Statement of Senator Russ Feingold From the Floor of the U.S. Senate On the Situation in Darfur, Sudan July 22, 2004 Mr. President, I rise to join my colleagues in expressing my continued grave concern about the situation in Darfur, Sudan. Mr. President, for months now, members of Congress have come to the floor to express their outrage at the situation in Darfur. All credible evidence indicates that what is unfolding in Darfur is genocide. Already, an estimated 30,000 civilians have been killed, more than 130,000 refugees have fled to Chad, and more than a million people have been displaced. Numerous, credible reports document the widespread use of rape as a weapon against female civilians. Entire communities have been razed, mosques destroyed, and wells poisoned, guaranteeing that a grave humanitarian crisis will continue to unfold for many months or even years. Now reports indicate that terrified survivors are being forced to return to their homes – which have been utterly destroyed – in a context of serious insecurity by Government officials who apparently view their own suffering citizens as sources of embarrassment. Those of us who have followed developments in Sudan for many years see a horrifying familiarity in this crisis. The Government of Sudan has deliberately provoked humanitarian catastrophe before in an attempt to repress dissent. And so for months now, members have come to the floor to speak out about this crisis. I have written and spoken to Administration officials, to UN officials, and to European officials to call for action and a firm, unified message to Khartoum. I have raised the issue, as have colleagues, in numerous Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings. In April, my colleague, Senator Brownback, and I introduced S.Con Res. 99, condemning the actions of the Sudanese government. I joined many of my colleagues in supporting Senator Dewine's effort to direct urgently needed funds to Darfur for humanitarian relief. And I am a cosponsor of S. Con Res 124, acknowledging that genocide is unfolding in Darfur. I commend the leadership of Senators Corzine and Brownback, the sponsors of this legislation. This is a tremendously difficult and complex situation. I commend the Secretary of State for traveling to Darfur to raise the profile of this issue. I commend the efforts of USAID to respond to the urgent humanitarian needs of refugees in Chad and IDPs in Darfur. But the Administration can and must do more. First, the President needs to put a senior official in charge who can bring speak authoritatively to Khartoum and to key regional players, and who is focused exclusively on Sudan each and every day. It is almost inexplicable that this has not been done to date. Since our former colleague, Senator Jack Danforth, left his post as the President's Special Envoy for Sudan to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, it appears that no one has been in charge of this issue on a day-to-day basis while genocide unfolds. What kind of signal does this send about our seriousness? We need someone senior, with knowledge of the African and Arab worlds, put in place today to coordinate U.S. policy and deliver authoritative U.S. messages on a daily basis, to seize on fleeting opportunities, eliminate any confusion, match available resources with urgent needs, and constantly hold the Government of Sudan's feet to the fire. We also need serious thinking today about how to improve the security situation in Darfur. The Government of Sudan has utterly failed to date to honor its commitments to disarm the janjaweed and to stop their brutal campaign. Our strategy cannot simply consist of waiting for them to act. This is the same regime that orchestrated this misery in the first place. We cannot leave them in the driver's seat. So even as we push diplomatically for meaningful action from Khartoum, even as we do the hard work of building a strong, unified multilateral coalition to send a clear message about the serious consequences that will result from continued intransigence, we must develop plans to help people in spite of the Government of Sudan's policies. And that means finding a way to provide security for Darfur's vulnerable populations and for the humanitarian organizations working to assist them. We need to be working now to collect testimony and evidence so that those responsible for atrocities in Darfur can be held accountable for their crimes. This must not be an afterthought. It is a central part of our obligation. And in addition to appropriately and sensitively collecting testimony, we should be making plans today to develop strategies to reach the survivors of rape in Darfur with medical assistance, counseling, and community-based support strategies to help address issues of stigma. Ultimately, Mr. President, we need to think about underlying issues of political disenfranchisement that stoked the initial conflict in Darfur. The North-South peace process made real progress, and I applaud the efforts of the many African, European, and American diplomats who worked so hard to help the parties come to agreement. But the process only created real political space for two entities, the Government of Sudan and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement of the South. Neither the South nor the North are monolithic. We need to think today about political accommodations that can give the disenfranchised a voice in determining their own destiny. So Mr. President, I share the outrage of my colleagues. But I know that the people of Darfur – the malnourished children, the victims of rape, the broken families struggling to survive – these people need more than our outrage. They need our action. I yield the floor.

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