DEWINE COSPONSORED AMENDMENT WOULD CREATE SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SUDAN TO ADDRESS THE CONFLICT IN DARFUR
U.S. Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) today announced the Biden-DeWine Amendment which was accepted into the Senate-passed Emergency Supplemental bill late Wednesday. It would create a special envoy for Sudan to address the genocide in the Darfur region. Senator DeWine is the lead Republican cosponsor of the provision.
"By creating a Special Envoy for Sudan, we can better help ease the conflicts that plague the region, and work to eventually end the violence there in order to create a better quality of life for the thousands of people affected by the janjaweed militia," said Senator DeWine.
The Special Envoy position would support efforts to end the conflict in Darfur, assist in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and address the other potential conflicts in Sudan, and on its boarders.
Senator DeWine has consistently called for an end to the conflict in Darfur, and has worked to improve the humanitarian conditions there, most recently cosponsoring an amendment to the May 2005 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act that imposes sanctions against perpetrators of crimes against humanity in the Darfur region. This provision became law May 11, 2005.
The government of Sudan and its allied militia, known collectively as the janjaweed, has engaged in an orchestrated campaign of killing and violence against the black Africans in the western region of Darfar.
The Emergency Supplemental bill passed the Senate today by a vote of 78-20. A conference committee will now reconcile the differences between the House version and the Senate version of the bill.
http://dewine.senate.gov/