[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 22184-22185]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 DARFUR

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I come to the floor tonight because during 
the break, I sat and watched ``60 Minutes'' with my wife one evening. 
During the course of the program, there was a segment on the horrible 
situation that is now occurring in Darfur in the nation of Sudan on the 
continent of Africa. I have been blessed and lucky to visit Africa 
several times. I am drawn back every time I leave. I think I have to 
get back there; there is so much more I need to see. I don't know 
whether it is that it is the cradle of civilization and that is where 
the first remnants of early human life have been found, but Africa 
draws you back to those roots and origins.
  The last time, I took a trip with Senator Brownback of Kansas. We 
went to Rwanda, which, of course, is a country that conjures 
immediately an image of horrible death and suffering. Over 10 years 
ago, genocide occurred in Rwanda. We look back now on the deaths of 
hundreds of thousands of innocent people and realize that the United 
States basically stood by idly and watched that occur. President Bill 
Clinton was in office at the time and was urged by many Members of 
Congress, including my predecessor, Senator Paul Simon of Illinois, to 
send some type of military force to try to stop the killing.
  When we visited Rwanda, Senator Brownback and I stayed in the now 
famous Rwanda Hotel, known as Des Mille Collines, which means a 
thousand hills. It is in the city of Kigali in Rwanda. As we stayed 
there and I saw this hotel, having seen the movie, I was haunted by the 
images of that movie, how that hotel had become a refuge during the 
genocide and people streamed in from all over Rwanda because they knew 
this hotel manager was doing his best to protect them. They were 
drinking water, after the regular supplies were cut off, out of the 
swimming pool because it was the only place to turn. As I looked down 
at the pool, I could not imagine people scrambling along the edges of 
the pool to find water for themselves and their children. As you walked 
through the halls, you thought of the people huddling there and praying 
they would not be beaten or macheted to death at any given moment.
  Down the hill from the hotel is a Catholic church--a red brick 
church, simple and plain. I went in there early in the morning and 
looked inside as those who were waiting for mass gathered. I thought: 
This is an interesting gathering place at 6 a.m. I went back to the 
hotel and asked about it. It turns out that 1,200 people were killed in 
that church. They were seeking asylum and refuge in the church, and the 
people who were determined to kill them came in and hacked them to 
death on the stones of the very church I visited. That was 10 years 
ago. We did nothing. We could not even bring ourselves in America to 
use the word ``genocide'' to describe what was going on.
  I think President Clinton would be the first to admit that this is 
one of the chapters of his Presidency that he is not proud to recount. 
He has personally gone there to apologize that the United States didn't 
do more.
  Mr. President, let's fast-forward to today. Today is not Rwanda. 
Today it is Darfur. I come to the floor today to talk about the ongoing 
tragedy in Darfur, Sudan, and to report that amidst all of the sad 
comments about what is happening there, a ray of hope broke through 
today.
  Darfur is in a distant corner of the world, but it is familiar to 
millions of us in America. It has come home to many of us through news 
stories and photos about women being brutalized, families murdered, and 
villages being burned. The violence has gone on for over 3 years.
  The U.N. news service reports from yesterday describe more attacks by 
the jingaweit militia in south Darfur. More villages were burned and 
more crops were destroyed. The U.N. news reports describe how 
humanitarian personnel in west Darfur had to be evacuated because of 
growing threats to their safety. And violence in Darfur has spread to 
neighboring eastern Chad and the Central African Republic. At least 
200,000 people have died. More than 2 million people have been 
displaced from their homes. Today, 4.5 million people are at risk in 
Darfur and eastern Chad. Hundreds of thousands are in desperate need 
but beyond the reach of humanitarian organizations. As I said, this has 
gone on for more than 3 years.
  Last May, the Sudanese Government signed a peace agreement with one 
of the major rebel groups that it had been battling, but violence since 
then has only increased. In that agreement, the Khartoum Government 
promised to disarm the jingaweit, which have terrorized Darfur. Instead 
of disarming them, the Government in Khartoum is remobilizing and 
rearming the militias. They have even given these militiamen, who were 
killing and burning and raping and pillaging, uniforms to wear.
  On November 5, a reporter for Reuters news organization described the 
impact of this remobilization of the militia:

       Arab militias on horses and camels wearing pristine 
     uniforms and carrying brand new guns attacked three villages, 
     killing dozens, mostly children. One witness told the 
     reporter, ``They took the babies and children from their 
     mother's arms, beat the women and shot the children. . . .'' 
     And they said to the mothers, ``We are killing your sons and 
     when you have more, we will come and kill them, too.''

  The U.N. Security Council has passed resolutions condemning the 
violence and authorizing a U.N. peacekeeping mission of more than 
20,000 troops. But the Government of Sudan has refused to allow the 
peacekeepers in the country. Presently, there are 7,000 African Union 
monitors in Darfur, but they are outnumbered by Sudanese forces by 200 
to 1. The African Union forces do not have the mandate or the means to 
protect people, although some commanders have tried to make a 
difference in their local areas.
  Rwandan peacekeepers have been among the most effective in Darfur. 
Maybe the memory of their own genocide brings them to this mission of 
mercy. They are also among the most frustrated that they cannot do more 
and the world refuses to engage.
  Twelve years ago, Canadian General Romeo Dallaire was a U.N. 
commander stationed in Rwanda during the genocide I have described. He 
begged for more troops from all over the world. He begged for more 
ammunition. He begged for the authority to stop the killing in Rwanda. 
He was ignored. He got nothing. Hundreds of thousands of people died 
needlessly. He managed to save some, but for the most part he could 
only stand helplessly watching as a witness to the slaughter.
  Today, Rwandan peacekeepers lack the means and the authority to stop 
another genocide. Like Dallaire, they need the world to act. What is 
needed is a much larger, more robust peacekeeping force, and it is 
needed urgently right now.
  Eric Reeves, a professor of literature who has become the unofficial 
chronicler and probably the foremost expert on the genocide in Darfur, 
writes:

       The people of Darfur have been abandoned. Given how clearly 
     and predictably genocidal events have unfolded over most of 
     the past three and a half years, this failure now exceeds in 
     all too many ways the shameful international acquiescence 
     before the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

  Those are the words of Mr. Reeves.
  U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan today convened a high-level meeting 
in Ethiopia to find a way beyond this impasse and to finally break 
through with help for these people. U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, Andrew 
Natsios, is there. So are representatives from the other permanent 
members of the Security Council, the Arab League, and the European 
Union. The Sudanese Government is also officially attending. They are 
there to find a way to get peacekeepers on the ground in Sudan in a 
section of that country as large as the State of Texas.
  Whether the peacekeepers come under the U.N. title or through some

[[Page 22185]]

other combination with the African Union, they are desperately needed. 
The title doesn't mean much; it is the mission that counts. It must be 
large enough, well equipped enough, and with the mandate and authority 
to protect the people of Darfur.
  The latest news reports indicate that they may have made progress in 
their meeting, and we pray to God they did. Kofi Annan announced today 
that Sudan has accepted in principle a United Nations-African Union 
mission in Darfur, but there has been no agreement as to the number of 
troops that will be accepted and deployed.
  I hope this is truly a breakthrough and not more empty rhetoric from 
the Government of Sudan.
  Today's news reports are full of new killings in Darfur. The Darfur 
peacekeeping force must have the capability, the numbers, and the 
authority to preempt, prevent, deter, and respond to attacks on 
civilians and to protect the camps of those who have been displaced. 
There must be a clear timetable to make this happen, and it must start 
now. The violence in Darfur has spilled beyond its borders. Villages in 
Chad are burning.
  For too long the world has done too little. I hope today's reports 
represent a breakthrough that Sudan will, indeed, accept the 
peacekeeping mission that is so badly needed in Darfur.
  Mr. President, we never know if any word spoken on the floor of the 
Senate or even heard or noticed will make a difference. I guess the 
purpose of my speech this evening is for my own satisfaction. I sat 
there with my wife, and we watched that ``60 Minutes'' program about 
these helpless people who are the victims of this genocide in Darfur, 
and she turned to me and said: Isn't there something you can do?
  Well, I gave a speech. I wish I could do more. I wish I had the power 
of the President. I wish I had the power of the United Nations. I wish 
I had the power to send the troops to protect these poor people. But 
when the record is written of this time, I hope it is written that at 
least we spoke up, at least we spoke the word ``genocide,'' a word we 
were even afraid to mouth during the Rwandan crisis.
  We know what is happening. In just a few short days, many of us will 
be sitting around with our families giving thanks for all the blessings 
we have in this great country, and we have so many: our wealth, our 
prosperity, our happiness, our families. I hope for a moment that the 
people of this country will reflect on the less fortunate and remember 
this tiny country, Sudan, and this great continent of Africa that is 
now sadly the site of the first serious genocide of the 21st century. 
We need to do so much more.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________