Calling on the League of Arab States to Acknowledge the Genocide in Darfur

Floor Speech

CALLING ON THE LEAGUE OF ARAB STATES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR

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Mr. HOYER. I thank my friend Mr. Ackerman for yielding, and I thank him for his leadership and commitment for decades to issues of human rights, humanitarian concerns, and peace.

I thank my friend BARBARA LEE who has been such an extraordinary leader. She worked for a gentleman that is a great hero of mine, Ron Dellums, who, when he was on this floor raised his voice for peace, raised his voice on behalf of the dispossessed, raised his voice on behalf of those who were under attack. BARBARA LEE has continued that very strong voice in representing that district. She is one of the experts in this House on issues relating to Africa, issues relating to AIDS, and on efforts to attain peace and securing this world for the citizens of this world.

I am also, Madam Speaker, very pleased to join my friend CHRIS SMITH. I had the privilege of cochairing the Helsinki Commission with Mr. Smith for a number of years and serving with him for 15 years on the Helsinki Commission before I became the minority whip and took leave from the commission. I want to thank him. Not only in a collegial sense does he participate in these matters, but probably as much as any Member in this House of the 435 and the literally, probably, 2,000 that he and I have served with over the years has personally, individually, gone to some of the most troubled spots in the world. No publicity, no large delegation, no Air Force plane; I am going to speak briefly about the fact that we were able, but on his own.

He and FRANK WOLF, two of our Members who have gone to people in trouble and at risk and taken their hand and heard their story and brought it back and exposed it to the light of day. I thank Mr. Smith for his leadership over the more than two decades, almost a quarter of a century that he and I have served together in this House.

This is a serious issue.

I want to congratulate JERRY MORAN. JERRY MORAN had not been on many codels or traveled. BARBARA LEE came over to me as he was speaking and said he got the message.

That is why we travel. Sometimes the public thinks that traveling is just a junket. Going to Darfur is no junket. Living in Darfur is much worse.

When I determined that I was going to take a delegation overseas as my first trip as majority leader of this House, I thought that I wanted to go to someplace where it was important that we tell the world that we thought they ought to be paying attention to. The world has been paying attention to it, so many people have gone to Darfur. But we went to Darfur, 11 of us went to Darfur, myself, BARBARA LEE from California, JERRY MORAN from Kansas, ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN as the ranking Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, GREG MEEKS from New York, BRAD MILLER from North Carolina, G.K. BUTTERFIELD from North Carolina, BOB GOODLATTE from Virginia, RAY LAHOOD from Illinois, JOHN BARROW from Georgia, and JIM COSTA from California. A delegation of Democrats and Republicans who, when the plane took off from Andrews Air Force Base, flew not as Republicans or Democrats, but flew as Americans, flew as Americans who were concerned about humanitarian distress.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California, Congresswoman Lee, for her hard work in bringing this important bipartisan resolution to the floor this morning and for her dedicated leadership in focusing attention on the continuing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

JERRY MORAN is correct; all of us know that we talk about never forgetting, but never forgetting is not enough. Remembering is the first step, but acting is the absolutely essential step.

Since 2003, more than 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur, and an estimated 2 1/2 million people have been displaced, mothers, sisters, brothers, old and feebled, sick.

Our delegation, as I know you have, Mr. Smith, Mr. Ackerman, I know you as well, have had the opportunity to visit in the camps, in the medical facilities, talked to the mothers, talked to the children. I talked to a grandmother who had been forced away from her home by somebody. Was it the government? Was it a rebel group? Was it simply a band of thieves and criminals? Whatever it was, she was homeless. Her family was dispossessed, and she had nowhere to go except a displaced person's camp. That calls out to us to us in this House, it calls out to everybody in this globe to respond in a positive way to relieve that suffering.

The United Nations has identified the situation in Darfur as the worst current humanitarian and human rights crisis in the world. The United States calls it genocide.

Simply stated, the international community must not turn a blind eye to the suffering of innocents as has happened far too often throughout human history.

The international community's plaintive cry ``never again'' requires real collective action in Darfur now. There are people acting now, but they do not have enough help. This time we must prove that we mean it: Not now, never again.

House Concurrent Resolution 7 has 115 cosponsors on both sides of the aisle, and it is my hope that it will get 433, we have two Members who are no longer with us, 433 votes. This is an important step in this cause.

Congresswoman Lee's resolution calls on the League of Arab States to acknowledge the genocide in Darfur, to support and accept the United Nations peacekeepers as the best option to enforce a cease-fire, protect civilians, and ensure access for humanitarian workers, to work with the international community to bring about a lasting peace in Darfur.

In fact, Madam Speaker, during the recent bipartisan congressional delegation that I have spoken of to Sudan, a codel which included, as I said, Congresswoman Lee and the others, we also went to Egypt. Egypt is one, of course, of the most important members of the arab League, the largest Arab state, an important member in the league. I have been told that President Mubarak, at our request when we met with him, followed up on his pledge to our delegation to reach out to Sudanese President Bashir who has, unfortunately and tragically, been part of the problem, not part of the solution, deemed by the international community as someone who has facilitated and, yes, even participated in the humanitarian crisis that exists. We urged his government and President Mubarak says that he has urged Bashir to accept and facilitate humanitarian workers' work, to make their visas acceptable, make their travel around the country easier. I also understand that Foreign Minister Gheit, with whom we met, is currently in Sudan, and it is my hope that he is delivering the same message that we spoke of.

Now is not the time to offer a full report of our codel; however, I do want to briefly highlight the five specific steps that I believe must be taken in Darfur without delay.

First, it is imperative that we continue to ensure humanitarian access in Darfur.

Second, the international community must insist that the Bashir government accept more peacekeeping troops.

Third, we must initiate a process by which a political solution between the warring factions can be reached.

Fourth, we must make a stronger effort to engage Sudan's neighbors in the peace process, which was what this resolution is designed to do.

And, fifth, we must work with the Sudanese Government to help forge a comprehensive plan for stability and reconstruction across the whole of the country. North Sudan was mentioned by my friend BILL PASCRELL, as well as South Sudan which we visited.

Madam Speaker, I again want to thank Congresswoman Lee, Congressman Ackerman, Congressman Smith, and all of our colleagues for this effort today. They continue to focus on Darfur. I urge all of my colleagues to unanimously support this very important resolution, a call to action, a call to humanitarian relief.

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