The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“SUDAN'S POLICIES” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1639-E1640 on Oct. 2, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUDAN'S POLICIES
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HON. FRANK R. WOLF
of virginia
in the house of representatives
Monday, October 2, 2000
Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today I express my profound disappointment with the Clinton Administration's policies toward Sudan. To be sure, there are many good people who have tried to implement worthy and thoughtful policies regarding Sudan during the tenure of this Administration. The problem with this Administration's Sudan policy, is that more often than not, the voices that should have been heard, have not carried the day.
I have been to Sudan three times since 1989 and have seen the conditions on the ground first-hand.
Since 1983, the government of Sudan has been waging a brutal war against factions in the south who are fighting for self-determination and religious freedom. Most people have died in Sudan than in Kosovo, Bosnia, Somalia and Rwanda combined with the civil war resulting in over 2 million deaths. Most of the dead are civilians--women and children--who died from starvation and disease that has resulted from the dislocation caused by war.
The government of Sudan routinely attacks civilian targets--such as hospitals, churches and feeding centers--and uses aerial bombings to intimidate and kill the southern population. In the past few months, several hospitals and schools in the south have been bombed by the government, killing numerous innocent men, women, and children.
I wrote Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Adviser Samuel Berger on March 22, 2000, about the Government of Sudan's intentional bombings of a hospital in the south, enclosing an op-ed piece from the Wall Street Journal by Franklin Graham. Franklin Graham is the head of a non-governmental organization called Samaritan's Purse that operates a hospital in Southern Sudan that has been repeatedly bombed by the Government of Sudan. Mr. Graham wrote:
``The governments of the world could help the southern Sudanese through international trade sanctions, military action, and public condemnation. Despite empty, halfhearted rebukes, the international community has taken no meaningful action to condemn the Sudanese government. . . .''
But that wasn't the first time I've written this Administration about Sudan. Because of the millions of deaths and because of the atrocities that have been committed by the government of Sudan, soon after this Administration took office in 1993, I wrote to President Clinton asking him to appoint a special envoy to Sudan, explaining that:
``The appointment of a special envoy is especially timely since the State Department has recently declassified powerful new information detailing widespread human rights atrocities being committed by the military of Sudan. Most appalling among these abuses is the Sudanese government's practice of kidnapping and slavery of women and children from southern Sudan.''
The Administration did appoint a special envoy in May 1994, but Melissa Wells held the position for only a short time. After some time had elapsed without a special envoy for Sudan, I wrote the Administration at least seven more times about the importance of filling
To date, though, their efforts have not led to a peace. To bring about peace, the situation in Sudan needs the attention of and investment of time from the President, comparable to the efforts President Clinton has made in Northern Ireland and in the Middle East. While President Clinton has remained silent, hundreds of thousands of people have died.
This Administration knows that slavery, the selling of its own people, is in the government of Sudan's portfolio. The Sudanese government has done nothing to stop the slavery. Slave traders from the north sweep down into southern villages recently destabilized by fighting, and kidnap women and children who are then sold for use as domestic servants, concubines or other purposes. This is real-life chattel slavery. It exists today--at the threshold of the 21st century.
A de-classified U.S. State Department cable describes this administration's knowledge of this slavery since at least 1993. This cable, dated April 1993, which I include for the Record, states:
``Credible sources say GOS [Government of Sudan] forces, especially in the PDF, routinely steal women and children in the Bahr El Ghazal. Some women and girls are kept as wives; the others are shipped north where they perform forced labor on Kordofan farms or are exported, notably to Libya. Many Dinka are reported to be performing forced labor in the areas of Meiram and Abyei. Others are said to be on farms throughout Kordofan.
``There are also credible reports of kidnappings in Kordofan. In March 1993 hundreds of Nuer displaced reached northern Kordofan, saying that Arab militias between Abyei and Muglad had taken children by force, killing the adults who resisted. The town of Hamarat el Sheikh, northwest of Sodiri in north Kordofan, is reported to be a transit point for Dinka and Nuba children who are then trucked to Libya.''
I wrote President Clinton about slavery in Sudan on September 9, 1997, saying, ``Mr. President, women and children are being sold into slavery--real life slavery in Sudan . . . And the United States response? Talk tough but take no action.''
On December 3, 1997, I again wrote President Clinton about this atrocity, saying that America has to stand up to the government in Khartoum.
The government of Sudan has been on the U.S. State Department's list of countries that sponsor terrorism since 1993. One can fly into Khartoum and find terrorist groups fully functioning there. The government of Sudan was implicated in the assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
On September 9, 1997, after hearing that the Administration was considering re-staffing the U.S. Embassy in Sudan, I wrote to President Clinton, reminding him that,
``there has been absolutely no progress on terrorism, human rights or religious persecution . . . The government [of Sudan] is harboring terrorists and has done nothing to deal with this issue. You say you are tough on terrorism. What kind of signal does this send. . . . Actions like these further erode my confidence in the administration's true willingness to stand up for human rights and against terrorism. It's time to do more than talk.''
It has been widely reported from numerous sources that the war is estimated to cost the government of Sudan $1 million a day. This Administration's failure to prevent the
On September 30, 1999, I wrote Arthur Levitt, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, that:
``Oil revenue will . . . allow the government of Sudan to buy still more weapons. The government of Sudan has announced publicly that it will use the oil revenue to increase the momentum and lethality of the war . . . Allowing the CNPC to raise capital in the U.S. would exacerbate the already tragic situation in Sudan. It would also make it easier for Americans to invest, perhaps unknowingly, in a company that is propping up a regime engaged in slavery, genocide and terrorism . .
. .''
On November 4, 1999, I voiced similar concern about the proposed listing of CNPC/PetroChina to Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urging her to do what she could to prevent the listing of CNPC/PetroChina on the NYSE. This Administration, though refused to prevent PetroChina's listing on the NYSE.
Just recently, the government of Sudan's repeated bombings of international relief agencies operating under the umbrella of the United Nations forced the shut down of most food aid delivery in Southern Sudan. These bombings have been reported in numerous press accounts.
On this Administration's watch, particularly President Clinton's silence and refusal to speak out and to take the initiative in promoting a just peace in the Sudan, there have been more killings and more deaths in southern Sudan.
This Administration's record on preventing the importation of gum arabic from Sudan has been spotty. I wrote twelve letters to the Administration in which I asked the Administration to maintain the gum arabic sanctions against Sudan.
While an embargo on gum arabic has been in effect by Executive Order since November 1997, just this year the Administration allowed an exemption of a shipment of gum arabic from Sudan. Now, the Administration seems to be giving Lukewarm opposition to lifting this embargo in response to a technical corrections trade bill that included a section that would lift the embargo on gum arabic from Sudan. This language was buried in H.R. 4868 (the ``Miscellaneous Trade and Technical Corrections Act 2000'') and very few Members of Congress were aware of its presence in the bill. I think the verdict is still out on whether this Administration will uphold the embargo on gum arabic from Sudan, but I received a response to my August 4, 2000 letter from Ambassador Holbrooke, in which Ambassador Holbrooke wrote:
``The Administration agrees with you that the sanctions on the government of Sudan has not made progress in rectifying the human rights abuses for which those sanctions were imposed, and we should not consider permanently lifting sanctions until satisfactory progress has been made.''
Recently I have seen a glimmer of hope in what appears to be an effort by the Administration to prevent Sudan from becoming a member of the Security Council at the United Nations. Only time will tell if the Administration will be vigorous on this issue and ultimately successful in keeping Sudan off of the U.N. Security Council.
Now there are troubling reports of a Chinese military presence bolstering the government of Sudan's grip on the oil fields, yet the Clinton Administration has done nothing to slow or prevent China's large role in the country of Sudan. An article from United Press International dated August 30 describes the varied reports on Chinese troop levels in Sudan and outlines the likely Chinese military presence in Sudan:
``. . . [a State Department] official conceded that China has a substantial economic interest and a large military sales program in Sudan and that Chinese troops have been deployed in the north African country . . . an intelligence official following the issue said classified reports gathered from spies indicate China may indeed be planning to deploy large numbers of troops to Sudan . . .''
I wrote President Clinton on February 15, 2000, about how I think history will judge his record particularly on Sudan, unless he shows significantly more interest in his remaining months in office, saying,
``Many people have contacted you over the years as President about the long ongoing tragedy in Sudan. You have done little or nothing in response to the killing and slavery that has ended or devastated millions of lives, women and children included . . . I implore you to use some of your remaining time and energy on the critical plight of the people of Sudan and especially those in the south who are daily subject to bombing, starvation, sickness, relocation, slavery, and death. History will not judge you well on this because you have not even personally shown any interest in this.''
The legacy of this Administration will not be that it took decisive and bold action to stop atrocities in Africa and in other parts of the world. When history is written about this Administration, I think historians will say that they failed to act when action would have made a difference and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Even for something as benign and universal as promoting religious freedom, this Administration did little, to nothing, to outright opposition to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
President Clinton has traveled more than almost any other President. He has had first hand experiences throughout Africa, more experience and actual time in Africa than any other President. But all of his time only amounted to photo opportunities and handshakes, amounting to substance-free public relations.
Because of his time in Africa, he should have and could have done so much more. The death, suffering, and destruction that has occurred over the past eight years needed more than a touch down by Air Force One.
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