[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 20373-20374]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                            SUDAN'S POLICIES

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 2, 2000

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today I express my profound disappointment 
with the Clinton Administration's policies toward Sudan. To be sure, 
there are many good people who have tried to implement worthy and 
thoughtful policies regarding Sudan during the tenure of this 
Administration. The problem with this Administration's Sudan policy, is 
that more often than not, the voices that should have been heard, have 
not carried the day.
  I have been to Sudan three times since 1989 and have seen the 
conditions on the ground first-hand.
  Since 1983, the government of Sudan has been waging a brutal war 
against factions in the south who are fighting for self-determination 
and religious freedom. Most people have died in Sudan than in Kosovo, 
Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda combined with the civil war resulting in 
over 2 million deaths. Most of the dead are civilians--women and 
children--who died from starvation and disease that has resulted from 
the dislocation caused by war.
  The government of Sudan routinely attacks civilian targets--such as 
hospitals, churches and feeding centers--and uses aerial bombings to 
intimidate and kill the southern population. In the past few months, 
several hospitals and schools in the south have been bombed by the 
government, killing numerous innocent men, women, and children.
  I wrote Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security 
Adviser Samuel Berger on March 22, 2000, about the Government of 
Sudan's intentional bombings of a hospital in the south, enclosing an 
op-ed piece from the Wall Street Journal by Franklin Graham. Franklin 
Graham is the head of a non-governmental organization called 
Samaritan's Purse that operates a hospital in Southern Sudan that has 
been repeatedly bombed by the Government of Sudan. Mr. Graham wrote:
  ``The governments of the world could help the southern Sudanese 
through international trade sanctions, military action, and public 
condemnation. Despite empty, halfhearted rebukes, the international 
community has taken no meaningful action to condemn the Sudanese 
government.  . . .''
  But that wasn't the first time I've written this Administration about 
Sudan. Because of the millions of deaths and because of the atrocities 
that have been committed by the government of Sudan, soon after this 
Administration took office in 1993, I wrote to President Clinton asking 
him to appoint a special envoy to Sudan, explaining that:
  ``The appointment of a special envoy is especially timely since the 
State Department has recently declassified powerful new information 
detailing widespread human rights atrocities being committed by the 
military of Sudan. Most appalling among these abuses is the Sudanese 
government's practice of kidnapping and slavery of women and children 
from southern Sudan.''
  The Administration did appoint a special envoy in May 1994, but 
Melissa Wells held the position for only a short time. After some time 
had elapsed without a special envoy for Sudan, I wrote the 
Administration at least seven more times about the importance of 
filling
  To date, though, their efforts have not led to a peace. To bring 
about peace, the situation in Sudan needs the attention of and 
investment of time from the President, comparable to the efforts 
President Clinton has made in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East. 
While President Clinton has remained silent, hundreds of thousands of 
people have died.
  This Administration knows that slavery, the selling of its own 
people, is in the government of Sudan's portfolio. The Sudanese 
government has done nothing to stop the slavery. Slave traders from the 
north sweep down into southern villages recently destabilized by 
fighting, and kidnap women and children who are then sold for use as 
domestic servants, concubines or other purposes. This is real-life 
chattel slavery. It exists today--at the threshold of the 21st century.
  A de-classified U.S. State Department cable describes this 
administration's knowledge of this slavery since at least 1993. This 
cable, dated April 1993, which I include for the Record, states:
  ``Credible sources say GOS [Government of Sudan] forces, especially 
in the PDF, routinely steal women and children in the Bahr El Ghazal. 
Some women and girls are kept as wives; the others are shipped north 
where they perform forced labor on Kordofan farms or are exported, 
notably to Libya. Many Dinka are reported to be performing forced labor 
in the areas of Meiram and Abyei. Others are said to be on farms 
throughout Kordofan.
  ``There are also credible reports of kidnappings in Kordofan. In 
March 1993 hundreds of Nuer displaced reached northern Kordofan, saying 
that Arab militias between Abyei and Muglad had taken children by 
force, killing the adults who resisted. The town of Hamarat el Sheikh, 
northwest of Sodiri in north Kordofan, is reported to be a transit 
point for Dinka and Nuba children who are then trucked to Libya.''
  I wrote President Clinton about slavery in Sudan on September 9, 
1997, saying, ``Mr. President, women and children are being sold into 
slavery--real life slavery in Sudan . . . And the United States 
response? Talk tough but take no action.''
  On December 3, 1997, I again wrote President Clinton about this 
atrocity, saying that America has to stand up to the government in 
Khartoum.
  The government of Sudan has been on the U.S. State Department's list 
of countries that sponsor terrorism since 1993. One can fly into 
Khartoum and find terrorist groups fully functioning there. The 
government of Sudan was implicated in the assassination attempt on 
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
  On September 9, 1997, after hearing that the Administration was 
considering re-staffing the U.S. Embassy in Sudan, I wrote to President 
Clinton, reminding him that,
  ``there has been absolutely no progress on terrorism, human rights or 
religious persecution . . . The government [of Sudan] is harboring 
terrorists and has done nothing to deal with this issue. You say you 
are tough on terrorism. What kind of signal does this send.

[[Page 20374]]

. . . Actions like these further erode my confidence in the 
administration's true willingness to stand up for human rights and 
against terrorism. It's time to do more than talk.''
  It has been widely reported from numerous sources that the war is 
estimated to cost the government of Sudan $1 million a day. This 
Administration's failure to prevent the listing of PetroChina on the 
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)--a subsidiary of the Chinese National 
Petroleum Company (CNPC)--will allow the Sudanese government 
unprecedented revenue to conduct its war with the south because of 
Sudan's Greater Nile Project. It is estimated that CNPC has invested at 
least $1-2 billion in this project, and the Chinese government has also 
committed to invest some $15 billion in other infrastructure projects 
in Sudan, ensuring a long-term relationship between the countries.
  On September 30, 1999, I wrote Arthur Levitt, chairman of the 
Securities and Exchange Commission, that:
  ``Oil revenue will . . . allow the government of Sudan to buy still 
more weapons. The government of Sudan has announced publicly that it 
will use the oil revenue to increase the momentum and lethality of the 
war . . . Allowing the CNPC to raise capital in the U.S. would 
exacerbate the already tragic situation in Sudan. It would also make it 
easier for Americans to invest, perhaps unknowingly, in a company that 
is propping up a regime engaged in slavery, genocide and terrorism . . 
. .''
  On November 4, 1999, I voiced similar concern about the proposed 
listing of CNPC/PetroChina to Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence 
Summers and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urging her to do what 
she could to prevent the listing of CNPC/PetroChina on the NYSE. This 
Administration, though refused to prevent PetroChina's listing on the 
NYSE.
  Just recently, the government of Sudan's repeated bombings of 
international relief agencies operating under the umbrella of the 
United Nations forced the shut down of most food aid delivery in 
Southern Sudan. These bombings have been reported in numerous press 
accounts.
  On this Administration's watch, particularly President Clinton's 
silence and refusal to speak out and to take the initiative in 
promoting a just peace in the Sudan, there have been more killings and 
more deaths in southern Sudan.
  This Administration's record on preventing the importation of gum 
arabic from Sudan has been spotty. I wrote twelve letters to the 
Administration in which I asked the Administration to maintain the gum 
arabic sanctions against Sudan.
  While an embargo on gum arabic has been in effect by Executive Order 
since November 1997, just this year the Administration allowed an 
exemption of a shipment of gum arabic from Sudan. Now, the 
Administration seems to be giving Lukewarm opposition to lifting this 
embargo in response to a technical corrections trade bill that included 
a section that would lift the embargo on gum arabic from Sudan. This 
language was buried in H.R. 4868 (the ``Miscellaneous Trade and 
Technical Corrections Act 2000'') and very few Members of Congress were 
aware of its presence in the bill. I think the verdict is still out on 
whether this Administration will uphold the embargo on gum arabic from 
Sudan, but I received a response to my August 4, 2000 letter from 
Ambassador Holbrooke, in which Ambassador Holbrooke wrote:
  ``The Administration agrees with you that the sanctions on the 
government of Sudan has not made progress in rectifying the human 
rights abuses for which those sanctions were imposed, and we should not 
consider permanently lifting sanctions until satisfactory progress has 
been made.''
  Recently I have seen a glimmer of hope in what appears to be an 
effort by the Administration to prevent Sudan from becoming a member of 
the Security Council at the United Nations. Only time will tell if the 
Administration will be vigorous on this issue and ultimately successful 
in keeping Sudan off of the U.N. Security Council.
  Now there are troubling reports of a Chinese military presence 
bolstering the government of Sudan's grip on the oil fields, yet the 
Clinton Administration has done nothing to slow or prevent China's 
large role in the country of Sudan. An article from United Press 
International dated August 30 describes the varied reports on Chinese 
troop levels in Sudan and outlines the likely Chinese military presence 
in Sudan:
  ``. . . [a State Department] official conceded that China has a 
substantial economic interest and a large military sales program in 
Sudan and that Chinese troops have been deployed in the north African 
country . . . an intelligence official following the issue said 
classified reports gathered from spies indicate China may indeed be 
planning to deploy large numbers of troops to Sudan . . .''
  I wrote President Clinton on February 15, 2000, about how I think 
history will judge his record particularly on Sudan, unless he shows 
significantly more interest in his remaining months in office, saying,
  ``Many people have contacted you over the years as President about 
the long ongoing tragedy in Sudan. You have done little or nothing in 
response to the killing and slavery that has ended or devastated 
millions of lives, women and children included . . . I implore you to 
use some of your remaining time and energy on the critical plight of 
the people of Sudan and especially those in the south who are daily 
subject to bombing, starvation, sickness, relocation, slavery, and 
death. History will not judge you well on this because you have not 
even personally shown any interest in this.''
  The legacy of this Administration will not be that it took decisive 
and bold action to stop atrocities in Africa and in other parts of the 
world. When history is written about this Administration, I think 
historians will say that they failed to act when action would have made 
a difference and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Even for 
something as benign and universal as promoting religious freedom, this 
Administration did little, to nothing, to outright opposition to the 
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
  President Clinton has traveled more than almost any other President. 
He has had first hand experiences throughout Africa, more experience 
and actual time in Africa than any other President. But all of his time 
only amounted to photo opportunities and handshakes, amounting to 
substance-free public relations.
  Because of his time in Africa, he should have and could have done so 
much more. The death, suffering, and destruction that has occurred over 
the past eight years needed more than a touch down by Air Force One.

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