[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16907-16918]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  DECLARING GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, SUDAN

  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 467) declaring genocide in 
Darfur, Sudan, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 467

       Whereas Article 1 of the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (signed at Paris on 
     December 9, 1948) states that ``the Contracting Parties 
     confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or 
     in time of war, is a crime under international law which they 
     undertake to prevent and to punish'';
       Whereas Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide declares that ``in the 
     present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts 
     committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a 
     national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) 
     killing members of the group; (b) causing serious bodily or 
     mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately 
     inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to 
     bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) 
     imposing measures intended to prevent births within the 
     group; and (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to 
     another group'';
       Whereas Article 3 of the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide affirms that ``[the] 
     following acts shall be punishable: (a) genocide; (b) 
     conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) direct and public 
     incitement to commit genocide; (d) attempt to committed 
     genocide; and (e) complicit in genocide'';
       Whereas in Darfur, Sudan, an estimated 30,000 innocent 
     civilians have been brutally murdered, more than 130,000 
     people have been forced from their homes and have fled to 
     neighboring Chad, and more than 1,000,000 people have been 
     internally displaced; and
       Whereas in March 2004 the United Nations Resident 
     Humanitarian Coordinator stated: ``[T]he war in Darfur 
     started off in a small way last year but it has progressively 
     gotten worse. A predominant feature of this is that the brunt 
     is being borne by civilians. This includes vulnerable women 
     and children . . . The violence in Darfur appears to be 
     particularly directed at a specific group based on their 
     ethnic identity and appears to be systemized.'': Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) declares that the atrocities unfolding in Darfur, 
     Sudan, are genocide;
       (2) reminds the Contracting Parties to the Convention on 
     the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 
     (signed at Paris on December 9, 1948), particularly the 
     Government of Sudan, of their legal obligations under the 
     Convention;
       (3) declares that the Government of Sudan, as a Contracting 
     Party, has violated the Convention on the Prevention and 
     Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
       (4) deplores the failure of the United Nations Human Rights 
     Commission to take appropriate action with respect to the 
     crisis in Darfur, Sudan, particularly the failure by the 
     Commission to support United States-sponsored efforts to 
     strongly condemn gross human rights violations committed in 
     Darfur, and calls upon the United Nations and the United 
     Nations Secretary General to assert leadership by calling the 
     atrocities being committed in Darfur by their rightful name: 
     ``genocide'';
       (5) calls on the member states of the United Nations, 
     particularly member states from the African Union, the Arab 
     League,

[[Page 16908]]

     and the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to undertake 
     measures to prevent the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, from 
     escalating further, including the imposition of targeted 
     means against those responsible for the atrocities;
       (6) urges the Administration to call the atrocities being 
     committed in Darfur, Sudan, by their rightful name: 
     ``genocide'';
       (7) commends the Administration's leadership in seeking a 
     peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, and in 
     addressing the ensuing humanitarian crisis, including the 
     visit of Secretary of State Colin Powell to Darfur in June 
     2004 to engage directly in efforts to end the genocide, and 
     the provision of nearly $140,000,000 to date in bilateral 
     humanitarian assistance through the United States Agency for 
     International Development;
       (8) commends the President for appointing former Senator 
     John Danforth as Envoy for Peace in Sudan on September 6, 
     2001, and further commends the appointment of Senator 
     Danforth as United States Ambassador to the United Nations;
       (9) calls on the Administration to continue to lead an 
     international effort to stop genocide in Darfur, Sudan;
       (10) urges the Administration to seriously consider 
     multilateral or even unilateral intervention to stop genocide 
     in Darfur, Sudan, should the United Nations Security Council 
     fail to act;
       (11) calls on the Administration to impose targeted means, 
     including visa bans and the freezing of assets, against 
     officials and other individuals of the Government of Sudan, 
     as well as Janjaweed militia commanders, who are responsible 
     for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, Sudan; 
     and
       (12) calls on the United States Agency for International 
     Development to establish a Darfur Resettlement, 
     Rehabilitation, and Reconstruction Fund so that those 
     individuals driven off their land may return and begin to 
     rebuild their communities.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo).


                             General Leave

  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks and include extraneous material on the concurrent resolution 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Colorado?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand before Members tonight to urge their support for 
House Concurrent Resolution 467 which declares genocide in the Darfur 
region of western Sudan.
  Unfortunately, there is no one among us who is unfamiliar with the 
word ``genocide.'' Several of us have been personally affected by 
genocide. The mere mention of the word evokes the horrific images of 
the gas chambers of the Holocaust, the killing fields of Cambodia, the 
mass graves of Srebrenica, and the bloodied streets of Rwanda. The 
atrocities committed in these areas were heinous and must not be 
belittled by casual usage of the word ``genocide,'' but I assure 
Members the decision to bring this resolution to the floor and to make 
such a declaration has been anything but casual.
  Out of a preconflict population of 6.5 million in Darfur, an 
estimated 30,000 people have been killed, another 300,000 face certain 
death in the coming months. Up to 1 million have been internally 
displaced, and 130,000 others have been forced to flee to neighboring 
Chad. Remember that this is happening in a country that has undergone 
the most horrific civil war for over 25 years, where 2 million people 
have died and 4 million people have been displaced. Against that 
backdrop, we now have Darfur.
  Reports by refugees, internally displaced persons, and the United 
Nations officials detail a systematic pattern of attacks against 
civilians by government-supported militias who employ scorched earth 
tactics, murder, rape and pillage with impunity. These attacks have 
been conducted in a deliberate, sequenced, and systematic fashion, and 
according to a recent report by the International Crisis Group, ``have 
led to the depopulation of entire areas inhabited by the Fur, Zaghawa, 
Massaleit and other small groups of black African origin.''
  I believe, and this resolution affirms, that these atrocities meet 
the definition of genocide as defined in the Convention on the 
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, signed in Paris on 
December 9, 1948.
  The manager's amendment before you does nothing to alter the purpose 
of the underlying resolution. The changes in the preamble are strictly 
technical and perfecting. The changes in the Resolved Clauses include 
clarifications in the new text which, one, make it clear that the 
Government of Sudan has violated the convention, and the prevention and 
punishment of the crime of genocide; two, call for specific actions by 
member states of the United Nations; and three, recognize the 
leadership of the administration in seeking a peaceful resolution to 
this crisis.
  On April 7, 2004, the same day that world leaders were gathered in 
Kigali to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, 
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appeared before the U.N. 
Commission on Human Rights stating that reports of ethnic cleansing 
from Darfur had left him with a ``deep sense of foreboding,'' and 
called for decisive action. We are still waiting to see what decisive 
action the United Nations will take.
  I am particularly disappointed in the inaction of a few recalcitrant 
members of the African Union, the Arab League, and the Organization of 
Islamic Conference, who seem comfortable with sitting back while tens 
of thousands of their African and Muslim brothers die. To this end, the 
manager's amendment deplores the failure of the United Nations Human 
Rights Commission to condemn the gross violations of human rights which 
have taken place in Darfur, and calls on the United Nations and the 
U.N. Secretary-General to assert their leadership by calling the 
atrocities by their rightful name, genocide.
  It also calls on members of the United Nations, particularly the 
member states from the African Union, the Arab League, and the 
Organization of the Islamic Conference, to undertake effective measures 
to stop the genocide in Darfur.
  The manager's amendment also includes language which commends the 
robust response of the administration. This administration has taken 
the lead in attempting to resolve this crisis and deserves credit for 
their efforts. However, it is important to note that the protection of 
human rights and the prevention of genocide are not the responsibility 
of a few; they are the responsibility of us all. The United States 
cannot do this alone. The United Nations, the European Union, the 
African Union, the Arab League and others must step up now if we hope 
to prevent this genocide from escalating.
  True to form, Josef Stalin once callously remarked, ``One death is a 
tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.'' Given his propensity for 
mass murder, this remark comes as no surprise. I submit, however, that 
those who have died, those who face death, and those who have lost 
their homes in Darfur are not mere statistics. To really know this 
tragedy is to think about the murder of the little boy and girl whose 
corpses lie in the sand, to imagine their last moments of stark terror, 
and to consider this brutal act repeated 30,000-fold.
  Mr. Speaker, the resolution before you tonight is the product of a 
truly collaborative effort and enjoys bipartisan support. If we are 
going to attempt to solve this problem, we must first understand that 
which confronts us in its totality. The first step is to acknowledge 
that we are dealing with genocide. The next step is to take action to 
stop the atrocities. Let us not look back 10 years from now, wishing we 
had done more, saying what we have heard said oftentimes on this floor 
and in halls around the world about Rwanda, ``I wish we would have done 
more. I wish we would have taken action.''

                              {time}  2015

  We do not want to be in that position again. This is the time. This 
is the opportunity we have to take those steps,

[[Page 16909]]

to take that action. This is not a political issue as evidenced by the 
fact that there is broad bipartisan support. This is an issue of 
morality. It calls upon every single one of us in this room and on this 
planet to search our own hearts and souls and to think about what it is 
we can do individually to stop this tragedy. It is a calling. It is a 
moral calling on us all.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume 
and I rise in strong support of this resolution. First I would like to 
thank my good friend and distinguished colleague from New Jersey (Mr. 
Payne) for introducing this critically important resolution and for his 
leadership on issues affecting the entire African continent.
  Mr. Speaker, Congress has the opportunity to take a historic step 
today, to send a message to the entire world that we will no longer 
deal with genocide in hindsight. Instead, we will denounce it when we 
see it, we will take effective steps to stop it, and we will hold those 
who commit genocide responsible for their monstrous actions. Today we 
face one of the most tragic situations on the planet, the crisis in 
Darfur, Western Sudan. The Sudanese government has planned, organized, 
and carried out unspeakable atrocities against native black African 
men, women, and children with the deliberate intent to engage in mass 
murder. Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of 
the Crime of Genocide says: ``Any act committed with the intent to 
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious 
group is genocide.''
  Mr. Speaker, exactly what is the case for declaring the crime of 
genocide against the Khartoum government and its Arab surrogates? They 
have killed tens of thousands of individuals based solely on their 
African identity. They have caused serious bodily and mental harm to 
over 130,000 people, dislocated from Darfur into horrendous temporary 
camps in neighboring Chad. They have created over 1 million internally 
displaced persons, destroyed their homes and livelihood, and left them 
in uninhabitable and remote areas without food, medicine, and shelter.
  These actions were taken specifically to bring about their physical 
destruction through starvation, exposure, and disease. Khartoum has 
deliberately and masterfully frustrated efforts to bring humanitarian 
relief by the international community while conducting a vicious 
campaign of terror against the men, women, and children of Darfur. 
Finally, Mr. Speaker, they have targeted men and boys for killing and 
used rape as a weapon of war against the women and girls of Darfur.
  These actions have gone on far too long. But those of us who months 
ago were crying out for some sort of action by the international 
community have had reason in recent weeks to take some heart. Both our 
own government and the United Nations have started taking steps to 
intervene in this horrendous situation. I want to commend Secretary of 
State Colin Powell for his recent visit to Darfur and his efforts to 
stop Khartoum's genocidal efforts in their tracks. I also want to 
commend my friend U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his recent trip 
to Darfur where he too brought attention to the atrocities and demanded 
the Sudanese authorities stop the human destruction and protect the 
people of Darfur.
  It is incumbent upon us to support an intervention protection force 
that will stop the killing and protect citizens, humanitarian relief 
workers and international monitors. We must work closely with the 
African Union and the United Nations to bring peacekeeping forces and 
diplomatic authority to change Khartoum's evil and monstrous policies. 
Africa and the international community cannot stand by while black 
Africans are deliberately killed because of who they are. This historic 
action today by our Congress will signal to the world that we will no 
longer deal with genocide in hindsight, but we will denounce it when we 
see it and hold those who commit genocide responsible for their evil 
actions.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Franks).
  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I thank the gentleman from Colorado for 
yielding me this time.
  Mr. Speaker, I stand tonight with these distinguished Members in 
support of House Concurrent Resolution 467, declaring genocide in 
Darfur, Sudan. To date an estimated 30,000 civilians have been 
murdered, more than 130,000 have been forced from their homes and have 
fled to neighboring Chad, and more than 1 million people have been 
internally displaced. If the international community fails to act, what 
awaits these people is a terrible season of prolonged suffering and 
painful death. Even now, mothers who have traveled miles fleeing their 
husbands' murderers are watching their children starve. They are 
helpless to end the violence. We are not. We must act. We cannot wait 
until thousands more have died.
  Mr. Speaker, the good news is that we can prevent the loss of life. 
There is a way that our actions can matter. We have seen the faces of 
women holding their emaciated babies to their chest with tears 
streaming down their faces, and we have seen the photos of burned-out 
villages. What is reflected in the eyes of these women is at once utter 
relief at having found the camp and unimaginable grief in the tragic 
and needless losses they have endured. Some of them bear the physical 
scars of beatings and branding, but many more of them bear the 
emotional scars of brutal rape by the evil Janjaweed militias.
  Mr. Speaker, even in the camps, the people are not safe from harm. 
The people in this crisis make an impossible decision every day. They 
have to decide whether to send the old men and boys for firewood 
fearing that they will be killed, or whether to send the women and 
girls for firewood fearing that they will be raped. Mr. Speaker, this 
horrifying choice is unacceptable. America and the world must demand 
that humanitarian aid workers have access to these suffering souls in 
order to bring them the food that they need, and further that credible 
peacekeepers enter Sudan in order to provide the critical and 
desperately needed security so that their lives, their future is not 
further marred by the horrible choices they were forced to make in 
order to survive.
  Mr. Speaker, the people of Darfur should have a future. We must pass 
House Concurrent Resolution 467. Anything less would be a disgraceful 
failure before the eyes of God and humanity.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, before yielding, I would like to ask my 
colleague from Colorado if he would accommodate us by yielding some of 
his time to us because we have a number of distinguished colleagues who 
wish to speak on this issue.
  Mr. TANCREDO. I would be happy to do so. I cannot do it right now 
because we have at least one other colleague who is on his way and I do 
not know how much; but whatever time we can yield, we will do so.
  Mr. LANTOS. I appreciate the gentleman's accommodation.
  Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 4 minutes to my good friend from 
New Jersey (Mr. Payne), the author of this important resolution.
  Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Speaker, let me commend our leaders in the Committee 
on International Relations, Chairman Hyde and Ranking Member Lantos, 
for their tireless work in bringing this historic resolution declaring 
genocide in Darfur, Sudan to the floor. Many people have held back on 
using the word ``genocide'' out of fear that it is really a declaration 
that they try to step around, but I really am so proud that this House 
of Representatives is standing up and calling it like it is. As my 
colleague from Colorado said, it is genocide. Let me just say that this 
would have been impossible without the Tancredos and the Wolfs and the 
Royces on the other side and fighters on our side such as the 
gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) and all of the members of 
the Congressional Black Caucus and our dean, the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers).

[[Page 16910]]

  This is something that we did not do 10 years ago when genocide was 
happening in Rwanda. We looked the other way. But we are not going to 
look the other way in 2004. We must also impress upon the world 
community, the AU, the EU, the Islamic Front, all of the groups, that 
they must come together and that they must declare and work towards 
having civility return to Sudan.
  But I want to remind the Congress that although we need to act now in 
Darfur, that once the crisis is under control, we cannot rest on our 
laurels and fool ourselves that this type of thing will not happen 
again. Let me just remind the Speaker that this same government gave 
sanctuary to Osama bin Laden from 1991 to 1996, allowing him to build 
his terror network worldwide. In fact, I would argue that al Qaeda was 
conceived and created in Sudan in the 1990s. Other terrorist acts are 
also linked to the current officials still sitting in Sudan that have 
not even been questioned.
  It is important to recall that the government of Sudan's involvement 
in international terrorism goes back a decade. The Sudanese government 
was directly involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. The 
mastermind of the 1993 bombing, Sheikh Abdel Rahman, who was sentenced 
to life in 1995, received his visa from the same Khartoum government. 
He was a guest of senior Sudanese government officials several weeks 
before that happened at that time. Of the 15 men indicted for this 
terror act, five were Sudanese nationalists. These Sudanese 
nationalists had strong ties with Sudanese diplomats stationed right 
here in New York at the Sudan Embassy at the United Nations.
  In 1995, members of an Egyptian terrorist group tried to assassinate 
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt when he was attending a meeting in 
Ethiopia at the OAU summit. The 11-man assassination team had been 
given safe haven in Sudan to prepare for the mission to kill the 
Egyptian president. The weapons used in the assassination attempt were 
reportedly flown into Ethiopia on Sudan Airways. The passports used by 
the assassins were also prepared in Khartoum, according to a United 
Nations report.
  The point of listing all of this is to show a pattern. This is a 
regime that does not care about human lives and to think that they will 
stop at Darfur, we are fooling ourselves. We must begin to get serious 
about our dealings with the government of Sudan. No more coddling them 
because they have oil or because they have links to Islamic countries, 
no more allowing the African Union to give excuses, no more allowing 
the EU saying, What are we doing here?
  We must act now. We must continue the pressure. I urge my colleagues 
to support H. Con. Res. 467, declaring genocide in Darfur.
  Mr. LANTOS. I want to thank my friend for his powerful statement.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to my good friend, 
the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer), a distinguished member of 
the Committee on International Relations.

                              {time}  2030

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in 
permitting me to speak on this resolution, and I appreciate the 
gentleman from New Jersey bringing it forward.
  I think it is important that we are stepping forward to call what is 
happening in this troubled country by what it is, genocide. As has been 
referenced, we have already lost over 30,000 people. The best estimate 
is that we are looking at a third of a million people if everything 
goes right, and sadly, the path that we are on today is a million or 
more.
  I hope that this will be an important first step for us to 
acknowledge, as the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) put forth, 
that this is different than when we stood by 10 years ago in Rwanda or 
a dozen years ago in Bosnia; or sadly, the United States was not 
forthcoming a generation ago in Europe during World War II. But I think 
that experience has chastened us and, I hope, has sensitized us; and I 
hope the language that is put forward here is just the beginning. By 
all means, call it by what it is. By all means, move forward with the 
United Nations.
  But I would hope that when we think of having spent $200 billion in 
round numbers in Iraq for actually a threat that has proven to be far 
less, that we can put forward the same sort of energy and interest in 
uniting the world community in making sure that we implement the 
extreme diplomacy that is necessary, that we use the power of this 
country from military to diplomacy to the moral suasion that we are 
capable of to make sure that we tip the balance and move it in the 
right direction.
  I commend all my colleagues that are here this evening, late in the 
evening, for sharing their concerns and trying to craft a bipartisan 
approach. But I hope that this is but one of many steps of this nature 
to highlight, and that we will continue to spotlight and speak for as 
long as we are faced with this problem. We cannot ignore it, to let it 
slip away.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf).
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Concurrent 
Resolution 467, declaring genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
  I want to commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) for 
introducing this important legislation. I want to personally thank the 
gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) and his staff and the gentleman 
from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) for ensuring that this resolution reached 
the floor in an expedited manner. I want to also thank the leadership 
for allowing this to come up so quickly.
  I also want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and 
the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) and the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) and their staffs for their continued focus on 
Darfur. I am proud that this resolution has the support of so many 
Members standing side by side for the people of Darfur.
  Mr. Speaker, I first stood on the floor of the House last March to 
highlight the situation in Darfur and to call the world's attention to 
the ongoing slaughter of innocent civilians. At that time, thousands 
were dead and predictions of more death were certain; and since then 
the world has finally awakened to what is occurring. Articles have been 
written, protesters arrested, newspapers have carried the story on the 
front pages. Now we all know, all the world now knows what is occurring 
in Darfur, and we must act to stop it. Failure to do so will cost more 
lives.
  Unfortunately, the situation worsens on a daily basis. An estimate of 
1,000 lives are now being lost every day. The situation has escalated 
to the point that I can now firmly say that I believe that genocide is 
taking place, and we all have a responsibility and a duty to the people 
of Darfur to try to stop it in its tracks.
  I went to Darfur with Senator Brownback. We met the people. We heard 
their stories. I listened to the women tell us who had been raped over 
and over. The people of Darfur are suffering.
  Historically, in past cases, the world has been slow to act when 
faced with genocide, but today it is different. Today we stand here in 
the House, the people's body, staring genocide in the face. And today 
we know what is occurring and we are not afraid to call it what it is, 
genocide. The international community now has a moral and a legal 
obligation to stop what is occurring and bring those responsible to 
justice.
  I want to commend the United States for taking the lead to help end 
the crisis. Secretary Powell, I want to thank him and Secretary-General 
Annan. They are to be commended for going to Darfur. I also want to 
commend the United States Agency for International Development and the 
team which has people on the ground.
  The United States must continue to speak out, and I am proud tonight 
that

[[Page 16911]]

for the first time when genocide is taking place, the people's House is 
speaking out. Every other time the resolutions took place after it was 
over and all the people were dead.
  I want to thank the Members on this side and the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Payne) for all his efforts from way, way back, and all of 
them over there and the Members on this side. This is very important to 
speak out for the voiceless, those who have no voice.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee), my friend and neighbor.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today because, as we speak, genocide is 
occurring in Darfur in the western Sudan.
  And let me just thank our ranking member, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos), for his sense of outrage and morality on this 
issue, as well as the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) for his 
consistent work to expose the atrocities as genocide.
  Also, let me just recognize and thank the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Payne) for his efforts as our ranking member of the Subcommittee 
on Africa for always keeping African issues at the front of our 
congressional legislative agenda. For so many years he has been 
sounding the alarm, and finally tonight we are here. So I just want to 
thank him for his constant sounding of the alarm for this and for the 
people of the Sudan.
  The murders, the rape, and the scorched-earth campaign in Darfur is 
genocide. We call it what it is by supporting this resolution.
  As a member of the Subcommittee on Africa, there has been no evidence 
presented to indicate that this is not genocide. It is. It has been 10 
years, Mr. Speaker, and the international community, particularly the 
United States, must learn from the Rwandan tragedy. Like Rwanda, the 
warning signs in Darfur were obvious. But we did nothing, and now the 
international community is watching once again as millions of Black 
Africans are wiped out of western Sudan.
  The Bush administration has raised concerns and the United Nations 
has denounced the ``ethnic cleansing'' executed by militias supported 
by the Khartoum government, but this is beyond ethnic cleansing. This 
is systematic and calculated genocide. Hundreds of thousands are 
fleeing Darfur, fearing that they will become yet another statistic in 
a malicious plan to rape, torture, and ultimately wipe out all Blacks 
in the southwest region of Sudan.
  As in other conflicts designed deliberately to humiliate and 
eliminate people because of their identity, we have seen women and 
girls targeted for rape in Darfur. How can we allow this travesty to 
continue and not be outraged?
  The inaction of this administration I think is unconscionable, 
especially when we consider that one word, one word, ``genocide,'' can 
make the difference between humanitarian assistance and international 
justice for Darfurians.
  Let us pass this resolution.
  Why would the Bush Administration argue over the definition of 
genocide, while murderers, rapists, the janjaweed, and the Khartoum 
government have the blood of the Darfur people on their hands?
  The government of Sudan is not our partner in peace.
  Our sense of morality requires us to do everything possible to stop 
this carnage. This bipartisan resolution will help save hundreds of 
thousands of lives.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), our distinguished Democratic 
leader, an indefatigable champion of human rights across the globe.
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank our distinguished ranking member for 
yielding me this time and for his leadership on this very important 
issue.
  In the very short time allotted to me, I want to commend my 
colleagues for being so vocal on this issue at this time and, frankly, 
for a very long time. I have said before when we had another 
resolution, an earlier resolution, on the floor that there is no Member 
of Congress that I hold in higher esteem than the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for his work on human rights throughout the world. 
And he has been a leader on this issue, visiting over the years, 
warning America, warning the world of the impending disaster that was 
there in one form or another over time.
  And the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) has taken the lead in 
the Committee on International Relations on this important issue, and 
it has not been because Members of Congress, especially the 
Congressional Black Caucus in the Congress, have not blown the whistle, 
have not sounded the alarm, have not called the public's attention to 
what is happening there.
  And the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), of course, as the 
cochair of the Human Rights Caucus, has been singing this song for a 
very long time. Why do people not listen?
  When the tragedy occurred in Rwanda, everyone was embarrassed, sad, 
and contrite and said that it was not going to happen again. Never 
again could we ignore all of God's children being destroyed by each 
other and sit back and watch it happen to the tune of hundreds of 
thousands of people.
  We have now been told that 30,000 people will die in the Sudan, and 
if we do not act, then hundreds of thousands more will die. How can we 
tolerate this? How can we call ourselves persons who care about every 
person living on the face of the Earth and not care about each and 
every one of these children and their parents and their families in the 
Sudan?
  The issue today is one that we have discussed before. Is it ethnic 
cleansing or is it genocide? And if it is genocide, then it should 
provoke a reaction from all of the countries of the world who consider 
themselves civilized and respectful of human rights and, quite frankly, 
those of us and I know the motivation of the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Wolf) and some of our other colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
in this regard springs from our belief that all of these people are 
God's children, worthy of respect.
  The Bible tells us that to minister to the needs of God's creation is 
an act of worship; to ignore God's creation, which are these children, 
is to dishonor the God who made them. Right now, the world is 
dishonoring God. We are not committing acts of worship; we are 
committing acts of negligence.
  It is genocide, and the perpetrators of this genocide sit with 
impunity in Khartoum and say they are engaged in all of this as a 
matter of self-defense. Is it self-defense to rape women five, six 
times over again so that they cannot even go home to their husbands in 
a society which finds that unforgiveable on the part of the woman? Is 
it self-defense to have children starve because food cannot get 
through?
  Seeing the pictures of those children challenges the conscience of 
the world, and yet we are having a debate on semantics in the world. 
But not in this House. In this House we know it, we call it for what it 
is.
  As the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) said, a calculated, 
focused, intended elimination of these people; and that very clearly 
spells out what the definition of genocide is and how what is happening 
in the Sudan meets that standard and therefore should invoke certain 
actions by the rest of the world.
  We all believe very strongly that something has to be done. But in 
light of what we said after Rwanda, we are considered hypocritical or 
inconsistent or just with very poor memory if we do not act upon this 
now. We must all answer for the genocide that is happening in the 
Sudan.
  So I commend my colleagues for their tremendous leadership. The 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), the gentleman from California 
(Mr. Lantos), the Black Caucus, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), 
and others have worked so hard on this for such a long time. The 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) was just there last weekend and 
brings back personal stories of what he saw. So I thank them. Any one 
of us who wants something to happen there is deeply in their debt, as 
are the people of the Sudan. We must make a difference on this. I thank 
them for taking these steps to do so.

[[Page 16912]]


  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I thank our distinguished Democratic leader 
for her passionate and powerful appeal.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. 
Conyers), distinguished ranking member of the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the House of Representatives.
  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, this is the proudest moment in the 108th 
Congress and maybe even going all the way back to the anti-apartheid 
resolution, the sanctions that were passed against South Africa.

                              {time}  2045

  In the midst of the intense partisanship that has informed nearly 
every issue that has come to the Congress, somehow the Members on both 
sides of the aisle have come together in the most remarkable way. I 
cannot explain it. I am humbled by it.
  But I rise to say only this, that this is only the first step, Mr. 
Speaker, because we have a long way to go now. Thank goodness that we 
got this resolution in, which is easy to predict that it will succeed. 
But we have the distinguished other body, we have to engage the 
administration of this country, we have to go to the United Nations and 
to the Security Council before anything begins to happen. So I know all 
of us will join and continue this struggle.
  I lift up the name, in addition to all of us, of the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert); 
the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde); and the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Chairman Sensenbrenner), who have made all of this possible 
tonight.
  Just two weeks ago, my colleague from Virginia, Congressman Frank 
Wolf, and I convened a bipartisan meeting of Members to develop an 
action plan to address the catastrophic loss of life that is occurring 
in Darfur, Sudan. We all agreed that the first critical step was to 
raise the voices of the U.S. Congress in a call to action by declaring 
unequivocally that what is happening in Sudan is genocide.
  In my 39 years in the House of Representatives, I have never seen 
such incredible bipartisan, bicameral cooperation. And in an election 
year no less, with a highly polarized electorate. But the reason is 
simple. The tragedy in Sudan is not a Democrat or Republican issue; its 
not a Muslim or Christian issue; its not only an issue of race. 
Genocide is a human issue. When genocide occurs, we must all stand up 
and act with determination to end the systematic effort to exterminate 
a people. These are the lessons of the Holocaust, of Cambodia, and most 
recently, of Rwanda.
  In Rwanda, we shrugged our shoulders and waited until eight hundred 
thousand (800,000) people were killed, before we identified that event 
as a genocide. In 1948, the United Nations put forth the Convention 
Against Genocide and the United States and many other nations signed on 
to that convention, agreeing to prevent genocide wherever and whenever 
it happens. Our nation has taken an important role in this crisis--
negotiating a settlement to the war, providing the bulk of the 
humanitarian aid, increasing the pressure on the Sudanese government.
  Now--before it is too late to save the one million lives at risk of 
death--now, we must rally our allies and the U.N. Security Council to 
take action. Now is the time to authorize multilateral troops. Now the 
world must send a clear message that genocide will no longer be 
tolerated, anywhere.
  If we can come together in this Congress on such an urgent human 
issue, I believe that we can bring together our friends in Europe, 
Africa, Asia and Latin America to address this genocide in the Security 
Council. That effort is our moral imperative.
  Passage of this historic resolution is the first time this body has 
declared a humanitarian or political crisis to be genocide. This would 
not have been possible without the efforts of my Republican 
colleagues--Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Chairman of the 
International Relations Committee, Henry Hyde (R-IL), Chairman of the 
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Cass Ballenger (R-NC), Chairman of 
the Africa Subcommittee Ed Royce (R-CA), Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), 
and Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO).
  My fellow Democrats played a critical role in moving this resolution 
to the floor, including--Congressman Tom Lantos, Ranking Member of the 
International Relations Committee, Congressman Donald Payne, Ranking 
Member of the Africa Subcommittee (D-NJ) and the sponsor of this 
resolution, the many Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, under 
the leadership of Congresman Elijah Cummings (D-MD).
  And we must thank our friends in the Senate--Senator Sam Brownback 
(R-KS) and Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) for their passionate, diligent 
work and cooperation on this issue.
  While I congratulate you all, I hope that the real victory will go to 
the people of Sudan. This vote is an important step to saving lives. I 
look forward to working with my colleagues in the Hose and Senate, the 
Administration and the United Nations to continue this important effort 
to stop this genocide.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to my good 
friend and neighbor, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I am so proud of the gentleman from Illinois 
(Chairman Hyde); the ranking member, gentleman from California (Mr. 
Lantos); the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne); the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Conyers); the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo); the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf); the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. 
Schakowsky); and all of those on both sides of the aisle who have been 
working so hard to bring this genocide to the attention of our own 
government and to the world. We have people who are working very hard 
to get something done.
  My heart is heavy this evening because it has taken us much too long. 
I know that the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) did give a word 
of thanks to Colin Powell and Kofi Annan for making the trip and for 
urging the Khartoum government to cooperate and stop the genocide. But 
I say to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), we have to ask 
Colin Powell and Kofi Annan and the President of the United States to 
get tougher. They have got to get tougher. We are watching genocide 
take place.
  I am pleased about this resolution. Genocide has taken place in this 
world far too many times, genocide that could have been stopped if good 
people just took a little tougher action.
  We have watched genocide time and time again, in most recent of 
times, Rwanda. This does not have to continue. Over 30,000 people have 
died; 1 million people stand to die as I stand here today.
  So it is time to act and act now. We must first recognize that the 
Khartoum government is part of the problem. They keep making promises, 
but they lie. The minute they say they are going to cooperate, we turn 
our backs, they are supporting the Janjaweed. They are indeed a part of 
the problem. We must act, we must act now, and we must be tough. We can 
stop this genocide.
  Tonight, we define it for what it is with this resolution. Thank you, 
I say to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne). It is genocide. Let 
the word go forth, and it must be stopped.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Lantos) and ask unanimous consent that he be 
allowed to control said time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hensarling). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from Colorado?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that an additional 
10 minutes to each side be devoted to discussing this all-important 
issue.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to my 
friend and colleague, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I too want to add my 
recognition, more than appreciation, but my recognition for the 
gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) and the ranking member, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), who never turn their back on 
the issues of human rights. The gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), 
who was right continuously as he, I would like to say, plugged ahead on 
being persistent in dealing with this question of Sudan and the 
direction that we should take in this Congress. The gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner) and, of course, the gentleman

[[Page 16913]]

from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), who has had a series of meetings that we 
have been participating in over a number of weeks.
  Let me suggest to you that this should be a night of action. The vote 
on this resolution is in fact a statement that is long overdue. I might 
refer you to the language of this resolution and its first resolve, and 
that is that we declare that the atrocities unfolding in Darfur, Sudan, 
are genocide.
  Let me cite to you Amnesty International, which indicates the horror 
that is happening in West Darfur: ``I was sleeping when the attack 
started. I was taken away by the attackers. They were all in uniforms. 
They took dozens of other girls. They made us walk for 3 hours. During 
the day, we were beaten and they were telling us, you the black woman, 
we will exterminate you. You will have no God. All night we were raped 
several times.''
  I do not want to bring back the horrors of life that we led as slaves 
in this country. I simply want to say many of us have had these 
experiences, and when I say that, historically.
  It is important for this Nation now to stand up, and I would 
appreciate as this resolution is passed and passed in the Senate, that 
our government now will stand and join us and say that genocide is 
occurring in Sudan.
  Yes, the government did offer a 10-point manifesto. I received it. 
They said they were willing to deal with the Janjaweed. They were 
willing to disarm them. They were willing to give humanitarian aid.
  Well, let me tell my colleagues, I took that piece of paper, but they 
did nothing. There are human rights violations going on, there are 
rapes, there are abductions, there are destruction of villages and 
property.
  I would simply say this resolution lays out the road map. We declare 
tonight that genocide is occurring in Sudan, and I would ask the 
President of the United States to so declare so that we can move 
forward and protect lives. Let not another Rwanda occur. We are in fact 
our brothers' and sisters' keepers.
  Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this resolution. I commend my 
colleague Mr. Payne for his foresight and courage to put forward his 
bold resolution, when many in the Congress were hesitant. I also 
commend the Chairman and Ranking Member, Congressmen Hyde and Lantos 
for their leadership, in recognizing the crisis unfolding in Sudan and 
moving rapidly to bring this resolution to the floor before the recess.
  As it moved so efficiently toward the Floor of the House, I know 
compromises were made on specific phrases and statements. Although I do 
not agree with every line, I firmly support the resolution. It is time 
that this Congress sends a strong message to Sudan and the world, that 
the United States is ready to move boldly to stop the death and 
destruction in Darfur.
  It truly is time for an aggressive American and international 
response to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. For the past year and a half, 
ethnic-African communities have been under strategic attack by the 
Arab-based Government of Sudan based in Khartoum and the Janjaweed 
militias. The most recent campaign, fueled by vicious ethnic rivalries 
and the Janjaweed's desire for territorial expansion, is having 
devastating results. 30,000 people have already been killed by 
systematic raids and deadly famine, and up to 1 million more are 
expected to suffer the same fate if the United States, the United 
Nations, and other international leaders continue to take the same 
dangerously passive role in addressing the Government of Sudan and the 
Janjaweed militia forces. We must move aggressively to stop the 
bloodshed and suffering.
  Over the past weeks, my colleague from Michigan John Conyers, has 
been bringing together a growing bipartisan and bicameral group of 
Members of Congress committed to moving aggressively toward creating 
peace in Sudan. I was pleased to be a part of that group. As we 
discussed the situation and learned from Senator Brownback and 
Congressman Wolf about their recent trip to Sudan, where they saw the 
ravages of the violence and the ongoing rape, intimidation and 
terrorization of the ethnic African people, it became obvious that 
indeed we were seeing genocide.
  Formally labeling a situation as genocide, should trigger actions and 
commitments that will protect potential victims, and punish 
perpetrators of this war crime. We will need a strong collaborative 
effort between the legislative and executive branches, to put the force 
of the U.S. government to work to help the people of Darfur.
  We must be committed to pushing through normal election-year 
political barriers, and working together to save lives. This will only 
be possible if the executive and legislative branches of our government 
work in concert, to increase humanitarian relief, to galvanize 
international support and coordination, and explore all possible 
options to end the bloodshed in Darfur. We have a small window of 
opportunity to help the men, women, and children in mortal peril in 
Sudan. Ongoing Janjaweed violence combined with the upcoming rainy 
season, may soon make relief impossible. If ever there were a case for 
swift action to liberate a suffering people, it is now in Darfur.
  A group of thirty of us in the House, from both sides of the aisle, 
sent a letter yesterday to President Bush, asking him to meet with us, 
to discuss how we can work together, put politics aside, and move 
swiftly to rescue the people of Darfur. I hope the President will heed 
our call to meet, to push for a stronger U.N. resolution that 
acknowledges that this is genocide in Darfur, and to gather and lead a 
true multi-lateral coalition to help make peace and then keep peace in 
Darfur as necessary.
  As we look toward forging that multi-lateral coalition, I must say 
that I am concerned that the tone of parts of this resolution may not 
be helpful in reaching out to the partners that we will ultimately need 
in Sudan. I think using the word ``deplore'' in referring to the 
failure of the Human Rights Commission to act appropriately in Darfur, 
is unnecessary. Just as we are putting aside politics to work together 
to save lives, I hope we can put aside our international grudges in 
order to better lead an international collaboration. I am not arguing 
whether each statement is true or false, just questioning whether it 
each is helpful in achieving the result we are hoping for in Sudan. We 
are still trying to undo the damage done by some of our rhetoric in the 
march to war in Iraq. I hope we do not repeat that error. We should 
reserve such language for our enemies, rather than casting it at our 
potential friends.
  Regardless, the most important part of this resolution is 
acknowledging that this indeed is genocide in Sudan, and agreeing that 
it is time that the United States and the international community start 
dealing with Sudan and the Janjaweed as such. I am pleased that this 
action is being taken. I hope we can continue to work together so 
effectively as we shape the actions of this nation to save lives in 
Darfur in the days to come.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to my good 
friend and distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. 
Davis).
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend all of those 
who have shown leadership on this issue.
  I have been told that the only way that evil can triumph is that good 
people do nothing. I believe it was Dante who suggested that the 
hottest places in hell are reserved for those who declare neutrality 
and do nothing in times of great moral crisis.
  We have all heard the atrocities that are continuously being heaped 
upon the people in the Sudan. It is time for us to act, and to act 
convincingly.
  We have to ask ourselves the question, if not us, then who? If not 
now, then when?
  I commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and all of those 
who have demonstrated great leadership on this issue.
  We are here tonight to sound the alarm, once again, on genocide in 
Sudan. There is no room for neutrality in the face of the crimes being 
committed there each day.
  Amnesty International has renewed its charge that the international 
community is not

[[Page 16914]]

doing enough to protect women in the Darfur region and the refugee 
camps in Chad where mass rape is being used as a weapon.
  Since 1983, more than two million Black civilians have died during 
the Civil War in the south of Sudan. That struggle was especially 
brutal for the civilian population: slave raids resulting in the 
enslavement of women and children, gang rape, ethnic cleansing, and the 
imposition of famine conditions for hundreds of thousands.
  On October 21, 2002, the President signed the Sudan Peace Act which 
stated, in part:
  ``The acts of the Government of Sudan constitute genocide as defined 
by the [United Nations] Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of 
the Crime of Genocide (1948).''
  That bill requires President Bush to certify, every six months, that 
the government in Khartoum is negotiating in good faith for an end to 
that Civil War. According to some sources, we may be close to a 
framework for peace in that region.
  On May 12th The New York Times carried this report:
  ``A team of U.S. diplomats led by Assistant Secretary of State for 
Africa Charles Snyder is on its way to Kenya to help put the final 
touches on an agreement to end Sudan's 21-year civil war, State 
Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday.''
  However, at the same time, Khartoum has launched a massive ethnic 
cleansing of Black Africans in Darfur, in the western region of Sudan. 
The same article in the New York Times reported:
  ``He said Snyder also would discuss with Sudanese officials the 
situation in the western Darfur region where human rights groups charge 
the Khartoum government and allied Arab militia are carrying out a 
campaign of `ethnic cleansing' against Black African tribes, forcing 
some 1 million people to flee their homes.''
  Human Rights Watch and investigators for the United Nations have 
documented widespread ethnic cleansing and have characterized the 
situation there as ``crimes against humanity.'' More than 100,000 have 
fled the region and are now refugees in neighboring Chad.
  As the seasonal rains begin to set in, it is becoming more and more 
difficult to move refugees to relative safety and to provide even 
minimal subsistence. Malnutrition is at acute levels in the camps 
especially among children.
  So, while our diplomats expressed their ``grave concern'' to the UN 
Human Rights Commission response to the murder, rape and forced 
removals in western Sudan, the President gave his certification that 
Khartoum was negotiating in ``good faith'' to end the decades old 
struggle in the south.
  If the President had chosen to withhold that certification, it would 
have instituted a program of significant economic sanction against 
Sudan.
  How, one might ask, can the government of Sudan negotiate in ``good 
faith'' to end genocide in one region, and openly engage in genocide in 
another region?
  And how, it is reasonable to ask, can our own government accept the 
notion of negotiating in ``good faith'' in one region of the Sudan, 
while conducting a ruthless genocide in another?
  Mr. Speaker, only a short time ago we paused here to mark the tenth 
anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. More than 800,000 died while the 
world watched, and did nothing. Once again genocide is unfolding before 
us. Those who have taken note have expressed their horror at what they 
have seen. But where is the public outcry? Where are the front page 
pictures? Where is the response of our government on behalf of the 
American people?
  The ominous sign is that our government is willing to turn its eyes 
away from genocide in the West of the Sudan in favor of resuming oil 
production in the oil rich Southern region.
  The genocide in the South was characterized by both racial and 
religious differences. The genocide in the Western region pits Muslim 
against Muslim but retains the racial character of the genocide in the 
South.
  Mr. Speaker. In the name of fighting terrorism we have begun a 
campaign under the rubric of the Global Peace Operations. Even though 
President Bush has not formally announced the initiative, U.S. troops 
are now active from Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden to the Atlantic 
including Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Niger.
  The question we now confront is this: is the slaughter of hundreds of 
thousands, even millions of Africans, terrorism? If our struggle 
against terrorism is truly global, can we be truly engaged in a global 
war on terrorism, and not engage genocide in Africa?
  Mr. Speaker, funding for State Department programs in Africa such as 
the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program and 
the Enhanced International Peacekeeping Capacities have languished for 
years.
  If we are to engage in a new anti-terrorism initiative in Africa, I 
would hope the President would consult with the Congress and with the 
Congressional Black Caucus as to how the struggle against terrorism 
will be shaped so as to protect the people of Africa as well as the 
peoples of the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.
  Mr. Speaker, on June 24 the U.S. Holocaust Museum here in Washington 
took the dramatic step of closing access to its main exhibitions to 
call attention to the horror underway in Darfur.
  Around that same time U.N. Secretary General Koffi Annan and U.S. 
Secretary of State Colin Powell paid a visit to the western Sudan. 
Secretary Powell expressed his deep concern over what he saw with his 
own eyes as an humanitarian crisis. But he failed to place the events 
in the Sudan in their proper historical context: the world is once 
again facing the onslaught of genocide.
  When asked, Secretary Powell, speaking on behalf of this 
administration, was asked if this was genocide responded, ``Let's not 
put a label on things.''
  Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that is exactly what we need to do. Our 
failure to acknowledge genocide in the Sudan led directly to the 
abdication of the G-8 leaders in their responsibilities to intervene to 
save the lives of tens of thousands of African men, women and children 
as called for by the International Genocide Convention.
  Mr. Speaker, if America cannot remember the great lessons of history, 
cannot confront genocide, or if we do not count the deaths of tens of 
thousands of Africans as genocide then the days ahead are sure to be 
some of the saddest and most difficult we have ever confronted.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to my 
friend, the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson).
  Mr. JACKSON of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding me time.
  Mr. Speaker, in 1994, the U.S., along with rest of the world, stood 
and watched as 800,000 men, women and children were slaughtered in 
Rwanda. In April of this year, the world community marked the 10th year 
of the modern-day genocide in Rwanda and said never again.
  Today, we are in danger of failing to honor that commitment, and this 
resolution goes a long way to ensuring that the United States will play 
a profound role in stopping the genocide.
  The Darfur region of western Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is 
engulfed in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Since 2003, the 
Sudanese government and their murderous Arab militias, known as the 
Janjaweed, have waged a deliberate and systematic campaign of rape, of 
torture, of starvation and murder of innocent Darfurian civilians.
  If genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a 
national, ethnic, racial or religious group, then the deliberate 
killings of tens of thousands of black Sudanese happening right now 
certainly qualifies. The U.S. Government must call it genocide. The 
term ``genocide'' not only captures the fundamental characteristics of 
the Khartoum government's intent and actions in western Sudan, but it 
also invokes clear international obligations, and that is why this 
resolution is so important.
  Mr. Speaker, on the ground, we are trying our best to get aid to the 
Darfurians during the rainy season. U.S. Administrator Natsios from 
USAID said that even if we are successful, 300,000 Darfurians will lose 
their lives; and if we do not act immediately, 1 million Darfurians are 
sure to lose their lives or be at risk.
  The answer, Mr. Speaker, beyond the declaration of genocide, is to 
ensure that the AU, that the various Arab governments in the region, 
along with the United States, provide immediate military relief so that 
aid can get to Darfurians immediately. The United States Government has 
2,000 troops in Jabudi; 2,000 troops. They are the closest troops, the 
closest opportunity that we have, to ensure that the Janjaweed are 
disarmed, so that aid workers can get aid to the people in Darfur.
  So beyond the declaration of genocide, we must move to provide the 
security for the Darfurians and keep the Janjaweed from continuing 
their murderous efforts in Darfur.

[[Page 16915]]

  Mr. Speaker, as parties to the Genocide Convention, all permanent 
members of the UN Security Council and more than 130 countries 
worldwide, are bound to prevent, stop and punish the perpetrators of 
genocide--a unique crime against humanity in international law.
  The international legal definition of the crime of genocide is found 
in Articles II and III of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and 
Punishment of Genocide. Article II describes two elements of the crime 
of genocide. A crime must include both elements to be called 
``genocide'':
  1. the mental element, meaning the ``intent to destroy, in whole or 
in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such'', and
  2. the physical element, which includes: Killing members of the 
group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 
deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to 
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing 
measures intended to prevent births within the group, and forcibly 
transferring children of the group to another group.
  Since 1993, the Sudanese government and their militia have 
implemented a reign of terror in Darfur. An estimated 30,000, have been 
killed in the last year. More than one million black Sudanese have been 
forced from their homes. The attackers have raped civilians and 
destroyed their villages. They have destroyed the crops, livestock and 
farms upon which the region's people depend. They have poisoned their 
water supply. They have launched systematic and indiscriminate aerial 
bombardments and ground attacks on unarmed civilians. They have 
deliberately blocked humanitarian assistance to the region.
  If the Sudanese government continues its brutality, or the 
international community fails to adequately intervene, as many as 1 
million more Darfurians are at-risk of dying of starvation and disease.
  In the words of one New York Times columnist, if the people of Sudan 
``. . . aren't victims of genocide, then the word has no meaning.''
  Mr. Speaker, there is a genocide taking place in Sudan and we must 
stop it. We call on the Administration to immediately lead an 
international effort to stop the death and destruction in Darfur.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Hoeffel), a member of the Committee on 
International Relations.
  Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time 
and applaud his leadership on this issue.
  I am honored to stand with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle 
tonight to declare that the ethnic cleansing occurring in the Sudan is 
in fact genocide, to demand that the world recognize that it is 
genocide, and to urge the United Nations Security Council to take the 
necessary action to stop the violence and to get humanitarian aid to 
Darfur Province immediately. There is not a moment to lose. We must act 
now.
  I would also urge my colleagues to consider the additional step of 
joining the protest that has been under way at the Sudanese embassy for 
the past 3 or 4 weeks and to consider whether an act of civil 
disobedience in furtherance of the declaration of genocide and in 
furtherance of immediate humanitarian aid to Darfur Province would be 
appropriate to be taken and whether it would meet your standards. 
Because the world is watching what we do. We failed to act when tragedy 
struck Rwanda. We cannot fail to act again.
  I would add to the excellent congressional resolution of the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and the fine work of all my 
colleagues the necessity to take individual acts of civil disobedience, 
to protest the unresponsive Sudanese government that is unleashing this 
terror, this genocide, on innocent civilians, failing to admit what 
they are doing, and not allowing humanitarian assistance to come to the 
aid of these innocent millions of people.
  The time to act is now. There is not a moment to lose.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to my good 
friend and neighbor, the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Lofgren).
  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, we know the leaders of this effort. They 
have been mentioned with great gratitude, the chairman of the committee 
and ranking member, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and 
others.
  But I would like to talk about really the extraordinary experience I 
have had in the last several weeks with members not on the Committee on 
International Relations, but who came together to say we need to do 
something about this disaster in the Sudan.
  We have a very partisan situation here in the House of 
Representatives, but participating in these meetings were the most 
conservative and the least conservative Members, and everybody in 
between. And although we do not agree on a lot, we agree on this: the 
world cannot stand by while genocide is committed in the Sudan.

                              {time}  2100

  We need to lead an international effort to stop the violence. We need 
to make sure that we participate in the humanitarian aid that is 
necessary. We worked together to make sure that this resolution could 
be supported, could be heard today, and that we take this first step. 
We agree we need to call it for what it is: genocide.
  I am proud to be a Member of this House this evening and to be a part 
of the great American tradition of all Members of the House of 
Representatives working together for the good of the world and for what 
is good and just and right with our conscience.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Olver), our distinguished colleague 
and my good friend.
  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise to support H. Con. Res. 467. We have a moral and 
ethical responsibility to stand up today and declare the situation in 
Darfur genocide. At the very time that an historic peace was being 
brokered to settle the north-south civil war in the Sudan, the Sudanese 
Government was financing and arming a Muslim Arab militia, the 
Janjaweed, who used those funds and arms to terrorize the Muslim, but 
not Arab, population of Darfur. Recently, humanitarian groups have 
uncovered documents which showed the Sudanese Government supplied the 
militia with soldiers who were promised government impunity.
  By aligning with the government, the Janjaweed has managed to avoid 
widespread condemnation. Whether by direct slaughter or starvation, the 
Janjaweed will have caused the death of 300,000 people by the end of 
this year without effective counteraction.
  Sudanese leaders have restricted international media access to 
Darfur, thus allowing the Janjaweed to carry out their scorched earth 
tactics undeterred. While crops are destroyed and villages are razed, 
the non-Arab Muslim population has been forced to abandon the 
countryside which sustained them and gather in internment camps near 
the large towns to live in squalor, or flee to refugee camps in 
neighboring Chad, which is too poor to provide assistance.
  Survivors of the Janjaweed's campaign paint a horrifying picture. 
Women and girls are systematically raped and left to die, and thousands 
are marched to their deaths, while the Sudanese Government denies the 
survivors humanitarian aid, shelter, drinking water, and food. The 
Sudanese Government is culpable in crimes against humanity in Darfur.
  With this resolution, Congress declares genocide in Sudan and demands 
that the Sudanese Government, the United Nations, and all concerned 
stop the genocide in Darfur before the crisis there worsens and engulfs 
the entire region in conflict.
  I urge Members to support the legislation.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to my 
good friend, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), our 
distinguished colleague.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, my heartfelt gratitude to all of those 
who made it possible to bring this bipartisan resolution to the floor 
tonight, and particularly to my colleague, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Payne), who has long toiled to make this evening happen and 
this resolution happen.

[[Page 16916]]

  Some issues transcend the regular business of this House, the 
important business of policymaking, and transcend partisan politics, 
and move into the realm of moral imperative.
  The genocide that is occurring at this moment in the Sudan, the 
murder and the rape of women and girls, even little girls at this 
moment, is one of those moral imperatives. And if we in this most 
powerful nation on Earth fail to act when our actions could prevent 
much, even if not all of the loss of life, then we share in the blame.
  I stand here tonight not only as a Member of Congress, but as a Jew 
and as a grandmother. Each year in the Capitol Rotunda, there is a 
solemn and inspiring ceremony to mark the Holocaust, the slaughter of 6 
million Jews by the Third Reich, and one of the themes of that event is 
never again. But it did happen again, and the gentleman from Colorado 
(Mr. Tancredo) listed the scenes of genocide since World War II, and 
now in the Sudan. And this House and the other body and the 
administration have a choice to make: Do we or do we not act to stop 
it?
  Every day that we delay, a minimum of 1,000 people die. We have to 
make a choice tonight. Before we leave this body for 6 weeks, we need 
to make a choice. And as a grandmother, I do not want to look into the 
eyes of my grandchildren who say to me, Grandma, you were here when 
thousands of people died. What did you do to stop it? I want to be able 
to say, I did help to stop it. We all need to make that choice.
  This resolution is so important, but it is just a first step. The 
other body needs to act. This administration needs to act. We need to 
call it what it is and we need to proceed to stop it.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to my friend 
and colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, 57 years ago, nations stunned by the Nazi 
systematic acts of genocide declared, ``Never again.'' Ten years ago, 
confronted with the death toll of the Rwandan genocide, leaders of the 
same nations again declared, ``Never again.'' Today, tens of thousands 
of women, men, and children have been murdered and hundreds of 
thousands continue to suffer. Today, again, people are being targeted 
and killed because of their ethnic identity only 1,000 miles north of 
Rwanda in Darfur, Sudan.
  Mr. Speaker, 800,000 innocent people lost their lives in Rwanda. We 
hesitated, and nearly a million people died for our hesitation. On the 
10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide this April, world leaders 
again expressed their determination to prevent future humanitarian 
catastrophes. Tragically, only a few short months later, we find 
ourselves standing by again, unwilling to take the necessary steps to 
end the crisis in Darfur. Ten years ago, we failed the people of 
Rwanda. We must not fail again.
  I join my colleagues in calling upon the administration to apply 
sustained pressure on the government in Khartoum. I call upon the 
President to speak out against the atrocities in Darfur, to use both 
economic and political leverage. Every day we delay, every day we 
think, every day we consider the best course of action and the most 
appropriate definition for the crisis is another day innocent people 
are being killed, tortured, and watching their families lose their 
lives.
  International cooperation and support of the United Nations is 
essential, but the most direct path to limiting the threat is increased 
pressure from the United States. Experience has shown that we must not 
delay in classifying the loss of life in Darfur as genocide. Otherwise, 
by the time we have prepared our definitions, it will be too late. The 
facts on the ground and in the ground will have removed all doubt, and 
we will be left to murmur, without confidence or conviction, ``Never 
again.''
  Mr. Speaker, 57 years ago, nations stunned by the Nazi's systematic 
acts of genocide declared ``Never Again''. Ten years ago, confronted 
with the death toll of the Rwandan genocide, leaders of the same 
nations again declared ``Never Again''. Today, tens of thousands of 
women, men, and children have been murdered and hundreds of thousands 
continue to suffer. Today, again, people are being targeted and killed 
because of their ethnic identity, only 1,000 miles north of Rwanda in 
Darfur, Sudan.
  Eight hundred thousand innocent people were murdered in Rwanda. We 
hesitated and nearly 1 million people died for our hesitation. On the 
10-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide this April, world leaders 
expressed their determination to prevent future humanitarian 
catastrophes. Tragically, only a few short months later, we find 
ourselves standing by again, unwilling to take the necessary steps to 
end the crisis in Darfur. Ten years ago, we failed the people of 
Rwanda. We must not fail again. Ten years ago we were preoccupied with 
our mission in Bosnia, Somalia was fresh in our minds, and we were wary 
of getting involved in Rwanda. Today we are preoccupied with the 
aftermath of the conflict in Iraq and, again, we are wary of committing 
American resources to end the bloodshed in Sudan.
  As we have hesitated, some 30,000 people have already been murdered 
in Darfur and another million have been displaced from their villages 
and farms. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are caged in 
concentration camps where women are systematically raped and men are 
killed for scavenging food. Government-sponsored Arab militias continue 
to systematically terrorize the African Muslim inhabitants of the 
region--destroying villages, raping and murdering civilians, and 
poisoning precious wells with the bodies of the dead. Although the 
administration has taken some important first steps to confront the 
crimes being committed in Darfur, much remains to be done.
  The administration has rightly called for humanitarian access to the 
region and for the deployment of international cease-fire monitors. The 
administration has denounced the atrocities in Darfur. Still, a 
catastrophe of these proportions requires a deeper commitment to 
action; we must treat the problems at the root of this crisis. The 
thousands of people who have been displaced from their homes and land 
must be given safe and voluntary passage to return. More cease-fire 
monitors must be deployed to the region. The government in Khartoum 
must be persuaded to stop blocking international humanitarian 
assistance to the 2.2 million people of Darfur in desperate need of 
food and medicine. President Al-Bashir must be required to control the 
Janjaweed militiamen who, even now, continue their campaign of terror 
against the innocent people of Darfur. It is intolerable that these 
militias have not yet been disarmed and demobilized.
  I join my colleagues in calling upon the administration to apply 
sustained pressure on the government in Khartoum. I call upon the 
President to speak out against the atrocities in Darfur and to use both 
economic and political leverage to elicit cooperation from the Sudanese 
government. Every day that we delay, every day that we think, every day 
that we consider the best course of action and the appropriate 
definition for the crisis in Darfur is another day that innocent people 
are being killed, are being tortured, and are watching their families 
being killed and tortured before their very eyes.
  International cooperation and support from the United Nations will be 
essential to the long-term resolution of the Sudanese situation. Yet 
the most direct path to eliminating the threat to African Muslims in 
Darfur is increased pressure from the United States. Experience has 
shown us that we must not delay in classifying the loss of life in 
Darfur as genocide--otherwise, by the time we have prepared our 
definitions, it will be too late--the facts on the ground, and in the 
ground, will have removed all doubt. And we will be left to murmur 
without confidence or conviction--never again.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 1 minute to my 
friend and colleague, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott).
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I cannot forget the event in the Kigali 
Airport when I traveled with President Clinton to Rwanda and he spoke 
to Rwandans and apologized for our failure to act.
  There was a woman sitting there who had lost all of her family in 
front of her eyes. There was a priest there who had his arm cut off. 
There were people sitting there that the President acknowledged as 
people that the United States did not act to save.
  We have that same opportunity. We have it. It is in our hands. We 
have the capacity, and we must exercise our solemn duty to humanity for 
justice for everyone.
  No one on this floor, no one in this building should ever want to sit 
in a

[[Page 16917]]

meeting like that again and say, we are really sorry; we knew it was 
going on, but we did not do anything. We must act.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to my 
good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rush).
  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I am here this evening because of this 
resolution. I cannot think of another resolution, another matter before 
this body in the last few months or years that is more important than 
this resolution, the Payne resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, we have at this time an opportunity to stand up for 
justice and to stand up for peace and to stand up for what is right. We 
have an opportunity at this time to stop the genocide that is occurring 
in the Sudan. And, Mr. Speaker, now is the time when we must take 
action as a body. It is on us. We have had the horrible experience of 
witnessing and apologizing indeed for the Rwandan holocaust, and now we 
are faced here 10 years later with something similar going on in the 
Sudan.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to allow this genocide that is 
occurring in the Sudan to continue. We must rise up to the occasion. We 
must forget about those partisan things that divide us. We must come 
together as a body, as a Congress, indeed, as a nation; and we must 
show the world the way to eliminate the kind of racial and religious 
hatred that exists in this world. We must rise up and show the example.
  The future of this nation, the future of this world is at stake, 
because if we allow genocide to occur in the Sudan, if we do not do 
anything about it, then, Mr. Speaker, genocide will occur in almost any 
place throughout this world.
  We have an opportunity and we have an obligation. Let us not fail the 
people of the world.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield the remaining time to the gentleman 
from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the distinguished Democratic whip and 
indefatigable fighter for human rights across the globe.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hensarling). The gentleman from Maryland 
(Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 30 seconds.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. 
Tancredo), my friend, for yielding me this time, and I thank the 
ranking member for yielding me this time.
  I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) for acting. We are 
acting too late, but it is never too late to do the right thing.
  We live in a new world, a world in which it is impossible to say that 
we do not know, that we have not seen, that we have not heard. Because 
we live in such a world, to remain silent and inactive is an immoral 
act; it is an act of indifference and negligence that condemns us as 
human beings.
  The Second World War and the Holocaust have been referenced, the 
Holocaust appropriately so, because that was an act of eliminating a 
people because of the fact that they existed. This is an act of trying 
to eliminate a people, not because they are aggressors, not because 
they are a danger, but because they exist.
  It is incumbent upon not just the United States, but on all the world 
to act when it is confronted with genocide. It is an act of self-
preservation for us to recognize what is being done and to act, for if 
we do not, we will not live in either a safe or a civilized 
international community.

                              {time}  2115

  Very frankly, we watched in the past decade a genocide occur in 
Bosnia and Kosovo, and we interviewed some blue helmets who were there 
on the ground and reported back that, yes, they had seen atrocities 
committed, but their assignment there was to report, not to act.
  The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) mentioned Dante's reference 
to those who maintain their neutrality in the face of moral outrage.
  This is an important act we take, but it is not enough, because words 
will not save those children. Words alone will not protect those women 
from assault and ravage. Words will not feed those people. Words will 
not prevent the death; but words hopefully will be the beginning of 
action, a call to morality, a call to civilization, a call to the 
international community to live out the promises that it included in 
the United Nations charter, with hope of a new and better and safer and 
more moral world. That is what this resolution is about.
  I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne). I thank him for 
his commitment, his leadership, and his steadfastness. I urge all of my 
colleagues, all of us, everyone, Republican, Democrat, liberal, 
conservative, north, east, south and west, to affirm this commitment, 
this definition, this call to action, this call to a moral world.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. TANCREDO. I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos).
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, this is a noble moment for this body, but it 
is only a first step. There is a built-in mechanism ready to go to save 
the people of Darfur, and I call on NATO to use its capabilities to 
deploy the necessary troops to save the people of Darfur. There is no 
nobler goal for NATO, which was designed to protect human life, to do 
so now in west Sudan.
  I want to thank all of my colleagues for their contribution. This is 
a noble moment for the House of Representatives. I urge all of my 
colleagues to vote for this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I want to just simply thank a couple of people who have worked 
tirelessly on this, staff people. One is Joan Condon, the Committee on 
International Relations professional staff, for her tireless work on 
this important issue. And of course someone on my staff is Molly 
Miller, who has been dedicated to this issue and was recently in Sudan 
and has a heart for this issue. I want to thank all of my colleagues 
for their brilliant words this evening and their heartfelt commitment 
to this wonderful goal.
  Ms. KILPATRICK. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 467 
which declares that genocidal acts are occurring in Darfur, Sudan and 
are directed at the indigenous Muslim population by the Muslim 
government in Khartoum and in conjunction with the Janjaweed militia.
  The situation in Sudan is dire. The statistics are alarming and 
depressing. The numbers of casualities, deaths, rapes, injuries and 
displaced refugees beg the question, how can the world, the U.N., the 
United States and other civilized nations witness the murder of 30,000 
innocent civilians, the forced removal of 130,000 people from their 
homes to Chad, and the displacement of more than one million people and 
do nothing.
  In Sudan, we are witnessing a crisis that can be stemmed by proactive 
international leadership, but that leadership must include decisive 
action. The action necessary include using every measure possible to 
get the government of Sudan to allow more African Union military 
advisors into the country to monitor events. The leadership necessary 
requires our government to do everything possible to isolate the 
current government in Khartoum as a pariah in the international 
community, including: implementing a travel ban on senior Sudanese 
officials, establishing an embargo on all arms, freezing all government 
assets and the assets of affiliated organizations for the Sudanese 
government until such time as it modifies its behavior, and begins to 
feed and protect the civilian Sudanese population. And finally, we must 
strive to ensure that food, medicine, clothing and peacekeepers are 
delivered to the Darfur region of Sudan before the rainy season 
descends upon the weak, defenseless and despairing masses in Sudan.
  We must send the message to the Sudanese government and to the 
Sudanese people that the inhumane acts undertaken by Muslims against 
other ethnic African Muslims is deplorable and disgraceful. The 
religion of Islam which is predicated on values of peace and tolerance 
is being tainted and shamed by a minority segment of the government 
that sanctions genocide and denies it is occurring. I rise in strong 
support of this resolution and encourage my colleagues to stand up for 
the people of Darfur, Sudan and to challenge and shame

[[Page 16918]]

the government of Sudan into taking appropriate action to rectify an 
ever expanding tragedy.
  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 
467, which calls the current situation in Sudan by its proper name: 
genocide.
  Throughout years of civil war, the government in Khartoum and its 
militia sympathizers slaughtered tens of thousands of people in 
Southern Sudan and enslaved many others. Over the past two decades, it 
is estimated that more than two million people have died from war 
related causes and famine. Now violence has escalated in the Darfur 
region of the Western Sudan, where government-sponsored militias have 
been ruthlessly targeting various ethnic groups. More than 30,000 
civilians have already been brutally murdered and approximately one 
million civilians have been forced to flee their homes and are now 
either internally dispatched or seeking refuge in neighboring Chad. 
These numbers cannot capture the horror of daily life in Sudan where 
violence, death and disease run rampant and young men cannot go outside 
the refugee camps for fear of being killed. Any woman or girl who dares 
to leave in search of food or water instantly becomes a target for rape 
or murder. With each passing day, more and more people are suffering 
and dying. The United States must act swiftly to end this genocide and 
punish those responsible for these heinous crimes against humanity.
  By considering this resolution, we are taking the first step in what 
will be a long road to ending years of violence in Sudan. The 
President, the Secretary of State, the U.N. and the international 
community must all declare this genocide and offer all assistance 
possible to end the atrocities occurring in Sudan. It is my hope that 
the international community will come together and send a multi-
national force to Sudan to provide security and to help with the 
delivery of humanitarian aid. If the world community is unwilling to do 
so or cannot do so in a timely manner then I believe the U.S. should 
send a force of its own to Sudan.
  Although I was an ardent opponent of the war with Iraq, I do believe 
that in certain instances unilateral force is both necessary and 
justified. This is undoubtedly one of those times. Tens of thousands of 
people have already died and thousands more will perish if we stand by 
and do nothing. If the world remains silent in the face of genocide, 
then America alone must act. The America that I know and believe in is 
a moral leader in the world and taking the leading role in bringing an 
end to genocide in Sudan will save thousands of lives and move us 
closer to fulfilling our true destiny.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the sponsor of this 
resolution, Mr. Payne, as well as Chairman Hyde of the Committee on 
International Relations, and all of the members who have worked to 
bring H. Con. Res. 467 to the floor. I think it's very important that 
Congress act on this resolution before the August recess. Tonight the 
House of Representatives will go on record declaring the atrocities 
being committed in the Darfur region of Sudan to be ``genocide.'' H. 
Con. Res. 467 is a statement for the world, and a stark warning to the 
Sudanese government.
  We've heard about the atrocities government-backed militias are 
perpetrating in Darfur. This resolution cites an estimated 30,000 
innocent civilians brutally murdered, more than 130,000 people fleeing 
to neighboring Chad, and more than one million people internally 
displaced. The Africa Subcommittee that I chair has held several 
hearings on Sudan. We've heard about the human suffering. We have also 
heard about how this killing is targeted and systematic. Villages are 
razed, crops are burned, and wells are poisoned. I fully support this 
resolution's determination that genocide is occurring in Sudan, as it 
played out in Rwanda ten years ago.
  Those doing the killing need to understand that the world is 
changing. We have international courts to hold human rights criminals 
accountable. Information is being collected. The days of impunity are 
ending. That is a message that this resolution sends.
  H. Con. Res. 467 deplores the failure of the United Nations Human 
Rights Commission to take appropriate action on Darfur. Earlier this 
year, the Commission failed to support a United States led effort to 
strongly condemn gross human rights violations in Darfur. Others just 
don't care. The administration has taken the lead in seeking an end to 
the slaughter in Darfur, and addressing the humanitarian crisis there. 
Why do we seem to care about Darfur more than African governments? We 
desperately need African engagement, and outrage, on Darfur. It is 
Africans who are being slaughtered.
  Indeed, the administration deserves much credit for achieving a 
north-south peace accord in Sudan. It has played a very good hand with 
the cards it was dealt. Congress has been supportive of these 
negotiations, including with the Sudan Peace Act. But now we have a 
genocide in the west of Sudan--in Darfur.
  Peace isn't divisible in Sudan. It's a cliche, but in Darfur, 
Khartoum is showing its true colors. Today, that government is hearing 
loud and clear that there will be no U.S. aid or improved relations, no 
support for the peace process, as long as the killing continues in 
Darfur. Maybe that matters to Khartoum; to be honest, maybe it doesn't, 
which is a possibility we need to prepare for. That is why H. Con. Res. 
467 urges the administration to seriously consider multilateral or even 
unilateral intervention to stop the genocide should the United Nations 
Security Council fail to act. I don't think it needs this urging.
  The suffering in Darfur is moving the American people. There's an 
awakening to the horror being afflicted there. Tonight, the House of 
Representatives is amplifying these concerns for the world.
  Mr. TANCREDO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hensarling). The question is on the 
motion offered by the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) that the 
House suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. 
Res. 467, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________