[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19617-19620]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1930
 RECOGNIZING THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE U.S. DECLARATION OF GENOCIDE 
                               IN DARFUR

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 159) recognizing the 
fifth anniversary of the declaration by the United States Congress of 
genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
  The Clerk read the title of the concurrent resolution.
  The text of the concurrent resolution is as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 159

       Whereas, on July 22, 2004, the Senate of the United States 
     and the U.S. House of Representatives passed S. Con. Res. 133 
     and H. Con. Res. 467, respectively, thereby declaring 
     genocide in Darfur, Sudan;
       Whereas, on September 9, 2004, then-Secretary of State 
     Colin Powell concurred with the Congress, asserting that, 
     ``genocide has been committed in Darfur'' and that ``the 
     [G]overnment of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear 
     responsibility'';
       Whereas this historic determination was made in response to 
     irrefutable evidence of a systematic campaign of ethnic 
     cleansing launched by the Sudanese regime, characterized by 
     the manipulation of ethnic and tribal tensions, the arming of 
     proxy forces, aerial bombardment of civilians, destruction of 
     irrigation systems, poisoning of wells, razing of villages, 
     forced displacements, mass murder, abduction, looting, 
     torture, and rape;
       Whereas as a result of the Sudanese regime's genocidal 
     campaign in Darfur, over 300,000 Darfuris have died and 
     nearly 3,000,000 have been displaced;
       Whereas the Sudanese regime employed similar tactics during 
     its war in Southern Sudan, which lasted over 20 years and 
     left over 2,000,000 dead and another 4,000,000 displaced;
       Whereas the war in Southern Sudan ostensibly ended upon 
     conclusion of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan 
     (CPA) in 2005, but the CPA has not been fully implemented and 
     observers repeatedly have warned that it is at risk of 
     collapse;
       Whereas the declaration of genocide by the United States 
     was intended to galvanize international attention and serve 
     as a call to action for responsible nations, as well as the 
     United Nations, to take effective action to deter and 
     suppress genocide in Darfur;
       Whereas despite the passage of 5 long years since the 
     declaration of genocide by the United States Congress, the 
     signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) in May 2006, 
     significant efforts on the part of some responsible nations, 
     the heroic actions of humanitarian workers and human rights 
     campaigners, and the deployment of a joint African Union-
     United Nations peacekeeping mission for Darfur (UNAMID), the 
     deadly conflict in Darfur continues; and
       Whereas the conflicts in Darfur and Southern Sudan are 
     inextricably linked, and if the CPA fails there can be little 
     hope for peace in Darfur: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) solemnly recognizes the fifth anniversary of the 
     declaration by the United States Congress of genocide in 
     Darfur, Sudan;
       (2) regrets that this determination has yet to yield 
     effective action on the part of the United Nations and other 
     nations which maintain significant influence in Sudan, 
     including China and certain members of the Arab League;
       (3) urges the United States to work with other responsible 
     nations to support a negotiated settlement to the conflict in 
     Darfur and full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace 
     Agreement (CPA) for Sudan, in accordance with the terms and 
     timeline established therein, while implementing a more 
     robust set of multilateral measures against those individuals 
     who act as obstructionists to peace, including those who 
     continue to sell arms to belligerents in Sudan;
       (4) urges member states of the United Nations to provide 
     sufficient resources to support the deployment of a fully 
     capacitated African Union/United Nations Mission in Darfur 
     (UNAMID), including by supplying required tactical and 
     utility helicopters and other mission enablers; and
       (5) urges the parties to the conflict in Darfur to cease 
     their attacks upon civilians and humanitarian and 
     peacekeeping operations, and to fully commit to finding a 
     political solution to the crisis in Darfur without further 
     delay.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Ros-Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from American Samoa.


                             General Leave

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

[[Page 19618]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from American Samoa?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
resolution, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I would like to thank again my good friend the gentlewoman from 
Florida for introducing this important resolution commemorating the 
historic declaration by Congress of genocide in Darfur.
  On this day we remember reports from Sudan of aerial bombardments of 
civilians; of the arming of proxy forces; of the razing of villages; of 
the destruction of irrigation systems and the poisoning of wells; of 
looting and murder and rape. Madam Speaker, 5 years later much progress 
has been made, but there are miles yet to go.
  The United States is engaged in rigorous and comprehensive efforts to 
bring peace to Sudan. It is imperative that we not lose sight of the 
importance of supporting a Comprehensive Peace Agreement; that we do 
everything we can to support the national census and the upcoming 
elections; and that we help the displaced to return when possible.
  I join my colleagues in anxious anticipation of the administration's 
forthcoming comprehensive strategy for Sudan and look forward to 
speaking this week with the President's Special Envoy to Sudan, General 
Scott Gration, about steps we can take to ensure that Sudan can break 
what has been a tragic cycle of violence in this part of the world.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, on July 22, 2004, the United States Senate and the 
U.S. House of Representatives united to unanimously declare that the 
atrocities unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan constitute genocide. 
Never before had the Congress made such a declaration while the 
atrocities were occurring. But confronted with irrefutable evidence of 
a systemic campaign of ethnic cleansing directed by the Sudanese regime 
and their proxy forces against the African tribes of Darfur, we were 
compelled to act.
  The scene in Darfur was all too familiar. There was the manipulation 
of ethnic and tribal tensions, the arming of proxy forces, aerial 
bombardment of civilians, razing of villages, forced displacement, mass 
murder, abduction, looting, torture, and rape. These were the tactics 
Khartoum used during its bloody war in southern Sudan, which lasted 
over 20 years and left over 2 million people dead and another 4 million 
displaced. These were the tactics the Sudanese regime used to stay in 
power.
  Recalling the horrors of the gas chambers of the Holocaust, the 
killing fields of Cambodia, the mass graves of Srebrenica, and the 
bloodied streets of Rwanda, we sought to put real meaning behind the 
words ``never again.'' On September 9, 2004, then Secretary of State 
Colin Powell concurred with the Congress, asserting ``genocide has been 
committed in Darfur'' and that ``the government of Sudan and the 
Janjaweed bear responsibility.''
  Unfortunately, others did not share our sense of urgency. Five long 
years have since passed, and while the situation on the ground in 
Darfur has changed since the year 2004, the crisis continues. The House 
of Representatives has passed no fewer than 34 bills and resolutions 
relating to Sudan since 2004, including the Comprehensive Peace for 
Sudan Act of 2004, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006, and 
the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act of 2008.
  The United States has led efforts at the United Nations to get fully 
equipped, credible peacekeeping forces deployed both to Darfur and to 
southern Sudan. We remain the largest international donor and have 
contributed more than $3 billion for humanitarian programs in Sudan and 
Eastern Chad since fiscal year 2004, in addition to more than $2 
billion in peacekeeping assistance since fiscal year 2008. We have 
sanctioned and threatened the Sudanese regime. We have helped secure 
peace, albeit a tenuous peace, in southern Sudan.
  When I visited the camps for displaced persons in Darfur and met with 
leaders in southern Sudan in 2007, I promised that I would remain an 
advocate for peace in Sudan, and while we have pressing concerns both 
here at home and beyond, I have sought to keep my word.
  For this reason I stand today to ask my colleagues to support House 
Concurrent Resolution 159. This timely resolution solemnly recognizes 
the fifth anniversary of the declaration by the United States Congress 
of genocide in Darfur, Sudan, while expressing regret that this 
determination has yet to yield effective action on the part of the 
United Nations and other nations which maintain significant influence 
in Sudan, including China and certain members of the Arab League.
  It urges the administration to work with other responsible nations to 
ensure an end to the conflict in Darfur and full implementation of the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan. It urges member states of the 
United Nations to provide sufficient resources to support the 
deployment of a fully capacitated African Union/United Nations mission 
in Darfur, including by supplying required tactical and utility 
helicopters and other mission enablers.
  Finally, Madam Speaker, it urges the parties to the conflict in 
Darfur to stop their attacks upon civilians and humanitarian and 
peacekeeping operations and to fully commit to finding a political 
solution without further delay.
  With national elections due this year and violence on the rise, the 
stakes could not be higher. The time for action is now.
  I urge my colleagues to support this important and timely measure.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, again I do commend the gentlewoman 
from Florida for her leadership, for her commitment, and for not only 
introducing this legislation from years past, but she has never let 
down in her efforts to make sure we take corrective action to address 
the serious needs of the people of Darfur.
  Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the 
balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield now 4 minutes to the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the ranking member on the 
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I want to commend our ranking member for 
authoring this important resolution to mark the tragic fifth 
anniversary of the declaration by the United States Congress that the 
systematic violence, killing, and displacement of millions in Darfur, 
Sudan constitutes genocide.
  Madam Speaker, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has proven once again 
that he considers the people of Darfur to be merely pawns and 
throwaways in a shameless game that he is playing with the 
international community. The gulf between his actions and his words is 
as wide as the callous attitude that I encountered when I met with and 
argued with him personally in Khartoum, and the desperate, deeply 
grieved look on the faces of the refugees I met in the IDP camps in 
Darfur, including Mujar and Kalma camp.
  During our meetings, General Bashir showed no remorse whatsoever for 
inflicting unspeakable pain, death, displacement, and destitution on 
large numbers of people. Today, as we know, over 300,000 to upwards of 
450,000 Darfurees have been killed and another 3 million have been 
displaced from their homes. And, of course, this is in addition to some 
2 million killed and 4 million displaced in southern Sudan in the 
aggression that immediately preceded the killings in Darfur.
  For all of our efforts in this Congress, Madam Speaker, the suffering 
continues 5 years after that recognition that what was taking place in 
Darfur was indeed genocide. The signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement 
in May of 2006 and the deployment of a joint African Union-U.N. 
peacekeeping mission has not stopped the violence,

[[Page 19619]]

much less ushered in a long-term peace for which the people of Darfur 
so desperately long.
  The country of Sudan is going through a critical time that will have 
serious implications for Darfur as well as other regions of the 
country. Last week the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague 
issued a ruling with respect to the boundary dispute in Abyei, one of 
the major points of contention between the north and the south. 
National elections, which were supposed to be held this month, have 
been postponed until April of 2010. Although these developments do not 
involve Darfur directly, a resolution of the conflict in Darfur is 
dependent on the complete and peaceful implementation of the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the north and south.
  Over the past 5 years, Madam Speaker, and even before that, the 
profound bipartisan congressional concern has not diminished nor has it 
abated. Tomorrow the Africa Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement. On Thursday the Tom Lantos Human Rights 
Commission will do likewise, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee 
has slated a hearing on it on Thursday. This week we will also hear 
from General Scott Gration, the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, during 
which time we will hear further details about the administration's 
strategy in trying to mitigate and hopefully end this despicable 
violence in Darfur.
  This is a very important resolution, Madam Speaker, and I hope the 
full membership of this House will support it.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of 
my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I am so pleased to yield 4 minutes 
to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), with whom I had the honor of 
traveling to Sudan in the year 2007.
  Mr. MORAN of Kansas. I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for 
recognizing me and allowing me the time this evening.
  Madam Speaker, it is important in life to call things what they are. 
Five years ago Congress did the right thing by calling what was 
happening in Darfur ``genocide.''
  In 2007 I did travel with the gentlewoman from Florida and others to 
Darfur and saw genocide and its consequences firsthand. It sticks with 
me today. Malnourished children, family members mourning the loss of 
loved ones, people without homes, disease and despair in refugee camps. 
But whether or not one has been to Darfur, we know what is happening 
there. And those of us that have seen it have the obligation to tell 
the story. While calling the killing and violence ``genocide'' is a 
first and necessary step, we must do more. Our responsibility as human 
beings extends beyond properly recognizing the atrocities as genocide. 
As witnesses to genocide, we and all nations are obligated to take 
every necessary step to end the loss of life.
  So today I sadly rise 5 years after Congress declared genocide in 
Darfur knowing that peace does not yet prevail. Regrettably, we are 
here again, passing this resolution, to once more call on other nations 
to join us in taking steps to bring about lasting peace and to preserve 
the life of other human beings.
  The time to act was long ago. And I again urge as strongly as I know 
how for the United Nations and countries with significant influence in 
Sudan, including China and certain members of the Arab League, to fully 
commit to helping end the atrocities in Darfur.
  It is important to recognize genocide for what it is, but it is even 
more important that we stop genocide from taking place. The world has 
said ``never again.'' The world must mean it. In visiting the Holocaust 
Museum here in Washington, D.C., I was reminded of an earlier genocide.

                              {time}  1945

  While there, I saw the Wall of Honor recognizing those who placed 
their own lives at risk to save the lives of Jews.
  May we be courageous enough to deserve such recognition in a wall of 
honor today in stopping the genocide of today.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, I join my colleagues today on the 
floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in recognition of the fifth 
anniversary of the declaration by the United States Congress of 
genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
  On July 22, 2004, members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 
the U.S. Senate united to pay witness to irrefutable evidence that a 
systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing was underway in Darfur, 
perpetrated by the Sudanese government and characterized by forced 
displacements, mass murder, abduction, torture, and rape.
  Five years have passed since Congress first declared this tragedy 
genocide. To date, over 300,000 Darfuris have lost their lives and 
nearly 3,000,000 have been displaced. And yet, despite the signing of 
the Darfur Peace Agreement in May 2006 and the deployment of a joint 
African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force, the deadly conflict in 
Darfur continues.
  We therefore unite once again and we will continue doing so, until 
this tragedy ends; to honor the heroic efforts of dedicated 
humanitarian workers who put their lives at risk; to recognize the 
actions of responsible nations who refuse to stand idly by as innocent 
people suffer; and to shame those who, in the face of unspeakable 
horrors, choose to do nothing.
  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 159, 
recognizing the fifth anniversary of the declaration of genocide in 
Darfur.
  An August 2008 New Republic piece said the following about Darfur: 
``No genocide has ever been so thoroughly documented while it was 
taking place . . . in the case of the genocide in Darfur, ignorance has 
never been possible.'' Sobering words as we consider this resolution.
  I have visited Sudan five times, most recently in July 2004 when I 
led the first congressional delegation with Senator Sam Brownback to 
Darfur. I witnessed the nightmare with my own eyes. Over 300,000 
Darfuris have died and nearly 3 million have been displaced.
  We saw the same scorched earth tactics from Khartoum in the brutal 
20-year civil war with the South.
  Five years ago this month Congress was the first to call the 
atrocities in Darfur by their rightful name, genocide.
  But this is not a tragedy relegated to the history books--rather 
Sudan today demands attention and action.
  China has been complicit in this tragedy as Sudan's largest foreign 
investor and yet China has failed to use its influence. According to 
the Congressional Research Service, China reportedly imports an 
estimated 64 percent of Sudan's oil and China's National Petroleum 
Corporation is the largest shareholder (47 percent) in the two biggest 
oil consortiums in Sudan, Petrodar and the Greater Nile Petroleum 
Operating Company (GNPOC).
  China also supplies weapons to the Government of Sudan. Some human 
rights groups accuse the Chinese government of being the principal 
supplier of weapons in violation of the U.N. weapons embargo on Sudan.
  And yet Sudan only earned a passing reference in President Obama's 
remarks this week at the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the United 
States and China.
  But perhaps most importantly, and most timely, almost six months into 
the Obama administration, the State Department is still conducting a 
``comprehensive review'' of U.S.-Sudan policy.
  Virtually nothing concrete has emerged. The little that has leaked 
out in press reports reveals an administration that appears divided at 
the highest levels over whether genocide is still taking place in 
Darfur. On an issue of this magnitude such confusion sends the wrong 
message.
  On this, the five-year anniversary of the declaration of genocide in 
Darfur, I ask, what is the Obama administration's policy on Darfur?
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I also yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) that the House suspend 
the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 159.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground

[[Page 19620]]

that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum 
is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

                          ____________________