[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 30 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1126-S1127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SUPPORTING FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PEACE AGREEMENT IN
SUDAN
Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 274, S. Res.
404.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the
resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 404) supporting full implementation
of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and other efforts to
promote peace and stability in Sudan, and for other purposes.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to
reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or
debate, and any statements related to the resolution be printed in the
Record.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 404) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 404
Whereas violent civil conflict between North and South in
Sudan raged for 21 years,
[[Page S1127]]
resulting in the deaths of an estimated 2,000,000 people and
displacement of another 4,000,000 people;
Whereas the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA) by the National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan People's
Liberation Movement (SPLM) on January 9, 2005, brought a
formal end to that civil war;
Whereas the United States Government, particularly through
the efforts of the President's Special Envoy for Sudan Jack
Danforth, worked closely with the parties, the mediator,
General Lazaro Sumbeiywo, the members of the
Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and the
United Kingdom and Norway to bring about the CPA;
Whereas the CPA established a 6-year interim period during
which the Government of Sudan would undertake significant
democratic reforms and hold national elections, and at the
end of which the South would hold a referendum on self-
determination, with the option to forge an independent state;
Whereas, while the parties have made progress on several
parts of the CPA, limited national government reforms have
been made and several key issues remain outstanding, notably
border demarcation, resolution of the census dispute, and
certain preparations for the 2011 referenda for southern
Sudan and Abyei;
Whereas the NCP's delay and refusal to follow through on
some of its commitments under the CPA has fueled mistrust and
suspicion, increasing tensions between northern and southern
Sudan;
Whereas research by the Small Arms Survey, published as
recently as December 2009, shows that both sides are building
up their security forces and covertly stockpiling weapons in
anticipation of a possible return to civil war;
Whereas the Government of Southern Sudan continues to face
a range of challenges and continues to struggle with problems
of financial management, insufficient capacity, and a limited
ability to provide security in parts of its territory,
especially in the face of increasing inter-ethnic and
communal violence;
Whereas humanitarian organizations and the United Nations
report that more than 2,500 people were killed and an
additional 350,000 displaced by inter-ethnic and communal
violence within southern Sudan throughout 2009;
Whereas the Lord's Resistance Army, a brutal rebel group
formed in northern Uganda, has reportedly resumed and
increased attacks against civilians in southern Sudan,
creating another security challenge in the region;
Whereas the Government of Southern Sudan and the United
Nations Mission (UNMIS) have not taken adequate steps to
address the rising insecurity and to protect civilians in
southern Sudan;
Whereas, despite 5 years of peace, most of southern Sudan
remains severely underdeveloped with communities lacking
access to essential services such as water, health care,
livelihood opportunities, and infrastructure;
Whereas Sudan is scheduled to hold national elections in
April 2010, and the people of southern Sudan and Abyei are to
hold their referendum on self-determination in January 2011
under the terms of the CPA;
Whereas the holding of these elections, Sudan's first
multiparty elections in 24 years, could be a historic
milestone for the country and a step toward genuine
democratic transformation if the elections are fair and free
and all communities are able to participate;
Whereas the existence of laws that grant powers to
government security services in Sudan to arrest and detain
citizens without charge and recent actions taken by the
security forces to restrict freedom of speech and assembly by
opposition parties have raised concerns that conditions may
not exist for fair and free elections in Sudan;
Whereas the conflict in Darfur is still unresolved, the
security situation remains volatile, and armed parties
continue to commit humanitarian and human rights violations
in the region, raising concerns that conditions may not exist
for Darfurians to freely and safely participate in the
elections; and
Whereas the security situation in the whole of Sudan has
profound implications for the stability of neighboring
countries, including Chad, the Central African Republic, the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, and
Uganda: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) acknowledges the critical importance of preventing a
renewed North-South civil war in Sudan, which would have
catastrophic humanitarian consequences for all of Sudan and
could destabilize the wider region;
(2) supports the efforts of President Barack Obama to
reinvigorate and strengthen international engagement on
implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA);
(3) encourages all international envoys and
representatives, including those of the permanent members of
the United Nations Security Council, IGAD, the African Union,
and the United Nations, to work closely together and
coordinate their efforts to bolster the peace accord;
(4) calls on the parties in Sudan--
(A) to comply fully with their commitments under the CPA;
(B) to refrain from actions that could escalate tensions in
the run-up to the 2011 referendum;
(C) to work expeditiously to resolve outstanding issues of
the agreement; and
(D) to begin negotiations to resolve post-referenda issues,
including resource allocation and citizenship rights in the
case of separation;
(5) calls on the Government of National Unity to amend or
repeal laws and avoid any further actions that would unduly
restrict the freedom of speech and assembly by opposition
parties or the full participation of communities, including
those in Darfur, in the upcoming national elections;
(6) encourages the international community and the United
Nations to engage with local populations to provide
assistance for elections in Sudan and popular consultations
while also closely monitoring and speaking out against any
actions by the Government of Sudan or its security forces to
restrict or deny participation in a credible elections
process;
(7) calls on the Government of Southern Sudan to work with
the assistance of the international community to design and
begin implementing a long-term plan for security sector
reform that includes the transformation of the army and
police into modern security organs and the training of all
security forces in human rights and civilian protection;
(8) urges the United Nations Security Council to direct and
assist the UNMIS peacekeepers to better monitor and work to
prevent violence in southern Sudan and to prioritize civilian
protection in decisions about the use of available capacity
and resources;
(9) supports increased efforts by the United States
Government, other donors, and the United Nations to assist
the Government of Southern Sudan to improve its governing
capacity, strengthen its financial accountability, build
critical infrastructure, and expand service delivery;
(10) urges the President to work with the permanent members
of the United Nations Security Council, other governments,
and regional organizations at the highest levels to develop a
coordinated multilateral strategy to promote peaceful change
and full implementation of the CPA; and
(11) encourages the President and other international
leaders to strategize and develop contingency plans now for
all eventualities, including in the event that the CPA
process breaks down or large-scale violence breaks out in
Sudan before or after the 2011 referendum, as well as for
longer term development in the region following the
referendum.
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