Humanitarian Crisis in Sudan

HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN SUDAN

Mr. DeWINE. Madam President, I rise in support of S. Con. Res. 99, condemning the Government of the Republic of the Sudan for its participation and complicity in the attacks against innocent civilians in the impoverished Darfur region of western Sudan.

I commend my fellow cosponsors of this resolution for taking this essential first step in addressing the dual crises in Sudan. We must condemn the Government of Sudan for its complicity in the human rights abuses and their gross failure to put an end to the current genocide.

In addition to the gross human rights violations, we now face a humanitarian disaster. Over a million people are displaced and well over a hundred thousand have fled over the border to Chad.

The Government of Sudan is only making matters more difficult by resisting, delaying, frustrating the work of humanitarian assistance groups, and the situation gets worse. Roads in the region are only accessible to the most sturdy of jeeps and trucks, and once the rainy season starts in just a couple of weeks, those roads will be wiped out, cutting off aid altogether. The clock is ticking. We certainly cannot control Mother Nature, so the world must act now.

I believe there are a few essentials that we should do immediately. First, the United States must push the United Nations Security Council to authorize a stability and support operation under chapter VII to help stop the atrocities and help distribute humanitarian aid. I would also like to see an expansion of the civilian protection monitoring teams into the Darfur region. The Government of Sudan has had long enough time to stop the killing and facilitate the flow of aid. With the rainy season coming, we cannot tell the people of Darfur to give their government more time to comply.

This may sound as if it is a radical step, but this step is needed. We should not be, and do not want to be, in the situation 6 months or a year or 2 years from now where we look back and say we should have taken this step-oh, if we only would have sent this U.N. force in; if we only would have sent these troops in we could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives-because that is the situation we are going to be in. We are going to look back and say, if we only would have acted, if the world only would have acted, these lives could have been saved. Why didn't we act? That is what has to take place. That, clearly, is what should take place.

Second, I believe Congress should amend the Sudan Peace Act to require improvements in Darfur. We have the ability here in Congress to do that.

Third, the United States should target sanctions against any members of the Sudanese Government found to be involved in these atrocities. We have done it in regard to other individuals in other governments in other countries. We should do it in regard to these individuals. We should make it very clear to them they will be held accountable.

Finally, the international community must act now. We need a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission to appoint a special rapporteur for Sudan. The international community should also consider a special tribunal to investigate the atrocities.

These steps form a broad outline of what must be done. We must work together with the administration in the coming days to iron out the details so we can move forward. The crisis is here, it is now, and this is what we must do. Clearly, this is a case of genocide, and the international community must face its moral responsibility to act.