[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 6154-6155]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



  ON THE DELEGATION OF U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS TO SUDAN MARCH 24-APRIL 6

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 24, 2001

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I want to share with you the findings of the 
U.S. Catholic Bishop's Conference who recently led a delegation to the 
country of Sudan.
  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. More people have died in Sudan than in Kosovo, 
Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia combined. Most of the dead are civilians--
women and children--who died from starvation and disease. Over 2 
million people have died. The Committee on Conscience of the United 
States Holocaust Memorial Museum has issued a genocide warning for 
Sudan.
  Because of the large-scale death and destruction, the findings 
arising from the U.S. Catholic Bishops' delegation is noteworthy and 
timely.
  The dire situation in Sudan calls for a high profile, high level 
special envoy to bring peace and to stop the atrocities. It is my 
fervent hope that the Bush administration will appoint such an envoy 
without delay.

     DELEGATION OF U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS TO SUDAN--MARCH 24-APRIL 6


                               OBJECTIVES

       The objectives of the trip were three-fold: to show 
     solidarity with the Catholic Church in Sudan; to conduct a 
     fact-finding mission to the North and South; and to increase 
     efforts toward advocacy in the U.S. to help promote a just 
     and lasting peace.


                         BACKGROUND INFORMATION

       The delegation was comprised of three bishops: Bishop John 
     Ricard, Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee, president and 
     chairman of the board of Catholic Relief Services, and member 
     of the Committee on International Policy; Bishop Nicolas 
     DiMarzio, Bishop of Camden, New Jersey and chairman of the 
     Committee on Refugees and Migration; Bishop Edward Braxton, 
     Bishop of Lake Charles, Louisiana and member of the Committee 
     on International Policy; Staff from Catholic Relief services 
     and the United States Catholic Conference committees on 
     Migration and Refugees and International Policy.
       The delegation went to: Khartoum, and its outlying areas; 
     Rumbeck; Narus; Nimule; Yambio; and Kauda in the Nuba 
     Mountains.
       During the visit, the delegation met with: Northern and 
     Southern leaders of the Catholic church and the New Sudan 
     Council of Churches; Government ministers in Khartoum 
     including the first vice-president, and the former Minister 
     of State, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the 
     State Minister of Engineering, and the Minister of Religious 
     Affairs; SPLM/A officials, including governors, military 
     commanders and other senior officials. The delegation met 
     with other civil society groups in both North and South.
       The Bishops raised issues of: peace; religious freedom; 
     human rights; plight of displaced persons and refugees; 
     slavery and abduction; bombing and terrorization of civilian 
     populations.

[[Page 6155]]

       It is important for this delegation to state that we are 
     not specialists of Sudanese culture, politics, and other 
     aspects of social life. We speak from the perspective of a 
     Church deeply concerned with the plight of all Sudanese, 
     those living in the North, South, the contested areas, and 
     those forced to flee their country and seek asylum in 
     neighboring states or elsewhere.


                             MAJOR FINDINGS

       1. Conflict and persecution in Sudan are a direct result of 
     a systematic campaign of Islamization and Arabization by 
     those who hold political and economic power in Khartoum.
       2. Religious persecution, the systematic denial of basic 
     religious freedom, and a program of Islamization continue to 
     characterize the approach of the Government in Khartoum 
     towards those who do not profess a particular version of 
     Islam.
       3. Cultural persecution, the systematic undermining of the 
     dignity of non-Arab Sudanese citizens, and the relegation of 
     people to a status of inferiority and subservience continue 
     to shape social institutions and fundamental attitudes of 
     people living in northern Sudan, for which government is 
     responsible.
       4. The bombing of civilian targets, the systematic use of 
     Antonov bombers to terrorize populations in contested areas, 
     and other tactics employed to drive people from oil-rich 
     regions are part of the military strategy of the government 
     in Khartoum.
       For example: There was a bombing April 16 of Kauda that 
     narrowly missed hitting the plane carrying Bishop Macram Max, 
     Bishop of Diocese of El-Obeid.
       And then only yesterday, April 23, Antonov bombers 
     inflicted serious damage on a Catholic school in Narus.
       5. Oil exploration, development and sales contribute to an 
     expansion of the war, deepen the plight of the peoples of 
     southern Sudan and other contested areas, harden the resolve 
     of the government in Khartoum to seek a military solution to 
     the conflict, and further widen the gap between the 
     government and those contesting its practices and legitimacy,
       6. The government in Khartoum must be called to 
     accountability for its promotion, directly or indirectly, of 
     the intolerable practice of slavery and other gross 
     violations of human rights, and the abduction of Southern 
     children living in and around Khartoum and their forced 
     induction into Koranic schools. The SPLM/A must also cease 
     the practice of the abduction and conscription of minors and 
     other practices that violate human rights.
       7. Divisions among the various ethnic groups in the South, 
     coupled with the lack of political support by the leadership 
     of the SPLM/A for various initiatives seeking to reconcile 
     and unite people, compromise the peace process, further 
     destabilize a fragile social infrastructure and undermine 
     advances in development in the region.
       8. Internally displaced persons living in the North and the 
     South live in desperate conditions with little hope for 
     immediate improvement; Sudanese refugees in neighboring 
     countries languish in refugee camps, with few prospects for 
     their future. Fatigue on the part of the international 
     community is due to the protracted nature of the conflict and 
     the inability to improve prospects for a better life for the 
     displaced, We are encouraged by the special attention that 
     dedicated groups in the U.S. and elsewhere have been able to 
     bring to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and the increased 
     attention being given by the U.S. Congress and Media.
       9. Increasing threats of famine in western Sudan, northern 
     Bahr el Ghazal and elsewhere, further complicated by the 
     political manipulation of humanitarian access by the 
     Government in Khartoum and the expropriation of large amounts 
     of humanitarian assistance by the SPLA, exacerbate human 
     suffering and contribute to the loss of innocent lives.
       10. There is urgent need for investment in development in 
     southern Sudan, particularly for education and technical 
     training, and for the formation of individuals and 
     communities in the basic principles of responsible governance 
     and civil administration.


                         Policy Recommendations

       1. The war in Sudan must be brought to an immediate and 
     just end. The full and active engagement of the U.S. 
     government could provide the necessary impetus to all parties 
     to the conflict to negotiate an immediate and verifiable 
     cessation of hostilities, monitored by the United Nations or 
     another international body. It is particularly crucial that 
     there be an immediate end to the bombing of civilian targets 
     and a halt to the expulsion of civilian populations from 
     their homelands.
       2. We support the Sudanese Bishops and others in calling 
     for the U.S. to play a central role in leading a new, 
     multilateral effort involving the member states of IGAD, 
     those of the IGAD Partner's Forum, and the international 
     community to push all parties to the conflict to a negotiated 
     peace, based on the Declaration of Principles to which the 
     two main parties are signatories.
       3. We support the call for the President of the United 
     States should name a high-level special envoy to Sudan with a 
     clear mandate and direct access to the President and the 
     Secretary of State.
       4. As we give attention to the terrible situation in the 
     South, the U.S. government and the international community 
     must also address serious human rights violations in the 
     North, particularly: Religious persecution and denial of 
     religious freedom; cultural persecution; economic exclusion; 
     denial of the right of free expression, free association and 
     other fundamental rights; the plight of more than 2 million 
     internally displaced in the North.
       5. The U.S. government and the international community 
     should exert pressure upon corporations and governments 
     involved in the exploration, extraction, production and sale 
     of Sudanese oil to take steps to ensure that their activities 
     do not contribute to the escalation of the war, the deepening 
     of human suffering, the continued displacement of peoples 
     from their homelands and ways of life, and urge the oil 
     industy to take an active role in helping to promote a just 
     and lasting peace.
       6. The United States and the international commnunity 
     should increase humanitarian relief, specifically to 
     internally displaced persons, press for greater access to 
     humanitarian relief in contested areas, based on the 
     Beneficiaries Protocol signed by the two main parties to the 
     conflict, and increase development assistance to the South 
     for education, health and capacity building of civil 
     institutions.
       7. The U.S. government and the international community must 
     press the Government in Khartoum to bring the practice of 
     slavery to an immediate end and secure the release and return 
     of all slaves to their families and communities. The 
     international community also must use its influence to press 
     all parties to the conflict to end the abduction of minors 
     and their induction into Koranic schools in the North, or 
     into military service in both the North and South and provide 
     for their immediate and safe return to their families and 
     communities.

     

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