[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 45, Number 1 (Monday, January 12, 2009)]
[Pages 2-3]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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.

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    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 are 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 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 (Abu Mazen) of the 
Palestinian Authority.