[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 23495]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 DARFUR

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, the United States will very soon vote on a 
resolution urging the international community and the Government of 
Sudan to end genocide in Darfur. Since March of 2003, more than 181,000 
people have died in the Darfur region, Darfur and the country west of 
Sudan--Darfur is in the western part of Sudan and the country west of 
that, Chad, and the neighboring towns in that region. One hundred 
eighty-one thousand people have died of violence and disease. They are 
dying of malnutrition. More than 2 million people have been displaced 
from their homes, many times without their families, and remain 
scattered in these refugee camps in the Darfur region and in Chad.
  I have had the opportunity to travel to Sudan many times and to the 
Darfur region, last year to Chad. Along the border, there are a whole 
number of refugee camps, each with anywhere from 6,000 to as many as 
12,000 people. When you go into these refugee camps and you sit down on 
a little mat with all these little makeshift tents with 8,000 people 
who have had to leave their homes, you hear the stories of murder, the 
stories of rape from young women. You hear those stories of violence, 
many with descriptions of the Government of Sudan's jeeps driving 
through these villages as they are pushed forward. I have heard the 
stories myself. I have talked to enough people on the ground to know 
that this is, indeed, genocide and that it is time for us, the 
international community, to do something about it.
  I have said basically that same thing on the floor of the Senate for 
the last year; many of us have. It is embarrassing to have to come back 
to the floor to say it once again.
  The Government of Sudan has failed to take credible steps in terms of 
ending this genocide. There has been a lot of talk, but we don't see 
any action. It was clear, as I was there, as it is now, that the death 
toll is going to increase. It is going to increase unless we have 
stronger action, unified action, but not just by the Government of 
Sudan, because they are not going to act, but the entire international 
community against Khartoum, where the Government of Sudan is centered. 
President Bush and former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the 
Senate have all declared that the Darfur crisis is, in fact, genocide. 
It was the Senate that officially condemned it as genocide. Once again, 
we see no real response by the international community.
  This past Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
warned that the situation in the Darfur region of the Sudan is getting 
worse. Where is the international community's response?
  Innocent civilians continue to be targeted by the Sudanese Government 
in Khartoum and its allied Janjaweed militias. The Janjaweed have even 
caused the United Nations to temporarily suspend some of its relief 
activities in many areas of Darfur. In the words of the High 
Commissioner, the situation is ``extremely nasty, with ugly events.'' 
Last month, 400 Janjaweed Arab militia on camels and horseback attacked 
a refugee camp killing 35 people, wounding 10 others. More than 80 
homes were burned to the ground. On October 8, an African Union convoy 
was ambushed in the southern part of Darfur. Four Nigerian soldiers and 
two civilian contractors were killed. The very next day, a group of 
rebels abducted 38 African Union soldiers in the border town of Tine, 
threatening the African Union to stay out of the territory.
  Today there are fresh reports of heavy gunfire over the weekend in 
half a dozen towns in the region. The African Union forces deployed to 
the Darfur region have done a professional job and deserve praise for 
their determination. But they are up against ruthless opponents who 
attack and maim and kill their opponents. Nearly 200,000 civilians are 
dead, 2 million more displaced and suffering. The violence must stop. 
Those who are responsible for genocide for these war crimes against 
humanity and these criminal acts must be brought to justice.
  I urge the United States to renew efforts to implement additional 
sanctions on the Government of Sudan through the United Nations 
Security Council. I also support an expansion of the size and mandate 
of the African Union mission in Darfur, and I encourage my colleagues 
to continue to support its efforts.
  Time is running out. We cannot wait and see. The international 
community must live up to its declared responsibility to protect 
innocent citizens targeted for genocide. The credibility of the 
international community is at stake. Even more important than that are 
the hundreds of thousands of innocent people whose lives now hang in 
the balance.
  I yield the floor.

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