    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [January 5, 2009]
    [Pages 1513-1515]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following a Meeting With First Vice President of Sudan and
    President of Southern Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit
    January 5, 2009

        President Bush. I'm proud to be meeting again with the Vice
    President of Sudan. He's a friend of mine. He is a strong leader who is
    dealing with a very difficult situation.
        We talked about two important subjects. One is the north-south
    agreement in Sudan. It's a vital agreement, and it's going to be very
    important for the United States to pay attention to the implementation
    of this agreement. And the Vice President brought me up to date on what
    has been accomplished and what still remains to be accomplished.
        And I thank you for, one, your clear briefing, but also your
    leadership on this important issue.
        And then the Vice President and I discussed Darfur. And he has taken
    the lead in helping the rebels come together so that there would be a
    more unified voice in negotiating a--hopefully, negotiating a peace with
    the Bashir Government.
        I informed the Vice President that I have provided a waiver to the
    State Department so they can begin to move 240 containers worth of heavy
    equipment into Darfur and that the Defense Department will be flying
    Rwanda equipment into Darfur to help facilitate the peacekeeping
    missions there.
        So I want to thank you very much for coming back. It's good to be
    with you. He asked me whether or not I was going to still care about
    Sudan--after all, the north-south agreement was negotiated under my
    watch--and my answer is, absolutely, Mr. Vice President.
        Finally, I've been--Secretary Rice was
    just here, and prior to Vice President's arrival we did talk about Gaza.
    I've been closely monitoring the situation in Gaza. I understand
    Israel's desire to protect itself and that the situation now taking
    place in Gaza was caused by Hamas. Instead of caring about the people of
    Gaza, Hamas decided to use Gaza to launch rockets to kill innocent
    Israelis. And Israel has obviously decided to protect herself and her
    people.
        The United States is concerned about the humanitarian crisis. We
    care about the people of Gaza and, therefore, have provided millions of
    dollars of fresh aid to the United Nations to help.
        And finally, all of us, of course, would like to see violence stop,
    but not at expense of an agreement that does not prevent the crisis from
    happening again. I know people are saying, let's have that cease-fire,
    and those are noble ambitions. But any cease-fire must have the
    conditions in it so that Hamas does not use Gaza as a place from which
    to launch rockets.
        There is many hopeful signs in the Middle East. Democracy is taking
    hold in parts of the world, in the Middle East, but the Hamas reminds us
    that there are people

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    who are willing to kill innocent people to stop the advance of free
    societies. And the challenge for those of us who long for peace, Mr.
    Vice President, is to recognize the realities of the world, recognize
    we're in the midst of an ideological conflict, and work with the agents
    of peace.
        I am still hopeful that some day there will be a Palestinian state
    living side by side with Israel in peace. I believe the Palestinian
    Authority under President Abbas
    has got the capacity and the foresight and the vision necessary to see
    that become a reality. In the meantime, all of us are going to have to
    deal with Hamas, those who threaten peace, those who want to deny the
    existence of a peaceful Palestinian state.
        And so I welcome you, Mr. Vice President. Thank you for coming.
        I told the Vice President his hat made me feel very much at home.
    [Laughter]
        Vice President Kiir. Well, Your Excellency, thank you very much once
    again, and we are happy to be in the White House today. And I discussed
    with the--His Excellency the President the issues that he has raised,
    but mostly we came here to thank him and his administration for the
    commitment they have shown to the people of Sudan to bring peace and
    continue to monitor that peace, which ended the 21-year war. And that
    peace will remain in his records, that he was the only one who was able
    to continue monitoring the peace, negotiating it until it was signed.
        This peace is now in existence. And we came to thank him and the
    whole administration and to wish him the best of his luck in his private
    missions that he's now going to take up after the assignment in the
    White House.
        We have also told His Excellency the President that the people of
    Southern Sudan, the people of the marginalized areas in the whole Sudan,
    will never forget him for all that he has done to them. And the people
    in Darfur, in particular, will still be looking forward to seeing to it
    that peace is brought to Darfur. It is a joint mission that we have
    taken upon ourselves, together with them, that we have to bring peace to
    Darfur the way we have brought peace to Southern Sudan.
        We have also talked issues of the LRA, that is the Lord's Resistance
    Army in northern Uganda, which has now shifted to Congo and Southern
    Sudan, and how to handle it. This is a terrorist organization that does
    not have any respect of human life. And we'll have to deal with it so
    that they have to accept the regional changes that are happening and to
    be brought to--under control.
        So this is in brief that I came to the White House, to pass to His
    Excellency the President of the United States of America, and to keep
    Sudan very close to his heart. Even if he becomes a private citizen in
    this country, he will still have a role to play. And we came to pass him
    also our Christmas and New Year's greetings since we have not met during
    the Christmas.
        Thank you very much.
        President Bush. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:10 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Umar Hassan Ahmad al-
    Bashir of Sudan; and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian
    Authority.

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