[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 121 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           GENOCIDE IN DARFUR

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSEPH R. PITTS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2007

  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, July 22, 2007 is the third anniversary of 
the U.S. Congress's declaration that the tragedy in Darfur truly is a 
genocide. That declaration, as well as former Secretary of State Colin 
Powell's declaration, was intended to clearly delineate to the 
international community the true extent of the devastating death, 
destruction, rape and other human rights violations.
  Over the years, my colleagues and I have given a number of speeches 
about Sudan and specifically about Darfur. Yet, with all the proof that 
NGOs, journalists, and humanitarian workers have presented, the attacks 
and atrocities against the people of Darfur continue.
  Clearly the abusive regime in Khartoum does not care about stopping 
the suffering, otherwise the Janjaweed militias would not be able to 
wreak havoc wherever they go.
  A recent report by Refugees International details the fact that rape 
is ``an integral part of the pattern of violence that the government of 
Sudan is inflicting upon the targeted ethnic groups of Darfur.'' Listen 
to those words--that means the Janjaweed, under the orders of their 
masters in Khartoum, are deliberately raping the women to impregnate 
them and ``purify'' them racially.
  The trauma imposed on the women of Darfur is unthinkable, yet 
reportedly is simply the implementation of a policy. What kind of 
government has a policy to ethnically cleanse, via rape, their peoples? 
Not a government that should have any power.
  Madam Speaker, it is beyond comprehension that when the international 
community clearly knows that genocide is occurring, there would not be 
enough concern or political will to come down hard on Khartoum to end 
the death and destruction.
  The fact that we must continue to raise the reality of genocide in 
Darfur means that we, the U.S. and the international community, have 
not done enough.
  The international community has no excuse, because we know what is 
happening. There is no hidden agenda--the Sudanese government and their 
brutal militias have made their goals clear. The real question is--does 
the international community care enough to go after the Khartoum 
government and its puppet militias?
  To the people of Darfur, we stand in solidarity with you.