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“SUDAN” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Senate section on pages S1816-S1818 on March 1, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUDAN
Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I want to use most of my time to show some very graphic pictures of the face of genocide that is taking place in Darfur, Sudan. I wish I didn't need to do this. I wish the international community, particularly the United Nations, was acting so that something would take place to prevent this manmade genocide. But this genocide is occurring. It occurs while we are here today. It occurs in large numbers. Eric Reeves is probably the best documenter of Smith College. He estimates between 300,000 and 400,000 Darfurians have been killed in this genocide. I have been there. A number of Members have been there. Villages are being burned out by the Arab militia called Jingaweit. The African Union has not been in power to put in a sufficient number of troops or with enough authority to act to be able to stop this horror.
What I am going to show on the floor are African Union monitors' pictures taken of people who have been killed and brutalized in western Sudan. They are graphic pictures. They are pictures of people who have been brutally killed in this genocide. My hope in showing this is that people will see the face of genocide and action will occur, specifically that the United Nations will take credible action. They have not. They have not taken credible economic action, political action, and they certainly haven't taken anything in the way of credible military action to stop this from occurring.
These pictures come courtesy of Nichol Kristof of the New York Times, who wrote a February 23 article in which some of these pictures appeared titled ``The Secret Genocide Archive.'' In it, Kristof says:
``These are just four pictures in a secret archive of thousands of photos and reports that document the genocide currently underway in Darfur. The materials were gathered by African Union monitors, who are about the only people able to travel widely in that part of the Sudan.'' He goes on to say, ``The archive also includes an extraordinary document seized from a janjaweed official that apparently outlines genocidal policies. Dated last August, the document calls for the `execution of all directives from the president of the republic' and is directed to regional commanders and security officials. `Change the demography of Darfur and make it void of African tribes,' the document urges.'' I have yet to determine if that document has been verified, but understand that the State Department is analyzing it for authenticity, and certainly the actions taking place in Darfur today reflect those words.
Finally, Mr. Kristof writes, ``I'm sorry for inflicting these horrific photos on you.'' Mr. Kristof, with all due respect, you need not apologize. It is the world community that needs to apologize for their complete inaction and indifference to this modern genocide.
Over 6 months ago the U.S. Congress declared genocide, followed shortly thereafter with a similar declaration by former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Failure to deem this genocide by the international community, which would force action, has led to death beyond measure and the threat of famine and disease that could wipe out many more thousands. Eric Reeves of Smith College reports, ``evidence strongly suggests that total mortality in the Darfur region of western Sudan now exceeds 400,000 human beings since the outbreak of sustained conflict in February 2003.'' The widely reported official number of deaths, recorded only since last March, is 70,000 and nearly 2 million displaced.
To give you a frame of reference, the tsunami's death toll has been placed at around 200,000. We are talking here about 400,000 deaths in a manmade catastrophe--genocide--in Sudan.
I ask my colleagues, and particularly the international community and the U.N.--and Kofi Annan in particular--how many more thousands of deaths does it take?
Nichol Kristof provided me with additional pictures of the genocide in Sudan. I have these pictures for my colleagues to see, but due to their graphic nature, will not show all of them on television. I will describe each picture for my colleagues though, and would invite them to come and view these pictures in the cloakroom or in my office. The images tell a dark story of tragedy that continues to strike the villages of Darfur.
The first picture shows a child who had his face beaten in, presumably with a rifle butt, in a massacre in Hamada in January.
The next graphic photograph is of a man who was castrated and then shot in the head. This is a common fate of male prisoners taken captive by the janjaweed.
Skeletons litter the ground of Darfur near the sites of massacres. The next photograph is from a massacre in Adwa in December, 2004. It's difficult to determine if this individual was burned or if the corpse's condition is a result of severe decay. It does appear as though this person's last moments were spent fleeing the attack.
The next image is of a man who was one of 107 black Africans killed by Arabs in Hamada in the January massacre.
These photographs, taken by African Union officials on the ground in Darfur, were slipped to Nichol Kristof of the New York Times.
The next photograph is of a girl who was also killed in Hamada in January. The killers do not discriminate between male or female, children or adults.
Another photo is of a more fortunate victim of the attack on Hamada in January. As she displays her injured arm, I can only help but think what kind of traumatic experience she endured and what psychological after-effects she will have to deal with for her entire life.
Another young man did not make it out alive of the attack on Hamada. His blue flip-flops lay nearby.
Finally, a skeleton, from an attack in Adwa in December, still has its wrists bound in this photo. The clothes were pulled down, suggesting that the person had been sexually abused before being killed. If it was a woman, she was likely raped; if it was a man, he was likely castrated.
This is the face of genocide in the World today.
The African Union troops and monitors on the ground have seen these atrocities with their own eyes. I am proud to say that the United States has supported the African Union's peacekeeping efforts on various fronts. To date, the U.S. has contributed over $40 million to the African Union. We have done so with hopes of securing an immediate end to the genocide and humanitarian crisis. Allowing the pictures and documents to remain buried away in a secret file will lend no immediate help to ending this crisis. However, we do believe that if these documents and photographs are made available to international actors including the United States, and other United Nations Security Council member states, we would see immediate action that could end the crisis and foster accountability. I urge the leaders of the African Union to release these documents and photos immediately and for the Government of Sudan to allow complete unimpeded access to the region in discussion. The last public report the African Union posted on their website was dated January 31, 2005. I have heard reports of rape and pillage since that time.
The world community has watched as there have been numerous violations of last year's cease-fire agreement, including attacks aimed at killing innocent civilians and destroying villages. Unfortunately, aid groups have withdrawn from the region, and each day we run the risk of watching the current chaos spin out of control beyond imagination.
Despite numerous bills and resolutions passed in the House and the Senate and several U.N. Resolutions, the international community has failed to act efficiently and effectively to end the crisis. On July 30, 2004, United Nations Security Council passed a resolution in 1556 calling on the government of Sudan to disarm the janjaweed militia and to provide unfettered access for humanitarian relief agencies. The resolution also imposed an arms embargo on ``nongovernmental entities and individuals'' in Darfur. Essentially, this arms embargo only embargoed the rebels and not the janjaweed who were receiving arms from the government of Sudan.
In September, the Council passed Resolution 1564, calling on the government of Sudan to cooperate with an expanded AU force and threatened sanctions if the government failed to meet the Council's demands. We have seen no sanctions.
Despite all of these actions, the Government of Sudan has not acted to end the violence against civilians, nor have they disarmed the janjaweed, or abided by cease-fire violations, including use of air power against civilians. In addition, reports indicate that the United Nations was undermining the cease-fire through agreements they were making with the Government of Sudan, including authorizing police forces and security forces to patrol IDP areas without approval from the AU Commission. Several weeks ago with my colleague Congressman Frank Wolf, I called on Kofi Annan to ``lead or leave.'' In other words, he should lead the Security Council to pass a strong, meaningful resolution, or he should resign in protest at the complacency of the world.
The Commission of Inquiry began its three-month mandate on October 25, 2004. The report, which was leaked by the government of Sudan despite agreements with the U.N., has clearly been jaded by inside politics. I fear that we will continue to see lip-service without meaningful action. Somehow, the report has spawned a political debate over where to try the criminals and not on how to effectively and immediately provide security and end the crisis. We are simply buying time for the murderers in Sudan.
The Report of the Commission of Inquiry makes clear the need for appropriate U.N. Security Council action. So it is in the best interest of all, especially the people of Darfur, to avoid protracted debate as to where the trial is taking place. The key is to stop the killing that is taking place in Sudan.
The deployment of African Union peacekeeping troops must be accelerated and expanded immediately. With only 2,000 troops currently in Darfur, and plans for 3,300 total, we must provide the appropriate technical assistance to see that the numbers needed to effectively patrol Darfur are on the ground immediately.
I believe that the United Nations should vote to immediately levy hefty and serious economic and diplomatic sanctions against the government of Sudan, the government-sponsored janjaweed, and any businesses or companies complicit through their government connections. We must insist upon an arms embargo against the Government of Sudan, travel restrictions of Sudanese government officials, and a freeze on the assets of companies controlled by the ruling party that do business abroad. Twenty months after the conflict in Darfur began, not one punitive measure has been imposed on the government of Sudan. It is time to act.
As the United States, European Union, African Union, and others begin deciding what steps are next, my colleague Senator Corzine and I have decided to introduce a bill called the Darfur Accountability Act. This bill reiterates that the atrocities taking place in Darfur are genocide, it calls for sanctions in the UN Security Council. It also calls for accelerated assistance to the African Union force in Darfur, for the establishment of a military no-fly zone in Darfur, for an extension of the multilateral arms embargo to include the Government of Sudan, and it freezes the assets and property of criminals and denies visas and entry to them while also calling for a multilateral effort to do the same. In addition, it calls for a Special Presidential Envoy for Sudan, and states that the United States supports accountability through a competent international court of justice, and requires that the administration report to Congress on such efforts.
I encourage my colleagues to join us in moving this bill through Congress. We do not have days and weeks to spare when millions of lives are in jeopardy. We cannot grant the Government of Sudan and the janjaweed more time to execute the African tribes in Darfur. I look forward to working with Senator Corzine and others to see passage of this bill.
I hope these pictures will serve as a reminder to my colleagues that we must act to end this genocide. Members of this body have traveled to Rwanda and to Auschwitz to commemorate genocides of the past. We are doing no victims of genocide a favor by turning a blind eye to the atrocities in Sudan. Let these pictures and stories serve as a reminder of our responsibility to uphold dignity and human rights around the world. We need to act now.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant Democratic leader is recognized.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is my understanding that 30 minutes is allotted to the Democratic side.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
Mr. DURBIN. I will indicate that if Senator Specter from the Judiciary Committee comes to the floor to lay down the bankruptcy bill, I will ask unanimous consent that he be given an opportunity and that our time be preserved in morning business, even though he is given that chance to lay down the bill.
Before my colleague from Kansas leaves--I know he is off to a committee meeting--I thank the Senator for his statement. It is critically important that all of us on both sides of the aisle, Democrat and Republican, make it clear every single day about this senseless killing that is going on in the Darfur region of Sudan.
We had the gentleman who is the subject of ``Hotel Rwanda'' in Chicago a week ago, Paul Rusesabagina. He saved 1,200 people in Rwanda from genocide. He did not come to brag; he came to beg that we do something about Sudan. He touched my heart. I said I will come back and do everything I can, and every day I will get up and speak, if I have a chance, to remind people that we have to do something as a nation.
I thank the Senator from Kansas for his statement. It was very eloquent. Although I may not agree on every single thing he said, I certainly agree this is a matter of great urgency and immediacy. I thank him for his leadership.
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