SPEAKERS CONTENTS INSERTS
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2005
DARFUR PEACE AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT
OF 2005
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
H.R. 3127
JULY 21, 2005
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Serial No. 109–69
Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey,
Vice Chairman
DAN BURTON, Indiana
ELTON GALLEGLY, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
DANA ROHRABACHER, California
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
PETER T. KING, New York
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
RON PAUL, Texas
DARRELL ISSA, California
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
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JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia
MARK GREEN, Wisconsin
JERRY WELLER, Illinois
MIKE PENCE, Indiana
THADDEUS G. McCOTTER, Michigan
KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida
JOE WILSON, South Carolina
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
CONNIE MACK, Florida
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
MICHAEL McCAUL, Texas
TED POE, Texas
TOM LANTOS, California
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American Samoa
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
BRAD SHERMAN, California
ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
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GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
BARBARA LEE, California
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California
ADAM B. SCHIFF, California
DIANE E. WATSON, California
ADAM SMITH, Washington
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky
DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California
THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel
ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, Chairman
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
MARK GREEN, Wisconsin
JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California,
Vice Chairman
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DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
BARBARA LEE, California
BETTY McCOLLUM, Minnesota
BRAD SHERMAN, California
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
DIANE E. WATSON, California
MARY M. NOONAN, Subcommittee Staff Director
GREG SIMPKINS, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member
NOELLE LUSANE, Democratic Professional Staff Member
LINDSEY M. PLUMLEY, Staff Associate
C O N T E N T S
MARKUP OF
H.R. 3127, To impose sanctions against individuals responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, to support measures for the protection of civilians and humanitarian operations, and to support peace efforts in the Darfur region of Sudan, and for other purposes
Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 3127 offered by the Honorable Christopher H. Smith, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey and Chairman, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations
Amendment to H.R. 3127 offered by the Honorable Barbara Lee, a Representative in Congress from the State of California
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Amendment to H.R. 3127 offered by the Honorable Betty McCollum, a Representative in Congress from the State of Minnesota
Amendment to H.R. 3127 offered by the Honorable Barbara Lee
Amendment to H.R. 3127 offered by the Honorable Barbara Lee, the Honorable Betty McCollum, and the Honorable Diane E. Watson, a Representative in Congress from the State of California
Amendment to H.R. 3127 offered by the Honorable Diane E. Watson
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
The Honorable Betty McCollum: The New York Times article entitled ''Sudan Still Paying Militias Harassing Darfur, U.S. Says,'' dated July 21, 2005
DARFUR PEACE AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT OF 2005
THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2005
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights
and International Operations,
Committee on International Relations,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 6:05 p.m. in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Christopher H. Smith (Chairman of the Subcommittee) presiding.
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Mr. SMITH. Good afternoon. Pursuant to notice, I call up H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2005, for purposes of markup, and move its recommendation to the Full Committee. Without objection, the resolution will be considered as read and open for amendment at any point.
[H.R. 3127 follows:]
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Mr. SMITH. The Chair recognizes himself for a brief opening statement.
I would say to my colleagues, as you all know, since the crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan began 2 years ago, people around the world have scrambled to come to the aid of the 2.6 million Darfur residents who have been displaced by civil war. Members of this Congress, particularly Mr. Hyde, Mr. Payne, Mr. Lantos, Mr. Tancredo—really everyone on this Subcommittee—have worked hard on this issue over these many years. Several of us have devised legislation to address the pressing need to protect civilians from the government that has at times launched furious attacks on them.
The time for action is now, and it is unquestioned. There are too few of us who are passionately concerned with African issues, and the crisis in Darfur requires a compassionate response applied with passionate urgency. That is why we have developed a bipartisan response to this crisis. Because action must be taken soon to prevent further loss of life, H.R. 3127 has been carefully crafted to pass both houses of Congress in the shortest possible time frame in order to be a meaningful expression of our collective concern.
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H.R. 3127 emphasizes the role of the African Union mission in Sudan and, like the Senate version, calls for accelerated assistance which the African Union has requested to enable it to carry out its mission. In fact, the AU has warned that its peacekeeping mission in Darfur risks failure unless it receives increased support soon.
H.R. 3127 calls on the United States to work through NATO to help the AU mission provide air support to protect the lives of the civilians. It recommends sanctions on the Government of Sudan that would affect the petroleum sector and calls for suspension of Sudan's rights and privileges as a member of the U.N. General Assembly unless it honors pledges to cease attacks on civilians. It prohibits trading in the United States capital markets and denies port entries to Sudanese vessels.
H.R. 3127 calls on member states to cease and desist actions that support either the Sudanese Government or the Darfur rebels so as to cut off arms and material that would keep the fighting going.
The legislation we are considering today could help save many lives and help end the appalling tragedy of Darfur. It is a step in that direction. Last month, a coalition of Members of Congress, African advocacy groups, interfaith leaders, women, youth and labor unions called on the Administration to take urgent action to protect as many as a million people who may be dead by the end of this year without urgent action by America and the rest of the world community.
We need to move this legislation through the House and the Senate as quickly as possible to meet the deadlines set for deploying African Union peacekeepers to Darfur by mid-September.
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This Subcommittee has long operated on a bipartisan basis to protect the interests of Africans and all of Africa. As Chairman, I intend to continue that tradition, and I am pleased that H.R. 3127 is yet another example of our joint efforts to address Africa's challenges.
I would like to yield to my friend and colleague, Mr. Payne, for comments he might have.
Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for moving this Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2005.
As you know, this bill is the result of what proved to be somewhat tenuous negotiations between a number of offices, and I was, to be honest, quite disappointed that the original Darfur Genocide Accountability Act, H.R. 1424, was not scheduled for markup, would not be scheduled for markup. And in order to move along in Darfur, I think that there is too much suffering going on too long, and that I did agree to co-sponsor the new legislation that we have before us. H.R. 1424 had over 120 co-sponsors and many others interested in coming on board. However, that was 1424, and we are now talking about the new legislation before us, which has many similar counterparts. Of course, there are some areas that have been removed because it is a feeling that they went too far.
It is important to note that I agreed to co-sponsor Chairman Hyde's bill; he asked me and I said I would, as I mentioned, for the sake of the Sudan coalition. And I have to say that the Sudan coalition has really been a truly bipartisan effort. It has worked with Congressman Wolf, who was here before all of us. When Congressman Royce became Chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, Sudan was on the top of the agenda. When Congressman Tancredo came to the Congress, he, too, had a very strong interest. And I thought it was 2 or 3 years ago that we went to Sudan, he revised the number and told me it was 7 or 8 years ago. Time, I guess, travels quickly when you are having a good time, or maybe it just travels quickly, you know.
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But I do commend my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their continued interest and, of course, the Chairman, who has just been concerned about human rights throughout the world. And I commend Chairman Smith for his record which stands clear for everyone to see.
And of course, on our side of the aisle, we have stalwarts who have from day one as they entered Congress—Congresswoman Lee, Congresswoman McCollum, Congressman Meeks, Ambassador Watson—have all been strong supporters of trying to end these dastardly acts that have been going on in Sudan for too long. We had a civil war that lasted too long, for 20 years, the north versus the south. And people were then saying this was just a war between Christians and Muslims, and that the world always condemns Muslims because it is the old crusades, and that we had to continually show that this had nothing to do with religion, but Sharia law should not be applied throughout the whole country. We appealed that this had nothing to do with bias toward Muslims, that it was a north-south fight that should not have been happening, that Dr. Garang and his SPLA said that they would not have Sharia as a law. And so finally, with the Naivasha accords we have seen the north-south issue come to some settlement, and we are moving into the new Sudan.
However, we turned around and heard then about Darfur. No longer could we be accused of being anti-Muslim, and that this is once again bashing the Government of Sudan because it is Islamic, because the people of Darfur are Islamic, too. They carry the same Kuran that the people do in Khartoum. They pray the same number of times in Darfur in the west that they do in the capital city of Khartoum.
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And so, all of a sudden, the Government of Khartoum could no longer say that is the Christian West and that it is the EU and America always saying that the Muslim and Islamic faith is wrong. These were Islamic government officials, military officials, Antonov plains, bombing Muslim people who lived in Darfur. And the reason was not because they were not good Darfurians. As a matter of fact, the government, the army of Sudan in the past was actually led by many Darfurians who fought with the Government of Sudan and the Islamic, National Islamic Front, against the south.
And so I want to say that this legislation is not as strong as I want it to be, but I feel that we should move it along. Even the capital market sanctions, the no-fly zone, the area of using unmanned aircraft to have a no-fly zone, not a single U.S. personnel on the ground was in the bill. However, we have a new bill.
I realize that sometimes we have to compromise, and that is what I am doing, and I have accepted the bill as it is. I do hope that we can work on much stronger legislation that really holds accountable those who are responsible for this horrific genocide which we are still watching today. But we have to be clear and consistent with the message that we send.
I want to take this opportunity to come out strongly against the announcement made by Secretary Rice when, en route to Sudan yesterday from Senegal, said that the Administration is considering upgrading its diplomatic presence in Sudan, and she looks forward to the Ambassador level being opened in the Government of Khartoum. I think this is terribly going in the wrong direction. She said: ''We are looking for the day when we can put Ambassadorial representatives in there, because obviously things are moving pretty quickly in Sudan.'' Rice said she was willing to proclaim a new day in terms of our relationship with Sudan. A new day? Should we say that there is a new day as the situation in Darfur continues?
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Rice's statement sends the message to Khartoum that the United States is eager to normalize relationships; our only caveat was that the move to send an Ambassador will be determined by a resolution of the situation in Darfur. I would like to see more clarity on what is considered by the State Department a resolution to the problem. Only when the genocide has stopped, when the Janjaweed are disarmed and the government troops are completely pulled out of Darfur, when the killing ends, when the starvation, when the rapes, when all of this ends, that is when we should start to possibly consider sending an Ambassador, when people are no longer starving and dying painful deaths due to neglect by their government should we even consider changing our relationships with Sudan.
Dr. John Garang of the SPLA was just sworn in last week as the first Vice President. But this does not mean that he will have influence over that government there. He has a title; he is just beginning. We are putting too many eggs in the basket that the Government of Khartoum will be dealing with him.
So what do we need? We need a special envoy who can devote the adequate time. And I commend a bill that talks about a special envoy. My last conversation with Mr. Zoellick was that he was not sure that we needed a special envoy. He said he thought he could do the job, with all of the thousands of other things he has to do. I think that we should have a special envoy who could devote the adequate amount of time and attention, and apply strong pressure on the brutal regime in Khartoum. Any other discussion right now is simply irresponsible.
However, the suffering in Darfur continues. The U.S. has done a great deal in terms of providing humanitarian assistance, food relief. The United States has been ahead of the rest in Darfur and other parts of Sudan. And this is commendable. It was only 1 year ago that Secretary Powell traveled to Darfur to witness the horrible situation there. This was the first visit by a U.S. Secretary of State to Sudan since 1978, and Secretary Rice's visit to Darfur is welcomed and overdue.
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You may recall when Powell visited Darfur, whip-whaling Sudanese troops kept foreigners away from the Powell entourage. In front of our Secretary of State, they used whips to keep people away because they did not want the average person to talk to him. That same day, students attempting to deliver a petition to Secretary-General Annan during his visit to Khartoum were shot in front of the Secretary-General by security forces. There is total disregard for people by the Government of Sudan. Last night, the government emptied out an IDP camp that Annan was supposed to visit the night before he visited that camp several months ago.
So this abusive behavior by the Sudanese security forces should be no surprise. Secretary Rice simply got a small taste of what President Omar Basheer's Government is all about when, just 2 days ago, U.S. officials and reporters were roughed up right in front of our Secretary of State and initially forcibly kept her and her people from going into the meeting with Basheer. One of the top ones, Andrea Mitchell, was pushed away and told to get her camera out, that we don't have our free press here. This is in front of our Secretary of State. This is the government that we are talking about normalizing relationships with and having an Ambassador. What more can they do to show you they have a disdain and a disrespect for anybody? Our Secretary of State has to have her entourage pushed physically by people just yesterday. It is disgraceful. It is a rogue regime, does not deserve the respect even of a visit of our Secretary of State. We lower our dignity when we go and ask them for permission to visit them.
So, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling this hearing. As you can see, this is an issue that has long been on our minds. I would like to also mention, though, that I am very pleased that State governments are moving. Senator William Payne had a bill passed through the New Jersey legislature, and the State Senate, and with your support of the legislation, the letter that we sent together to the New Jersey officials, on Thursday, there will be a divestment bill signed by Governor Codey of New Jersey that will say, no longer will pension funds from the people who work in New Jersey, no longer can that money be invested in companies doing business in Sudan. There will be no more blood money in New Jersey. And so I am so proud that signing will happen next Thursday. I will be proud to be there with this legislation.
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Illinois will have one that will go into effect in January. We will have $2 to $4 billion removed from the government of companies doing business. These are not American companies, because the U.S. companies are restricted from doing business in Sudan.
And so we will continue to press forward, Mr. Chairman. Let me thank you for calling this very important bill up so that we can get it to the Floor before we adjourn. And thank you.
Mr. SMITH. Thank you so much, Mr. Payne.
If the gentleman would yield very briefly, congratulations on the work on that legislation in the State House of New Jersey. You and I both tried several years back to get the disinvestment from Talisman Oil, which was also another success in New Jersey.
I would like to yield to Mr. Tancredo.
Mr. TANCREDO. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate—well, first of all, I certainly appreciate your bringing this bill forward, in the words of my colleague, Mr. Payne. We have indeed agreed to many changes, some I am quite concerned about and hope that we can address at some future time; one, of course, specifically with dealing with the ICC and the definition of the Government of Sudan.
We have agreed to various changes requested by the Department of State. We have agreed to various changes requested by the office of Senator Brownback. So this final piece of legislation is certainly not the bill that Congressman Payne and I have labored on and, again, Mr. Payne introduced as the primary sponsor.
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You know, recently there were claims being made that the Government of Sudan has reduced or has been able to contain the Janjaweed and there have been fewer attacks outside of Darfur and on the villages. There is a reason there has been fewer attacks, but it has got nothing to do with the Government of Sudan containing the Janjaweed. It is because they have burned every village. There is nothing left to burn. There is not a village left to pillage. So, yes, fewer attacks have been registered, but inside the camps and around the camps, of course, there is still great danger and women being raped, people being murdered and, of course, we know, as Congressman Payne has said, people dying of starvation.
So I, too, wish that this bill had stronger provisions. Like so many things that we do here, though, we have to accommodate the desires of others in order to get anything done, and in this case, something is better than nothing. And so I will support the bill somewhat reluctantly, but with the hope that it will add to the efforts.
By the way, I should also say—I may be wrong, but it was my understanding earlier today when I heard the reports about Secretary Rice, that she in fact did say all those things about what we could do in Sudan, but I thought she prefaced them with saying only after things had been taken care of in Darfur. I mean, again, that was my understanding of her comments. I may be wrong. It was the radio coming in today that was the report that she made it clear that we could do all of these things and that Sudan could enter into the community of nations and we could have a relationship, but only if the issue of Darfur is settled and that these people are allowed to both get the supplies they need and, of course, have the ability to go back home because the area has been pacified.
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So I just want to again thank my Chairman for bringing the bill forward and thank Mr. Payne for his leadership as always. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Tancredo.
Ms. Lee.
Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, again, for your continued leadership, and also to Mr. Payne for really always making sure that, when it affects the people of Darfur, the people of Africa or anywhere in the world, that he works in a bipartisan fashion regardless of whether or not he gets the credit for it.
And so I just want to thank you, Mr. Payne, for your leadership and your commitment.
Clearly, we must do everything possible to end the murder, rape and suffering in Darfur. So while I support the bill before us today, I am troubled also that it doesn't go far enough. Genocide demands more. That is why, Mr. Chairman, I will offer a couple of amendments today. One, an amendment regarding the State pension divestment movement along with my colleagues, Congresswomen Watson and McCollum, also, a critical amendment to strengthen this bill by adding a prohibition on trading in U.S. capital markets. I am convinced that we must hit Khartoum where it hurts, and that is in the pocketbook, in order to end this genocide. So I look forward to our discussions today and the consideration and hopefully the passage of these amendments.
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And, in conclusion, I would just like to say the State of California also is moving forward in terms of divesting from our public employee pension funds. We have a bill right now that is waiting on the State senate that would divest from California public employment retirement system of the probably $8 to $9 billion in 44 companies. And so I think this movement is taking place, and I think we need to do all we can do to rev up our efforts to end this genocide once and for all.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH. Mr. Meeks.
Mr. MEEKS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I want to join in saying, thank you, to you, Mr. Chairman, as well as Mr. Payne for bringing this bill up.
And I want to echo the words of Congressman Payne who I know, particularly in Africa, but all across has been in the forefront.
And I want to join with the voices that say that I am supporting this bill and I think it is good; I think it is, it heads in the right direction. But there is much, much more that we can and need to do. And we need to send a much stronger message, and I think it helps us from being anywhere hypocritical, if you will, when I think about the heinous deeds that have taken place already and the millions of people that have been killed, and when I think about how we now are—and rightly so—the people of Iraq are holding Saddam Hussein for heinous acts that took place with the killing of people, that this seems to be real similar in a much more timely fashion that we should be taking action. We waited, you know, 1980, 1981 is when these atrocious acts were taking place in Iraq. And even though we had members of our Government still there in the 1980s while these atrocious acts were taking place, he is being held now.
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I think we have the opportunity with the Government of Khartoum to now be focused. And we can't settle to let people who have committed these heinous acts and allow them to continue to go on and to get away with it. They—anyone that was a part of those kind of heinous acts—should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. And we should in no way seem to be coddling them, because, remember, it always comes back to haunt us later when they end up turning against us. And the warning signs have been there already, because if I understand it correctly, in this same government, they once hosted Osama bin Laden. And so I am really concerned.
So I am pleased that in this bill that we ban the sale or supply of arms and related material to the Janjaweed or nongovernmental entities and individuals. I just wished that we had banned the total arms, a ban of arms to the entire country as opposed to just to the Janjaweed and the nongovernmental agencies.
And so, Mr. Chair, I am supporting this bill. I will support the amendments that are forwarded also that I think help strengthen this bill. It is a great step in the right direction. It shows what can happen when Democrats and Republicans sit down and work together. There is some compromise. I will take the first step. I just want to make sure that there are more steps to go, because we need to go all the way to send a message loud and clear that we are not going to tolerate and allow the kind of genocide that has taken place in Darfur to continue or to happen anyplace else.
And I yield back.
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Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Meeks.
I have an amendment at the desk in the nature of a substitute. Without objection, it will be considered as read.
[The amendment referred to follows:]
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Mr. SMITH. I would like to make a very brief statement and, without objection, have a full explanation of that amendment which has been worked out with the Minority. It is primarily a technical amendment, but I will give you an example.
In the section concerning additional authorities to deter and suppress genocide in Darfur, we are delinking this provision from sanctions imposed pursuant to the Sudan Peace Act. Consequently, it will be applicable following the conclusion of the comprehensive peace agreement for Sudan.
We are also adding clarifying language to provide exceptions for internationally recognized demobilization efforts and security and destruction in south Sudan.
We also have consulted with the Department of State and received some very good input from them so that we will not have any unintended consequences from this legislation. Again, this has been completely shared with the Minority, and it has been concurred with.
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I would like to ask, are there any amendments to the amendment in the nature of a substitute?
Ms. Lee.
Ms. LEE. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I have an amendment at the desk.
Mr. SMITH. The clerk will report the amendment.
Ms. PLUMLEY. Which amendment?
Ms. LEE. This is amendment number one.
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Mr. SMITH. Without objection, the amendment will be considered as read. The gentlelady is recognized in support of her amendment.
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Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This is a very simple amendment. It is really a one-sentence sense of Congress provision which commends the State of Illinois for enacting legislation to curb investments in Sudan, and encourages other States to follow it as a model.
For those of you who may not be familiar with Illinois legislation, on June 25th, the governor signed Senate Bill 23, a measure offered by Senator Collins and Jones to suspend State investment in companies doing business in Sudan. The measure had passed the general assembly with very wide bipartisan support in May. The bill prohibits the State treasury from depositing funds or contracting with any financial institution doing business in the Sudan. The bill also prohibits State retirement systems and pension funds from loaning or investing in any company that invests in or does business with Sudan.
We all know that Federal law currently prohibits United States companies from directly doing business with companies in the Sudan. The Illinois bill goes a necessary step further by targeting investments in foreign companies that do business in Sudan. The bill places responsibility on financial institutions and fund-managing companies by requiring a certificate stating that they are not engaged with any company they are forbidden from doing business within Sudan. The bill exempts companies certified as nongovernmental organizations by the United Nations or ones that are engaged solely in providing goods and services for relieving human suffering or to promote welfare, health, and religious and spiritual activities and education for humanitarian purposes.
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We know from our experience, Mr. Chairman, with South Africa, that divestment works, and the Illinois legislation represents an excellent model for States all across the country who are either currently considering legislation or who are drafting legislation to divest from State pension funds. As I have stated before in my ongoing efforts to encourage California pension funds, especially the Nation's largest pension fund, which is our own CalPERS, to take the moral lead in this fight. Pensioners in California and across this land should not have to worry that their investments and their retirements are funded by genocide. They do not want blood on their hands. So I would encourage each of you to join me today in adopting this very simple amendment that encourages States to keep up their efforts to defund the genocide that is taking place in Darfur and use this bipartisan Illinois model to do so.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I hope that we can have bipartisan support for this.
Mr. SMITH. You certainly do have it. We are just upset that you beat us to the punch in terms of Illinois versus New Jersey. I understand your amendment number three will include New Jersey. Our State expects to have this; acting Governor Codey will sign the legislation, I am told, as early as Thursday. We, too, will then join Illinois in this very important endeavor.
Would anyone else like to be heard on the amendment? If not, the question occurs on the amendment. All those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
Are there any other amendments?
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Ms. Lee, Ms. McCollum.
Ms. MCCOLLUM. Mr. Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.
Mr. SMITH. The clerk will report the amendment.
Ms. PLUMLEY. Amendment to H.R. 3127 offered by Ms. McCollum.
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Mr. SMITH. Reserve a point of order.
Ms. MCCOLLUM. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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I want to thank you for holding this hearing, and I want to thank Chairman Royce for the life-moving experience that I had in Sudan. And so, Mr. Chair, I offer this amendment on behalf of the people of Sudan.
Sudan is a rogue state. Sudan is a state-sponsored terrorist designated by the Department of State, and it has held that status since 1993. In Darfur, the Khartoum regime commits acts of terrorism, supports militias that commit acts of terror, mass murder. The systematic rape of girls and women and the destruction of some 20,000 villages—excuse me, 2,000 villages. There is more than 2 million people that have been driven from their homes, and tens of thousands of lives are at risk because of disease and ongoing terrorist acts by Khartoum militias. This is an evil regime.
Mr. Chairman, genocide is not a number of random incidents of violence; genocide is the sum total of horrible systematic acts of terror that are perpetrated against civilians. Genocide is the outcome of this terrorism; murder and rape perpetrated with the support and complicity of the Government of Sudan upon Darfur's children, women, and men.
Mr. Chairman, I believe my amendment should be noncontroversial. I ask for Congress, along with Ms. Lee and Ms. Watson, we ask for Congress to state unequivocally that, first, the genocide in Darfur is the outcome of planned acts of terrorism, mass murder, the systematic acts of sexual violence and rape committed by the Janjaweed and other militias with the support and complicity of the Government of Sudan.
Second, the amendment urges the Department of State to maintain Sudan's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
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And, third, the amendment urges the Department of State to designate the Janjaweed militia as a foreign terrorist organization.
Mr. Chair, today, in the New York Times, under the headline, ''Sudan Still Pays Militias that are Harassing Darfur, U.S. says.'' and the article states, and I quote from it:
''The Sudanese Government . . . is still paying regular salaries to leaders of militias there that continue to attack and kill civilians, say American officials and aid workers stationed in Sudan.''
Last week and again today, the President of Sudan called on the United States to lift trade sanctions while his regime continues to support genocide. Today, it was reported that Secretary Rice said she might consider easing some sanctions on rail and aircraft components.
This would be appeasing a terrorist regime. It would not be a diplomatic success. There must be no mixed messages from the United States to Sudan. There must be absolutely no coddling, collaborating with this rogue regime in Khartoum by the U.S. Government. The American people will not tolerate it.
Hundreds of thousands of innocent people are in graves, yet not one single person who perpetrated or supported the terrorism, this mass murder, the genocide, has been prosecuted. The Government of Sudan, the Janjaweed militia must be held accountable for their crimes against humanity. These crimes have been committed as a result of their direct actions of terrorism, mass murder and genocide.
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I respectfully ask my colleagues to support this amendment. I thank you, Mr. Chair, for having this hearing. And, Mr. Chair, I would like to enter into the record the full New York Times article in which I referred.
[The information referred to follows:]
22580a.eps
22580b.eps
22580c.eps
Mr. SMITH. Without objection, the full Times article will be made a part of the record. Also, the Chair lifts the point of order. There is no point of order. We have read your amendment. I think it is a good strengthening amendment and am prepared to accept it. Would anyone else like to be heard on Ms. McCollum's amendment?
Ms. WATSON. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. SMITH. Ambassador Watson.
Ms. WATSON. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for calling this markup so we can move this legislation forward.
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This bill permits the United States Government to start taking concrete steps to protect the people of Darfur from the genocide being inflicted on them by leaders of the National Congress Party, formerly known as the National Islamic Front. I am a co-sponsor of this bill, and I support this effort to compel the National Congress Party to end their genocidal campaign.
In the course of putting this bill together, however, we have made some compromises, and I feel there are some significant omissions in the bill which we should seek to ratify before we move forward. And in particular, I am distressed that two important provisions are missing from this bill. The first is the authorization from the President to use the full range of American power to stop the genocide in Darfur. However, with our discussion here at the table today, and I know how strongly my colleagues feel, I am not going to introduce that particular amendment. But I just want to discuss it for a second.
What the provision would have done would be to emphasize the preeminent role of the African Union in solving this crisis. And I do support the idea that the African Union should have a leading role in ending the Darfur genocide. But we, if we are serious about ending the genocide, we should be ready and willing to take the necessary steps to do so. Putting these narrow limits on the authority of the President to intervene to stop the genocide signals to the world that our attention is divided and our devotion to the cause is qualified. We can rectify this situation by giving the President fuller authority to act to stop the crisis while still putting the African Union in the forefront of finding a solution. But I think we have already discussed that, and so I will not be introducing that amendment.
The second amendment is the removal of capital market sanctions from the bill. And what we have done just a few seconds ago on taking up the divestment language that was introduced by Congresswoman Lee and certainly the language that was used to describe the amendment that Congresswoman McCollum just mentioned, I think, takes care of those two areas that we feel were omitted in the bill. And so I feel that we have a good start.
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And I just have one more amendment. I think it has already been submitted by Mr. Crowley.
Mr. SMITH. I would advise the gentlelady that we will get to her amendment as soon as we dispense with Ms. McCollum's amendment.
Ms. WATSON. Okay. So I think that one needs some additional language in it based on our recent conversation, so I am going to withdraw my amendment.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. SMITH. I thank you for working very cooperatively with us. Would anybody else like to be heard on the McCollum amendment? If not, the question occurs on the amendment offered by Ms. McCollum. All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
Are there any other amendments to the amendment?
Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.
Mr. SMITH. The clerk will report the amendment by Ms. Lee.
Ms. LEE. Amendment number three.
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Ms. PLUMLEY. Amendment to H.R. 3127 offered by Ms. Lee of California.
Mr. SMITH. Without objection, the amendment will be considered as read. The gentlelady is recognized.
[The amendment referred to follows:]
22580e.AAB
Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This amendment commends and congratulates the State of Illinois and the State of New Jersey and other States in their efforts to curb investments in Sudan.
And let me just say, Mr. Chairman, yes, Illinois was number one, but New Jersey will be number two, and I hope California will be number three. And so——
Mr. PAYNE. Would the gentlelady yield?
Ms. LEE. I would yield.
Mr. PAYNE. The New Jersey legislation goes into effect Friday. Illinois, unfortunately, doesn't go in until January 1st of 2006. And so I do commend them; however, we will be the first.
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Ms. LEE. Well, I will call California and see if we can fast track the California legislation.
So let me say, though, Mr. Chairman, I think it is good that we see this movement taking off in our country. And I hope that the Sudanese Government and the people of Sudan and the people of Darfur understand that we are doing everything that we can do to stop this humanitarian disaster which we all recognize as genocide.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And congratulations to you and New Jersey and to Mr. Payne.
Mr. SMITH. The question occurs on the amendment offered by Ms. Lee. All those in favor, say aye. Opposed. The ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to.
Are there any further amendments to the legislation?
Ms. Lee.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I have another final amendment at the desk.
Mr. SMITH. The clerk will report the amendment by Ms. Lee on capital markets.
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Ms. PLUMLEY. I don't have the amendment. Lee number 2?
Mr. SMITH. Do you want to read it?
Mr. FREEMAN. Amendment offered by Ms. Lee——
Mr. SMITH. Without objection, the amendment will be considered as read. And the gentlelady from California is recognized in support of her amendment.
[The amendment referred to follows:]
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Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
This amendment is sponsored by myself, Congresswomen Watson and McCollum. And, really, it is an amendment that is very important, and it really is a provision that we have taken directly from the previous bill and is critical and provides a very powerful tool to bring accountability and peace to Darfur. It is straightforward. This amendment basically prohibits any entity engaged in any commercial activity in the Sudan from raising capital in the United States or for trading securities in any capital market in the United States.
The amendment further provides for penalties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, and also allows for Presidential waivers upon proper notification and certification to the appropriate congressional committees.
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Mr. Chairman, this amendment represents a powerful tool, as I said earlier, in our economic arsenal that would complement and would strengthen the bill before us today. Let us be honest: Money talks. Money talks everywhere in the world. And when Khartoum truly feels the pain in its pocket, we can bet they will begin to at least talk about ending genocide, and then hopefully they will act accordingly. We know from experience that economic pressure works. Don't we owe this to the victims, the innocent victims of genocide in Darfur? I think we need to do everything we can do to ensure that they know that we are trying to end their pain and suffering immediately. And so I think the answer is very clear in how we do this, how the United States can take the lead in making sure that this, again, this humanitarian crisis, this disaster, this genocide ends.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Ms. Lee.
I recognize myself briefly to say I strongly support the amendment. In fact, the original Sudan Peace Act, as you may recall, included a similar amendment. It was Tom Tancredo's bill that was added by Spencer Bachus that had this very provision, but regrettably was dropped in conference when the Senate objected vigorously to it. Hopefully, we can take another shot at it. It is a good amendment, and I think it strengthens the bills.
Mr. Payne.
Mr. PAYNE. Yes, Mr. Chairman, will you yield? Let me just indicate that, as you know with the Naivasha peace accords, we have a Southern Sudan that is the new side, is the place that may be its capital. And Dr. John Garang will be President of the new Sudan. I just want to make it clear that, in our legislation, it does not prohibit investment into the south of Sudan, which is not a part of Khartoum. There is a line that separates the two. So we will certainly be encouraging investment into the south of Sudan. And so we want everyone to know that it does restrict even the divestment. We will actually even recommend the money being divested from companies doing business in Khartoum look at Southern Sudan where there are tremendous opportunities. Thank you.
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Mr. SMITH. Would anyone else like to be heard?
Mr. Fortenberry.
Mr. FORTENBERRY. I think that is an important point to be made. And if you could clarify that a little bit further, that would be very helpful here.
Mr. PAYNE. Well, the Naivasha accord, the north-south conflict has been going on since the NIF Government took over militarily in 1984. And so we are very sensitive, and I have visited Southern Sudan on several occasions. There is self-governing in south Sudan. They will be installing—Dr. John Garang is actually President of south Sudan and Vice President of the Government of Sudan. That is the reason why there are two separate governments.
As a matter of fact, after the 6 years in the legislation that the north and south have signed, it will be a time, after 6 years, that the Sudanese in the south will have a right to vote on whether they want to secede from the government and the country of Sudan and have as an independent country south Sudan. And so it does not impact—as a matter of fact, we believe that by investing in the south, the government in Khartoum will understand that it needs the south to become a strong unified country and that it will not continue to segment the west and the east.
Mr. FORTENBERRY. If the gentleman would yield.
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Mr. PAYNE. Yes.
Mr. FORTENBERRY. Should that distinction be made in this amendment?
Mr. PAYNE. Reclaiming my time. It is being, it is in the legislation that the—it is included in the act itself, was in the previous bill. Mr. Hyde took most of the bill, as we indicated, took out the use of giving the President the authority to use force, it took out the no-fly zone, that we were going to use the Predator and the U2s and so forth. Those were what were removed from the bill. And so it is in the original bill which has not been changed, so it is included.
Mr. FORTENBERRY. And certainly, I am with you in spirit in trying to do whatever you can economically to pressure the regime and not empower the regime further from committing acts of genocide. I just worry here that, given there is only one internationally recognized Government of Sudan, and I am not very clear on the explanation regarding the distinctions that can be made between the south and the north at this point, that is troubling.
Mr. PAYNE. Reclaiming my time. There is a distinction. We have been following this for 18 years. I will be in Southern Sudan at the signing of the new Government of Sudan.
Believe me, I would be the last person in the world to pass legislation that would hurt the south of Sudan that has suffered from Sharia law, have suffered from bombing; 2 million people have died in the south of Sudan because of the Government of Sudan. So, take my word, this does not apply to the Government of Southern Sudan which is called the GoSS. GoSS is the way that GoSS is—it is section—page 9, line 24: The United States should not provide assistance to the Government of Sudan other than assistance necessary for the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement for Sudan, the support of the regional Government of Southern Sudan in marginalized areas in Sudan including Nuba Mountains, South Blue Nile, Abia, eastern Sudan, Beja, Darfur and Nubia. So the gentleman would look at the amendment in the nature of a substitute on page 8 and 9, and it clearly brings that out. Line 24, section 7.
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Mr. SMITH. Dr. Boozman.
Mr. BOOZMAN. No.
Mr. SMITH. I thought you wanted to talk.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Well, I did. I am trying to get this straight, too, if we are talking about language that is in this bill versus language that is in another bill that clearly states what we are trying to do.
Mr. PAYNE. It is the same bill. Mr. Smith is offering an amendment in the nature of a substitute, 3127. And it is on your desk. If anyone—and even the gentleman to your right. If he looks at page 8 and reads it, line 24, section 7, it is about as clear—I think it is very clear.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. SMITH. Thank you.
Would anyone else like to be heard on the amendment by Ms. Lee? If not, the question occurs on the amendment by the gentlelady from California, Ms. Lee. All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed, no. The ayes have it, and the amendment is agreed to.
Are there any other amendments to the bill or to the amendment in the nature of a substitute?
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Ambassador Watson.
Ms. WATSON. Yes.
Mr. SMITH. You have an amendment?
Ms. WATSON. Yes.
Mr. SMITH. The clerk will report the Watson amendment.
Ms. PLUMLEY. Amendment to H.R. 3127 offered by Ms. Watson of California——
Mr. SMITH. Without objection, the amendment will be considered as read. The gentlelady is recognized.
[The amendment referred to follows:]
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22580f.AAC
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Ms. WATSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I offer this amendment today with Mr. Crowley, and in response to events that occurred this morning in Khartoum. I believe it would be a great omission for us to pass this bill today if we fail to include an acknowledgement of the latest example of the thuggery of the National Congress Party in Khartoum.
Earlier today, as we all know, United States Government personnel and American journalists were physically harassed and mistreated by armed Sudanese guards. One State Department official was roughly shoved against the wall. Reporter Andrea Mitchell's microphone was snatched away from her when she tried to ask a question. When American officials protested saying, ''We have a free press in America,'' the answer they received from the Basheer thugs was succinct: ''Well, we don't have one here.'' All this occurred while Secretary Rice was sitting in a meeting with Basheer.
Mr. Chairman, this would be bad enough if it were an isolated incident. Unfortunately, this is standard operating procedure for Basheer and the National Congress Party. The genocide in Darfur is not a unique reaction to a unique political threat. Rather, according to Alex de Waal of the British group, Justice Africa, it is the routine cruelty of a security cabal. It is humanity withered by years in power. It is genocide by force of habit. Genocide for this regime is in its practice method of solving political problems. In the same way Tamany Hall relied on political patronage, in the same way an urban politician, a multiethnic coalition, the National Congress Party relies on genocide to stay in power. Mr. Chairman, this episode reminds us that this is not a regime open to negotiation.
As I have heard Mr. Tancredo say, the Khartoum regime does nothing unless we force them to. So I would urge my colleagues to include this language in the bill to remind ourselves and the world of the true nature of this regime, and I need to hold strong in compelling them to end this genocide.
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What I would like to do is add on, Mr. Chairman, another provision, that would be subsection 14; and, in essence, it would say something like this: The Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, should not offer normalcy until the Government of the Sudan stops the terrorism and genocide in Darfur, Sudan consistent with—and we have some language.
So I am going to withdraw it for the moment, and I can add it at another time when we work out the language.
Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. SMITH. So the entire amendment, including number 14, which you are working on language, is withdrawn?
Ms. WATSON. Yes. I will submit it at another time, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. SMITH. Are there any other amendments to the amendment in the nature of a substitute?
If not, the question occurs on the amendment in the nature of a substitute as amended.
All those in favor, say aye. All those opposed, no.
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The amendment in the nature of a substitute is agreed to.
The question occurs now on the motion to report the resolution H. Res. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2005, favorably, as amended.
All those in favor, say aye. Those opposed, no.
The motion is approved, and the resolution is reported favorably. Without objection, the staff is directed to make any technical and conforming amendments.
I want to thank all the Members of the Subcommittee for coming late in the evening, or early evening I should say, for this markup and for producing this bipartisan piece of legislation. The markup is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 6:57 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]