Military

DATE=9/15/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=CONGRESS / SUDAN (S-O)

NUMBER=2-319028

BYLINE=DEBORAH TATE

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

HEADLINE: US Senate Backs Measure Calling for Sudan's Suspension From U.N. Human Rights Commission

INTRO: The U.S. Senate has approved, by unanimous consent, a measure calling for the suspension of Sudan from the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Correspondent Deborah Tate reports from Capitol Hill.

TEXT: The resolution calls on Secretary of State Colin Powell to press for the immediate suspension of Sudan's membership on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights for Khartoum's failure to end atrocities in the western Darfur region.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, along with Minority Leader Tom Daschle, introduced the legislation.

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"A government that is engaged in committing genocide simply should not have a seat on the Commission on Human Rights."

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Senator Frist called on the House of Representatives to act on the measure.

The Senate and House, earlier this, year passed resolutions condemning the atrocities in Sudan as genocide. The Bush administration agrees that genocide has taken place in Darfur.

The United Nations says the 19-month conflict in Sudan has left more than 30 thousand people dead and driven one-point-two million from their homes. (Signed)

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