Recognizing The Fifth Anniversary Of The U.S. Declaration Of Genocide In Darfur

Floor Speech

Recognizing The Fifth Anniversary Of The U.S. Declaration Of Genocide In Darfur

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Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 159, recognizing the fifth anniversary of the declaration of genocide in Darfur.

An August 2008 New Republic piece said the following about Darfur: ``No genocide has ever been so thoroughly documented while it was taking place ..... in the case of the genocide in Darfur, ignorance has never been possible.'' Sobering words as we consider this resolution.

I have visited Sudan five times, most recently in July 2004 when I led the first congressional delegation with Senator Sam Brownback to Darfur. I witnessed the nightmare with my own eyes. Over 300,000 Darfuris have died and nearly 3 million have been displaced.

We saw the same scorched earth tactics from Khartoum in the brutal 20-year civil war with the South.

Five years ago this month Congress was the first to call the atrocities in Darfur by their rightful name, genocide.

But this is not a tragedy relegated to the history books--rather Sudan today demands attention and action.

China has been complicit in this tragedy as Sudan's largest foreign investor and yet China has failed to use its influence. According to the Congressional Research Service, China reportedly imports an estimated 64 percent of Sudan's oil and China's National Petroleum Corporation is the largest shareholder (47 percent) in the two biggest oil consortiums in Sudan, Petrodar and the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC).

China also supplies weapons to the Government of Sudan. Some human rights groups accuse the Chinese government of being the principal supplier of weapons in violation of the U.N. weapons embargo on Sudan.

And yet Sudan only earned a passing reference in President Obama's remarks this week at the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the United States and China.

But perhaps most importantly, and most timely, almost six months into the Obama administration, the State Department is still conducting a ``comprehensive review'' of U.S.-Sudan policy.

Virtually nothing concrete has emerged. The little that has leaked out in press reports reveals an administration that appears divided at the highest levels over whether genocide is still taking place in Darfur. On an issue of this magnitude such confusion sends the wrong message.

On this, the five-year anniversary of the declaration of genocide in Darfur, I ask, what is the Obama administration's policy on Darfur?

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