Sudan

Congressman Wolf Speaks on the Genocide in Darfur, and his experiences there (6:07)
I have traveled to the Sudan five times since 1989. Over the past two decades, a civil war pitting the Khartoum government against black Christians and others in the southern half of the country has cost more than 2 million lives in war and famine-related deaths. More people have died in Sudan than in Kosovo, Bosnia, Rwanda and Somalia combined.

In early 2003, a second conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur emerged. Black African Muslims are being driven from their homes by government-backed Arab militias. Hundreds of thousands have died, nearly 1.5 million people have been internally displaced, and the refugee crisis on the border with neighboring Chad has continued to worsen.  I visited this region of Sudan in July 2004 when I led the first congressional delegation with Senator Sam Brownback to Darfur.  I witnessed the nightmare with my own eyes.  Every day that passes, more men are killed, more women are raped, and more children die of malnutrition.  This is simply unacceptable.  

After numerous calls for action, including a resolution I introduced in 2006 calling for the appointment of a special envoy, the president appointed Andrew Natsios as the presidential special envoy for Sudan. Special Envoy Natsios traveled regularly to Sudan to bring pressure to bear on the Government of Sudan. Following Special Envoy Natsios's retirement at the end of 2007, the president appointed Rich Williamson as the new special envoy to Sudan.

I was pleased to be an original cosponsor of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which was signed into law late last year by the president.  This bill will continue to put pressure on the Government of Sudan for its involvement in the Darfur genocide.  The bill denies visas to and freezes the assets of Sudanese officials

We must also engage with the international community to do more. Despite continuous stalling tactics by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the UN assumed operational responsibility from the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) on December 31, 2007. However, actual deployment of the hybrid, 22,000-strong UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has lagged behind. Egypt, Ethiopia, and Norway all offered troops for this hybrid mission, although Sudanese president Bashir has rejected offers of non-African troops. Whether we will achieve the security necessary in Darfur to protect civilians -- and the brave international aid workers serving them -- remains to be seen.

China, which is a major business partner of Sudan, should be using its influence with the Sudanese government to bring an end to the violence in Darfur.  Unfortunately, Chinese President Hu Jintao's February 2007 to Khartoum resulted not in progress on this point but rather a commitment by the Chinese to build Sudanese President Bashir a new palace.  China's role in extracting oil from Sudan and maintaining close business relations with this genocidal regime are clearly more important to the Chinese government than saving human lives.

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