[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6539-6540]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 DARFUR

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, we will be closing in a few moments. But 
before doing that, I want to comment on events carried out in 
Washington yesterday, indeed around the country yesterday, in response 
to a crisis that is going on, a crisis that is more than a crisis. It 
is genocide going on in the Darfur region. It is the western region of 
the Sudan.
  Yesterday, roughly 10,000 people gathered in front of the Capitol, on 
the Mall, to bring attention to what is happening: that crisis, that 
genocidal campaign that is underway and being perpetrated against the 
people of Darfur.
  I applaud all of the participants' compassion and commitment to the 
cause which has been discussed again and again on the floor of the 
Senate but, indeed, is a devastating crisis that is destroying a 
population and, indeed, is genocide.
  This is an issue that is very close to my own heart, in part because 
I travel

[[Page 6540]]

just about every year to do medical mission work in that part of the 
world, in the Sudan. Indeed, I was in the Darfur area and in Chad a 
little over a year ago on the ground.
  I mention it because this afternoon, several hours ago, I had the 
wonderful opportunity of meeting with a small group of refugees from 
the Darfur region. The meeting was organized by SaveDarfur.org. It gave 
me the opportunity to visit firsthand with individuals from several of 
the tribes that occupy the Darfur region.
  It is interesting, there are 10, 11, 12 tribes throughout Sudan. In 
the south, two or three tribes dominate. In different parts of the 
Sudan, tribes dominate. But it is interesting, over in the Darfur 
region, the number of tribes that intersect together. It is sort of 
midway--north-south--in Sudan, so you have a lot of the tribes that are 
more endemic to the northern part of Sudan, as well as the southern and 
eastern part of Sudan. All of them commingle in that region.
  We met, oh, about 50 yards from here on a balcony overlooking the 
Mall. And as you stood on the balcony there, on a beautiful day in 
Washington, looking out, you could not help but think of the contrast 
between what is going on in the homeland of those refugees to the 
United States from Darfur and that beautiful day looking out upon our 
monuments and the freedom and liberty for which they stand. That 
contrast between the turmoil that is going on, as we speak, in Sudan 
and America's homeland peace and prosperity were really felt.
  I have had the opportunity to go to Sudan a number of times. I have 
talked to the refugees in the border camps. They are along the western 
border of Sudan and in the country of Chad, which is to the west of the 
Sudan. There are 12 refugee camps. The refugee camps have anywhere from 
8,000 to 20,000 people who are living on a sustenance level, with the 
aid of NGOs and peoples around the world, in little tents, makeshift 
tents, but living there, in essence, permanently.
  There are about 2 million people who have been displaced in the 
Darfur region and about 200,000 people who have died as a result of 
brutality which leads back to government sponsorship.
  We have heard again and again the stories and seen pictures of the 
villages that are set afire, of the women who are raped, the children 
who are abducted, recruited to armies, and even many executed.
  The Government of Sudan has failed to take credible steps to date, 
and we need to use everything within our power and our standing in the 
international community to convince other people to act and to act now. 
We cannot--cannot--tolerate this genocide.
  On this floor we have called it for what it is: genocide. President 
Bush has called it genocide. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has 
called it genocide.
  Last month, before we left for the Easter/Passover recess, I met with 
a number of friends from Sudan, many of whom I had gotten to know when 
I was last in Sudan, in the southern part of the Sudan. They had been 
sponsored by a charity out of Knoxville, TN.
  We talked about the clinics and the hospitals in southern Sudan. And 
we discussed the pressure the American Government has been able to 
bring to date on behalf of the Darfur people. But there is a lot more 
we can do. And there is a lot more we should do.
  Because these individuals were from the southern part of Sudan--that 
is a thousand miles away, a long way away from the Darfur region--they 
reflected how our Government getting involved in the southern part of 
Sudan had brought more peace, and it stopped the civil war that had 
gone on there for the last 20 years.
  One of those visitors, Reverend Kayanga, is a friend, actually, 
somebody whom I have gotten to know. He said it best when he said, 
``The only people that visited us were your people.'' He was saying 
that to me, again, reaching out: Thank you for the past. But you need 
to get even more involved as we address this devastating crisis in the 
Darfur part of Sudan.
  The conflict in the region is huge. First of all, Sudan itself, the 
country, is about a third of the size of the continental United States. 
The Darfur region is vast. The area of conflict is probably a third 
bigger than all of Iraq. So it is a huge area, which is one of the 
challenges. Things are getting worse, not better, which is the message 
they were giving me. Indeed, as I talked to people on the ground, in 
terms of NGOs, the NGOs are having a harder time. The rainy season 
comes in 4 weeks. Once that comes in, there is no way to get aid and 
have it distributed throughout the Darfur region.
  As yesterday's rally demonstrated, the American people have vast 
stores of compassion and caring for these people and for the suffering 
of others. We have a passionate commitment to human rights. Now is the 
time for us to reflect it. At our Government's request, the African 
Union has agreed to extend the ongoing peace talks until midnight on 
Tuesday. Indeed, Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will leave 
today for Abuja, Nigeria, to help both parties resolve the crisis. 
Negotiations have gone on for 2 years, and a settlement is long past 
due. Those who are responsible for this genocide, for the war crimes 
against humanity and criminal acts, need to be brought to justice. No 
longer can we wait this tragedy out. We must act, and the international 
community must be encouraged to step up as well. Hundreds of thousands 
of lives are at stake.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. FRIST. I am happy to.
  Mr. REID. Just out of curiosity, I know on some of your trips you 
have taken to care for the poor in these countries, you have done a lot 
of surgery and other things. Have you done any in this area?
  Mr. FRIST. In the Darfur region I have not. But it is very similar to 
southern Sudan. It is fascinating, southern Sudan, where 2 million 
people have been displaced, and 5 million people have been killed in a 
civil war there, and it started there. That is why I have great hope. A 
lot of people just give up on these regions, because when we went there 
initially, it was almost exactly the same. There was a lot of fighting 
within 10 or 15 kilometers.
  I started operating in a little schoolhouse that had been diverted 
for about 8 years. That was 1997-1998. Now in 2006, there is a village 
there and commerce and a hospital, no fighting; 50,000 people go 
through what was a schoolhouse and is now a big hospital.
  When people give up in Africa or say we have been through this before 
and talk about corruption in government, we can't give up. We should 
not give up.
  I very much appreciate my distinguished colleague asking because 
there is a lot we can do. And it starts with the compassion and caring 
that the American people exemplify. Now is the time for us to act.

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