U.S. Senators Call for Immediate Action on Darfur
22 September 2006
Brownback, Feingold cite need for more sanctions
Washington – A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is urging the Senate and House of Representatives to resolve differences on federal legislation that would impose financial, travel and diplomatic sanctions against Sudan.
Those differences must be resolved before the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which both bodies have passed, can be sent to the White House for the president’s signature.
Republicans Sam Brownback, Mike DeWine and Tom Coburn joined with Democrats Barack Obama and Russell Feingold at a September 21 news conference intended to heightened attention to the growing humanitarian crisis in Darfur and to promote passage of a bill aimed at encouraging more responsible action in the Darfur region by the Sudanese government.
The humanitarian situation threatening hundreds of thousands of people in Darfur is critical, getting worse and cries out for an immediate response from the West, including more sanctions against the government of President Omar al-Bashir, the senators said.
The United Nations estimates more than 200,000 people have died in Darfur since a rebellion broke out in Sudan's western province in 2003. Close to 2 million others were displaced into refugee camps in the province and eastern Chad.
Speaking to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol, Brownback applauded President Bush for appointing Andrew Natsios, former director of the U.S. Agency for International Development, as special presidential envoy to Sudan.
President Bush announced the Natsios nomination while addressing the opening session of the 61st U.N. General Assembly on September 19. Like the bipartisan Senate group, Bush also called for increased international attention to the situation in Darfur, where the people of that troubled region have suffered "unspeakable violence" and genocide. (See related article.)
Bush also warned that if the Sudanese government does not accept quickly a transition from the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force to the larger U.N. peacekeeping operation in Darfur, "the United Nations must act" because thousands of lives and the credibility of the United Nations are at stake.
Brownback said the U.N. Security Council's recent decision to extend the AU peacekeeping mission in Sudan until the end of 2006 but said the action was not enough to stop the deteriorating security situation in Darfur. (See related article.)
"The African Union force, while important, has been insufficient in both size and mandate," the senator said. 'Its size must increase. Its mandate must increase." He also reiterated the need to push for an expansion of that mission from the AU to a U.N. force. That needs to take place," as quickly as possible,” he stressed.
Democratic Senator Russell Feingold, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs, called the ongoing situation in Darfur "appalling."
He said, "More than two years have elapsed since the U.S. government labeled the atrocities being committed against innocent civilians as genocide and yet the killing has actually continued and accelerated in recent weeks as the government of Sudan has launched a new military offensive."
What is necessary, he said, is that specific actions must be taken to "stop the genocide that is occurring today in Darfur," including laying the groundwork for a "robust United Nations peacekeeping mission" as authorized by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1706.
"Sudan must be convinced to help this peacekeeping force to deploy," he said. "If it refuses, Sudan must feel the consequences," he said, like the proposed suspension of Sudan's U.N. membership and levying of sanctions. He said both steps currently are contained in the Senate's version of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act.
Feingold also said it was essential that the international community "deny impunity" to those who have been complicit in or responsible for acts of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity in Darfur.
The sanctions sought in the bill have broad bipartisan support but the Senate and House of Representatives have been stalled on language in the House version of the act that would impose financial pressure on Sudan through “disinvestment.”
Even if the final Darfur Peace and Accountability Act does not include disinvestment language, Feingold said, it would include other valuable elements and stand as a first step, "to demonstrate the determination of the United States to lead the way on the long path ahead."
The United States has provided more than $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to the people of Sudan including $400 million during the past 12 months for emergency food aid to the region.The pending legislation would not limit or restrict humanitarian aid to Darfur.
For additional information, see Darfur Humanitarian Emergency.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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