Press Release - Durbin-Brownback Hold Bipartisan Members Meeting on Crisis in Darfur with Sepcial Envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios

Press Release - DURBIN-BROWNBACK HOLD BIPARTISAN MEMBERS MEETING ON CRISIS IN DARFUR WITH SPECIAL ENVOY TO SUDAN ANDREW NATSIOS

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) and a bipartisan group of Senators met with the Bush Administration's Special Envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios to urge him to take strong steps to end the ongoing genocide in Darfur. The genocide has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people and displaced millions of Darfurians.

"We can't remain silent as this genocide unfolds. We convened this bipartisan meeting with the Special Envoy to determine if the United States is doing all it can to force the Sudan government to accept a peacekeeping force on the ground and the steps Congress and the Administration should take if Sudan refuses to cooperate. Darfur is in a distant corner of the world, but the genocide that is taking place there today must be stopped," said Senator Durbin.

"Congress, the Administration, and the American people have all been outspoken in their opposition to the genocide taking place in Darfur. We must continue to do everything in our power to end the killing of innocent civilians. We must continue to push for a strong peacekeeping force with the manpower and mandate to protect the people of Darfur. We must also continue to use economic sanctions and divestment as tools to weaken the Khartoum government. Thousands of lives are at stake and we must do everything we can to end the suffering that is taking place," said Senator Brownback.

The senators said that the Darfur peacekeeping force must have the capability, the numbers and the authority to preempt, prevent, deter and respond to attacks on civilians and to protect the camps of those who have been displaced. They warned that the violence in Darfur is spilling beyond Sudan and into neighboring Chad where villages have been burned and innocent civilians murdered and displaced.

Special Envoy Natsios has stated that the Administration will resort to an unspecified "Plan B" if the Sudanese government does not agree by January 1, 2007 to complete negotiations on an expanded international peacekeeping force for Darfur. During the meeting, the Senators expressed their strong conviction that the Sudanese government should face meaningful, immediate and decisive consequences if it refuses to cooperate and allow a U.N. peacekeeping force into the region.

The Members also discussed the importance of supporting divestment efforts. On November 16, 2006, Brownback and Durbin sent a letter to the nation's governors, urging those states that had not enacted divestment laws to do so.

http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=266634&&