[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 2996-2998]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 SUDAN

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I want to use most of my time to show 
some very graphic pictures of the face of genocide that is taking place 
in Darfur, Sudan. I wish I didn't need to do this. I wish the 
international community, particularly the United Nations, was acting so 
that something would take place to prevent this manmade genocide. But 
this genocide is occurring. It occurs while we are here today. It 
occurs in large numbers. Eric Reeves is probably the best documenter of 
Smith College. He estimates between 300,000 and 400,000 Darfurians have 
been killed in this genocide. I have been there. A number of Members 
have been there. Villages are being burned out by the Arab militia 
called Jingaweit. The African Union has not been in power to put in a 
sufficient number of troops or with enough authority to act to be able 
to stop this horror.
  What I am going to show on the floor are African Union monitors' 
pictures taken of people who have been killed and brutalized in western 
Sudan. They are graphic pictures. They are pictures of people who have 
been brutally killed in this genocide. My hope in showing this is that 
people will see the face of genocide and action will occur, 
specifically that the United Nations will take credible action. They 
have not. They have not taken credible economic action, political 
action, and they certainly haven't taken anything in the way of 
credible military action to stop this from occurring.
  These pictures come courtesy of Nichol Kristof of the New York Times, 
who wrote a February 23 article in which some of these pictures 
appeared titled ``The Secret Genocide Archive.'' In it, Kristof says: 
``These are just four pictures in a secret archive of thousands of 
photos and reports that document the genocide currently underway in 
Darfur. The materials were gathered by African Union monitors, who are 
about the only people able to travel widely in that part of the 
Sudan.'' He goes on to say, ``The archive also includes an 
extraordinary document seized from a janjaweed official that apparently 
outlines genocidal policies. Dated last August, the document calls for 
the `execution of all directives from the president of the republic' 
and is directed to regional commanders and security officials. `Change 
the demography of Darfur and make it void of African tribes,' the 
document urges.'' I have yet to determine if that document has been 
verified, but understand that the State Department is analyzing it for 
authenticity, and certainly the actions taking place in Darfur today 
reflect those words.
  Finally, Mr. Kristof writes, ``I'm sorry for inflicting these 
horrific photos on you.'' Mr. Kristof, with all due respect, you need 
not apologize. It is the world community that needs to apologize for 
their complete inaction and indifference to this modern genocide.
  Over 6 months ago the U.S. Congress declared genocide, followed 
shortly thereafter with a similar declaration by former Secretary of 
State Colin Powell. Failure to deem this genocide by the international 
community, which would force action, has led to death beyond measure 
and the threat of famine and disease that could wipe out many more 
thousands. Eric Reeves of Smith College reports, ``evidence strongly 
suggests that total mortality in the Darfur region of western Sudan now 
exceeds 400,000 human beings since the outbreak of sustained conflict 
in February 2003.'' The widely reported official number of deaths, 
recorded only since last March, is 70,000 and nearly 2 million 
displaced.
  To give you a frame of reference, the tsunami's death toll has been 
placed at around 200,000. We are talking here about 400,000 deaths in a 
manmade catastrophe--genocide--in Sudan.
  I ask my colleagues, and particularly the international community and 
the U.N.--and Kofi Annan in particular--how many more thousands of 
deaths does it take?
  Nichol Kristof provided me with additional pictures of the genocide 
in Sudan. I have these pictures for my colleagues to see, but due to 
their graphic nature, will not show all of them on television. I will 
describe each picture for my colleagues though, and would invite them 
to come and view these pictures in the cloakroom or in my office. The 
images tell a dark story of tragedy that continues to strike the 
villages of Darfur.
  The first picture shows a child who had his face beaten in, 
presumably with a rifle butt, in a massacre in Hamada in January.
  The next graphic photograph is of a man who was castrated and then 
shot in the head. This is a common fate of male prisoners taken captive 
by the janjaweed.
  Skeletons litter the ground of Darfur near the sites of massacres. 
The next photograph is from a massacre in Adwa in December, 2004. It's 
difficult to determine if this individual was burned

[[Page 2997]]

or if the corpse's condition is a result of severe decay. It does 
appear as though this person's last moments were spent fleeing the 
attack.
  The next image is of a man who was one of 107 black Africans killed 
by Arabs in Hamada in the January massacre.
  These photographs, taken by African Union officials on the ground in 
Darfur, were slipped to Nichol Kristof of the New York Times.
  The next photograph is of a girl who was also killed in Hamada in 
January. The killers do not discriminate between male or female, 
children or adults.
  Another photo is of a more fortunate victim of the attack on Hamada 
in January. As she displays her injured arm, I can only help but think 
what kind of traumatic experience she endured and what psychological 
after-effects she will have to deal with for her entire life.
  Another young man did not make it out alive of the attack on Hamada. 
His blue flip-flops lay nearby.
  Finally, a skeleton, from an attack in Adwa in December, still has 
its wrists bound in this photo. The clothes were pulled down, 
suggesting that the person had been sexually abused before being 
killed. If it was a woman, she was likely raped; if it was a man, he 
was likely castrated.
  This is the face of genocide in the World today.
  The African Union troops and monitors on the ground have seen these 
atrocities with their own eyes. I am proud to say that the United 
States has supported the African Union's peacekeeping efforts on 
various fronts. To date, the U.S. has contributed over $40 million to 
the African Union. We have done so with hopes of securing an immediate 
end to the genocide and humanitarian crisis. Allowing the pictures and 
documents to remain buried away in a secret file will lend no immediate 
help to ending this crisis. However, we do believe that if these 
documents and photographs are made available to international actors 
including the United States, and other United Nations Security Council 
member states, we would see immediate action that could end the crisis 
and foster accountability. I urge the leaders of the African Union to 
release these documents and photos immediately and for the Government 
of Sudan to allow complete unimpeded access to the region in 
discussion. The last public report the African Union posted on their 
website was dated January 31, 2005. I have heard reports of rape and 
pillage since that time.
  The world community has watched as there have been numerous 
violations of last year's cease-fire agreement, including attacks aimed 
at killing innocent civilians and destroying villages. Unfortunately, 
aid groups have withdrawn from the region, and each day we run the risk 
of watching the current chaos spin out of control beyond imagination.
  Despite numerous bills and resolutions passed in the House and the 
Senate and several U.N. Resolutions, the international community has 
failed to act efficiently and effectively to end the crisis. On July 
30, 2004, United Nations Security Council passed a resolution in 1556 
calling on the government of Sudan to disarm the janjaweed militia and 
to provide unfettered access for humanitarian relief agencies. The 
resolution also imposed an arms embargo on ``nongovernmental entities 
and individuals'' in Darfur. Essentially, this arms embargo only 
embargoed the rebels and not the janjaweed who were receiving arms from 
the government of Sudan.
  In September, the Council passed Resolution 1564, calling on the 
government of Sudan to cooperate with an expanded AU force and 
threatened sanctions if the government failed to meet the Council's 
demands. We have seen no sanctions.
  Despite all of these actions, the Government of Sudan has not acted 
to end the violence against civilians, nor have they disarmed the 
janjaweed, or abided by cease-fire violations, including use of air 
power against civilians. In addition, reports indicate that the United 
Nations was undermining the cease-fire through agreements they were 
making with the Government of Sudan, including authorizing police 
forces and security forces to patrol IDP areas without approval from 
the AU Commission. Several weeks ago with my colleague Congressman 
Frank Wolf, I called on Kofi Annan to ``lead or leave.'' In other 
words, he should lead the Security Council to pass a strong, meaningful 
resolution, or he should resign in protest at the complacency of the 
world.
  The Commission of Inquiry began its three-month mandate on October 
25, 2004. The report, which was leaked by the government of Sudan 
despite agreements with the U.N., has clearly been jaded by inside 
politics. I fear that we will continue to see lip-service without 
meaningful action. Somehow, the report has spawned a political debate 
over where to try the criminals and not on how to effectively and 
immediately provide security and end the crisis. We are simply buying 
time for the murderers in Sudan.
  The Report of the Commission of Inquiry makes clear the need for 
appropriate U.N. Security Council action. So it is in the best interest 
of all, especially the people of Darfur, to avoid protracted debate as 
to where the trial is taking place. The key is to stop the killing that 
is taking place in Sudan.
  The deployment of African Union peacekeeping troops must be 
accelerated and expanded immediately. With only 2,000 troops currently 
in Darfur, and plans for 3,300 total, we must provide the appropriate 
technical assistance to see that the numbers needed to effectively 
patrol Darfur are on the ground immediately.
  I believe that the United Nations should vote to immediately levy 
hefty and serious economic and diplomatic sanctions against the 
government of Sudan, the government-sponsored janjaweed, and any 
businesses or companies complicit through their government connections. 
We must insist upon an arms embargo against the Government of Sudan, 
travel restrictions of Sudanese government officials, and a freeze on 
the assets of companies controlled by the ruling party that do business 
abroad. Twenty months after the conflict in Darfur began, not one 
punitive measure has been imposed on the government of Sudan. It is 
time to act.
  As the United States, European Union, African Union, and others begin 
deciding what steps are next, my colleague Senator Corzine and I have 
decided to introduce a bill called the Darfur Accountability Act. This 
bill reiterates that the atrocities taking place in Darfur are 
genocide, it calls for sanctions in the UN Security Council. It also 
calls for accelerated assistance to the African Union force in Darfur, 
for the establishment of a military no-fly zone in Darfur, for an 
extension of the multilateral arms embargo to include the Government of 
Sudan, and it freezes the assets and property of criminals and denies 
visas and entry to them while also calling for a multilateral effort to 
do the same. In addition, it calls for a Special Presidential Envoy for 
Sudan, and states that the United States supports accountability 
through a competent international court of justice, and requires that 
the administration report to Congress on such efforts.
  I encourage my colleagues to join us in moving this bill through 
Congress. We do not have days and weeks to spare when millions of lives 
are in jeopardy. We cannot grant the Government of Sudan and the 
janjaweed more time to execute the African tribes in Darfur. I look 
forward to working with Senator Corzine and others to see passage of 
this bill.
  I hope these pictures will serve as a reminder to my colleagues that 
we must act to end this genocide. Members of this body have traveled to 
Rwanda and to Auschwitz to commemorate genocides of the past. We are 
doing no victims of genocide a favor by turning a blind eye to the 
atrocities in Sudan. Let these pictures and stories serve as a reminder 
of our responsibility to uphold dignity and human rights around the 
world. We need to act now.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant Democratic leader is recognized.

[[Page 2998]]


  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is my understanding that 30 minutes is 
allotted to the Democratic side.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
  Mr. DURBIN. I will indicate that if Senator Specter from the 
Judiciary Committee comes to the floor to lay down the bankruptcy bill, 
I will ask unanimous consent that he be given an opportunity and that 
our time be preserved in morning business, even though he is given that 
chance to lay down the bill.
  Before my colleague from Kansas leaves--I know he is off to a 
committee meeting--I thank the Senator for his statement. It is 
critically important that all of us on both sides of the aisle, 
Democrat and Republican, make it clear every single day about this 
senseless killing that is going on in the Darfur region of Sudan.
  We had the gentleman who is the subject of ``Hotel Rwanda'' in 
Chicago a week ago, Paul Rusesabagina. He saved 1,200 people in Rwanda 
from genocide. He did not come to brag; he came to beg that we do 
something about Sudan. He touched my heart. I said I will come back and 
do everything I can, and every day I will get up and speak, if I have a 
chance, to remind people that we have to do something as a nation.
  I thank the Senator from Kansas for his statement. It was very 
eloquent. Although I may not agree on every single thing he said, I 
certainly agree this is a matter of great urgency and immediacy. I 
thank him for his leadership.

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