ENDING THE GENOCIDE IN DARFUR -- (House of Representatives - October 29, 2007)
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Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Thank you, Madam Chairman and Madam Manager. I think it is appropriate to congratulate and to thank you again for giving us the opportunity to provide a face on the work of the Congressional Black Caucus and to thank our chairwoman, the Honorable Carolyn Kilpatrick, for working with us to continue to show the efforts being made that have such a vast array of impact. Let me thank the distinguished Speaker this evening for her leadership as well as we work together.
I am grateful that my first efforts with the Honorable Congressman Barbara Lee was an historic trip that we took some years ago as the first Presidential trip or major statement before the Marshall Plan on HIV/AIDS. I cite that to say that it can be done. You can get your hands around a major devastating killer. HIV/AIDS is a killer. It continues to kill in Africa. But yet there is the Millennium Account, there are a number of issues that address the question of HIV/AIDS. Part of it was out of the trip that Congresswoman Barbara Lee and myself and Congresswoman Kilpatrick went on some years ago.
And so as I stand here today to acknowledge the Congressional Black Caucus, I want to reinforce the fact of the number of Members who were arrested of the organized campaign to respond to the pain of what is going on, and the legislative initiatives and the work we did with Congresswoman Lee on the divestiture bill. And I, too, believe it is long overdue that this bill should move and be signed by the President of the United States.
Just this past summer, I led a delegation with the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith) to go into Darfur and get into the soul and the soil of Darfur and begin to realize and to emphasize the importance of moving on the peacekeepers.
We were the first American delegation to go in right after the recognition that the peacekeepers should come in and the agreement by the government in Khartoum, as represented to us by the U.N., that they had agreed to peacekeepers. We went in, and not only did we go to Darfur, Sudan, but we went to Tunisia and Algeria and Ethiopia, and we asked each governing body to provide troops to the peacekeeping effort through the African Union because it was a serious effort.
But what we found most of all was red tape. I want to put a human face on these refugee camps: 2.4 million displaced. The genocide in Darfur has destroyed well over 60 percent of the villages in Darfur, displaced over 2 million people, killed an estimated 400,000 and driven 200,000 into Chad, and that is a separate story in talking about the physical and emotional and financial burden of the refugees on Chad and the conflict that is rising up in Chad because of the refugees.
Today the House considered H. Res. 740, which condemned in the strongest terms the recent attacks on African Union peacekeepers that occurred in Haskanita, Darfur, Sudan, on September 29, 2007. I introduced this bill along with the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), and 55 Members joined me in this. They recognized that we are not going to make any steps of success to put a human face on the suffering. We are not going to be able to pull that suffering back, to be able to quash the janjaweed, to be able to separate the rebels, to prevent some of the tragic stories that I heard.
We sat in the refugee camps to listen to the women who spoke about their plight. This is a growing Rwanda. And I remember people saying, ``Never again, not on my watch.'' I remember the horror of recognizing the inaction of this government, the American Government as related to the crisis in Rwanda. Then it was we did not know. Now we have the backdrop of Rwanda. Thank God Rwanda is moving to a country of stability and overcoming their horrific crisis. But after a million deaths, is that what we want to see after 400,000 have died, over 2 million displaced, 2.4 million displaced, children whose birth weight is far below the average because of limited amount of access to food and water? In essence, there is a degree of malnutrition, even though I want to give great thanks to the NGOs, but it is just not enough. These people need food and health care and water and the ability to survive.
Yet we are seeing the constant dust up of the violence around the camps. We saw it firsthand, and it is important that these troops are able to come in without the violence. Let me just cite the incident that occurred on September 29. An estimated 1,000 members of a heavily armed Darfur rebel group in 30 vehicles, armed with heavy artillery and mortars overran a small base in Darfur, Sudan, which was occupied by the African Union mission peacekeepers. The ambush resulted in several hours of intense fighting that killed 10 peacekeepers and wounded many others.
According to U.N. estimates in the aftermath of this brutal attack, which was described by the African Union commander as deliberate and sustained, 15,000 civilians fled the area to neighboring towns or the wilderness fearing for their safety. And in the wilderness, there is nothing but death. There is violence by the janjaweed and rebels not in line with the peacekeeping mission. There is devastation, lack of water. There is lack of food. There is death. And the 15,000 that fled were the elderly, women with children and families.
Madam Speaker, this is what is going on in Sudan and so it is important for the Congressional Black Caucus to list a number of efforts, including the divestiture, including a number of initiatives, putting ourselves forward to protest at the Sudanese Embassy.
Let me say the recent ambassador that I discussed this matter with seemed to care, seemed to want to do something. But my words are that you can't want to do something; you must do something.
So here you can see the landscape. Although it reflects the landscape of Sudan generally, this is a compound where people are confined and these children have nowhere to go. They have no life. They have no games. They have no way of looking to the future. As you see, this group of children, there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of children. Babies being born as well. And, therefore, these babies are being born with limited health care, malnutrition. And it is important to note that they are struggling under these conditions.
This is a mother and child. They are trying to make mud bricks so they don't have to go out beyond the parameters of the refugee camp because that is when these women are attacked. Their livelihood is dependent on getting firewood as they did 50, maybe 100 years ago. Every time they go out to get firewood, the women are subjected to rape. The men cannot go because they may be killed, so the women go. They scavenge the land. It is completely barren because you have 2.4 million people living in one compound trying to survive. So they have come up with a creative way to try to use the mud to keep the fire going so they don't have to go out as much. This is the condition. This is where they cook. This is the communal cooking area. I can assure you, as loving as this mother is, that the food is so limited it may be one meal a day. It may be a porridge because of the limit of wildlife, access to meat and vegetables, and these are the conditions.
I will say to you that the people are resilient, but they are looking to us to do something, and the question is: What are we going to do? These are the women who I sat down with trying to make baskets to sell. I listened to their stories about the intrusions at night coming into the camps, going into their living quarters and attacking them. And only through their screams did they have men and others come to scare away the attackers. So they are not safe from rape even in these villages. This is a crime against humanity.
Those of us who believe in the sanctity of human life, the abhorrence of rape and violence, this is a disgrace of what these women are facing. I, too, join in reflecting in the words and the headlines in The Washington Post, ``U.S. Promises on Darfur Don't Match Actions.''
But what I want to say to the Commander in Chief who has just asked for some $46 billion or more for the Iraq war when our soldiers have already done their job and the American people want them home, what we want to see done is where the benevolence of the United States can help get something accomplished, where people are looking for our safety net, and our technical help with the peacekeepers can make a difference.
Listen to these words from the former director of the Darfur Coalition who I have worked with, and I thank him and thank them for their leadership. Bush insisted there must be consequences for rape and murder, and he called for international troops on the ground to protect innocent Darfuris. According to contemporaneous notes by one present, he spoke of bringing justice to the janjaweed, the Arab militia, that has participated in atrocities that the President has repeatedly described as nothing less than genocide.
Congresswoman Jones, you remember it was the Congressional Black Caucus sitting down with Secretary Colin Powell, and I thank him for what he did, but colleagues like our chairman of the Subcommitte on Africa, Donald Payne, claimed this was genocide, called this genocide many months before. But it was our persistence to meet with the Secretary of State, to sit down in a meeting at which he came, and at that meeting he made the statement which he then made public that he had determined this was genocide based on the pursuit, the pressure, the information, the agitation, the advocation of members of the CBC and of course other colleagues in the Democratic Caucus and of course in the Republican Caucus, because this is a bipartisan issue.
So the Secretary of State Colin Powell announced, I believe in 2004, that this was genocide by this government. So the President recognized what was happening, and the article goes on to say that the White House, President Bush, had an understanding of the issue that went beyond simple responding to a briefing that had been given, said David Rubinstein, a participant who was then executive director of the Save Darfur Coalition, which has been sharply critical of the administration's response to the crisis.
He knew more facts than I expected him to know, and he had a broader political perspective than I expected him to know. Yet a year and a half later, having known all of this information, the situation as you reported on the ground in Darfur is little changed, and more than 2 million people remain displaced. The question is that if we know all of this, if the administration knows all of this, if we have declared genocide, it is imperative that we act.
In my visit in August, I could see there was no action. There was no action in the south to settle that down so rebels are scattered. There are now multiple rebel groups, and then there is the conflict with the janjaweed.
I think tonight what we wanted to do was to reconfirm and reaffirm the Congressional Black Caucus is not going to let this rest. We are not going to suffer the indignities that these people are experiencing and suffering. We are going to call on our colleagues in the Congress. We are going to thank Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer and Majority Whip Clyburn, Chairman Emanuel and Vice Chairman Larson and our leadership in the Congressional Black Caucus, which I am proud to serve as whip, our leadership, that what I believe we need now is for this administration to move on getting the peacekeepers on the ground, to not take no for an answer, to help move the U.N. so they can join with the African Union peacekeepers, because it is clear we need additional help other than the African Union troops. We must have additional help.
The last thing I want to say, we have friends and allies, and they include members of the Arab League and China. We cannot continue to have our allies empower and embolden the Khartoum Government without solving this problem. If they think 2.4 million people are okay and nothing is happening, I am here to tell you they are wrong. Rape and pillage and suffering is going on. I ask on this floor for the U.N. and the new Secretary General to take a firm stand to move U.N. peacekeepers in now and to help the AMIS effort, the African Union peacekeepers now, and have these people move back to their places of residence and to solve the violence and the viciousness going on in Darfur. Enough of genocide and enough of the travesty on human rights.
I include the remainder of The Washington Post article dated September 29, 2007, for the Record.
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Madam Speaker, the genocide in Darfur has taken a horrific toll on that region of Sudan. It has destroyed well over 60 percent of the villages in Darfur, displaced over 2 million people, killed an estimated 400,000, and driven 200,000 into refugee camps in neighboring Chad.
Today the House considered H. Res. 740, condemning in the strongest terms the attacks on African Union peacekeepers that occurred in Haskanita, Darfur, Sudan, on September 29, 2007, which I introduced, together with my good friend and distinguished colleague, Mr. CHABOT. This measure was cosponsored by 55 of my colleagues, and it passed the House by voice vote.
Since 2003, we have witnessed a systematic campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, mass murder, and terror in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. In the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, an estimated 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur by the Government of Sudan and its Janjaweed allies. An additional 2,000,000 people have been displaced from their homes and livelihoods. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate declared that the atrocities in Darfur constitute genocide in July 2004, and the Bush administration reached the same conclusion in September 2004.
However, three years later, the situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate. The United Nations reported a substantial decline in the humanitarian situation during the first three months of 2007, during which time 21 humanitarian vehicles were hijacked, 15 additional vehicles were looted, and gunmen raided 6 humanitarian compounds. The security situation makes it extremely difficult for aid organizations to reach vulnerable populations, and, in the 12 months preceding April 2007, the number of humanitarian relief workers in Darfur decreased by 16 percent, largely due to security concerns, restrictions on access, and funding limitations. The flow of humanitarian aid has been severely threatened by the escalating violence in the region.
Since 2004, a small contingent of African Union peacekeepers have been deployed to Darfur, responsible for maintaining security in a region roughly the size of France. The 7,000 peacekeepers under the banner of the African Union Mission in Sudan, or AMIS, have displayed exemplary courage and resilience, but they are woefully outmanned and outgunned, as well as chronically short of funding. Recognizing the near-collapse of the AU Mission, the United Nations, in July 2007, approved a UN-AU hybrid peacekeeping mission, to be known as UNAMID, which is meant to take over from AMIS shortly.
The AMIS peacekeeping mission recently encountered yet another significant setback. On September 29, 2007, an estimated 1,000 members of a heavily armed Darfur rebel group, in 30 vehicles armed with heavy artillery and mortars, overran a small base in Haskanita, Darfur, Sudan, which was occupied by AMIS peacekeepers. The ambush resulted in several hours of intense fighting that killed ten peacekeepers- seven Nigerian peacekeepers and three other soldiers from Mali, Senegal, and Botswana- and wounded many others.
According to UN estimates, in the aftermath of this brutal attack, which was described by the African Union commander as ``deliberate and sustained,'' 15,000 civilians fled the area to neighboring towns or the wilderness, fearing for their safety. This attack is considered to be the worst on AMIS peacekeepers since their deployment in July 2004. The United Nations Security Council condemned this ``murderous attack'' on AMIS peacekeepers, and demanded that ``no effort be spared'' to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of this assault.
Only recently, during the August recess, I had the opportunity to lead a Congressional Delegation (CODEL) to Darfur. This was the first CODEL to the region since the announcement of the joint UN/AU peacekeeping force. Along with my colleagues Mr. Chabot, who joins me as the lead Republican cosponsor of this legislation, and Mr. Smith, I had the I opportunity to meet with government officials, civil society leaders, international aid workers, and affected civilians, as well as with the African Union peacekeepers responsible for protecting Darfur. I saw first hand the immense suffering of the people of Darfur, as well as the enormous strain on the courageous but outnumbered AU peacekeepers.
I strongly condemn recent attacks on African Union peacekeepers. This legislation also expresses the condolences of this House to the people and Governments of Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, and Botswana, the families and friends of those individuals who were killed or missing in the attacks, and expresses its sympathies to those individuals who have been injured. It expresses the solidarity of the people and Government of the United States with the African Union and the African Union peacekeepers as they recover from these attacks, and the readiness of Congress to support efforts to bring to justice those individuals responsible for the attacks and efforts to detect, pursue, disrupt, and dismantle the networks that plan and carry out such attacks.
My legislation also looks forward, to the process of bringing about a peace settlement for Darfur. Crucial though effective peacekeeping forces are, they are no substitute for a serious and sustained peace process. Consequently, this bill also expresses its support for the people of Darfur, Sudan, in their continued struggle against extremism and violence and support for their efforts to secure a permanent peace, justice, and return to their restored villages and homes, and it encourages all parties involved in the conflict to commit to negotiate a final and binding peace agreement at the peace talks, which began on October 27, 2007, in Tripoli, Libya.
Early reports from these negotiations have not been promising. With key rebel groups boycotting the peace talks, media reports indicate that mediators will now have to travel to Darfur to meet with rebel leaders before actual peace agreements can be reached. Despite these setbacks, UN Special Envoy Jan Eliasson has maintained optimism, saying yesterday ``I refuse to state that the peace process is interrupted.''
In Darfur, rape has been an important aspect of the genocide. Women and girls have been targeted specifically as spoils or war. Though it is impossible to know or even estimate exact numbers of rape victims, particularly in light of the Government of Sudan's practice of harassing or even detaining representatives of organizations attempting to report such statistics, they would certainly be extremely high.
In Darfur, rape is linked to racial slurs. When rape victims were interviewed by human rights workers, they reported hearing Janjaweed militia and Sudanese soldiers shouting their intent--to rape the women and girls, forcing them to have Arab children. According to a Refugees International report, one woman interviewed in a refugee camp in Chad said that a Janjaweed militiaman who raped her told her: ``I will give you a light-skinned baby to take this land from you.''
One Sudanese human rights activist has noted, ``The war in Darfur is centered on identity, and rape is being used as a weapon of war in the struggle for the identity of the region. Women have a very important role in Darfur's culture, and rape destroys not only a woman but her tribe.''
Though many survivors of these attacks are able to find their way to displaced persons camps, they remain at risk. Many women and girls are attacked when they leave the relative security of the camps to collect firewood and other necessities. When women living in refugee camps were asked why they went to fetch water and risk rape rather than the men, they answered, ``If we let the men go, they will be killed. It is better for us to be raped than for our husbands to be killed.''
Today, the House also considered H. Res. 726, introduced by my colleague, Congresswoman DELAURO, which I was proud to cosponsor. This resolution draws attention to this savage practice, and it calls on the President, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and the United Nations Security Council to take measures to provide assistance to these victims, to fully fund the UN Mission in Darfur, and to find the government of Sudan in noncompliance with Security Council Resolution 1325. It also calls upon the government of Sudan, responsible for unleashing this madness on the women and girls of Darfur, to provide full legal protection to the victims of rape and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The international community must do much, much more to protect the women and girls of Darfur, to meet the needs of those who have already been sexually abused or raped, and to finally bring this horrific conflict to an end. The deployment of the hybrid UN/AU peacekeeping force is a necessary and important step, but it is no substitute for a serious and sustained peace process.
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