{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-2004-12-08-pt1-PgS12025", "2004-12-08", 108, 2, null, null, "DARFUR", "SENATE", "SENATE", "ALLOTHER", "S12025", "S12026", "[{\"name\": \"William H. Frist\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "150 Cong. Rec. S12025", "Congressional Record, Volume 150 Issue 139 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 139 (Wednesday, December 8, 2004)]\n[Senate]\n[Pages S12025-S12026]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                                 DARFUR\n\n  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I want to comment on one last issue. It is\nan issue I have brought to the floor many times. The issue I speak of\nis the issue of the crisis a long way away from Tennessee which I just\nspoke to, a long way away from Washington, DC where we are tonight, and\na long way away from education which I just spoke to and which affects\nour future so much. I want to speak to an issue that focuses on the\ncontinent of Africa and a region called Darfur.\n  A few weeks ago the Sudanese Government agreed once more to make\npeace with its southern region. While this is encouraging news, and the\ninternational community is hopeful, we must not overlook the crisis\nthat is raging right now, as we speak, in Darfur.\n  Last night I had the opportunity, with several others, in a very\ncasual environment to be with His Majesty the King of Jordan. And it\nwas interesting. He had met with the President. And this was an\ninformal gathering over dinner last night.\n  The very first issue he brought up to me was, are we making progress\nin Darfur, which is a part of Sudan. And my response was: Not as much\nas we need to.\n  He said: I agree.\n  He told me the story of how his country, Jordan, is addressing it in\nmany ways. And they have been so beneficial throughout the entire\nMiddle East, whether it is in Iraq or all the way across to the country\nof Africa. He told me the story of a field hospital that his Government\nand his military have put in that region of Darfur.\n  Darfur is a region about the size of France which is in this country\nwith Sudan, the western part of the country of Sudan. But just the\nDarfur region is about the size of France so it is a big area. He told\nme the story of a hospital he has put there and the trust that hospital\nis building.\n  For nearly 2 years now the Sudanese Government has waged war against\nthe people of the Darfur region. Despite two United Nations Security\nCouncil resolutions, pressure from the international community and\nneighboring countries, the Government of Khartoum continues its\ngenocidal campaign. In mid-November Khartoum ostensibly agreed to stop\nthe attacks, but within hours of their agreement, the Sudanese police\nraided a camp in southern Darfur, destroying homes and driving out\ncivilians. Such attacks still continue. Tens of thousands of innocent\nvictims have died as a result of this government-condoned and, worse\nthan that, government-sponsored violence. Eight million more have been\ndisplaced, have been moved out of their homes, have been moved out of\ntheir villages, have been transported miles and miles from home,\nfamily, and security. Entire villages have been burned to the ground.\nWomen raped, children abducted, executed.\n  Special U.N. Envoy Jan Pronk warns that Darfur is on the brink of\nanarchy. We can't stand by as the people of Darfur suffer. We cannot\nallow another Rwanda. They are calling out to us. They are pleading for\nour help. The international community has a responsibility, a moral\nobligation to act, to respond, to act with solution.\n  In August, I had the opportunity to travel to Africa which I do at\nleast once a year. I usually go to the southern Sudan, but on this trip\nI chose to go to that western region of Sudan, the Darfur region. But\nbecause of difficulties with getting into that country and the\ninability to get a visa, I started over in the country of Chad which is\nwest of Sudan. And it is at that Chad-Sudanese border that refugees by\nthe thousands are fleeing to get out of the crisis and these vicious\nattacks in the Darfur region.\n  What a wonderful opportunity it was for me to see refugee camps which\nhad sprung up to give support to these refugees whose families have\nbeen fractured. They didn't know where their spouses were. They had\nlost their kids. Refugee camps where 5,000, 10,000, 15,000 or 20,000\nrefugees would come together in miserable conditions, but still people\ncoming together, supported by outside groups.\n  One of the refugee camps we visited was in Touloum in Chad, and that\nis several hours northeast from the capital there in N'Djamena.\n  I was on the ground and met with the refugees and met with the\ncommunity leaders. What I saw there was fairly appalling. Thousands of\nrefugees are housed in dust-covered tents. Many more live in makeshift\nshelters of gathered wood and plastic sheeting.\n  I spoke with a gentleman named Asman Adam Abdallah. In Darfur, he had\nbeen a man of prominence, an officer of his tribe and a government\nofficial. He was from a small village in the Darfur region. It was a\nvillage called Jemeza, just north of the regional capital of El Fasher.\n  During the attack on his village he became separated from his family.\nHe didn't know if they were still alive. I asked about his family and\nhe said, ``I don't know.'' He didn't know what would happen the next\nweek. If you asked, Are you going to be able to go back to your\nvillage, he says, I don't know. I don't know about my wife. I don't\nknow about my children.\n  He recounted witnessing 15 men of his village summarily murdered. It\ntook him 18 days to travel from that Darfur region across the border\ninto Chad and to reach the refugee camp of Touloum. Sudanese Government\nplanes bombarded Asman and his fellow survivors as they trekked first\nto Tine, a town right at the border of the Sudan and Chad.\n  I talked to many refugees, and another one in the Touloum camp\ndescribed how during a raid on her village, several soldiers grabbed a\nbaby and they wanted to see what gender or sex the baby was. The\nsoldiers began to argue back and forth, with the mother watching,\nwhether to kill the baby boy. She overheard one soldier remarking,\n``But this child is so young.'' It appeared that the soldiers were\nunder orders to kill all male children.\n  I heard another story of a mentally disabled 15-year-old boy who was\nthrown into a burning house, and these houses are really huts. He was\nthrown into that house to perish. I heard another story of a paralyzed\nman being burned alive in his hut. I heard stories of women who were\nraped in front of their own children.\n  I asked one refugee in Touloum what it would take for him to go home.\nHe said to me, ``I will go if you''--pointing to me--``will go with me\nand stay with me.''\n  The Janjaweed attacks described to me were so vividly disturbing. You\ngo from one camp to another camp, one little tent village to another\none. The stories were exactly the same. You know it is not isolated. It\nis occurring all over the region. You know it is organized and it is\npurposeful. The Janjaweed are preceded by aerial attacks by the\nmilitia. It is preceded by aircraft flying over; they are government\naircraft. In some cases, soldiers in government uniforms participate on\nthe ground and make references to ``orders from Khartoum.'' Survivors\ntell of racial slurs being hurled at them as the Janjaweed sweep\nthrough the villages\n\n[[Page S12026]]\n\nand kill the men and boys and raze their homes.\n  The dictatorship in Khartoum says they are not responsible for the\nJanjaweed. They tell us officially: We cannot control what goes on with\nthe Janjaweed. To me, that is hard to believe. I believe otherwise. I\nbelieve if they were sincere in their efforts to make peace, peace\nwould be at hand. The direct line between the government of Sudan, the\nJanjaweed, and the raping and pillaging and burning is so direct that I\nam convinced there has to be some sort of order coming from the top.\nBut if that same order was reversed, coming from the top, the crisis\nwould end. That is what I am so hopeful about. That is why at 9 o'clock\non the Senate floor it is important for our voice to be heard. If we\ndon't recognize or shine light on that, if we don't call the\ninternational community to act, that order from the government in\nKhartoum simply will not come, this crisis will not stop, and this\ngenocide will continue.\n\n  The regime in Khartoum has cynically concluded that it can survive a\nmoderate amount of diplomatic pressure and that it can continue the\ngenocide. I say cynical because it is wrong. When I say it, I am sure\npeople think it is wrong, but it is still occurring. Therefore, we have\nto shine more light and put on more pressure, and we need to go not\njust before the Senate, but we need to have our media across the\ncountry focus on what is going on with the genocide in the Sudan and\nthis Darfur region.\n  The government in Khartoum believes it can ignore what is mostly\nrhetorical pressure that has been brought to bear by the international\ncommunity to date. Lip service is being given, but that is just about\nit. Khartoum believes that the threat of a Chinese veto in the U.N.\nSecurity Council will protect it from more serious sanctions. We must\nprove them wrong. I am convinced we can prove them wrong. It is going\nto take our collective wisdom, but our collective action.\n  For nearly 7 years, I have had the opportunity to travel to Sudan and\nto neighboring countries more in my capacity as a doctor, as medical\nmission work, than as a Senator. My first visits there were in 1998. I\nhad the opportunity to help and participate with a wonderful group\ncalled Well Medical Mission, establishing a hospital in this region\ncalled Lui. I have had the opportunity to go back many times to that\nsouthern part of Sudan.\n  I remember in the year of 2000 going into the middle part of Sudan,\ninto a region called the Nuba Mountains, a village called Kuada. We\ndelivered 35 tons of seed and farm tools for about 8,000 families. That\nwas back in 2000. Since then, that area has opened up to relief. We\nwere one of the first relief airplanes in that region. The Nuba\nMountains are a wonderful part of the Sudan that has a history rich in\ntradition of great Nuba wrestlers--glorious men--really boys--who were\npowerful, big, strong. When I went there, I heard about the 2,000 years\nof this history of wrestling. When I went--and we were the first relief\nefforts in there in 15, 20 years--I found sick people--no wrestlers but\nthin, emaciated kids, with stunted growth from conditions imposed on\nthem by the government.\n  I mentioned to others there is another part of the Sudan called\nBapong in the oil region, in the Upper West Nile area. There the\ngovernment was targeting civilians and denying them basic medical\nneeds. Since that time, a hospital has been put in that region. I had\nthe opportunity to go back this past year.\n  Sudan does need to be a focus. A lot is going on that we can\nparticipate in reversing. This fall, the Senate and House unanimously\npassed resolutions pressing for the immediate suspension of Sudan's\nmembership on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. Isn't it ironic that\nyou have Sudan in this body of the U.N., after everything that I have\njust said, participating on that Commission on Human Rights? Something\nis not right. It is hypocritical--even worse than that.\n  The House and the Senate acted several months ago. All 535 Members\nagreed that Sudan's membership on the U.N. commission to protect human\nrights is a travesty. It is a cruel trick. It defies all decency that a\nnation actively engaged in genocide against its own people could occupy\na position of honor and authority, a commission in the United Nations\nsupposedly devoted to human rights.\n  Mr. President, I do want to applaud the President of the United\nStates and Secretary Colin Powell for their efforts to bring\naccountability to the Khartoum Government. This administration has\nshown immense leadership in addressing the crisis in Darfur. In fact,\nwe can even be proud. The United States is providing over 80 percent of\nall the supplies from around the world going into Darfur and going into\nChad in these refugee camps--more than 80 percent.\n  Since February of 2003, we have provided $219 million for Sudan. The\nappropriations bill we just passed provides over $300 million for Sudan\nin additional support for the African Union peacekeeping activities. It\nis going to take Africans to solve this problem, but it is going to\ntake our support and our authority to help them solve that problem.\n  In September of this year, Secretary Powell came before the Senate\nForeign Relations Committee and unflinchingly declared the situation in\nDarfur to be government-sponsored genocide. That showed leadership in\nthe same way this body showed leadership when it, through a resolution,\ncalled it genocide.\n  In October, the President of the United States authorized the use of\nthree C-130 transport planes to convey 3,300 Rwandan and Nigerian\npeacekeeping troops into Darfur. Last month, the U.N. Secretary Council\nheld a 2-day meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. At that meeting, council\nmembers discussed carrot-and-stick approaches to bringing Khartoum into\ncompliance with international human rights standards. U.N. Ambassador\nJack Danforth has worked hard to press the U.N. to take concrete\naction, and I support him in this difficult and critical work.\n  I am deeply committed to the future of the Sudanese people. Their\nplight calls out to all freedom-loving nations. As a human being, as a\ndoctor, as a Senator who cherishes life, I believe it is our duty to\nanswer that call.\n  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.\n  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.\n  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for\nthe quorum call be rescinded.\n  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-2004-12-08-pt1-PgS12025"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 6.346839014440775, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}