Sudan: Worst Humanitarian Crisis in the World

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about Sudan, where people are suffering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, yet Sudan is all but invisible.

In 2004, I stood with my colleagues in the House and Senate, NGOs and movements, and President George W. Bush in denouncing genocide in Darfur and calling for an end to the killing and repression by Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir.

In April of 2019, I celebrated the courage of the Sudanese people who overthrew Bashir in a nonviolent mass movement. I supported their aspirations to create a new democratic, civilian government. Their hopes were frustrated in October 2021 when two generals carried out a military coup against the transitional government.

Then in April 2023, those two generals, one in charge of the Sudanese Armed Forces, the SAF, and the other in charge of the Rapid Support Forces, the RSF, turned on one another in a power struggle that has laid waste to Sudan. Both sides have been accused of carrying out war crimes, and the RSF has been accused of atrocities that might rise to the level of genocide in Darfur.

The U.S. must use all of its leverage and every tool and mechanism available to ostracize these warlords and those who provide them with funds, military aid, and supplies. Yet, after 19 months of carnage, we have failed to do so.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese people are being killed, tortured, raped, and starved. They believe that the world has forgotten them. Some 26 million people need food assistance. Close to 10 million people have been classified as on the cusp of famine or are already in its grip. The number of deaths by malnutrition is rising.

Let me salute the brave Sudanese and international groups working day and night inside Sudan to provide life-saving food, medicine, and services to the Sudanese people.

In northern Darfur, the Zamzam camp for internally displaced, where more than one-half million people seek shelter, has received support from humanitarian networks in my home State of Massachusetts for decades. In August, Zamzam was officially classified as ``in famine.'' In late November, the World Food Programme finally reached camp Zamzam with critical food supplies. Then, during the first week in December, the RSF attacked Zamzam. Shelling resulted in deaths, injuries, and disrupted deliveries of emergency supplies.

The SAF is also carrying out military operations in the area around Zamzam.

What is happening in Zamzam is happening throughout Sudan. Civilians are targeted by both sides. Sudanese and international humanitarian workers are targeted along with their lifesaving work.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and the international community condemns such actions but do nothing, nothing, Mr. Speaker, to end them.

Foreign actors such as the UAE, Egypt, China, Russia, Iran, and companies based in Turkiye, Egypt, Serbia, Yemen, and Russia continue to supply the warring sides with weapons and supplies.

One of the greatest abusers, the UAE, is accused of supplying the RSF with military equipment. Yet, rather than sanctioning the UAE, the U.S. recently announced that it is sending the UAE $1.2 billion in military equipment.

Mr. Speaker, how can that be?

Shame on us, and shame on this administration.

I applaud Senator Chris Van Hollen and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs for introducing resolutions of disapproval for these arms sales. Shame on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate and House leadership for failing to rapidly bring these resolutions to the Senate and House floors through regular order in the House and expedited procedures in the Senate.

Last Tuesday, Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Meeks introduced H.R. 10268 to impose sanctions on those supplying military aid to the warring parties and support pathways to a cessation of hostilities and peace.

Many of my House colleagues have led letters and introduced resolutions on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, but it is simply not enough.

President Biden, President-elect Trump, Congress, and the international community must commit to use all their leverage to achieve a cessation of hostilities, protect civilians, and get humanitarian aid inside Sudan.

Only then will the Sudanese people know that they have not been forgotten by the American people and by the world.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source