[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 9699-9705]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




CONDEMNING GOVERNMENT OF REPUBLIC OF SUDAN FOR ATTACKS AGAINST INNOCENT 
                CIVILIANS IN IMPOVERISHED DARFUR REGION

  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 403) condemning the 
Government of the Republic of the Sudan for its attacks against 
innocent civilians in the impoverished Darfur region of western Sudan, 
as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 403

       Whereas, since early 2003, a conflict between forces of the 
     Government of the Republic of the Sudan, including militia 
     forces backed by the Government, and rebel forces in the 
     impoverished Darfur region of western Sudan has resulted in 
     attacks by ground and air forces of the Government of Sudan 
     against innocent civilians and undefended villages in the 
     region;
       Whereas Sudanese Government forces and government supported 
     militia forces have also engaged in the use of rape as a 
     weapon of war, the abduction of children, the destruction of 
     food and water sources, and the deliberate and systematic 
     manipulation and denial of humanitarian assistance for the 
     people of the Darfur region;
       Whereas, on December 18, 2003, United Nations 
     Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland 
     declared that the Darfur region was probably ``the world's 
     worst humanitarian catastrophe'', and in April 2004 reported 
     to the United Nations Security Council that in Darfur, ``a 
     sequence of deliberate actions has been observed that seem 
     aimed at achieving a specific objective: the forcible and 
     long-term displacement of the targeted communities which may 
     also be termed `ethnic cleansing' '';
       Whereas, on February 17, 2004, Amnesty International 
     reported that it ``continues to receive details of horrifying 
     attacks against civilians in villages by government 
     warplanes, soldiers, and pro-government militia'';
       Whereas, on February 18, 2004, United Nations Special Envoy 
     for Humanitarian Affairs in Sudan Tom Eric Vraalsen declared,

[[Page 9700]]

     following a trip to the Darfur region, that ``aid workers are 
     unable to reach the vast majority [of the displaced]'';
       Whereas Doctors Without Borders, the Nobel Peace Prize-
     winning medical humanitarian relief organization and one of 
     the few aid groups on the ground in the Darfur region, 
     reported that the region is the scene of ``catastrophic 
     mortality rates'';
       Whereas, on April 20, the United Nations Office of the High 
     Commissioner for Human Rights delayed the release of a report 
     citing gross human rights abuses, crimes against humanity, 
     and war crimes committed in Darfur in a bid to gain access to 
     Sudan for investigators;
       Whereas the Government of Sudan continues to deny 
     humanitarian assistance for the people of the Darfur region 
     by denying them unrestricted access to humanitarian aid 
     organizations;
       Whereas attacks on civilians in Darfur continue despite an 
     April 8, 2004, temporary cease-fire agreement;
       Whereas nearly 3,000,000 people affected by the conflict in 
     the Darfur region have remained beyond the reach of aid 
     agencies trying to provide essential humanitarian assistance, 
     and United Nations aid agencies estimate that they have been 
     able to reach only 15 percent of people in need and that more 
     than 700,000 people have been displaced within Sudan in the 
     past year; and
       Whereas the United States delegation to the 60th Session of 
     the United Nations Commission on Human Rights sponsored a 
     resolution condemning the Government of Sudan for grave 
     violations of human rights and humanitarian law occurring in 
     the Darfur region: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) strongly condemns the Government of the Republic of the 
     Sudan and militia groups supported by the Government of Sudan 
     for attacks against innocent civilians in the impoverished 
     Darfur region of western Sudan, in violation of Article 3 of 
     the Geneva Conventions, done at Geneva August 12, 1949, and 
     entered into force October 21, 1950, which specifically 
     prohibit attacks on civilians, and demands that the 
     Government of Sudan immediately take actions to cease these 
     attacks;
       (2) urges the Government of Sudan to immediately disarm and 
     disband government supported militia groups;
       (3) urges the Government of Sudan and all parties to honor 
     commitments made in the cease-fire agreement of April 8, 
     2004;
       (4) calls on the Government of Sudan to grant full, 
     unconditional, and immediate access to Darfur to humanitarian 
     aid organizations, the human rights investigation and 
     humanitarian teams of the United Nations, including 
     protection officers, and an international monitoring team in 
     compliance with the temporary cease-fire agreement that is 
     based in Darfur and has the support of the United States and 
     the European Union;
       (5) encourages the Administrator of the United States 
     Agency for International Development to work with donors to 
     immediately deliver humanitarian assistance to Darfur, 
     including the delivery of food by air if necessary;
       (6) calls on the Secretary of State to develop a plan for 
     further bilateral and multilateral action in the event the 
     Government of Sudan fails to immediately undertake the 
     actions called for in paragraph (3), including a plan to seek 
     a Security Council resolution addressing the Darfur 
     situation;
       (7) deplores the inaction of some member states of the 
     United Nations and the failure of the United Nations Human 
     Rights Commission to take strong action with respect to the 
     crisis in Darfur;
       (8) urges the President to direct the United States 
     Representative to the United Nations to--
       (A) seek an official investigation by the United Nations to 
     determine if crimes against humanity have been committed by 
     the Government of Sudan and government-supported militia 
     groups in the Darfur region; and
       (B) work with the international community to ensure that 
     the individuals responsible for crimes against humanity in 
     Darfur are held accountable for their actions; and
       (9) strongly urges the President to impose targeted 
     sanctions, including a ban on travel to the United States and 
     freezing of personal 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 the Darfur region.

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


                             General Leave

  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. 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 H. Con. Res. 403, as 
amended.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Wisconsin?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Wolf) for bringing House Concurrent Resolution 403, condemning the 
Government of Sudan for its attacks against innocent civilians in the 
impoverished Darfur region of western Sudan, before us today.
  The crisis in Darfur has been described as one of the worst 
humanitarian catastrophes on the planet. Nearly 1 million people have 
been displaced, and anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 people have been 
killed. The United States Agency for International Development 
estimates that another 350,000 civilians could die in the next 9 months 
as a result of the unfolding humanitarian crisis.
  Backed by the Sudanese Government, Arabic-speaking militias, 
collectively known as the Janjaweed, have murdered, raped and pillaged 
with impunity. Hundreds of villages have been burned to the ground, 
crops have been razed and vital irrigation systems have been destroyed.
  It is feared that the situation will only get worse. The rainy season 
has now arrived, making transport of food aid more difficult and more 
costly. If the refugees cannot return to their homes to plant crops 
soon, they will be completely dependent on food aid for the next 18 
months. Outrageously, the Sudanese Government continues to frustrate 
efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance to the region.
  Following a Security Council briefing earlier this month, the acting 
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights summarized the situation in 
Darfur by stating: ``One, there is a reign of terror in this area. Two, 
there is a scorched earth policy. Three, there are repeated war crimes 
and crimes against humanity. And four, this is taking place before our 
very eyes.''
  Despite these facts and despite the best efforts by the 
administration, Sudan was given nothing more than a half-hearted slap 
on the wrist during the recently concluded 60th session of the U.N. 
Commission on Human Rights.
  Adding insult to injury, Sudan was then reelected to serve on the 
Commission for another 2 years. The irony of the election of Sudan, one 
of the worst violators of human rights on the planet, to serve on the 
U.N. Commission for Human Rights, that irony should not be lost on 
anyone.
  House Concurrent Resolution 403 strongly condemns the attack against 
innocent civilians by the Government of Sudan and government-supported 
militia groups. The resolution calls on the Government of Sudan to 
grant full and unconditional humanitarian access to the region and 
urges the government to disarm and disband the Janjaweed forces.
  H. Con. Res. 403 recognizes the efforts of the United States 
delegation to the 60th session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission to 
address the crisis in Darfur, and deplores the inaction of other 
members.
  The resolution also urges the United States Government to take 
specific steps to aid the refugees and to hold accountable those in the 
Government of Sudan who are responsible for these atrocities. Included 
among those recommended measures are an asset freeze and a travel ban 
for those who are responsible for what the administration and the U.N. 
have described as ``ethnic cleansing.''
  Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Conscience of the U.S. Holocaust 
Memorial Museum has issued a ``Genocide Alert'' for Darfur. This crisis 
is the direct result of actions taken by the Government of Sudan. It is 
incumbent upon the Congress to condemn these actions and to urge the 
administration to take steps to aid the victims and punish those 
responsible for the atrocities.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a bipartisan resolution which has been given 
full consideration during a hearing and markup by the Committee on 
International Relations on May 6 of this year, and I urge Members' 
support.

[[Page 9701]]

  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I first would like to commend my good friend and 
cochairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Wolf), for introducing this critically important 
legislation. We are all deeply indebted to the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Wolf) for speaking out for human rights in Sudan and, in fact, for 
human rights around the globe.
  Mr. Speaker, just 2 weeks ago, we solemnly remembered the 10th 
anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, where the world stood by and 
allowed the slaughter of 1 million innocent people in 100 days. In the 
aftermath of that horror, the international community again pledged 
never again to stand by and allow an atrocity to emerge without taking 
preventive action.
  Yet, as we speak, the Sudanese Government has mobilized its military 
forces and Arab militias, called the Janjaweed, to carry out a scorched 
earth policy of indiscriminate killing and the removal of non-Arab 
African civilians from their homes in Darfur in western Sudan. Both 
USAID and the United Nations have described these atrocities as ethnic 
cleansing, and the Committee on Conscience of our own Holocaust 
Memorial Museum has issued a genocide warning for Darfur.
  Mr. Speaker, Khartoum and its brutal militias are systematically 
torturing, raping and killing thousands of innocent civilians, based 
solely on their identity. The Janjaweed, the Arab terrorists, have 
looted and burned villages and depopulated entire areas with impunity, 
in direct violation of international law.
  We estimate that as many as 30,000 civilians may have been 
slaughtered and over 1 million driven off their land into unprotected 
camps for the internally displaced and refugee camps across the border 
in Chad. If we allow Khartoum to continue this mayhem, probably over 
100,000 will die by the end of the year.
  We cannot allow this to happen. Khartoum must be stopped. I am 
convinced, Mr. Speaker, that the only thing Bashir and his cronies 
understand and respond to is strength and the resolve of the 
international community, led by our own government.
  Bashir and those responsible in his government, including his vice 
president, Ali Taha, are masters at manipulating the international 
community by holding hostage the prospects of humanitarian access in 
Darfur and the peace process in Kenya, while conducting a vicious 
campaign of terror against innocent civilians.
  Khartoum has even treated with contempt our own government's efforts 
to bring humanitarian relief to the suffering people in Darfur by 
delaying visas to American disaster workers. Cynically and arrogantly, 
Khartoum stalls while innocent men, women and children suffer.
  Mr. Speaker, in response to widespread global criticism, Bashir now 
has issued a presidential decree appointing a committee to investigate 
the egregious human rights violations carried out in Darfur by his own 
government and their Arab allies.
  First, Khartoum deliberately designed a strategy to drive thousands 
of black Africans from their homes. In the process, Arab militias were 
directed to commit unspeakably horrible acts. Then, when the 
international community expresses outrage, the government that 
committed the crimes appoints a committee to investigate itself.
  I find it ludicrous and absurd for us to continue to play along with 
Khartoum's game and to accept this blatant attempt to disavow knowledge 
of well-documented atrocities that Bashir and his people directed their 
armed forces and the Arab militias to commit.
  Mr. Speaker, as we debate this resolution, Arab terrorists of the 
Janjaweed are killing men, kidnapping children, raping women and 
burning villages.

                              {time}  1600

  There must be an urgency about our work in addressing this crisis; 
and Darfur, therefore, must assume the highest priority.
  I challenge President Bush's Secretary of State Colin Powell and Kofi 
Anan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, to exercise their 
leadership and to stop this nightmare from continuing. I also challenge 
the European Union and the African Union. Appallingly, African nations 
recently ensured Sudan a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission in 
spite of its attack on the people of Darfur, motivated exclusively by 
sickening racism.
  Mr. Speaker, I call upon President Bush to withhold any normalization 
of relations with the Sudan. We must demand of Khartoum an immediate 
cessation of violence in Darfur and the disarming of Arab terrorists 
according to the cease fire agreement they signed. Khartoum must allow 
protective units and humanitarian agencies full and immediate access to 
Darfur.
  Khartoum also must address the legitimate grievances of those living 
under the tyranny of this regime. The United Nations Human Rights 
Commission must convene immediately on this crisis to shed light on the 
atrocities and to galvanize international support for the victims of 
Darfur.
  In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, we must do what is necessary to end this 
conflict in Sudan and to bring security to the long suffering people of 
Darfur. If Khartoum continues its intransigence, the President should 
consider target sanctions against those responsible for these 
atrocities and undertake extraordinary measures to get food, medicine, 
clothing, and shelter to those in desperate need. Our credibility and 
our reputation as a humane Nation depend on this. We do not have the 
luxury of failure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the distinguished 
chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa, who is a strong voice on this 
subject.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
  I would like to begin by seconding the remarks by the ranking member 
of the Committee on International Relations, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lantos). I believe, as he does, that the killing in 
western Sudan demands the world's attention. This resolution of which 
we are co-sponsors condemns Sudan's government for attacks against 
civilians in the Darfur region. As explained, the numbers here are very 
grim. Because the government's Scorched Earth policies have killed tens 
of thousands of people, have displaced as of today over one million 
human beings, many of them forced into neighboring Chad, hundreds of 
villages have been burned to the ground, those irrigation systems have 
been destroyed, and government-backed militias have committed 
widespread rapes; but beyond that, beyond that the victims of these 
rapes are often branded on the forehead, which is a rather unique proof 
of the intent of ethnic cleansing that is going on in these 
communities.
  Denied access to this region by the government, I think we can only 
imagine the full extent of this relentless campaign which has the look 
of genocide against the people of Darfur. I believe the administration 
deserves credit for its sustained commitment to bringing peace to 
Sudan. Congress has backed its effort, including the Sudan Peace Act. 
The Subcommittee on Africa, which I chair, has closely followed 
negotiations between Khartoum and the SPLM.
  But after several years, it is less and less likely that those 
negotiations will succeed. The administration's Sudan Peace Act, the 
report on that peace act of last month noted that, the bottom line, 
these talks had become stagnant. We need to keep in mind too that any 
agreement reached would face major challenges being implemented. Africa 
has seen many failed peace agreements. So Khartoum's true colors, I am 
afraid, are being shown in Darfur. At this point, for my part I would 
have little faith in any peace agreements it signs.

[[Page 9702]]

  If we remain engaged in this peace process, though, Darfur must not 
be discounted. Darfur must be addressed. Last month, the Subcommittee 
on Africa held a hearing looking back on the Rwandan genocide. During 
the run-up to the killing of a million people, the United States and 
others were dulled to its warning signs because of the commitment to a 
doomed peace process. And I am afraid that that may be part of what we 
are witnessing here.
  In Rwanda, like in Sudan today, the government denied its support for 
militias carrying out ethnic cleansing. It was very familiar to these, 
very close akin to this same circumstance we face here. Khartoum should 
know that peace agreement or not, there will be no normal relations 
with the United States as long as it is committing atrocities in 
Darfur. The administration brought Darfur to the world's attention at 
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights' annual session in 
Geneva. That its proposal to censure the Sudanese Government was widely 
rejected is yet more evidence that the commission is a very troubled 
institution. It also makes it harder to believe that other countries 
have much of a commitment to peace in Sudan.
  Moving ahead, our assumption on Sudan that the international 
community will provide material support and be an honest broker if a 
peace agreement is signed should be rethought. I support this 
resolution; I urge its passage. And I would also like to commend the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for his dedication to this issue.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis), my good friend and our distinguished colleague.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the ranking 
member of the Committee on International Relations for yielding me time 
and also for his strong and eloquent statement in support of this 
resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 403. This bill 
sounds the alarm once again on genocide in Sudan. Since 1983, more than 
2 million black civilians 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.
  The people of Sudan are facing the same catastrophic situation once 
again. Since early 2003, conflict between the forces of the government 
of the Republic of Sudan and rebel forces in the impoverished Darfur 
region of western Sudan has resulted in attacks by Sudanese Government 
ground and air forces against innocent civilians and undefended 
villages in the region. This has led to the Sudanese Government forces 
engaging in the use of rape as a weapon of war, the abduction of 
children, the destruction of food and water sources, and the deliberate 
and systematic manipulation and denial of humanitarian assistance for 
the people of the Darfur region.
  The United Nations and other aid agencies trying to provide essential 
humanitarian assistance have been able to reach only 15 percent of the 
people in need, denying nearly 3 million people in need. More than 
100,000 Sudanese have fled the region and are now refugees in 
neighboring Chad.
  These acts are clear violations of the Genocide Convention and are 
grave crimes against humanity. We cannot sit back and do nothing. We 
must speak out and act against these actions. We cannot afford to 
repeat the mistakes of the genocide in Rwanda where more than 800,000 
Rwandans died while we along with the world watched and did little or 
nothing.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to act now. The more time wasted by doing 
nothing, the more Sudanese people in the Darfur region will suffer, 
die, and be displaced from their homes.
  I commend the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for introducing this 
resolution. I urge my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, as others have noted, we recently marked the anniversary 
of a terrible chapter in world history, the Rwandan genocide. The fact 
that we are here today speaking on Sudan really calls into question 
whether or not we have learned anything at all, whether the world has 
learned anything at all. These atrocities of which we speak are 
occurring now, before our eyes. There is no question; there is no 
doubt. We are all on notice. It was terrible enough that we did little 
then through the days of the Rwandan genocide. It will be all the worse 
if the world fails to act now.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of 
the resolution that is before us today on the suspension calendar 
concerning the current crisis in Sudan, South Africa. Our colleagues, 
Mr. Wolf and Mr. Payne, are to be commended for their leadership and 
efforts in drafting H. Con. Res. 403 and for their advocacy on the 
issues. Just as we have recently seen in Liberia and Haiti, we see in 
the Darfur region of Sudan--humanitarian priorities are being 
subordinated to political agendas.
  What is most saddening and what inspires the most fear is the fact 
that this region is inflicting vulnerability upon itself in the wake of 
international terrorism. But then again, who needs a terrorist attack 
when your government is forcibly displacing and starving millions of 
its own civilians in the course of making political statements?
  This situation has been described as ``the worst humanitarian crisis 
in the world today'' given the over one million people displaced since 
the fighting intensified in early 2003. I will cite the insightful 
words of my colleague from New Jersey, Mr. Payne when he addressed the 
House last Thursday on this issue:

       Mr. Speaker, it is important for us to remember that in 
     1994 the international community watched with utter 
     indifference when 1 million Rwandanese were hacked to death 
     in 100 days. The genocide in Darfur occurred while the 
     international community was commemorating the 10th 
     anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. We failed to learn from 
     Rwanda, and we are likely to learn from Darfur. The 
     similarities between the Rwandan genocide and Darfur are 
     stunning. In Rwanda the former government of Rwanda and the 
     Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels were negotiating while plans 
     for genocide were underway.

  The important thing to recognize in the words of this gentleman are 
that the ``international community watched with utter indifference.'' 
H. Con. Res. 403 is but a beginning and a first step to the extent to 
which this nation and the nations of the international community must 
intervene in order to end the death, displacement, rape, and suffering.
  Reuters, in an article dated April 19, 2004 noted that 
``international engagement with the crisis has been slow and 
ineffective'' and that ``Western governments have appeared reluctant to 
press the Sudanese government to fulfill its obligations'' to 
international law, the principle of democracy, and to its own people.
  Over 700,000 people have had to flee to urban centers in Darfur and 
there has been further displacement to various parts of Sudan, 
including Khartoum. Moreover, an additional 135,000 refugees have moved 
to Chad. Thousands of innocent civilians have died due to the violence, 
and many more are dying and will die due to conflict-related diseases. 
This situation is exacerbated when the government openly restricts 
relief efforts and when it allows supplies to be looted after 
distribution.
  With respect to international law, the parties to this internal armed 
conflict have violated Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Convention 
which prohibits attacks on civilians. The government of Sudan is bound 
by its own laws and international law to prosecute any party to the 
conflict guilty of committing abuses. Moreover, the government is 
responsible for proxy forces under its control.
  The United States and members of the international community must 
intervene and at the very least, inflict pressure upon the Sudanese 
government to mitigate the violations of law. Allegations have been 
described as: ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, and genocide. 
In the case of armed conflict relative to international law, Sudan has 
failed in the following areas:
  Distinction--the duty to distinguish between military and civilian 
targets;
  Precaution--the duty to minimize incidental injury to civilians and 
damage to civilian property; and
  Proportionality--any injury or damage must be proportionate to the 
concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

[[Page 9703]]

  Furthermore, Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Convention squarely 
apply to this situation. Under the provisions of Article 3, basic 
civilian safeguards in civil conflicts must be provided.
  Non-derogable provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and 
Political Rights of 1966 apply, i.e., the right to life.
  Mr. Speaker, H. Con. Res. 403 articulates the fact that we recognize 
the wrongdoings that have been perpetrated by the Sudanese government. 
Our next step must be to commit to acting to and garnering support to 
applying pressure on the parties in the conflict to respect 
humanitarian and human rights law. They must be compelled, under rule 
of law, to protect civilians and to allow humanitarian aid to flow to 
those who are in dire need. This chaotic situation and lawlessness must 
end at once. I support this legislation, urge my colleagues to join me 
in so supporting, and move this Administration to take the next step in 
working to stop the violence and installing peace and the rule of law.
  Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 403. As 
one of the architects of the Sudan Peace Act signed by President Bush 
in October 2002, I am completely dismayed at the continuation and the 
possible repeat of another civil war in Sudan. Previously, countless 
Christians have been killed or starved to death simply because of their 
ethnicity and religious beliefs. Now in Dafur in the West, an area 
roughly the size of France, unlike the situation in the South, this is 
not Christian versus Muslims. It is genocide of black Africans by the 
Arabic government and Jangaweed (nomadic Arab tribesmen).
  Today, the current humanitarian crisis in Sudan is considered one of 
the worst in decades. According to the World Food Program (WFP), the 
Sudanese, ``are facing serious food and water shortages due to the 
combined disruptions of civil war and drought.'' In the West, hundreds 
of thousands of malnourished villagers, having been burned out of their 
homes in a systematic campaign of terror, are starving to death.
  Foreign correspondents from major newspapers have reported at least 
700,000 Dafur residents are living in camps or have fled to villages to 
stay with families or friends. Women, girls, students, and teachers are 
systematically beaten and gang-raped. One villager, as quoted this week 
in a London newspaper, gave this simple explanation, ``We got harassed 
on a daily basis by people in uniform.'' Furthermore he said, ``they 
(Jangaweed) used to be herders, we know who they are, but the 
government had guns and uniforms and told them to hurt the blacks.'' 
Despite millions of dollars of humanitarian aid from the United States, 
the Sudanese, particularly the black Africans in Dafur, continue to 
suffer.
  The conflict between the government of Khartoum/Jangaweed and the 
black Africans in Dafur must be stopped. While I am pleased with the 
announcement that the State Department will be sending American aid 
experts to inspect the humanitarian needs, what we really need to be 
done is for the Administration to stop this genocide and begin 
negotiations as soon as possible to end this long-standing humanitarian 
crisis.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I commend the House, Chairman Hyde and 
International Relations Committee for bringing H. Con. Res. 403 to the 
floor quickly and I urge a unanimous vote for this important 
resolution.
  The conflict in Sudan began early last year when the Government of 
Sudan began arming the Janjaweed militia to suppress local rebel 
groups. The Janjaweed, with the support of government troops began 
their reign of terror on the people of Darfur.
  The result--ethnic cleansing and the death of thousands of innocent 
civilians. One million people are now displaced. Village after village 
attacked, looted and burned. The survivors bear scars of mutilation and 
rape. Schools filled with students have been attacked and the girls 
raped.
  Thousands of survivors walk days, weeks and sometimes months in the 
unrelenting sun to seek safety in Chad. They are pursued by Janjaweed 
and often bombed as they languish on the border.
  Hundreds of thousands of civilians are trapped in camps inside 
Darfur. Surrounded by militia and unable to leave to seek water or 
firewood. Families are forced to make life or death decisions on which 
family member will go to gather food and risk certain death.
  People are living on top of each other in crowed camps. Disease and 
malnutrition are rampant. USAID now estimates that by fall the world 
will see catastrophic mortality rates from disease and starvation.
  The world has finally found its voice as reports are trickling out 
describing the reality of Darfur. The headlines in major U.S. 
newspapers have read like a horror film:
  ``Sudan militiamen on horses uproot a million'';
  ``Sudan's hellish humanitarian crisis'';
  ``Sudan's Darfur is calm because there are no more villages to 
burn''.
  ``Sudan starving Darfur refuges''
  I would like to read an excerpt from the May 15 Economist:

       Her story is typical. . . . An air raid caught her 
     unawares: as bombs fell, she ran around in confusion. When 
     the bombers had completed their return pass, the horizon 
     filled with dust, the ground shuddered, and a host of mounted 
     militiamen charged through the village, killing all the young 
     men they could find . . . her 18-month baby . . . killed by 
     shrapnel. Two weeks later her oldest son, 15, was made to 
     kneel in line with other young men before being shot in the 
     back of the head. Her husband disappeared the same day.

  But words are not enough. The international community has been 
reluctant to act.
  Secretary General Kofi Annan should go to Darfur and stand with the 
persecuted.
  I introduced this resolution so Members of Congress would have the 
opportunity to voice their support for the innocent people in Darfur.
  This resolution strongly condemns the Government of Sudan and 
government-supported militia groups for attacks against innocent 
civilians, in violation of the Geneva Convention.
  The Government of Sudan should immediately disarm the militia, and 
allow full unconditional humanitarian access to Darfur. The civilians 
who are languishing in camps should be provided immediate protection.
  Why is the world slow to respond when atrocities are taking place 
before our eyes?
  The world has said never again over and over again, yet when it is 
put to the test and charged with protecting humanity it continues to 
fail.
  Why has the international community become content with the slaughter 
of innocent human beings?
  When will the death of innocent human beings be too much for the 
world to bear?
  We need to be bold and willing to condemn and shame countries that 
commit atrocities against their own citizens.
  It is our moral responsibility to protect humanity and not sit idly 
by in the face of horror. Those of us in public office have the unique 
responsibility and the power of our voices to confront evil.
  The world is a safer place when the world sides with the opposed.
  Today, let our voices be raised for the innocent people of Darfur.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record the full Economist story. I urge 
every Member to read the graphic detail of Khartoums destruction of 
innocent lives.

                   [From the Economist, May 15, 2004]

               Fleeing the Horsemen Who Kill for Khartoum

       Her children's bodies were rotting in the village wells, 
     where Arab militiamen had thrown them to poison the water 
     supply. But Kaltuma Hasala Adan did not flee her home. 
     Leaving her crops and livestock would condemn the rest of the 
     family to death, she reasoned. So she stayed put for four 
     months, despite her government's strenuous efforts to 
     terrorize her into flight.
       Her story is typical of western Sudan's black Africans. Her 
     village was first attacked in January. An air raid caught her 
     unawares: as the bombs fell, she ran around in confusion. 
     When the bombers had completed their return pass, the horizon 
     filled with dust, the ground shuddered, and a host of mounted 
     militiamen charged through the village, killing all the young 
     men they could find. During that first attack, Kaltuma's 18-
     month baby, Ali, was killed by shrapnel. Two weeks later, her 
     oldest son, Issa, 15, was made to kneel in line with other 
     young men before being shot in the back of the head. Her 
     husband disappeared the same day.
       For four wretched months, Kaltuma lived with both ears 
     strained for the faint drone of bombers, poised to dash with 
     her three surviving children to a hiding place in a dry river 
     bed. Then the janjaweed--an Arab militia that kills for the 
     Sudanese government--rode up to finish the job. They razed 
     her village entirely. She fled from the embers of her hut and 
     trekked for four days through the desert. Across the border 
     in Chad, she found sanctuary in the town of Tine. Thousands 
     of her neighbours were already there when she arrived.
       The UN's humanitarian co-ordinator for Sudan, Mukesh 
     Kapila, described what is going on in Darfur, an arid region 
     of western Sudan, as ``the worst humanitarian crisis in the 
     world''. Human Rights Watch, a lobby group, has accused 
     Sudan's Arab-dominated government of crimes against humanity. 
     The government is seeking to purge Darfur of black Africans, 
     using methods as cruel as they are effective. Perhaps a 
     million people have fled their homes. Officials deny ethnic 
     cleansing, of course, but the refugees say they lie.
       As Kaltuma tells her story, a crowd gathers to corroborate 
     it. Osman Nurrudin Sadr says his whole family was killed. 
     Khadija

[[Page 9704]]

     Yacob Abdallah, a pretty 17-year-old, watched her parents die 
     and was then gang-raped. All the refugees offer the same 
     explanation. ``They want to kill us because we are black,'' 
     says one.
       It is a little more complicated than that. Sudan, Africa's 
     largest country, is the scene of two separate but related 
     civil wars. One, between the north and south, pits the Arab, 
     Islamist government against rebels who are mostly black 
     African and non-Muslim. This war has been raging 
     intermittently for half a century, but has come tantalizingly 
     close to resolution in the past year: partly because of 
     foreign pressure, especially from America, and partly because 
     both sides, exhausted, wish to stop fighting and share 
     Sudan's new-found oil wealth.
       The other war, between the government and two rebel groups 
     in Darfur, pits Muslim against Muslim. The divide in Darfur 
     is ethnic, between Arabs and black Africans. This war flared 
     up only last year. It was seen at first as a mere sideshow, 
     but is now too vast and vile to be ignored.


                         centuries of suffering

       The south has been marginalized for centuries. Arab slavers 
     used it as a hunting-ground for human booty, despite Anglo-
     Egyptian attempts to crush the trade in the 19th century. 
     When independence came in 1956, southerners demanded 
     autonomy. They were ignored, so they rebelled.
       The war paused between 1972 and 1983, but then resumed. The 
     government used scorched-earth tactics against the main rebel 
     group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), bombing 
     villages suspected of rebel sympathies, and arming and 
     encouraging militias to kill and pillage in rebel-held areas. 
     Slave raids continued, checked only by the absence of tarmac 
     roads in the south.
       Largely because it involved Muslims enslaving Christians, 
     the war gripped the imagination of America's influential 
     Christian lobby. In fact, only a minority of southern 
     Sudanese are Christians; the rest are cheerfully polytheistic 
     or animist. Nonetheless, America took an interest, which 
     increased when the radical Islamist regime in Khartoum hosted 
     Osama bin Laden in the early 1900s. In retaliation for al-
     Qaeda'a attacks on American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania 
     in 1998, President Bill Clinton bombed a Sudanese factory he 
     said was producing nerve gas, but which may have been making 
     aspirin. The regime was already distancing itself from its 
     international terrorist associates, a process swiftly 
     accelerated by the American invasions of Afghanistan and 
     Iraq.
       Sudan's rulers rounded up terrorist suspects, shared 
     intelligence and froze Mr. bin Laden's assets in Sudan, 
     including a cannabis farm worked by child slaves who had 
     apparently been brought from a Ugandan rebel group for one 
     Kalashnikov each.
       At the same time, the Sudanese government started to yield 
     to American pressure to seek peace with the south. 
     Negotiations have been tortuous, but Vice-President Ali Osman 
     Taha keeps talking to John Garang, the SPLA leader. If the 
     government shows bad faith, America threatens to choke it 
     with sanctions and to bankroll the SPLA.
       Since 2001 the two sides have hammered out a series of 
     agreements that are supposed to culminate in a comprehensive 
     peace. Last September they signed a security accord, mapping 
     out how Khartoum will withdraw most of its troops from the 
     south. This year has seen a written agreement on how to split 
     the revenues from the oil that lies under Sudanese sand, and 
     verbal agreements on power-sharing and the future of three 
     contested areas. Some of these are on the northern side of 
     the line (see map), but their inhabitants consider themselves 
     southern.
       For an interim period of six years, Sudan is to remain one 
     country, with Omar al-Bashir, the current president, 
     remaining in office, and with Mr. Garang, the rebel leader, 
     as his deputy. Then there is to be a referendum in which 
     southerners will be offered the choice of staying or 
     seceding.


                             the west burns

       The trouble with this plan for a new Sudan is that it 
     involves only the two main belligerents. Peaceful opposition 
     groups have been left out. Since neither the government nor 
     the SPLA is remotely democratic, many Sudanese seethe at the 
     prospect of them divvying up the petrodollars. In Darfur, 
     that rage has sparked mayhem.
       Darfur has seen sporadic fighting for generations. As the 
     desert has expanded, camel- and cattle-herding Arab nomads 
     have bickered with black African farmers over dwindling 
     supplies of water and pasture. Darfur's black tribes complain 
     that, since the 1980s, they have been pushed out of 
     government jobs in favor of Arabs. And the region has been 
     flooded with weapons. Khartoum first armed the janjaweed so 
     they could ride south and pillage SPLA territory. Arms from a 
     long-running conflict between Chad and Libya seeped across 
     the border into Darfur.
       Last year, a new rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Army 
     (SLA) appeared in Darfur and won a string of victories. Soon 
     after, a second group sprang up, the Justice and Equality 
     Movement (JEM). The government in Kartoum felt vulnerable. It 
     was terrified that rebel successes in Darfur might inspire 
     other marginalised groups in the north and east, especially 
     since the SLA has links with a rebel group in the east.
       The government struck back, not only against the rebels, 
     but also against their ethnic kin. It unleashed the 
     janjaweed. To swell the militia's ranks, Arab criminals were 
     released from jail and given horses, $100 each and carte 
     blanche to loot. (These ex-prisoners are labeled ta'ibeen, 
     ``those who have repented''.)
       The janjaweed have clattered into village after African 
     village, torching the straw roofs of conical huts, killing 
     young men who might join the rebels, raping women who might 
     feed them, and stealing everything they can carry off. 
     Sometimes they brand the hands of the women they rape, to 
     make the stigma permanent. They have also torched dozens of 
     mosques and torn up and defecated on copies of the Koran. 
     Whatever inspires them, it is not Islam.
       Their victims have no doubt that the janjaweed enjoy the 
     state's blessing. When asked what gives them the right to 
     stop blacks at road blocks, the militiamen reply: ``We are 
     the government.'' When pillaging, they are often supported by 
     the air force and by the regular army. ``First the planes 
     come, then the janjaweed and finally government soldiers,'' 
     says a refugee. ``They are brothers united on a mission to 
     kill.''
       It was a long time before the outside world took notice. At 
     first, both America and the UN hesitated to make a fuss about 
     Darfur for fear of derailing the north-south peace process. 
     But in March, the UN's man on the spot started making 
     comparisons with the Rwandan genocide of 1994. That was an 
     exaggeration, but it prompted Washington to lean on Khartoum 
     to end the ethnic cleansing. A ceasefire followed on April 
     8th, supposedly to help aid workers do their job, but was 
     quickly broken.
       Fighting and pillage continue, making it hard to feed the 
     displaced. The UN does not want to get too close to the 
     border--the janjaweed do not respect international 
     boundaries--so it has moved 35,000 refugees deep into Chad. 
     Tens of thousands remain stranded near the border. Those 
     unfortunate enough to wind up in camps in Darfur have been 
     deliberately starved by the janjaweed, according to the UN.
       Brave charities such as Medecins Sans Frontieres have 
     ignored the occasional air raid to dole out medical supplies, 
     feed the hungriest and vaccinate against a meningitis 
     outbreak. Most refugees in Chad have depended on food and 
     water from the locals who, though poor, are startlingly 
     generous. Supplies are running out, however, and the UN 
     mission is short of cash.
       The rainy season is almost here, when the valleys will fill 
     with water and it will be impossible to get the refugees into 
     the half-empty camps that await them. UN lorries lie stranded 
     because there is no money for fuel and the drivers, unpaid 
     for six weeks, have gone on strike.
       Over 10,000 newly arrived refugees around Bahai, north of 
     Tine, have been dismissed as ``combatants''--though most are 
     women, children or old men. For the UN, admitting that they 
     are refugees would mean being obligated to look after them. 
     ``I'm trying to think of something the UN has done right 
     here, but I'm struggling,'' says one aid worker with a sigh.


                        spears and ploughshares

       There is more to cheer about in southern Sudan. After years 
     of enduring the same abuses now being lavished on Darfur, the 
     south is relatively calm. In Rumbek, the largest town under 
     SPLA control, where abandoned armoured cars rust outside 
     buildings gutted by shelling, hardly any shrapnel has flown 
     for two years.
       Half-forgotten tribal traditions are being rediscovered. On 
     a dusty football pitch known as Freedom Square, thousands of 
     young Dinka men, coated with ash and clad in glamorous 
     calfskin skirts, gather to elect a sub-chief. Not long ago 
     such affairs were subdued, forced indoors by the fear of 
     aerial bombardment. Now they are gleefully raucous.
       War has left the south shattered. Most of the young 
     warriors queuing behind their chosen candidates have known 
     nothing else. There is no electricity or running water in the 
     south, an area the size of France and Germany combined, and 
     precious few schools, either. Southern children used to join 
     either the rebels or government-backed militias. They grew up 
     knowing how to march long distances on empty stomachs, but 
     not how to read.
       Peace, if it lasts, will offer southerners a chance to grow 
     less poor. In one village, your correspondent saw a group of 
     SPLA soldiers melting bullets to fashion spearheads for 
     hunting gazelles. The same men were baffled, however, by a 
     consignment of ploughshares, kindly donated by a western aid 
     agency. Unsure what these strange objects were for, they beat 
     them down to make stools.
       Elsewhere, workers can be seen hacking through thorny 
     scrub. They are clearing a path for a road, heading for a 
     large rock in the wilderness known as Ramciel, or ``the place 
     where the rhinos meet''. More accurately, it should be 
     ``where rhinos used to meet'', as they were poached out of 
     existence some time ago. It is here that the SPLA is thinking 
     of building the south's principal city. Charles Deng, the 
     assistant foreman, has big dreams for the place. ``First we 
     will

[[Page 9705]]

     finish the road,'' he says. ``Then we will build skyscrapers 
     and ponds, better than London or maybe even as good as 
     Nairobi.''
       Not everyone welcomes progress. An SPLA commander in nearby 
     Yirol murmured into his beer that he hoped the capital would 
     be built elsewhere. ``If they build it here then they will 
     also build schools and our girls will be sent to those 
     schools,'' he said. ``You know what the means? Their bride 
     price will fall. My daughters will be worthless to me.''


                    The end of the war, or of Sudan?

       A formal deal ending the war is expected in the next few 
     weeks, possibly sooner. Since President George Bush is widely 
     seen as the architect of peace, he is perhaps more popular in 
     southern Sudan than anywhere else on earth. At the Rumbek 
     sub-chief's election one young warrior called Thuapon leaps 
     frenetically in the air, proudly waving a white Barbie-doll 
     in a pink dress. ``This is a new wife for President Bush. May 
     God grant him many fertile women with firm bodies and an 
     election victory without problems in Florida.''
       The main outstanding issue concerns the religious status of 
     Khartoum. The government wants it to remain under sharia 
     (Islamic law); the SPLA does not. Some fudge is surely 
     possible. Observers are confident that a deal will be signed. 
     ``If Khartoum were to renege at this point, it would signal 
     that this whole process was a charade from the beginning,'' 
     says John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group, a 
     campaigning think-tank.
       The difficulty will lie in how the deal is implemented. 
     Unsurprisingly, southerners do not trust the government. 
     ``They just want time to re-arm,'' says James Thucdong, an 
     aspiring teacher in Rumbek. ``We know this is just a peace of 
     one or two years. They will never let us become 
     independent.'' Mr. Thucdong could well be right. There is no 
     provision yet for what will happen to revenues from Sudan's 
     oilfields, which lie mostly in the south, should voters 
     choose secession.
       The two sides are unwilling to discuss this issue, but 
     Khartoum would presumably never let the south go if that 
     meant losing the petrodollars, too. ``When preparations begin 
     for the independence referendum, we are going to see major 
     meddling by elements in Khartoum, aimed at creating chaos in 
     the south and delaying [the] plebiscite,'' predicts Mr. 
     Prendergast.
       Another worry is that southerners are squabblesome. During 
     the war, they spent as much time fighting each other as the 
     government. Mr. Garang may still be the south's key leader, 
     but his support for a united Sudan will irk secessionists, 
     who are probably a majority in the south. Other ethnic groups 
     resent the politically dominant Dinka people, and even the 
     Dinka are divided.
       Once a peace deal is signed, many of the 4m southerners 
     living in squatter camps around the main cities of the north 
     will probably decide to pick their way through minefields and 
     make the long journey home. Tension over scarce natural 
     resources seems likely. As if to confound the optimists, 
     there has been a serious outbreak of fighting in the ancient 
     Shilluk kingdom since March. At least 70,000 people have been 
     driven from their homes after battles between militias loyal 
     to Khartoum and the SPLA. As usual in Sudan, most of the 
     casualties were civilians.


                        many voices, many fears

       In Khartoum, the mood is apprehensive. The political elite 
     is genuinely alarmed at what capitulation to southern demands 
     might encourage. Says Ghazi Attabani, a former presidential 
     adviser: ``If the south were to secede, it would be 
     catastrophic both for Sudan and for Africa. Secession would 
     not be peaceful. Internal differences in the south would 
     cause rifts which would make Rwanda seem like a picnic.''
       Because of stringent censorship and the physical difficulty 
     of visiting Sudan's more troubled areas, ordinary northerners 
     have only a rough idea of what is going on in their own 
     country. Some are optimistic. ``Of course the people can live 
     together,'' says Ahmed Omar Othman, a shopkeeper. ``Just look 
     around Khartoum, we do already. Here, you will find a church 
     next to a mosque--surely that [proves it]? The real problem 
     is whether the politicians can work together.''
       The record of Sudanese politicians in this are is not good. 
     Their preferred technique for holding this huge and 
     multifarious country together--barbaric force--has been shown 
     not to work. In Darfur, as Mr. Attabani admits, ``There is no 
     military solution.'' Arming gangsters such as the Janjaweek 
     is easy; reining them in again may prove much harder. Says 
     Sharif Harir, chief negotiator for the SLA rebels: ``Even if 
     Khartoum had the will to stop them, it probably doesnt' have 
     the power.''

  Mr. OLVER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 403.
  Sudan, geographically the largest country in Africa, has been ravaged 
by civil war for four decades. An estimated two million people have 
died over the past two decades due to war-related causes and famine, 
and millions have been displaced from their homes. According to the 
United Nations, an estimated three million people are in need of 
emergency food aid. Recently, violence has escalated in the Darfur 
region of the Western Sudan, where government-sponsored militias have 
been ruthlessly targeting various ethnic groups. Approximately one 
million civilians have been forced to flee their homes and are now 
either internally displaced or seeking refuge in neighboring Chad.
  Sudanese government forces have overseen and directly participated in 
massacres, summary executions of civilians, burning of towns and 
villages, and the forcible depopulation of wide swathes of land long 
inhabited by the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups.
  For months, the Sudanese government has restricted international 
media access to Darfur and has limited reporting about the conflict in 
the national press. Recently, the government has allowed minimal access 
to the region for international humanitarian agencies but has still 
failed to provide the necessary protection and assistance to prevent a 
full-blown humanitarian crisis.
  There can be no doubt about the Sudanese government's culpability in 
crimes against humanity in Darfur. With this resolution, Congress 
demands that the Sudanese government take immediate steps to reverse 
ethnic cleansing in Darfur before the situation there worsens and 
engulfs the entire region in conflict.
  The gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Wolf, should be commended for 
keeping the events in Sudan on Congress' agenda and I urge Members to 
support his resolution.
  Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for 
time, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Boozman). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Green) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 
403, 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.

                          ____________________