[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 126 (Thursday, August 1, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S5755]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                 Sudan

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to once again 
call attention to the ongoing conflict in Sudan. Our Presiding Officer 
knows about this conflict very well. It is one of the most tragic 
circumstances that we have anywhere in the world. The humanitarian 
crisis is beyond description. The ethnic cleansing and tragedies of two 
factions at war has made this a living hell for so many people in that 
region.
  After more than a year of brutal violence, the two sides may come 
together soon to talk. We certainly hope that is the case. This is a 
critical first step to ending the fighting that erupted last year in a 
country that has seen decades of war.
  I want to acknowledge the Biden-Harris administration and Special 
Envoy Tom Perriello for their work in Sudan. It was not easy to get 
here, and I hope the effort to launch a dialogue this month is 
successful.
  Despite the best efforts of this administration, the violence and 
humanitarian crisis continues, and the international community is 
falling willfully short.
  While we wait for talks to begin, civilians on the ground are being 
killed, abused, and forced out of their homes. Nearly 11 million people 
have been displaced, half the population--close to 26 million--face 
crisis levels of starvation. So 750,000 people are on the brink of 
starvation. According to one published report, 2.5 million more people 
will die because of the conditions related to the conflict and the use 
of food as a weapon of war.
  Credible rights organizations claim that genocide has once again 
occurred in Darfur. I remember Darfur, and we said never again. And it 
is happening again in Darfur. But there are no clear U.S. or U.N. plans 
to ensure humanitarian access across borders or across military lines.
  As the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I come to the 
floor to say we need to take urgent action now. We need to work with 
our partners and allies to pressure the parties to agree to an 
immediate cease-fire and for both sides to make it stick this time.
  To its credit, the Biden-Harris administration has imposed sanctions 
on a variety of actors, including at the senior levels of both warring 
parties. But our partners and allies have not followed suit. In fact, 
just this week, the Sentry released an analysis of the multilateral 
sanctions regime and found that the European Union, in particular, has 
lagged behind in this implementation.
  It is time--it is past time--to do more. It is time for our allies to 
prioritize these measures so we are speaking with one voice to the 
warring parties.
  We need also to work urgently with our African and European partners 
to devise concrete measures the international community can take to 
protect civilians from a repeat of last year's mass atrocities. And we 
need to focus on the next phase: creating and protecting space for the 
Sudanese civilians to establish a path toward a peaceful democratic 
transition and accountability for those responsible for the atrocities 
in contravention of international humanitarian law, including 
unspeakable acts of sexual violence and systematic use of starvation as 
a weapon of war.

  We should not let them get away with their corrupt schemes that 
pillage the Sudanese people's resources. We should not let them 
extinguish Sudan's transition to democracy. That means taking steps 
against those actors who supply or facilitate arms and military 
materiel to any side in Sudan.
  It means enforcing the existing United Nations arms embargo and 
pushing for its extension to cover all of Sudan so that neither side 
responsible for the violence is protected or immune.
  And it means working collectively through the United Nations and 
other multilateral institutions to support these efforts. And it means 
that the international community and the United Nations must pursue any 
and all means to deliver humanitarian assistance into the hands of the 
Sudanese people and ensure robust funding for the humanitarian response 
as the situation demands.
  Sierra Leone is taking up the presidency of the Security Council. It 
is imperative that we work together on action plans to protect 
civilians, on support for coordinated peace negotiations, on 
initiatives to end the impasse on humanitarian access, and on 
accountability.
  I have said this before, but every life is precious. The Sudanese 
people want to live in peace and security and prosperity. And so I urge 
all those who fight for justice, for those who fight against 
atrocities, for those who fight against famine, let us come together 
with the Sudanese people and, after decades of war, let us end this 
conflict once and for all.