[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 133 (Wednesday, December 6, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11314-S11315]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          CONDITIONS IN DARFUR

  Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I am grateful for the opportunity to join 
with my colleagues on the vitally important topic of Darfur and the 
entire humanitarian crisis facing that part of the world.

[[Page S11315]]

  When we look at a current map of Africa, we are looking, for the most 
part, at national boundary lines that were formed by the arbitrary 
dictates of Western European nations during their primacy as colonial 
power brokers in the 19th century. Those lines were, essentially, 
simple longitude or latitude lines that had no relevancy, at all, to 
the social, cultural, or tribal structures that had existed on those 
lands for centuries. Suddenly, the simple, clean-cut decisions of 19th 
century Europeans have become, in the late 20th and early 21st 
centuries, far more complex than any diplomats in London, Paris, 
Berlin, or even Washington, could have imagined in those relatively 
distant times.
  Darfur is serious. Clearly, it is not the only place on this planet 
with unspeakable atrocities and unbelievable conditions. People who 
once farmed wheat in western Afghanistan are now facing desperate 
consequences due to the confluence of floods and drought. There are 
countless people--women, children, and the infirm--in camps like Dadaab 
in eastern Kenya who are not only trying to cope with the political and 
military chaos streaming out of Somalia but also the natural calamity 
of floods bringing food shortages, waterborne disease, and other human 
heartbreaks to our attention. We cannot ignore these other tragedies. 
Darfur is not the only place in need of assistance.
  But there remains Darfur. It is etched in our conscious because of 
the pictures we see on television, the stories we read in the paper, 
and more importantly, what we know to be true. The facts are before us.
  The crisis in Darfur is an outgrowth of a decades-long struggle 
within Sudan extending back nearly to 1956 when Sudan gained 
independence from Britain and Egypt, resulting in an estimated 2 
million deaths due to war and famine in the last two decades alone. 
Millions more have been displaced. In February of 2003, the conflict 
spilled into Darfur with tragic consequences when local rebel militias 
determined to challenge the Khartoum Government on grounds related to 
discrimination of ethnic groups in the region. The central government's 
response was to unleash a harsh policy against the people of Darfur, 
including use of armed militias against civilians. The U.S. Congress 
and the Bush administration pronounced these actions in 2004 as 
genocide.
  In 2005, condition in Darfur only got worse. Attacks by the Khartoum 
Government-backed jingaweit against civilian populations continued 
unabated. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that abduction of 
national staff of humanitarian relief NGOs had reached alarming 
proportions. In June of 2005, the International Criminal Court formally 
began an investigation into charges of atrocities in Darfur. And in 
recent months, reports indicate that atrocities in Darfur are peaking 
again.
  Slowly, the African Union began exercising limited authority in 
Darfur. Further attempts by the United Nations to introduce 
peacekeeping forces or a similar presence met with continuing 
resistance from the Khartoum Government. Just last week, the Peace and 
Security Council of the African Union adopted a proposal concerning a 
hybrid force for peacekeeping in Darfur. The African Union will extend 
its mission for another 6 months beginning January 1, 2007, in order to 
provide additional time for clarification and implementation of how a 
hybrid force will be composed and deployed. Progress may be seen in 
these actions, but it moves very slowly.
  To date, since the Darfur crisis began in 2003, an estimated 450,000 
people have been killed and more than 2 million displaced. In addition, 
some 220,000 Sudanese have been forced into refugee camps in 
neighboring Chad, and an additional number are in refugee camps in 
Kenya. Even though the Bush administration has declared that acts of 
genocide have occurred in Darfur, such declaration has not resulted in 
any major shift in U.S. policy. A shift should occur. We must intensify 
pressure on the Khartoum Government regarding its policies toward 
Darfur, and we must firmly pursue the Addis protocols that were 
achieved last week.
  As the current ranking member of the Senate Appropriations 
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies, 
and during the tenure I hope to continue in the next Congress, I know 
that humanitarian food assistance is a very large piece of the solution 
to the crisis in Darfur. Under the jurisdiction of the Agriculture 
Subcommittee is an array of programs of importance to food insecurity--
what in this country we once called hunger--such as Public Law 480 and 
reimbursements to the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust.
  In fact, a little more than 1 month ago, my appropriations staff was 
sent on a mission to Sudan which would have brought them to within a 
few kilometers of the border of South Darfur. Unfortunately, the El 
Bashir government in Khartoum refused to issue them the appropriate 
visas, but they were able to participate with the World Food Program on 
an air drop of food over Southern Sudan that, at least, gave them a 
firsthand experience of the hardships in that country. They also met 
with refugees from Darfur in the U.N. camp at Kakuma in northwestern 
Kenya, where the original ``Lost Children'' of Sudan found shelter in 
the early 1990s. While at Kakuma, my staff was presented with the 
following written request by Darfur refugees:

                                                 October 13, 2006.
       The current situation in Darfur was not acceptable and 
     every day getting worse and we Darfurian we have worried and 
     we don't know how our future will be and what are you 
     planning for us.
                                                 Mubarak Suleiman,
                                                 Darfur Committee.

  I have watched, and I will continue to watch with keen interest the 
developments in this part of the world and take to heart the charge 
that these things shall not occur ``on our watch.'' To the extent that 
I can continue to direct food aid programs in the coming Congress, this 
part of the world, and all the other parts in dire need, will have my 
full attention, and I will seek the support of fellow Senators when the 
time comes to make emergency assistance available.

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