[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 194 (Tuesday, December 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15891-S15892]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 DARFUR

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have repeatedly come to the floor to 
speak

[[Page S15892]]

about one of the worst human tragedies in recent memory--the crisis in 
Darfur.
  For 4 long years the world has watched as thousands of innocent 
victims have been murdered, tortured, and raped--their villages burned, 
their livelihoods stolen. More than 2 million people have been chased 
from their homes--many trapped in dangerous refugee camps for almost 5 
years.
  Many of us on both sides of the aisle and in the international 
community have repeatedly called for greater U.S. and global action. 
President Bush has rightly called the situation in Darfur genocide. 
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said, ``Darfur is the greatest 
humanitarian crisis the world faces today.''
  And U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has made ending the crisis one 
of his top priorities.
  His efforts and those of many others led to 2 promising breakthroughs 
earlier this year.
  First, the various parties agreed to start peace talks. With more and 
more rebel groups involved in the violence, a long-term political 
settlement will be vital in bringing stability to the region.
  Second, the U.N. Security Council voted to deploy a 26,000-member 
peacekeeping force to bring the ongoing carnage to an end and help 
create an atmosphere for such negotiations.
  Under pressure from the international community, the Sudanese 
government--notorious for its delays, denials, and obstruction--
grudgingly accepted this new force.
  Despite these assurances, we had many reasons to be skeptical of the 
regime's true intentions.
  For example, Sudan has appointed its own former minister of interior, 
Mr. Ahmed Harun, to lead a committee to investigate human rights abuses 
and also to help oversee the deployment of the peacekeeping force.
  Mr. Harun is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war 
crimes.
  As interior minister, Mr. Harun helped fund, recruit, and arm the 
Janjaweed militia which was directly involved in perpetuating the 
genocide in Darfur.
  Mr. Harun's place in on trial in The Hague, not investigating 
violence he helped perpetuate.
  Equally troubling are the continued attacks on international aid 
workers, fissures in the peace agreement between North and South Sudan, 
and continued violence in Darfur.
  While the Khartoum government thumbs its nose at the international 
community, thousands of innocent victims remain trapped in sprawling 
refugee camps--their lives horribly uprooted, their families 
traumatized with fear and dislocation.
  And now, tragically, it appears that the Sudanese government was 
never serious about the U.N. peacekeeping force. With only 3 weeks 
until the deployment is scheduled to begin the Sudanese government is 
back to its old tricks.
  A few weeks ago, the U.N.'s top peacekeeping official, Jean-Marie 
Guehenno, told the Security Council that obstacles created by the 
Sudanese Government were jeopardizing the deployment of the new 
peacekeeping force.
  In particular, Sudan is now objecting to the deployment of non-
African peacekeepers.
  Sudan's obstruction is madness and must not be tolerated.
  In fact, 13 former world leaders and current activists, including 
former President Jimmy Carter, former U.N. Secretary General Kofi 
Annan, Bangladeshi microfinance champion Muhammed Yunus, and Archbishop 
Desmond Tutu have called for the immediate deployment of the 
peacekeeping force.
  This group of ``Elders'' noted in a recent report that the residents 
of Darfur, as well as Sudanese elsewhere, are desperate for the 
peacekeepers to arrive.
  The stakes are too high and the humanitarian crisis has dragged on 
too long to allow any further backsliding by the Sudanese Government.
  That is why I believe it is time to increase the pressure on the 
Sudanese Government.
  Earlier this year I introduced 2 versions of legislation that would 
increase economic pressure on the Sudanese regime. Each of those bills 
supported state and local divestment efforts, and therefore would allow 
each of us to do our part to end the madness in Darfur by selling off 
any investments in companies that support the Sudanese regime.
  I am pleased that Senator Dodd, as chairman of the Banking Committee, 
adopted ideas from these bills into the Sudan Accountability and 
Divestment Act of 2007--a bill the Senate passed last week and the 
House just moments ago passed by a unanimous vote of 411 to 0.
  I thank him, as well as Ranking Member Shelby and others who have 
worked on this bill--especially Senators Cornyn and Brownback, who 
joined me as lead sponsors of the legislation I originally introduced.
  I hope Congress's support for this bill sends the Government of Sudan 
an important message--that its brazen delays and obstruction of an 
internationally sanctioned peacekeeping force in Darfur can no longer 
be tolerated.

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