U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

66–787 CC WASHINGTON : 2000

H.R. 2906, TO FACILITATE FAMINE RELIEF EFFORTS AND A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION TO

THE WAR IN SUDAN

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

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COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York, Chairman

WILLIAM F. GOODLING, Pennsylvania

JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa

HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois

DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey

DAN BURTON, Indiana

ELTON GALLEGLY, California

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida

CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina

DANA ROHRABACHER, California

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California

PETER T. KING, New York

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio

MARSHALL ‘‘MARK’’ SANFORD, South

Carolina

MATT SALMON, Arizona

AMO HOUGHTON, New York

TOM CAMPBELL, California

JOHN M. MCHUGH, New York

KEVIN BRADY, Texas

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina

PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio

GEORGE P. RADANOVICH, California

JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado

SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut

TOM LANTOS, California

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American

Samoa

MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio

CYNTHIA A. MCKINNEY, Georgia

ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida

PAT DANNER, Missouri

EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama

BRAD SHERMAN, California

ROBERT WEXLER, Florida

STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey

JIM DAVIS, Florida

EARL POMEROY, North Dakota

WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York

BARBARA LEE, California

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York

JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania

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

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio

TOM CAMPBELL, California

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California

THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey

ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York

BARBARA LEE, California

TOM SHEEHY, Subcommittee Staff Director

MALIK M. CHAKA, Professional Staff Member

CHARISSE GLASSMAN, Democratic Professional Staff Member

COURTNEY ALEXANDER, Staff Associate

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C O N T E N T S

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

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H.R. 2906, TO FACILITATE FAMINE RELIEF EFFORTS AND A COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTION

TO THE WAR IN SUDAN

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.

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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

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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 activVerDate 11-MAY-2000 13:53 Jan 10, 2001 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 66787.TXT HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1
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ity 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

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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 Senatepassed 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.

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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.

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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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