[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17524-17526]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

                                 ______
                                 

SENATE RESOLUTION 559--CALLING ON THE PRESIDENT TO TAKE IMMEDIATE STEPS 
                  TO HELP STOP THE VIOLENCE IN DARFUR

  Mr. BIDEN. (for himself, Mr. DeWine, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Kerry, Mrs. 
Clinton, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Nelson of Florida, Mr. Levin, Mr. 
Feingold, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Voinovich, Mr. Specter, Mr. 
Chafee, Mr. Sununu, Mr. McCain, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Coleman, Mr. 
Lieberman, Mr. Salazar, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Leahy, Mrs. Murray, Mr. 
Inouye, Mr. Hagel, Mr. Frist, and Mr. Smith) submitted the following 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

       Whereas the Darfur Peace Agreement, signed on May 5, 2006, 
     between the Government of Sudan and rebels in Darfur has not 
     resulted in a cessation of hostilities in Darfur;
       Whereas, although the United Nations Security Council 
     approved Security Council Resolution 1706 (2006), which 
     provides for a United Nations peacekeeping presence in Darfur 
     to replace the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), the 
     Government of Sudan has rejected the deployment of United 
     Nations peacekeepers;

[[Page 17525]]

       Whereas the Government of Sudan is engaged in a major 
     offensive in Darfur, in direct violation of the Darfur Peace 
     Agreement;
       Whereas violence in the Darfur region has increased since 
     the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement;
       Whereas Jan Egeland, the United Nations Under-Secretary 
     General for Humanitarian Affairs, has stated that the coming 
     weeks may result in a ``man-made catastrophe of an 
     unprecedented scale'' in Darfur;
       Whereas the African Union has decided to terminate the 
     African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) at the end of September 
     2006;
       Whereas it is unlikely that the United Nations will have 
     the logistical means or capability to deploy peacekeepers to 
     Sudan until the end of 2006;
       Whereas the people of Darfur cannot wait that long for 
     security to be re-established; and
       Whereas the international community must renew its efforts 
     to stop genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in 
     Darfur:
       Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) strongly condemns--
       (A) the current military offensive of the Government of 
     Sudan in Darfur in violation of the terms of the May 5, 2006, 
     Darfur Peace Agreement and the April 8, 2004, N'Djamena 
     cease-fire accord; and
       (B) the rejection by the Government of Sudan of United 
     Nations Security Council Resolution 1706 (2006);
       (2) commends the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) for 
     its actions to date in monitoring the April 8, 2004, 
     N'Djamena cease-fire agreement in Darfur and encourages the 
     African Union to leave the AMIS force in place until a United 
     Nations peacekeeping mission is deployed to Darfur;
       (3) calls upon the Government of Sudan to immediately--
       (A) cease its military offensive in Darfur; and
       (B) comply with the deployment of United Nations 
     peacekeepers to Darfurt called for by the United Nations 
     Security Council;
       (4) calls upon the United Nations--
       (A) to deploy as quickly as practicable peacekeeping troops 
     as authorized by United Nations Security Council Resolution 
     1706 (2006) that are well trained and equipped; and
       (B) to begin considerations of sanctions as called for by 
     paragraphs 6 and 7 of United Nations Security Council 
     Resolution 1556 (2004) and paragraph 14 of United Nations 
     Security Council Resolution 1564 (2004);
       (5) urges the President to take urgent steps to help 
     improve the security situation in Darfur, including by--
       (A) pursuing the imposition of a ``no-fly zone'' in Darfur 
     in cooperation with the United Nations, NATO, or NATO allies;
       (B) garnering support for NATO assistance with the handover 
     by the African Union of the AMIS mission to the United 
     Nations;
       (C) working through diplomatic channels to obtain the 
     support of China, Russia, and United States allies in the 
     Arab League in securing the compliance of the Government of 
     Sudan with the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers as 
     provided by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1706 
     (2006);
       (D) supporting full funding for the United Nations 
     Peacekeeping Mission in Sudan;
       (E) securing the necessary support from United Nations 
     member states to schedule a special session on Sudan in the 
     United Nations Human Rights Council; and
       (F) appointing a Special Envoy to Sudan to head the Office 
     of the Presidential Special Envoy established pursuant to 
     chapter 6 of title I of the Emergency Supplemental 
     Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and 
     Hurricane Recovery, 2006 (Public Law 109-234; 120 Stat. 439); 
     and
       (6) urges the international community--
       (A) to support the deployment of United Nations 
     peacekeepers to Darfur financially, with logistical and 
     equipment support, or through troop contributions;
       (B) to fulfill financial obligations to United Nations and 
     international humanitarian aid agencies for responding to 
     thepiis in Darfur or addressing humanitarian needs throughout 
     Sudan;
       (C) to impose targeted sanctions against members of the 
     National Congress Party determined to be responsible for 
     human rights violations, war crimes, and crimes against 
     humanity; and
       (D) to impose sanctions consistent with paragraphs 6 and 7 
     of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1556 (2004) and 
     paragraph 14 of United Nations Security Council Resolution 
     1564 (2004)

  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, today I am introducing a resolution along 
with my colleague Senator DeWine urging the President to take immediate 
action to avert a looming tragedy in Darfur, Sudan. The government of 
Sudan has launched an all-out military offensive in Darfur that could 
result in hundreds of thousands of additional deaths. The United States 
must lead the international community to save those lives. It is urgent 
that we act.
  How did we arrive at such a situation? And what must we do to stop 
it?
  Over the past two years the situation in Sudan has remained dire. As 
many as 400,000 people may be dead. Two million people have been 
displaced from their homes, over 200,000 are refugees in Chad, and 
three million rely on international aid. Those numbers haven't 
diminished over time, they have gotten worse. And now, they may be on 
the brink of becoming even more catastrophic.
  In May of this year, the government of Sudan and rebels in Darfur--
specifically the Minni Minnawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Army, 
SLA,--signed a peace agreement. Rather than improving the security 
situation, the Darfur Peace Agreement has made things worse. The 
agreement never had the support of the entire SLA, or the other major 
rebel movement in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement. Nor did it 
have the support of people living in displaced camps in Darfur. In the 
days and weeks after news of the agreement spread, violence in camps 
increased either because people misunderstood what was in the 
agreement, or they felt the agreement was flawed. And violence on the 
ground became worse, as the rebel factions split and fighting erupted 
between those who had signed the Darfur Peace Agreement and those who 
had not.
  Tens of thousands of people have been displaced in fighting since 
May--fifty thousand in the last two months alone. Many of them have 
taken refuge in camps for the internally displaced. Attacks on 
humanitarian aid convoys have increased by a factor of more than ten 
compared to this time last year. Twelve humanitarian workers have been 
killed in the past four months--more than during the previous year. Two 
hundred internally displaced women have been raped and another two 
hundred violently assaulted in over the course of the past five weeks.
  The United Nations, after months of delay, finally extended the 
mandate of the U.N. Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) to Darfur at the end of 
August. U.N. Security Council Resolution 1706 authorizes the deployment 
of over 17,000 peace keepers and 3000 civilian police to Darfur. 
Regrettably, however, the government of Sudan has rejected the 
deployment of the U.N. force, instead launching a military offensive in 
Darfur. African Union officials have stated that they will not extend 
the mission in Sudan past the end of this month. And even if the 
aforementioned impediments did not exist, it would be months before a 
U.N. mission could fully deploy.
  Just to make absolutely sure a peacekeeping force is never deployed, 
the government of Khartoum has gone on the offensive. If it scorches 
enough earth--and people--there will be no need for the peacekeeping 
force because there will be no one left to protect and no peace to 
keep.
  We are at a pivotal moment. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese are in 
camps, vulnerable to aerial and ground attacks from government forces. 
We cannot stand by and do nothing.
  This resolution is straightforward. It calls on the President to 
undertake three key actions, some of which the Senate has asked him to 
do before: First, it once again calls on him to pursue the imposition 
of a no-fly zone through the U.N., NATO or NATO allies. The Senate 
asked the President to propose that NATO consider how to implement and 
enforce such a no-fly zone in March of this year. If anything, the need 
to enforce a no-fly zone has increased.
  Second, it asks that the President secure the necessary support from 
United Nations member states to schedule a special session on Sudan in 
the United Nations Human Rights Council. The international community 
must speak out on the atrocities which continue to unfold in Sudan--and 
it must act.
  Third, it asks the President to appoint a Special Envoy to Sudan to 
head the office that Senator DeWine and I established at the State 
Department through a provision in the supplemental appropriations bill 
that was signed into law in June. The administration has avoided doing 
so for years, and our diplomatic efforts have suffered as a result.
  I'm under no illusion that these actions alone will stop the Sudanese 
government. The international community

[[Page 17526]]

must put a credible force on the ground as soon as possible. NATO 
should be prepared to help the AMIS hand-off to the United Nations. It 
is imperative that the President pick up the phone and talk to our NATO 
allies about how to do that. He should also call the president of the 
African Union and the U.N. Secretary General about going to Khartoum to 
talk to President Bashir about his government's rejection of the U.N. 
Security Council resolution. And the Secretary of State must get 
involved in diplomatic efforts to convince the Sudanese to cooperate 
with the implementation of Security Council resolution. I understand 
that Assistant Secretary of State Frazer was sent to Khartoum over the 
Labor Day weekend. She met with President Bashir, but according to all 
reports, the meeting did not result in any change in Khartoum's posture 
towards the deployment of U.N. troops. I applaud the administration for 
sending Dr. Frazer. But with all due respect I think we need to be 
engaged at higher levels.
  It has been 12 years since the international community watched nearly 
a million people get killed in Rwanda, and 11 years since the world 
stood by as the massacres in Srebrenica occurred. Since then, President 
Clinton took decisive action to stop ethnic cleansing act in Bosnia, 
and then in Kosovo. Both missions were controversial--even unpopular. 
But the cost of inaction was too high. The cost of inaction in Darfur 
is too high as well.

                          ____________________