IV

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 75

Condemning the National Islamic Front (NIF) government for its genocidal

war in southern Sudan, support for terrorism, and continued human

rights violations, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 24, 1999

Mr. PAYNE (for himself, Mr. WOLF, Mr. GILMAN, Ms. LEE, Mr. KILDEE, Ms.

NORTON, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois,

Mr. WYNN, Mr. UPTON, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. KING, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. DOYLE,

Mr. TRAFICANT, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. FROST,

and Mr. CANADY of Florida) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Condemning the National Islamic Front (NIF) government

for its genocidal war in southern Sudan, support for

terrorism, and continued human rights violations, and

for other purposes.

Whereas according to the United States Committee for Refugees (USCR) an estimated 1,900,000 people have died

over the past decade due to war and war-related causes

and famine, while millions have been displaced from their

homes and separated from their families;

Whereas the National Islamic Front (NIF) government’s war

policy in southern Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, and the
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Ingessena Hills has brought untold suffering to innocent

civilians and is threatening the very survival of a whole

generation of southern Sudanese;

Whereas the people of the Nuba Mountains and the

Ingessena Hills are at particular risk, having been specifically targeted through a deliberate prohibition of

international food aid, inducing manmade famine, and by

routinely bombing civilian centers, including religious

services, schools, and hospitals;

Whereas the National Islamic Front government is deliberately and systematically committing crimes against humanity in southern Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, and the

Ingessena Hills;

Whereas the National Islamic Front government is deliberately and systematically committing genocide in southern Sudan;

Whereas the Convention for the Prevention and the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by the United

Nations General Assembly in 1948, defines ‘‘genocide’’ as

official acts committed by a government with the intent

to destroy a national, ethnic, or religious group, and this

definition also includes ‘‘deliberately inflicting on the

group conditions of life calculated to bring about its

physical destruction, in whole or in part’’;

Whereas the National Islamic Front government systematically and repeatedly obstructed peace efforts of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) over

the past several years;

Whereas the Declaration of Principles (DOP) put forth by

the Intergovernmental Authority for Development medi-
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ators is the most viable negotiating framework to resolve

the problems in Sudan and to bring lasting peace;

Whereas humanitarian conditions in southern Sudan, especially in Bahr al-Ghazal and the Nuba Mountains, deteriorated in 1998, largely due to the National Islamic

Front government’s decision to ban United Nation’s relief flights from February through the end of April in

1998 and the government continues to deny access in

certain locations;

Whereas an estimated 2,600,000 southern Sudanese were at

risk of starvation late last year in southern Sudan and

the World Food Program currently estimates that

4,000,000 people are in need of emergency assistance;

Whereas the United Nations-coordinated relief effort, Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), failed to respond in time at

the height of the humanitarian crisis last year and has

allowed the National Islamic Front government to manipulate and obstruct the relief efforts;

Whereas the relief work in the affected areas is further complicated by the National Islamic Front’s repeated aerial

attacks on feeding centers, clinics, and other civilian targets;

Whereas relief efforts are further exacerbated by looting,

bombing, and killing of innocent civilians and relief workers by government-sponsored militias in the affected

areas;

Whereas these government-sponsored militias have carried

out violent raids in Aweil West, Twic, and Gogrial counties in Bahr el Ghazal/Lakes Region, killing hundreds of

civilians and displacing thousands;
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Whereas the National Islamic Front government has perpetrated a prolonged campaign of human rights abuses

and discrimination throughout the country;

Whereas the National Islamic Front government-sponsored

militias have been engaged in the enslavement of innocent civilians, including children, women, and the elderly;

Whereas the now common slave raids being carried out by

the government’s Popular Defense Force (PDF) militias

are undertaken as part of the government’s self-declared

jihad (holy war) against the predominantly traditional

and Christian south;

Whereas Christian Solidarity International (CSI) stated in its

recent report that ‘‘the institution of chattel slavery continues in a large scale in National Islamic Front-controlled areas of Sudan, especially in southern Darfur and

southern Kordofan’’;

Whereas the Department of State, in its report on Human

Rights Practices for 1997, affirmed that ‘‘reports and information from a variety of sources after February 1994

indicate that the number of cases of slavery, servitude,

slave trade, and forced labor have increased alarmingly’’;

Whereas the enslavement of people is considered in international law as ‘‘crime against humanity’’;

Whereas Christian Solidarity International estimates the

number of people enslaved by government-sponsored militias to be in the tens of thousands and that Christian

Solidarity International alone has helped redeem an estimated 5,942 slaves since 1995;

Whereas United Nations Special Rapporteur for Sudan,

Gaspar Biro, reported on a number of occasions the rou-
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tine practice of slavery and the complicity of the Government of Sudan;

Whereas the National Islamic Front government abuses and

tortures political opponents and innocent civilians in the

North and that many northerners have been killed by

this regime over the years;

Whereas the vast majority of Muslims in Sudan do not subscribe to the National Islamic Front’s extremist and politicized practice of Islam and moderate Muslims have

been specifically targeted by the regime;

Whereas the National Islamic Front government is considered by much of the world community to be a rogue state

because of its support for international terrorism and its

campaign of terrorism against its own people;

Whereas according to the Department of State’s Patterns of

Global Terrorism Report, ‘‘Sudan’s support to terrorist

organizations has included paramilitary training, indoctrination, money, travel documentation, safe passage, and

refuge in Sudan’’;

Whereas the National Islamic Front government has been implicated in the assassination attempt of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia in 1995 and the World

Trade Center bombing in 1993;

Whereas the National Islamic Front government has permitted Sudan to be used by well-known terrorist organizations as a refuge and training hub over the years;

Whereas the Saudi-born financier of extremist groups and the

mastermind of the United States embassy bombings in

Kenya and Tanzania, Osama bin-Laden, used Sudan as

a base of operations for several years and continues to

maintain economic interests there;
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Whereas on August 20, 1998, United States Naval forces

struck a suspected chemical weapons facility in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, in retaliation for the United

States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam;

Whereas relations between the United States and Sudan continue to deteriorate because of human rights violations,

the government’s war policy in southern Sudan, and the

National Islamic Front’s support for international terrorism;

Whereas the United States Government placed Sudan in

1993 on the list of seven states in the world that sponsor

terrorism and imposed comprehensive sanctions on the

National Islamic Front government in November 1997;

and

Whereas the struggle by the people of Sudan and opposition

forces is a just struggle for freedom and democracy

against the extremist regime in Khartoum: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That the Congress—

3 (1) strongly condemns the National Islamic

4 Front government for its genocidal war in southern

5 Sudan, support for terrorism, and continued human

6 rights violations;

7 (2) strongly deplores the government-sponsored

8 and tolerated slave raids in southern Sudan and

9 calls on the government to immediately end the

10 practice of slavery;
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1 (3) calls on the United Nations Security Coun2 cil to condemn the slave raids and bring to justice

3 those responsible for these crimes against humanity;

4 (4) calls on the President—

5 (A) to increase support for relief organiza6 tions that are working outside the United Na7 tions-coordinated relief effort, Operation Life8 line Sudan (OLS), in opposition-controlled

9 areas;

10 (B) to instruct the Administrator of the

11 United States Agency for International Devel12 opment (USAID) and the heads of other rel13 evant agencies to increase and better coordinate

14 with nongovernmental organizations outside the

15 Operation Lifeline Sudan system involved in re16 lief work in Sudan and work to strengthen Op17 eration Lifeline Sudan’s independence from the

18 National Islamic Front regime;

19 (C) to increase development funds for ca20 pacity building, democracy promotion, civil ad21 ministration, judiciary, and infrastructure sup22 port in opposition-controlled areas;

23 (D) to instruct the Administrator of the

24 United States Agency for International Devel25 opment to provide humanitarian assistance di-
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1 rectly, including food, to the Sudan Relief and

2 Rehabilitation Association (SRRA) and other

3 indigenous groups in southern Sudan and the

4 Nuba Mountains;

5 (E) to intensify and expand United States

6 diplomatic and economic pressures on the Na7 tional Islamic Front government;

8 (F) to provide the Sudan People’s Libera9 tion Army with defensive anti-aircraft weapons

10 in order to stop the indiscriminate bombings

11 against civilian populations by the National Is12 lamic Front’s air force;

13 (G) to take the lead to strengthen the

14 Intergovernmental Authority for Development’s

15 (IGAD) peace process; and

16 (H) not later than 3 months after the

17 adoption of this resolution, to report to the

18 Congress about the administration’s efforts or

19 plans to end slavery in Sudan; and

20 (5) calls on the United Nations Security

21 Council—

22 (A) to impose an arms embargo on the

23 Government of Sudan;
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1 (B) to condemn the enslavement of inno2 cent civilians and take appropriate measures

3 against the perpetrators of this crime;

4 (C) to swiftly implement reforms within

5 the Operation Lifeline Sudan to enhance inde6 pendence from the National Islamic Front re7 gime;

8 (D) to implement United Nations Security

9 Council Resolution 1070 relating to an air em10 bargo;

11 (E) to make a determination that the Na12 tional Islamic Front’s war policy in southern

13 Sudan and the Nuba Mountains constitutes

14 genocide; and

15 (F) to create ‘‘no-fly zones’’ in southern

16 Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, and the Ingessena

17 Hills in order to protect innocent civilians from

18 aerial bombardment by the National Islamic

19 Front’s air force.

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