[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20886]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     DARFUR: THE GENOCIDE CONTINUES

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, 3 years ago the House declared the 
situation in Darfur a genocide. Since then thousands of people have 
been killed and 2.5 million displaced. And the situation on the ground 
grows worse. Attacks against humanitarian workers and African Union 
peacekeepers are increasing.
  I was in eastern Chad in April. Over a quarter of a million Darfur 
refugees live in camps along the Chad-Sudan border. I talked with many 
of these men, women, and children. I heard about family members 
slaughtered; villages burned; children who perished from heat, 
exhaustion, and hunger in the desperate walk to find safe refuge. I was 
there when the violence of Darfur spilled over into Chad. Janjaweed 
militias attacked two Chad villages, overnight 8,000 people displaced. 
I watched the U.N. and NGOs provide emergency food, water, shelter, and 
medical care in the middle of nowhere under a blistering sun.
  I say to my colleagues, enough is enough. I say to my colleagues, 
never again. The time to end the killing in Darfur is now.

               [From the UN News Service, July 25, 2007]

     Violence Impedes Relief Effort in Darfur, UN Food Agency Warns

       Condemning a sharp escalation in attacks on humanitarian 
     staff and relief convoys in Sudan's Darfur region, the United 
     Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that violence 
     is hampering its ability to deliver assistance to millions of 
     hungry people there.
       ``In the last two weeks, nine food convoys have been 
     attacked by gunmen across Darfur,'' said Kenro Oshidari, WFP 
     Sudan Representative. ``WFP staff and contractors are being 
     stopped at gunpoint, dragged out of their vehicles and robbed 
     with alarming frequency.''
       Mr. Oshidari called on all parties to the conflict in 
     Darfur to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers so 
     that the UN food agency and other aid organizations can 
     continue helping Sudanese who rely on outside assistance for 
     survival.
       ``These abhorrent attacks, which target the very people who 
     are trying to help the most vulnerable in Darfur, must be 
     brought under control,'' he added.
       So far this year, 18 WFP food convoys have been attacked by 
     gunmen and four of WFP's light vehicles carjacked. Six WFP 
     vehicles, including trucks and light vehicles, have been 
     stolen and 10 staff, including contractors, have been either 
     detained or abducted.
       The Darfur operation is the agency's biggest, employing 
     some 790 staff who feed more than two million people every 
     month. WFP, which also contracts commercial truck companies 
     to haul food into the region, plans to distribute up to 
     450,000 metric tons of food in Darfur this year at a cost of 
     about half a billion dollars.
       A lack of security has prevented WFP from reaching 170,000 
     people in June in what the agency termed in a news release a 
     ``sizeable increase from the lowest point last March when 
     60,000 could not be reached.''
       As a result of convoy attacks in recent weeks, the road 
     between Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, and the 
     town of Kass, has been declared a ``no-go'' area for UN 
     staff, while in North Darfur, food dispatches to the town of 
     Kabkabiya have been affected.
       UN security personnel say attacks on vehicles are now the 
     number one security concern for the aid community in Darfur, 
     according to WFP, which cited a ``recent and deeply troubling 
     trend is that staff are being abducted when their vehicles 
     are stolen, giving robbers time to get away before the alarm 
     is raised.''
       To date, all WFP staff have been released, although some 
     were injured and hospitalized.
                                  ____


               [From the UN News Service, July 23, 2007]

           Sudan: UN Reports New Displacement in West Darfur

       The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) today reported 
     new population displacements in West Darfur, where it says an 
     estimated 12,000 households were on the move.
       The newly displaced people said that they were fleeing 
     prevailing insecurity in their areas and in anticipation of a 
     rumored attack by Government forces, UN spokesperson Marie 
     Okabe told reporters in New York.
       The Mission also reported that over the weekend, a non-
     governmental organization (NGO) vehicle was carjacked in 
     South Darfur, the latest attack on humanitarian workers in 
     the country's strife-torn region.
       Last week, an unknown armed man shot at a vehicle in South 
     Darfur hired by an international NGO, while in West Darfur, 
     two men stopped an international NGO convoy comprising two 
     vehicles carrying five staff members and robbed them of 
     personal effects and communication equipment.
       In addition, harassment of internally displaced persons 
     (IDPs) was reported during a UN assessment visit to an IDP 
     camp near Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur.
       Last month, the Sudanese Government announced its 
     acceptance of a proposal for a hybrid UN-African Union 
     peacekeeping operation to be deployed in Darfur, where more 
     than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2 million 
     others displaced since clashes erupted in 2003 between 
     Government forces, allied Janjaweed militias and rebel 
     groups.

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