Darfur: The Genocide Continues

Floor Speech

(Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. McGOVERN. Madam Speaker, 3 years ago the House declared the situation in Darfur a genocide. Since then thousands of people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced. And the situation on the ground grows worse. Attacks against humanitarian workers and African Union peacekeepers are increasing.

I was in eastern Chad in April. Over a quarter of a million Darfur refugees live in camps along the Chad-Sudan border. I talked with many of these men, women, and children. I heard about family members slaughtered; villages burned; children who perished from heat, exhaustion, and hunger in the desperate walk to find safe refuge. I was there when the violence of Darfur spilled over into Chad. Janjaweed militias attacked two Chad villages, overnight 8,000 people displaced. I watched the U.N. and NGOs provide emergency food, water, shelter, and medical care in the middle of nowhere under a blistering sun.

I say to my colleagues, enough is enough. I say to my colleagues, never again. The time to end the killing in Darfur is now.
[From the UN News Service, July 25, 2007]

Violence Impedes Relief Effort in Darfur, UN Food Agency Warns

Condemning a sharp escalation in attacks on humanitarian staff and relief convoys in Sudan's Darfur region, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that violence is hampering its ability to deliver assistance to millions of hungry people there.

``In the last two weeks, nine food convoys have been attacked by gunmen across Darfur,'' said Kenro Oshidari, WFP Sudan Representative. ``WFP staff and contractors are being stopped at gunpoint, dragged out of their vehicles and robbed with alarming frequency.''

Mr. Oshidari called on all parties to the conflict in Darfur to guarantee the safety of humanitarian workers so that the UN food agency and other aid organizations can continue helping Sudanese who rely on outside assistance for survival.

``These abhorrent attacks, which target the very people who are trying to help the most vulnerable in Darfur, must be brought under control,'' he added.

So far this year, 18 WFP food convoys have been attacked by gunmen and four of WFP's light vehicles carjacked. Six WFP vehicles, including trucks and light vehicles, have been stolen and 10 staff, including contractors, have been either detained or abducted.

The Darfur operation is the agency's biggest, employing some 790 staff who feed more than two million people every month. WFP, which also contracts commercial truck companies to haul food into the region, plans to distribute up to 450,000 metric tons of food in Darfur this year at a cost of about half a billion dollars.

A lack of security has prevented WFP from reaching 170,000 people in June in what the agency termed in a news release a ``sizeable increase from the lowest point last March when 60,000 could not be reached.''

As a result of convoy attacks in recent weeks, the road between Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, and the town of Kass, has been declared a ``no-go'' area for UN staff, while in North Darfur, food dispatches to the town of Kabkabiya have been affected.

UN security personnel say attacks on vehicles are now the number one security concern for the aid community in Darfur, according to WFP, which cited a ``recent and deeply troubling trend is that staff are being abducted when their vehicles are stolen, giving robbers time to get away before the alarm is raised.''

To date, all WFP staff have been released, although some were injured and hospitalized.

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[From the UN News Service, July 23, 2007]

Sudan: UN Reports New Displacement in West Darfur

The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) today reported new population displacements in West Darfur, where it says an estimated 12,000 households were on the move.

The newly displaced people said that they were fleeing prevailing insecurity in their areas and in anticipation of a rumored attack by Government forces, UN spokesperson Marie Okabe told reporters in New York.

The Mission also reported that over the weekend, a non-governmental organization (NGO) vehicle was carjacked in South Darfur, the latest attack on humanitarian workers in the country's strife-torn region.

Last week, an unknown armed man shot at a vehicle in South Darfur hired by an international NGO, while in West Darfur, two men stopped an international NGO convoy comprising two vehicles carrying five staff members and robbed them of personal effects and communication equipment.

In addition, harassment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) was reported during a UN assessment visit to an IDP camp near Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur.

Last month, the Sudanese Government announced its acceptance of a proposal for a hybrid UN-African Union peacekeeping operation to be deployed in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and at least 2 million others displaced since clashes erupted in 2003 between Government forces, allied Janjaweed militias and rebel groups.

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