[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 118 (Wednesday, September 20, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H6814]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   ON THE CRISIS SITUATION IN DARFUR

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim 
the time of Mr. DeFazio.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Illinois is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to commend 
Mr. Payne of New Jersey and all of those who have demonstrated 
tremendous leadership on this issue.
  I have been told time and time again that the only way that evil can 
triumph is when good people do nothing, and I believe it was Dante who 
suggested that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who 
declare neutrality and do nothing in times of great crisis.
  We have all heard of the atrocities that are continuously being 
heaped upon the people in the Sudan. It is now time for us to act, and 
to act convincingly. We have to ask ourselves the question, if not us, 
then who? If not now, then when?
  I am here tonight to help sound the alarm once again on genocide in 
the Sudan. There is no room for neutrality in the face of the crimes 
being committed there each day. Amnesty International has renewed its 
charge that the international community is not doing enough to protect 
women in the Darfur region and the refugee camps in Chad where mass 
rape is being used as a weapon.
  Since 1983, more than 2 million black civilians have died during the 
civil war in the south Sudan. That struggle was especially brutal for 
the civilian population. Slave raids resulted in the enslavement of 
women and children, gang rape, ethnic cleansing and the imposition of 
famine conditions for hundreds of thousands of people.
  On October 21, 2002, the President signed the Sudan Peace Act, which 
stated in part that the acts of the Government of Sudan constitute 
genocide as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Prevention 
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. That bill requires President 
Bush to certify every 6 months that the government in Khartoum is 
negotiating in good faith for an end to the civil war. According to 
some sources, we may be close to a framework for peace in that region.
  Mr. Speaker, only a short time ago we paused here to mark the 10th 
anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, where more than 800,000 people 
died while the world watched and did nothing. Once again, genocide has 
unfolded before us, and those who have taken note have expressed their 
horror at what we have seen. But where is the public outcry? Where are 
the front page pictures? Where is the response of our government on 
behalf of the American people? I can tell you there has been some, but 
there has not been nearly enough.
  So I join with my colleagues here this evening to call for the 
unequivocal, absolute declaration that genocide in the Sudan must end, 
and that it must end now. Not next year, not next month, but tonight.

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