[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 91 (Thursday, June 7, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H6113]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TIME TO ACT ON CRISIS IN BURMA
(Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute.)
Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of freedom-loving
people in Burma. This week there is a delegation of leaders from Burma,
ethnic minority leaders, visiting Washington. The information they
bring is a stark reminder of the brutality to the Burmese people under
the military junta.
The terrible offensive of 2006 continues against the ethnic Karen
people and others. Over 3,000 villages have been burned. There have
been over 25,000 new internally displaced people in that one province.
How can we turn our backs on people who are being ethnically cleansed
through genocide, raped, shot, maimed by land mines and who watch their
villages and food sources be destroyed daily? The U.S. and the
international community must help provide more humanitarian assistance
and protection for them.
We need to continue to push for a U.N. Security Council resolution on
Burma. The U.S. needs to renew its sanctions against dictators. We need
to get direct humanitarian aid to the people.
It is time to act. The people of Burma deserve to live safely and
peacefully in their own land.
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