[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21541-21542]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          HEARING CANCELLATION

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 
was supposed to hold its third hearing on Darfur in as many years this 
week, but it was postponed because the administration couldn't field 
the appropriate witnesses. In a region where each day means hundreds of 
innocent lives lost and thousands more terrorized and displaced, time 
is not on our side.
  I want to begin my statement today by acknowledging that there have 
been some positive developments over the past month relating to the 
international community's response to the violence in Darfur. I 
welcomed the passage of United Nations Resolution 1706, a U.S.-backed 
initiative authorizing a 22,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force for 
Darfur. The President's appointment of Andrew Natsios as his Special 
Envoy to Sudan was long overdue. And, while it isn't perfect, the 
recently passed bipartisan Darfur Peace and Accountability Act is a 
first step that reaffirms the United States' determination to lead the 
way on the long path ahead to achieving a sustainable peace in Sudan.
  Unfortunately, none of these developments have changed conditions on 
the ground. Nor have the strong words that our Government or the 
international community used to condemn the perpetrators of violence in 
Darfur over the past few years. In December 2003, the administration 
issued a statement expressing ``deep concern'' about the humanitarian 
and security situation in Darfur and calling ``on the Government of 
Sudan to take concrete steps to control the militia groups it has 
armed, to avoid attacks against civilians and to fully facilitate the 
efforts of the international humanitarian community to respond to 
civilian needs.''
  Had Secretary Rice or Ambassador Bolton found the time to speak with 
us this week, they no doubt would have reiterated the administration's 
boast that the United States has been the largest single contributor of 
humanitarian aid to Darfur and the most generous supporter of the 
existing African Union force. Similarly, some of my colleagues in the 
Senate are quick to point out that we were the first to condemn the 
atrocities in Darfur as genocide in July 2004 and have appropriated 
more than $1.5 billion to ease the suffering of innocent Darfurians 
since then.
  I do not wish to imply that these statements and funds are 
unimportant. But they are not enough.
  For those of us with a long history of engagement in Africa, today's 
crisis in Darfur is eerily familiar. After all, this is the same regime 
we saw attack its own citizens in indiscriminate bombing raids and 
obstruct humanitarian access during two decades of bloody civil war 
with southern Sudan. The genocide underway in Darfur should not be 
considered in isolation but in the larger context of Sudan's tumultuous 
history. We cannot afford to forget that more than 2 million Sudanese 
were killed and 4.5 million displaced in the north-south civil war that 
ended with last year's Comprehensive Peace Agreement. That fragile 
peace, as well as May's Darfur Peace Agreement, now hang in the balance 
as the Sudanese Government renews its practice of organized atrocities 
as a method of governance.
  More than 2 years after our Government called the violence in Darfur 
a ``genocide,'' the United States must lead the international community 
in taking action to stop the ongoing violence and to mitigate further 
violence.
  First, the United States must throw its entire weight behind 
concerted diplomatic action to convince Khartoum to allow a U.N. 
peacekeeping force into Darfur. This means that the full array of 
economic and political incentives at our disposal should be devoted to 
pressuring those who persist in supporting Khartoum--namely, China, 
Russia, and the Arab League--to isolate the genocidal regime until it 
stops targeting civilians and cooperates with U.N. peacekeepers. These 
countries must not allow their complacency to become complicity in the 
crimes against humanity being perpetrated in Darfur.
  Second, it means bolstering the courageous but inadequate African 
Union peacekeeping force that has been doing its best to protect the 
people of Darfur for more than 2 years. At this point, the A.U. force 
is our only vehicle for establishing stability throughout the region. 
Unfortunately, in its current form, it is incapable of doing so without 
significant assistance from the international community. The United 
States must lead a renewed international effort to provide whatever 
financial, logistical, technical, and military resources are necessary 
for the deployment of the robust United Nations peacekeeping force as 
soon as possible.
  Third, the U.S. Government must engage fully in the work required to 
find a political solution to conflict in Darfur. This means 
establishing a peace process that will expand the Darfur Peace 
Agreement to incorporate all militias and political factions in Darfur, 
along with the Government in Khartoum. While I do not doubt the good 
intentions of former Deputy Secretary Zoellick, his efforts to create a 
peace agreement were hasty and incomplete. We will need sustained, 
detailed, and aggressive engagement with all of the parties to the 
conflict before we can expect lasting results. While I would like to 
think that building on the Darfur Peace Agreement might work, it may 
not. We need to be prepared to start from scratch and build an 
agreement in which all parties can find common ground.
  We also need to begin preparing to introduce additional, more 
forceful options to stop the genocide. We must signal to Khartoum that 
the international community will not tolerate continued violence and 
that it is prepared to use forceful measures to stop it. A NATO-
enforced no-fly zone over Darfur would halt the Sudanese Government's 
indiscriminate bombing campaign and escorts for humanitarian envoys 
would ensure that aid reaches those who desperately need it. We need to 
explore this option and identify other avenues to create humanitarian 
space throughout the region.
  The President's new special envoy must get to work immediately. He 
must work to bring an unprecedented diplomatic force on Khartoum, and 
he must begin preparing other, more aggressive options should 
conditions continue to worsen.
  Finally, we must signal clearly to those who commit crimes against 
humanity that the world is watching and that they will be held 
accountable for their actions via targeted and aggressive sanctions--
including financial and travel restrictions--and criminal prosecution. 
This climate of impunity must be eliminated so that organized 
atrocities do not become a widespread governance tool.
  I would like to close by saying that we should not lose sight of the 
broader, long-term objective of sustainable peace throughout Sudan. We 
must devise a comprehensive strategy for expanding the Darfur Peace 
Agreement to include those parties that have not yet signed and for 
instituting and strengthening mechanisms to prevent parties from 
backsliding into full-scale conflict.

[[Page 21542]]

  Our experience with the Sudanese Government over the past two decades 
has shown that words mean little. Without immediate and vigorous 
action, these are only more empty promises to the people of Darfur. 
Time is not on our side; we cannot afford to delay any longer or defer 
to the obstructionist tactics of brutal regimes. The people of Sudan 
deserve more than our outrage; they deserve our action. And the time to 
act is now.

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