[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 21069]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 467 
            DECLARING GENOCIDE IN THE DARFUR REGION OF SUDAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TRENT FRANKS

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2007

  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Madam Speaker, three years after the U.S. 
Congress passed a resolution officially recognizing the genocide in 
Darfur, the crisis continues today unabated. We continue to hear 
credible reports of armed attacks on aid workers, food convoys, and 
civilians by the government-supported Janjaweed militia. While 
assistance from UN troops is critical given the limited African Union 
resources, President Bashir has prevented such assistance from taking 
place. Madam Speaker, with 2.5 million people murdered in Southern 
Sudan, 450,000 killed in the Darfur region, 35,000 women and children 
enslaved, more than 270,000 refugees, and four million people 
internally displaced as a result of the policy of genocide, the regime 
of President Bashir must be held accountable.
  As we commemorate the third anniversary of this resolution, let us 
not forget that this crisis is only part of a larger policy of the 
government led by Omar al Bashir that has been ongoing for over twenty 
years. This policy of arabization and islamization began with the 
Bashir government's war against the people of the South, which spread 
into Darfur, and is now moving into the Nuba Mountains.
  Madam Speaker, the Bashir government has shown blatant disregard for 
implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended their 
civil war against the South, providing only more evidence that they do 
not take peace seriously and cannot be negotiated with. If the CPA 
fails, I have no doubt that the Bashir government will not only 
completely wipe out the people of Darfur, but every other part of Sudan 
that does not fit into their racist and inhuman agenda for the country. 
Madam Speaker, this corrupt and merciless regime has absolutely no 
regard for the intrinsic value of innocent human life, and it must be 
held to account if there is to be any hope for lasting peace in Sudan.
  Madam Speaker, the U.S. Government has taken the leading role in 
resolving the conflict in Sudan, from negotiating the end of the civil 
war to providing more humanitarian aid than any other country, and 
calling the international community to seriously address the genocide 
in Darfur. However, without support from China which now has 
significant oil interests in Sudan, and from other UN and Arab League 
member states that refuse to hold Bashir responsible for his policies 
of genocide, the crisis cannot be resolved.
  Today, Madam Speaker, as we once again commemorate the resolution 
declaring the horrific atrocities continuing to occur in Sudan, may we 
resolve to do everything in our ability to hasten the day when the 
sunlight of freedom shines on every one of those precious human souls.

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