[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 118 (Friday, July 31, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CRITICAL ISSUES FACING SUDAN

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 31, 2009

  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, Sudan has been ravaged by intermittent 
civil war for four decades. Over the last 20 years, more than two 
million people have died in Southern Sudan due to war-related causes 
and famine, and millions more have been displaced from their homes. In 
January 2005, after two and a half years of negotiations, the Sudan 
People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) of the South and the Government of 
Sudan signed a final peace agreement known as the Comprehensive Peace 
Agreement (CPA). According to the United Nations, U.S. officials and 
Sudan observers, the implementation of the CPA has been selective and 
at times deliberately slow. With national elections scheduled for April 
2010, the implementation of the CPA is critical
  Yesterday, on Thursday, July 30, 2009, the Tom Lantos Human Rights 
Commission held a hearing on ``Ensuring the Human Rights of the People 
of Sudan: Implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.'' 
The distinguished witnesses testifying before the Commission were 
Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, Head of Mission, Government of South Sudan 
Mission in the United States; Roger Winter, former Special 
Representative on Sudan, Department of State; John Norris, Executive 
Director, the ENOUGH Project; and Amir Osman, Senior Director of Policy 
and Government Relations, Save Darfur Coalition.
  Mr. Osman, a native of Sudan, fled his home country in 2003 because 
his work on human rights had put his life at risk. He was resettled in 
the United States in 2006 through the United Nations High Commissioner 
on Refugees, moved to Washington, D.C., and joined the Save Darfur 
Coalition. It is my privilege to share his testimony with my 
colleagues.

             Save Darfur Coalition--Testimony of Amir Osman

       Good afternoon. Chairman McGovern, Chairman Wolf, thank you 
     very much for inviting me to testify today on this very 
     important issue before this very important commission. I 
     appreciate the opportunity to talk about the critical issues 
     currently facing my home country of Sudan.
       It was a difficult decision for me to flee Sudan in 2003. I 
     left because my work on human rights had put my life at risk. 
     As a refugee living in Egypt, I continued to advocate for 
     peace, justice, and democracy in Sudan at the American 
     University in Cairo and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights 
     Studies. I specifically focused on the genocide in Darfur 
     during those years.
       After being resettled to the United States in 2006 through 
     the UNHCR, I moved here to Washington and joined the Save 
     Darfur Coalition to aid its international advocacy efforts. 
     As co-senior director of policy and government relations, I 
     help design and implement the coalition's international 
     policy, advocacy and outreach to foreign governments, and 
     international partner organizations in Europe, Africa, and 
     the Middle East. I also focus on the human rights situation 
     in Sudan and the peace processes in Darfur and South Sudan
       During the past decade, President Omar al-Bashir and his 
     inner circle have transitioned from an ideologically driven 
     regime to one whose primary aim is self-preservation. The 
     regime now makes human rights compromises when it feels 
     compelled to do so. The regime's continued abuses have been 
     well-documented by human rights organizations. Regular 
     warnings have been issued about illegal detentions, unfair 
     trials, press censorship, and the routine harassment of 
     journalists. In addition, current laws do little to protect 
     victims of gender-based crimes.
       The most urgent human rights challenge in Sudan today, 
     however, continues to be the crisis in Darfur. Three million 
     displaced civilians continue to suffer as a result of the 
     genocide that began in 2003. While the systematic destruction 
     of villages has largely ended, the people of Darfur continue 
     to live in a lawless, dangerous environment, where rape 
     continues to be a daily terror.
       On March 4th, the Sudanese government demonstrated its 
     ability to cut off humanitarian aid at any moment from the 
     4.7 million Darfuris who depend on it.
       The mass violence committed by the Sudanese government 
     several years ago has been replaced with the harassment, 
     detention, torture, and murder of Sudanese civil society 
     leaders. This violence led a significant number of 
     the Sudanese human rights defenders to flee the country 
     shortly after March 4th. Such abuses must be stopped.
       The suffering in Darfur resembles in many ways the war in 
     Southern Sudan. Both Darfuris and Southern Sudanese have 
     experienced the bombing of villages and mass civilian 
     displacement. The Sudanese government's use of humanitarian 
     aid as a weapon of war and its divide and rule tactics 
     amongst Southern rebels have also been repeated in Darfur.
       At the same time the Sudanese government was launching its 
     genocidal campaign in Darfur, it was negotiating with the 
     SPLM an end to the conflict in the south. Bashir made the 
     calculation that the international community would turn a 
     blind eye to Darfur in the effort to get the CPA signed. His 
     calculation turned out to be largely correct.
       Bashir's favorite tactic is to delay true reforms by 
     creating crises that distract the international community, 
     allowing Bashir to never actually fulfill any of his 
     promises. The international community enables Bashir by 
     focusing on the crisis of the moment rather than a 
     comprehensive solution. The NCP is using cooperation on the 
     implementation of the CPA as leverage to resist international 
     pressure on Darfur. And it is working.
       The United States and the international community have 
     failed to develop policies suited for dealing with a regime 
     which lacks a fundamental willingness to transform into the 
     democratic state envisioned by the CPA. Sudan issues will not 
     be resolved satisfactorily between just the NCP and SPLM or 
     the NCP and the Darfuri rebels. All of Sudanese civil society 
     must be empowered to participate in these processes.
       The United States must understand that Sudan's crises 
     cannot be managed forever or resolved individually. Only when 
     the international community demands serious judicial and 
     democratic reforms will there ever be a chance to resolve 
     South Sudan and Darfur and move towards lasting peace. 
     Policymakers have too often focused on the South to the 
     detriment of Darfur, or Darfur to the detriment of the South. 
     But Darfur and South Sudan are not separate problems; they 
     are the result of a single problem: the undemocratic, 
     centralized, and abusive nature of the ruling regime. Only 
     when this problem is addressed will peace be forthcoming.
       There is an urgent need for a coherent and comprehensive 
     strategy to guide Sudan to a more democratic and peaceful 
     future. Such a strategy requires that important and difficult 
     choices be presented to the NCP. The Sudanese government must 
     be forced to choose between cooperation and confrontation.
       If they cooperate by ending the violence in Darfur, 
     ensuring accountability through cooperation with the ICC, and 
     fully implement the CPA, they may be allowed to reap the 
     benefits of becoming a responsible member of the 
     international community. If they continue to delay 
     implementation of the CPA and continue to attempt to divert 
     and distract the international community by using one 
     conflict as leverage against the other, they must face real 
     consequences.
       While we here in Washington sit and debate policy, the 
     people of Sudan continue to suffer. This policy debate should 
     not be complicated. The United States and its allies must 
     force Sudan's hand and then commit to seeing this through. We 
     have played Bashir's game too long to be fooled any longer.

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