National Public Radio Morning Edition - Transcript

National Public Radio (NPR)

SHOW: Morning Edition (10:00 AM ET) - NPR

HEADLINE: Kansas Republican Senator Sam Brownback talks about the humanitarian crisis in western Sudan's Darfur region

ANCHORS: STEVE INSKEEP

BODY:
STEVE INSKEEP, host:

The government of Sudan is promising to move against the killing and famine in the western part of that country. Arab militias have been looting and burning villages there. The fighting has forced hundreds of thousands of non-Arabs to flee. Sudanese officials say they will try to help. They made that promise to Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday. He came to demand changes after the Sudanese government was accused of supporting the militias. Powell is one of several US officials to visit Sudan in the past week. Another is Republican Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, who has just returned, and we found him in an airport.

Senator, welcome back.

Senator SAM BROWNBACK (Republican, Kansas): Thank you. It's good to be back.

INSKEEP: What did you see when you went to western Sudan, the Darfur region?

Sen. BROWNBACK: An incredible destructive situation, hundreds of thousands in the five different refugee camps that we went to. We interviewed dozens of individuals, a number of girls that had been raped as part of ethnic violence. Every individual that I talked to except one had lost a family member due to the raids by the Janjaweed supported by the Sudanese government. They all describe very similar situations of the raiders coming in, then supplies being dropped off for them or loot being carried out for them with helicopters by the government of Sudan.

INSKEEP: The Janjaweed, those are the Arab militias that have been accused of ethnic cleansing of a sort there.

Sen. BROWNBACK: They are. We have got photographs even of some of the Janjaweed on camels and government-issued uniforms, and now they're saying that the government's going to try to bring them into the Sudanese military. But these are the people that are doing the ethnic cleansing. These are the people that are doing the systematic rapings. These are the people that are burning out villages.

INSKEEP: Well, now after you left, Secretary of State Powell came to Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and Sudan's foreign minister says that the government is now going to fight the militias. Do you believe that promise?

Sen. BROWNBACK: No, I don't. This government has proven over a period of history that this is a pattern and practice that they've exercised, and they've done this in a systematic way in the western part of Sudan and Darfur region. The people in these refugee camps do not trust the government of Sudan who they see as completely tied in with the militias that they have armed, that they have supported with helicopters and bombings. And they're going to say now they're going to rein them in and bring them under control when these are the very people that-the militia's been supported by the government? The people in the camps do not believe it. At the last camp we went to, the people were yelling at us, 'They're killing us! They're killing us!'

INSKEEP: Why deal with this government at all?

Sen. BROWNBACK: The question there is what other option do you have? We must bring incredible international pressure to bear on them to get this situation resolved and have a significant international presence in Darfur. I really think that's the only thing that could be trusted here.

INSKEEP: When you say international pressure and an international presence, are you talking about military action of any kind?

Sen. BROWNBACK: What I'm talking about there is, we've just gotten on the ground African Union forces, and there's not near enough. I think there's something like going to be 100, and it's just not enough for a region that's twice the size of France. They're going to have to have a lot more in there.

INSKEEP: What about American troops?

Sen. BROWNBACK: I wouldn't anticipate that other than if it were something of an international presence that's overseen by the UN or by NATO.

INSKEEP: What would more international troops do in Sudan?

Sen. BROWNBACK: They can be in there as a buffering force so that the people can feel stabilized enough to go back to their villages. The key thing that needs to happen now is that people can go back to their villages.

INSKEEP: Senator, as you know, this is the kind of humanitarian crisis that has caused debate in the United States for years, which gets down to this question: Is it in the national interest of the United States to commit some kind of effort to improve the situation?

Sen. BROWNBACK: I think it is in our national interest, and I think we have to, even if from a humanitarian aspect, get aggressively involved in pressing the international community. I really don't think this can be seen as a US effort. I really think it needs to be seen as an international effort, and that's why I'm pleased to see Kofi Annan is going in.

INSKEEP: You would support the use of American troops but it should be part of a larger group, maybe led by Africans even or dominated by Africans?

Sen. BROWNBACK: Or the UN or NATO as a possibility, but I just think it has to be seen as a broader force.

INSKEEP: Sam Brownback is a United States senator from Kansas, and he has returned from Sudan, where he was observing the humanitarian crisis there.

Senator, thanks very much.

Sen. BROWNBACK: Thank you very much, Steve.