[House Hearing, 106 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
H.R. 2906, TO FACILITATE FAMINE RELIEF EFFORTS AND A COMPREHENSIVE
SOLUTION TO THE WAR IN SUDAN
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MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 27, 2000
__________
Serial No. 106-141
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/
international--relations
______
U.S. GOVERMENT PRINTING OFFICE
66-787 CC WASHINGTON : 2000
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York, Chairman
WILLIAM F. GOODLING, Pennsylvania SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DAN BURTON, Indiana Samoa
ELTON GALLEGLY, California MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
DANA ROHRABACHER, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida
PETER T. KING, New York PAT DANNER, Missouri
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama
MARSHALL ``MARK'' SANFORD, South BRAD SHERMAN, California
Carolina ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
MATT SALMON, Arizona STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey
AMO HOUGHTON, New York JIM DAVIS, Florida
TOM CAMPBELL, California EARL POMEROY, North Dakota
JOHN M. McHUGH, New York WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
KEVIN BRADY, Texas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina BARBARA LEE, California
PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
GEORGE P. RADANOVICH, California JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania
JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
Richard J. Garon, Chief of Staff
Kathleen Bertelsen Moazed, Democratic Chief of Staff
------
Subcommittee on Africa
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman
AMO HOUGHTON, New York DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida
TOM CAMPBELL, California GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
GEORGE RADANOVICH, California BARBARA LEE, California
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
Tom Sheehy, Subcommittee Staff Director
Malik M. Chaka, Professional Staff Member
Charisse Glassman, Democratic Professional Staff Member
Courtney Alexander, Staff Associate
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Markup of H.R. 2906, to facilitate famine relief efforts and a
comprehensive solution to the war in Sudan..................... 1
APPENDIX
Text of H.R. 2906................................................ 10
Text of S. 1453.................................................. 32
H.R. 2906, TO FACILITATE FAMINE RELIEF EFFORTS AND A COMPREHENSIVE
SOLUTION TO THE WAR IN SUDAN
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THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2000
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Africa,
Committee on International Relations,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:45 p.m. in
Room 2255, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ed Royce
(Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Royce. The Subcommittee on Africa meets in open
session, pursuant to notice, to mark up House Resolution 2906,
the Sudan Peace Act.
The Chair lays the bill before the Subcommittee.
The Clerk will report the title of the bill.
Ms. Alexander. H.R. 2906, a bill to facilitate famine
relief efforts and a comprehensive solution to the war in
Sudan.
Mr. Royce. Without objection, the first reading of the bill
is dispensed with.
The Clerk will read the bill for amendment.
Ms. Alexander. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, section 1, short title.
This act may be cited as the ``Sudan Peace Act''.
Mr. Royce. Without objection, the bill is considered as
having been read and is open to amendment at any point.
[H.R. 2906 appears in the appendix.]
Mr. Royce. Let me just share with the Committee that this
bill was introduced on September 21, 1999, by Mr. Watts of
Oklahoma and several co-sponsors, including Mr. Payne on this
Committee and Mr. Tancredo, and subsequently referred to our
Subcommittee.
The Chair would note for the Members that section
7(a)(4)(A) of the bill, the language of page 11, lines 13
through 16, are in the jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways
and Means and are not before the Committee.
This Subcommittee originated and the House passed a
resolution last year calling what is going on in Sudan
genocide. The National Islamic Front government's battle
against the people of southern Sudan continues to take a
horrific toll. Over the last 20 years, some 2 million people
have lost their lives. That is the measure of the tragedy that
we are dealing with.
The government also condones the slave trade in Sudan.
Sudan is one of the most catastrophic human rights situations
faced in the world today.
House Resolution 2906 calls for the U.S. to play a leading
role in trying to resolve this crisis. The scale of the
suffering there demands this. It also helps to restructure our
food relief efforts. There are some 1.7 million people in need
of food assistance in Sudan. Food, as it has been for years, is
being used as a weapon by the Sudanese government.
The National Islamic Front announced last week that it
would not allow relief planes to enter southern Sudan if they
had taken off from outside the country. No tactic, however
reprehensible, has been spared. Sudan, which has been a state
sponsor of terrorism, is a force of destabilization throughout
eastern Africa.
Sudan is a very difficult issue on which this Subcommittee
has held several hearings. There are no easy answers. The
Senate passed a bill I think last week on this subject, and I
look forward to working with the administration, with which we
have been in contact, as this bill progresses to address
concerns the administration may have.
If there aren't any other Members seeking recognition, I
think what we will do at this point is recess for a minute and
then reconvene.
[Recess.]
Mr. Royce. We are going to reconvene at this time; and I am
going to ask our Ranking Member, Mr. Payne, to make an opening
statement.
Mr. Payne. Mr. Chairman, thank you for calling this
important markup of H.R. 2906, the Sudan Peace Act, introduced
also by Mr. Watts.
As we all know, the people of Sudan have suffered for many,
many years under the brutal dictatorship of the extremist
National Islamic Front [NIF] government. Over the past decade,
as we know and probably have heard before, an estimated 2
million people have died due to famine and war-related causes.
In 1998 alone it is estimated that 100,000 people died because
the NIF government denied the United Nations' OLS [Operation
Lifeline Sudan] humanitarian assistance, much-needed food aid
to be delivered to needy regions in the south of Sudan.
In short, more people have died in Sudan than in Bosnia,
Kosovo, Somalia and the Congo combined.
This bill reforms Operation Lifeline Sudan and coordinates
its efforts within the United Nations to revise the terms of
OLS and to end the veto power of the government of Sudan.
It expresses support for USAID's Sudan Transition
Assistance for Rehabilitation, STAR, program for democracy and
governance.
It supports planning for air transport and relief flights
for women and children living near the Nuba Mountains.
This bill calls on the government of Sudan to end its
support of slavery. As we debate this bill, many more people
will die due to the NIF government and its deliberative and
indiscriminate bombings of civilian targets, including
hospitals and schools.
On my several trips there, we saw the destabilization that
the bombing has done and the threat of bombs coming at any
time. We were asked to be on our best alertness, because there
could be the possibility that the Antonovs, old Russian planes,
might come.
I always talk about the fact that the chickens here are
first, and the children watch the chickens, and they run and
people run for cover. So I certainly would have preferred a
stronger bill. I support comprehensive sanctions that were
placed in the 1997 bill.
I also would have preferred to give direct assistance to
the National Democratic Alliance, which is made up of a number
of south Sudanese organizations fighting against the Turabi and
Bashir government.
So, with reluctance, I will support this bill, but I do
think that we are not tough enough on Sudan. We allowed this
pariah government to continue, but I will at least move this
forward, and hopefully we can get some tougher language in the
bill, so the Sudan knows we are serious. In this new
millennium, we still should not have slavery tolerated. We
should not have terrorists harbored. We should not have people
having food used as a weapon.
But, with that, I will, as I indicated, support this
legislation. But hopefully at some point we can really get the
Administration and this Congress serious about ending this
pariah government.
Mr. Royce. I thank you, Mr. Payne.
I think Mr. Tancredo wanted to make an opening statement as
well.
Mr. Tancredo. Mr. Chairman, I want to concur with many
things that my colleague, Mr. Payne, has said about this bill.
I certainly am glad that we are dealing with the issue because,
once again, it seems important for us to try and bring this to
the attention of the American public and even to the
Administration.
I mean, the one line I noticed quickly as I scanned the
bill that someone would perhaps take issue with is parentheses
4 on the first page where we say that this bill is important
for continued leadership by the United States. I mean, that
certainly is something we can challenge, the use of the word
``continued'' there.
Some leadership is necessary. It is not just necessary. It
is, in fact, as is stated, critical. We are trying, sometimes
it feels we have our hands tied behind us, to force this
Administration, force this government into providing that
leadership.
It is now almost 2 years that I have been dealing with this
issue. I know that my colleagues here on the Committee,
especially Mr. Payne has been around much longer, and has much
greater insight as a result of the length of time he spent both
on the Committee and with this issue in particular. But I must
say that it seems incredibly frustrating to me that after all
that has happened in Sudan, after all the attention that has
been focused on it by groups around this country, by television
programs, Touched By An Angel, a very popular program that
focused one of their entire shows on this issue, this is
amazing to me that we have not been able to generate more of a
response than this bill.
I also know that oftentimes in the Congress we are
encouraged to take a more moderate approach in any particular
legislation because there are things happening, on the
sidelines or behind the scenes and that sort of thing. It gives
us some rationale to take this kind of a step where you say,
OK, I know if we go any farther than that we may jeopardize
some activity. But I know of no other activity in the Sudan. I
know of nothing happening there that we might jeopardize by
taking this sort of a weakened step.
So, again, I just must say I am frustrated by our--I do not
want to say unwillingness, because I know there are a lot of
people desiring to do something, but our inability to do more.
It just seems incredible to me that something more can't be
done for these people and to bring peace in the region.
Because what this bill does, Mr. Chairman, I think,
frankly, is perhaps make the best of a bad situation, but it
does not change the situation; and we will have to revisit it.
I know, you all know, everybody knows that this does not mean
that we now can turn away. I am afraid, to a certain extent,
that this is exactly what may happen. We have ``the Sudan Peace
Act,'' and then we walk away from the table saying, well, we
passed the Sudan Peace Act, for heavens sake. Why isn't there
peace? I just don't understand that.
Of course, there isn't peace, because this does so little
in terms of actually enforcing it. It gives the President all
the power that he already has. It says, over and over again, we
approve of this, we encourage you to do that. But, of course,
we approved of this, we encouraged him to do these things time
and time and time again. There's nothing that really stops him.
There's no congressional position that stops the President from
taking the kind of action we give him in this document--
nothing--absolutely nothing. He could have done it at any time.
I keep going back--and I absolutely do not mean that this
is a partisan issue, the fact that Mr. Payne and I, see eye to
eye on this as an example of that. But I keep going back to the
comment made by Madeleine Albright when confronted with this.
She said, in a moment of candor, that perhaps was unsurpassed,
she said, this is not marketable in the United States. Sudan is
not marketable in the United States.
I recognize the political problems that come about as a
result of trying to identify support for a nation in Africa
that is the poorest nation on the continent. Perhaps that is
it. Perhaps that is really it. It is too poor. What can it
really offer us? What can we really expect?
Can there be any major corporations wanting to rush in to
Sudan if peace breaks out? Probably not. As a result, there
isn't the pressure to do what we did in many other countries,
many other areas of the world. It is not profitable enough in
Sudan. How much can we make off of it if we bring peace there?
If we can't make enough. Why should we push it?
I mean, that is the kind of mentality I think that
underlies the lethargy with which we have--I do not want to say
dealt with the Sudan, because we have not dealt with Sudan. It
is the best of a bad situation. But it doesn't change the
situation. For that, I am very, very sorry.
But I also want to say, Mr. Chairman, Members, I recognize
fully well that if there is any Member of this Committee that
could have done more, they would have. It is not because anyone
sitting here has a desire to keep us from ending this situation
in a positive way. I know that is true. It is--I guess you are
just hearing the rantings of a freshman Congressman who is
trying to deal with the frustrations that this place presents
him with.
Mr. Royce. Let me say I appreciate the frustration of the
gentleman from Colorado. As a matter of fact, I share that
frustration. I think many of us on this Committee do. We have
had a string of hearings on Sudan where we have witnessed
schoolchildren in the audience who have bought slaves back in
order to try to buy them their freedom.
I am myself absolutely appalled and astounded that things
like genocide and slavery can continue as we speak in this
world today, and so I share your angst over what is happening
in the Sudan. I think that one of the questions we have, one of
the tough decisions we have, is whether to move legislation
which can make it out of the Senate and get to the President's
desk in order to leverage as much as possible.
So we are faced with a tough choice, but one choice that we
can make, that we can move to take up the Senate-passed bill,
S. 1453, and if we do that, if we do that without objection, we
can basically set aside H.R. 2906, the House measure, bring up
the Senate-passed bill, get it from this Committee to the Full
Committee and to the Floor and to the President's desk and,
thus, have some impact.
So that is the tough choice we are faced with, but, if
there is no objection, that is what I am going to recommend at
this time, putting aside H.R. 2906.
Before I do that, I want to recognize my colleague from
California, Mr. Campbell, if I could, at this time.
Mr. Campbell. I thank the Chairman.
I will be supportive of your effort. I want to thank you
for your leadership. I mean, you have tremendously. You have
not dropped this ball.
Second, I want to applaud the passion and depth of
commitment of all Members of this Committee, but particularly
of Don Payne and Tom Tancredo. I know you wanted something
else. That is a fact.
There will, I think, be a debate in the Full Committee on
whether we should do that ``something else.'' I want to just
say that I came to this whole debate late, but there was a
serious jurisdictional issue Ways and Means might have
presented keeping us from doing anything.
So by Mr. Payne's kindness as the representative of the
minority party on this Committee, we are allowed to advance,
which, but for his kindness we would not. But when we have that
debate--and I simply want to say this because, in this one
respect, possibly, my views are different, I don't want to hide
them, I am not convinced that embargoes are the right way to
go.
I say that having visited Haiti three times in my life. I
really do wonder whether the embargo we had then during the
Cedras regime helped or hurt the people we were trying to help,
got eventually Haiti at least from that tyranny. But when we go
there afterwards, we see a devastated economy. I wonder, did it
really affect the powerful? Did it affect the oligarchs? Did it
affect the families that were running things? I am not sure it
did.
But I would take a little bit of convincing embargo is the
way to go, and I will express that view when we will have full
debate in Full Committee, and I thank you for your kindness in
both respects.
Mr. Royce. I would now, without objection, set aside H.R.
2906 and call up instead S. 1453.
The Clerk will report the title.
Ms. Alexander. S. 1453, an act to facilitate famine relief
efforts and a comprehensive solution to the war in Sudan.
Mr. Royce. Without objection, the first reading of the bill
is dispensed with.
The Clerk will read the bill for amendment.
Ms. Alexander. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, section 1, short title.
This act may be cited as the ``Sudan Peace Act.''
Mr. Royce. Without objection, the bill is considered as
having been read and is open to amendment at any point.
[S. 1453 appears in the appendix.]
Mr. Royce. I would ask if there are any other Members
seeking recognition or seeking to offer amendments or wanting
to make additional comments on the legislation.
Mr. Tancredo. Mr. Chairman, just that one thing. Let me
make an initial comment, in order to clear up something else
that my colleague, Mr. Campbell, mentioned here, my concern
doesn't rest only with the fact that we do not have sanctions
in this bill or embargoes. I would go much farther than that.
I may actually agree with you that embargoes may not be the
solution. There are things I would like to do much more
dramatic than even the original bill had in store for it. I do
want to have the debate when we get to the Full Committee, but
it will be hopefully with issues even beyond embargoes. It
wasn't just that thing that I was concerned about.
Mr. Royce. I would ask now if there is a motion.
Mr. Campbell. Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Royce. I recognize the gentleman from California.
Mr. Campbell. I move the Subcommittee report the bill S.
1453 favorably to the Full Committee.
Mr. Royce. Without objection, the motion is agreed to, and
the question is now on the ayes and noes.
Mr. Payne. Mr. Chairman, after the bill is passed--I guess
the meeting is over, but I, too, would like to associate my
remarks with the gentleman from California. He has indicated
and I also feel that if there was some way to get a stronger
piece of legislation at this point through that you certainly
have demonstrated a very strong interest in trying to be a
progressive Chairman, and I want to think of a term so that I
don't hurt you in your district, but I do want to indicate
that.
[Laughter.]
I know that if there was some way to get around this, that
perhaps you would also want to see it. I know that you want to
see the situation in Sudan changed just as much as we do. I
just wanted to put that on the record.
Mr. Royce. Progressive is deemed a positive term in Orange
County, CA, Mr. Payne.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Payne. OK.
Mr. Royce. I thank you for those remarks.
I think we should move to a vote of the ayes and noes. All
those in favor, say aye. Those opposed.
The motion is agreed to, and it will advance to Full
Committee.
This Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:10 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
July 27, 2000
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