[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 101 (Friday, July 8, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H4756]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 SOUTH SUDAN: PRAYERS FOR A NEW NATION

  (Mr. SMITH of New Jersey asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, the people of South Sudan have 
endured two decades of wanton violence, rape, torture and hunger 
systematically imposed upon them by the Bashir dictatorship in 
Khartoum. More than 2 million people were killed, 4 million people 
displaced, and countless families decimated.
  The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 ended the war and put South 
Sudan on the path to nationhood. Tomorrow, when the people of South 
Sudan emerge as the newest nation on Earth, tomorrow, when that dream 
is realized, Americans will join the people of South Sudan in 
celebrating this extraordinary hope-filled event.
  Yet recently at least 100,000 Sudanese have been displaced from the 
Abyei area, and tens of thousands of Southerners living in South 
Kordofan State have been recently forced from their homes, some of them 
murdered. So there are serious remaining challenges.
  Nevertheless, we hope and we pray that the people of South Sudan will 
finally live in peace and enjoy respect for their basic human rights 
and freedom.

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