its 
election cycle. This is the time for us to move.
  This is a very difficult, dire situation for people on the ground. I 
met with a number of the aid organizations today. Their people are 
getting killed, so they are pulling back, as I cited.
  When this situation first started developing about 3 years ago, the 
very situation we are most concerned about is a lot of people getting 
into the displaced camps, not having access to clean water, disease 
spreading in the camps, spreading because of the concentration of 
individuals and the lack of sanitation and clean water, and we really 
get a mess. That is now where we are.
  Mrs. BOXER. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Yes.
  Mrs. BOXER. I thank Senator Brownback for raising this issue. We are 
in a do-or-die moment. We have been there before. I am reading that 
certain experts are saying in 2 weeks there could be another Rwanda.
  I am very glad the Senator is speaking out. I was very glad this 
Senate did act, as we know, on a measure last week, actually voting to 
send $20 million to the African nations to carry on, as my friend 
points out. If they do not do it, there is a void. What will fill the 
void will be disease, rapes, killings and, I hate to say it, continued 
genocide.
  I am glad the Senator raised this. The hours are running short. We 
did vote. It is important we use our bully pulpit in whatever way we 
can. I personally will be going to the United Nations on Monday 
literally to knock on doors. I am setting up some appointments. We have 
to do everything we can to prevent this worsening situation from 
getting to the point where it is unsalvageable.
  I thank the Senator for his efforts.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. I thank my colleague for her interest. I wish her 
Godspeed in New York with the U.N.
  My colleague in Connecticut will address this same topic. It is very 
important to speak. We need to pass the Darfur Accountability Act. It 
has passed here and in the House. We need to resolve the issues.
  It is important that the President, in his meetings at the U.N. for 
General Assembly meetings, raise this issue. It is important to press 
the Sudanese Government to stop the aerial bombings--they can do that 
first and foremost--and that the African Union forces stay until a U.N. 
force is put in place, we pressure the Sudanese Government to accept a 
U.N. force, or, if not, put in targeted sanctions toward Sudanese 
officials preventing traveling, dealing with their own personal 
accounts.
  There are a series of recommendations of a number of Senators 
addressed in a letter to the President. It is a bipartisan effort. It 
is a genocide already. It is one that is set to become a far worse 
situation.
  We really need to act.
  I yield to the floor to the set of speakers listed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arkansas.
  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I join my colleague from California in 
thanking Senator Brownback for bringing this issue forward. He has been 
a tremendous supporter of taking action. He brings to light, tonight, 
the fact we have to act and we have to act expeditiously.
  As the situation deteriorates, unfortunately, it moves closer toward 
a situation that we can do nothing about. I appreciate all of the 
Senator's efforts in what he is doing for the people of Darfur.

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