Military

DATE=6-16-04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CONGRESS - SUDAN (L-O)

NUMBER=2-316783

BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: Actress and U-N Refugee Spokesperson Highlights Sudan Crisis on Capitol Hill

INTRO: Actress and Goodwill Ambassador for the U-N High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie, met with a key U-S Senator to discuss the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

TEXT: Ms. Jolie recently returned from a visit to Chad, where she met at a camp with some of the 160-thousand refugees who fled Sudan's violence-wracked western Darfur region.

Emerging from a meeting with the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Richard Lugar, Ms. Jolie expressed concern over reports that the Sudanese government has been blocking humanitarian aid to those in need.

/// JOLIE ACTUALITY ///

Representing U-N-H-C-R, I can say that we are all concerned that if we wait too long to respond to the needs of the people, and we do not get in there to find out what is happening and insist to the Sudanese government that we want to see what is happening there and be allowed in, then we could be too late, and God forbid we have something as serious as genocide on our hands.

/// END ACT ///

Human rights groups say the Sudanese government, with support from Khartoum-backed Arab militia, has been waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.

Sudanese officials deny the accusations.

For his part, Senator Lugar praised Ms. Jolie for her work on behalf of refugees, saying she brings high-profile attention to the issue.

/// LUGAR ACTUALITY ///

She has been on the firing line, literally, in Chad, working with children, working with refugees. But likewise, her insights into the politics and the dilemma of Sudan is very important.

/// END ACT ///

Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives, the Appropriations Committee approved 95 million dollars in emergency disaster relief and refugee aid to deal with the crisis in Darfur.

As many as 30-thousand people are believed to have been killed in the Darfur conflict, which erupted in February of last year. (signed)

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