[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 152 (Wednesday, September 24, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9435-S9436]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              STRATEGY TO ADDRESS CRISIS IN DARFUR, SUDAN

  Mr. SALAZAR. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 684, introduced 
earlier today by Senator Durbin.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 684) calling for a comprehensive 
     strategy to address the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, as we wrap up the work of the 110th 
Congress and look ahead to a new administration, let us take a moment 
to consider a part of the world that desperately needs our continued 
attention. I am talking about the tragic situation in Darfur.
  The United Nations estimates that more than 300,000 people have died 
in Darfur since 2003. In that time, another 2.5 million people have 
been displaced.
  Just over 4 years ago the House unanimously passed a resolution 
calling the situation in Darfur genocide. The resolution urged the 
President to consider multilateral--even unilateral--intervention to 
address this crisis.
  The legislation spoke of Congress's hope that the United States would 
not allow what happened in Rwanda to happen again.
  Not on our watch.
  Since then we have passed legislation increasing economic pressure on 
Sudan. The U.N. Security Council has passed resolutions and implemented 
arms embargos. Members of Congress have met with Ambassadors and U.N. 
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
  And yet we have failed to bring an end to this nightmare--a nightmare 
that is now entering its sixth year.
  In May, Senator Snowe and 27 other Senators joined me in a letter to 
President Bush saying that it was time for definitive U.S. leadership 
to bring a long-term resolution to the crisis in Sudan. This bipartisan 
letter from almost a third of the Senate said:

       Fourteen years ago the world watched as genocide unfolded 
     in Rwanda. Despite dire warnings and pleas for help, 800,000 
     people were brutally killed in less than one hundred days. 
     Today the world looks back in painful regret at its failure 
     to take action. Yet, we are likely to face a similarly harsh 
     historical judgment if we do not once and for all take action 
     against the genocide in Darfur.

  A rogue regime guilty of killing hundreds of thousands of its own 
people--guilty of rape, torture, and the creation of millions of 
refugees--must not be allowed to thumb its nose any further at the 
international community.
  Yet the Sudanese regime continues to stall the deployment of a 
historic peacekeeping force--a force that is still only one-third 
deployed more than 1 year after it was approved by the U.N. Security 
Council.
  I and others repeatedly have raised directly with President Bush and 
with Secretary Rice the need for decisive Presidential leadership.

[[Page S9436]]

  Senator Biden has held hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee to ask why the administration cannot do more to help with the 
desperately needed deployment of peacekeepers.
  President Bush himself said during a visit this year to Kigali 
Memorial Center, where 250,000 Rwandans are buried in mass graves, that 
he hoped the world would ``once and for all'' work to halt the genocide 
in Darfur.
  Today's tragedy in Darfur is of historic proportion. It is our duty 
to step in and show the world we really care. But it takes Presidential 
leadership--not in 6 months, not in a year, but now.
  The United States is not the only country that needs to act. A recent 
BBC investigation showed that Chinese military equipment is still being 
used by the Government of Sudan in Darfur, despite a U.N. arms embargo.
  The arms embargo--which my colleague, Senator Bill Nelson, has been 
arguing should be strengthened--requires foreign nations to ensure that 
they are not in any way providing military assistance for the conflict 
in Darfur. Yet, over the years, Amnesty International and now the BBC 
have documented Chinese and Russian military equipment in Darfur.
  China and Russia are members of the U.N. Security Council and have a 
responsibility to ensure their equipment is not adding to the human 
suffering in Sudan.
  If China wants the world to see it as a modern and responsible global 
leader, it is time to show real leadership on such issues as Darfur, 
Burma, and Zimbabwe. It should no longer use its Security Council veto 
to protect brutal dictatorships. It must be diligent in its weapons 
sales to conflict zones.
  My friend and colleague, Senator Chuck Hagel, said it perfectly in a 
recent speech. He said:

       Powerful nations must be the adults in world affairs. 
     Anything less will result in disastrous, useless, preventable 
     global conflict.

  I couldn't agree more.
  I call on China to stop propping up the Sudanese regime with oil 
purchases. Ensure that Chinese weapons are not fueling the conflict. 
Use your full diplomatic leverage to ensure full U.N. peacekeeper 
deployment, and work with the global community to help forge a long-
term political settlement in Sudan.
  This week Senators Snowe, Kerry, Feingold, Lugar, Brownback, Schumer, 
Menendez, Dodd, Specter, Leahy, Levin, Obama, Biden and others have 
joined me in introducing a final resolution of this 110th Congress on 
Darfur.
  It urges the President, the United Nations, the African Union, and 
other key members of the international community to pursue a 
comprehensive strategy to address the ongoing crisis in Darfur. It also 
condemns the Government of Sudan for its continued violence and 
obstruction of the international community. A similar resolution is 
being introduced in the House.
  Quite simply, the situation in Darfur has reached a tragic juncture. 
This administration and Congress will either act soon or, sadly, this 
genocide will have occurred on our watch.
  A few years ago, President Clinton faced the reality of the failure 
to halt the genocide in Rwanda. He called it ``my great, great regret 
in international affairs.''
  That was a brave and honorable reflection.
  We cannot allow ourselves to have to look back years from now to say 
the same thing happened in Darfur. The United States and the global 
community, particularly those on the U.N. Security Council and Sudan's 
neighbors, have a moral responsibility to speak out and act to save the 
people of Darfur.
  Mr. SALAZAR. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to; the preamble be agreed to; the motion to reconsider be laid upon 
the table, with no intervening action or debate; and any statements 
relating to this measure be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 684) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 684

       Whereas more than 300,000 people have died and 
     approximately 2,500,000 have been displaced in Darfur since 
     2003, according to estimates by the United Nations;
       Whereas Congress unanimously declared on July 22, 2004, 
     that the atrocities in Darfur were genocide;
       Whereas, on September 9, 2004, Secretary of State Colin 
     Powell and on June 1, 2005, President George W. Bush 
     described the crisis in Darfur as genocide;
       Whereas the United States has led the world in financial 
     contributions to humanitarian aid and peacekeeping operations 
     in Darfur;
       Whereas, on July 31, 2007, the United Nations Security 
     Council voted to deploy an historic United Nations-African 
     Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping force to stem the violence in 
     Darfur and create conditions for peace talks;
       Whereas only approximately 10,000 of the authorized force 
     of 26,000 peacekeepers and police have deployed to Darfur, 
     delayed by Sudanese obstruction as well as by a failure of 
     the international community to commit sufficient resources 
     and to overcome logistical obstacles; and
       Whereas more than four years have passed since Congress 
     declared the conflict in Darfur to be genocide and conditions 
     on the ground in Darfur continue to worsen: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) urges the President, the United Nations Secretary-
     General, the African Union, and other key members of the 
     international community to pursue a comprehensive solution to 
     the Darfur crisis by--
       (A) supporting efforts to launch a just and inclusive peace 
     process;
       (B) ensuring the full and effective deployment of the 
     UNAMID mission;
       (C) ensuring the free and unfettered flow of humanitarian 
     aid;
       (D) promoting economic and political development programs;
       (E) supporting full implementation of the Comprehensive 
     Peace Agreement of 2005; and
       (F) promoting justice and accountability;
       (2) condemns the Government of Sudan for its continued 
     obstruction of the deployment of United Nations-African Union 
     peacekeepers and equipment;
       (3) condemns the ongoing acts of violence in and 
     obstruction of aid to Darfur committed by all parties; and
       (4) calls upon the Government of Sudan and armed parties in 
     the region to declare and respect an immediate cessation of 
     hostilities, abide by the United Nations embargo on the 
     importation of arms, cease predation and attacks upon 
     humanitarian organizations, and participate in international 
     efforts to negotiate a lasting political settlement for the 
     region.

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