Recognizing the fifth anniversary of the declaration by the United States Congress of genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, on July 22, 2004, the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives united to unanimously declare that the atrocities unfolding in the Darfur region of Sudan constitute genocide. Never before had the Congress made such a declaration while the atrocities were occurring. But confronted with irrefutable evidence of a systemic campaign of ethnic cleansing directed by the Sudanese regime and their proxy forces against the African tribes of Darfur, we were compelled to act.

The scene in Darfur was all too familiar. There was the manipulation of ethnic and tribal tensions, the arming of proxy forces, aerial bombardment of civilians, razing of villages, forced displacement, mass murder, abduction, looting, torture, and rape. These were the tactics Khartoum used during its bloody war in southern Sudan, which lasted over 20 years and left over 2 million people dead and another 4 million displaced. These were the tactics the Sudanese regime used to stay in power.

Recalling the horrors of the gas chambers of the Holocaust, the killing fields of Cambodia, the mass graves of Srebrenica, and the bloodied streets of Rwanda, we sought to put real meaning behind the words ``never again.'' On September 9, 2004, then Secretary of State Colin Powell concurred with the Congress, asserting ``genocide has been committed in Darfur'' and that ``the government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility.''

Unfortunately, others did not share our sense of urgency. Five long years

have since passed, and while the situation on the ground in Darfur has changed since the year 2004, the crisis continues. The House of Representatives has passed no fewer than 34 bills and resolutions relating to Sudan since 2004, including the Comprehensive Peace for Sudan Act of 2004, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006, and the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act of 2008.

The United States has led efforts at the United Nations to get fully equipped, credible peacekeeping forces deployed both to Darfur and to southern Sudan. We remain the largest international donor and have contributed more than $3 billion for humanitarian programs in Sudan and Eastern Chad since fiscal year 2004, in addition to more than $2 billion in peacekeeping assistance since fiscal year 2008. We have sanctioned and threatened the Sudanese regime. We have helped secure peace, albeit a tenuous peace, in southern Sudan.

When I visited the camps for displaced persons in Darfur and met with leaders in southern Sudan in 2007, I promised that I would remain an advocate for peace in Sudan, and while we have pressing concerns both here at home and beyond, I have sought to keep my word.

For this reason I stand today to ask my colleagues to support House Concurrent Resolution 159. This timely resolution solemnly recognizes the fifth anniversary of the declaration by the United States Congress of genocide in Darfur, Sudan, while expressing regret that this determination has yet to yield effective action on the part of the United Nations and other nations which maintain significant influence in Sudan, including China and certain members of the Arab League.

It urges the administration to work with other responsible nations to ensure an end to the conflict in Darfur and full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement for Sudan. It urges member states of the United Nations to provide sufficient resources to support the deployment of a fully capacitated African Union/United Nations mission in Darfur, including by supplying required tactical and utility helicopters and other mission enablers.

Finally, Madam Speaker, it urges the parties to the conflict in Darfur to stop their attacks upon civilians and humanitarian and peacekeeping operations and to fully commit to finding a political solution without further delay.

With national elections due this year and violence on the rise, the stakes could not be higher. The time for action is now.

I urge my colleagues to support this important and timely measure.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield now 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health.

Madam Speaker, I am so pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), with whom I had the honor of traveling to Sudan in the year 2007.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

I want to commend our ranking member for authoring this important resolution to mark the tragic fifth anniversary of the declaration by the United States Congress that the systematic violence, killing, and displacement of millions in Darfur, Sudan constitutes genocide.

Madam Speaker, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has proven once again that he considers the people of Darfur to be merely pawns and throwaways in a shameless game that he is playing with the international community. The gulf between his actions and his words is as wide as the callous attitude that I encountered when I met with and argued with him personally in Khartoum, and the desperate, deeply grieved look on the faces of the refugees I met in the IDP camps in Darfur, including Mujar and Kalma camp.

During our meetings, General Bashir showed no remorse whatsoever for inflicting unspeakable pain, death, displacement, and destitution on large numbers of people. Today, as we know, over 300,000 to upwards of 450,000 Darfurees have been killed and another 3 million have been displaced from their homes. And, of course, this is in addition to some 2 million killed and 4 million displaced in southern Sudan in the aggression that immediately preceded the killings in Darfur.

For all of our efforts in this Congress, Madam Speaker, the suffering continues 5 years after that recognition that what was taking place in Darfur was indeed genocide. The signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement in May of 2006 and the deployment of a joint African Union-U.N. peacekeeping mission has not stopped the violence, much less ushered in a long-term peace for which the people of Darfur so desperately long.

The country of Sudan is going through a critical time that will have serious implications for Darfur as well as other regions of the country. Last week the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague issued a ruling with respect to the boundary dispute in Abyei, one of the major points of contention between the north and the south. National elections, which were supposed to be held this month, have been postponed until April of 2010. Although these developments do not involve Darfur directly, a resolution of the conflict in Darfur is dependent on the complete and peaceful implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the north and south.

Over the past 5 years, Madam Speaker, and even before that, the profound bipartisan congressional concern has not diminished nor has it abated. Tomorrow the Africa Subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. On Thursday the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission will do likewise, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has slated a hearing on it on Thursday. This week we will also hear from General Scott Gration, the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, during which time we will hear further details about the administration's strategy in trying to mitigate and hopefully end this despicable violence in Darfur.

This is a very important resolution, Madam Speaker, and I hope the full membership of this House will support it.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 159, recognizing the fifth anniversary of the declaration of genocide in Darfur.

An August 2008 New Republic piece said the following about Darfur: ``No genocide has ever been so thoroughly documented while it was taking place . . . in the case of the genocide in Darfur, ignorance has never been possible.'' Sobering words as we consider this resolution.

I have visited Sudan five times, most recently in July 2004 when I led the first congressional delegation with Senator Sam Brownback to Darfur. I witnessed the nightmare with my own eyes. Over 300,000 Darfuris have died and nearly 3 million have been displaced.

We saw the same scorched earth tactics from Khartoum in the brutal 20-year civil war with the South.

Five years ago this month Congress was the first to call the atrocities in Darfur by their rightful name, genocide.

But this is not a tragedy relegated to the history books--rather Sudan today demands attention and action.

China has been complicit in this tragedy as Sudan's largest foreign investor and yet China has failed to use its influence. According to the Congressional Research Service, China reportedly imports an estimated 64 percent of Sudan's oil and China's National Petroleum Corporation is the largest shareholder (47 percent) in the two biggest oil consortiums in Sudan, Petrodar and the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC).

China also supplies weapons to the Government of Sudan. Some human rights groups accuse the Chinese government of being the principal supplier of weapons in violation of the U.N. weapons embargo on Sudan.

And yet Sudan only earned a passing reference in President Obama's remarks this week at the Strategic Economic Dialogue between the United States and China.

But perhaps most importantly, and most timely, almost six months into the Obama administration, the State Department is still conducting a ``comprehensive review'' of U.S.-Sudan policy.

Virtually nothing concrete has emerged. The little that has leaked out in press reports reveals an administration that appears divided at the highest levels over whether genocide is still taking place in Darfur. On an issue of this magnitude such confusion sends the wrong message.

On this, the five-year anniversary of the declaration of genocide in Darfur, I ask, what is the Obama administration's policy on Darfur?

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 159) recognizing the fifth anniversary of the declaration by the United States Congress of genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to thank again my good friend the gentlewoman from Florida for introducing this important resolution commemorating the historic declaration by Congress of genocide in Darfur.

On this day we remember reports from Sudan of aerial bombardments of civilians; of the arming of proxy forces; of the razing of villages; of the destruction of irrigation systems and the poisoning of wells; of looting and murder and rape. Madam Speaker, 5 years later much progress has been made, but there are miles yet to go.

The United States is engaged in rigorous and comprehensive efforts to bring peace to Sudan. It is imperative that we not lose sight of the importance of supporting a Comprehensive Peace Agreement; that we do everything we can to support the national census and the upcoming elections; and that we help the displaced to return when possible.

I join my colleagues in anxious anticipation of the administration's forthcoming comprehensive strategy for Sudan and look forward to speaking this week with the President's Special Envoy to Sudan, General Scott Gration, about steps we can take to ensure that Sudan can break what has been a tragic cycle of violence in this part of the world.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, again I do commend the gentlewoman from Florida for her leadership, for her commitment, and for not only introducing this legislation from years past, but she has never let down in her efforts to make sure we take corrective action to address the serious needs of the people of Darfur.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I also yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for recognizing me and allowing me the time this evening.

Madam Speaker, it is important in life to call things what they are. Five years ago Congress did the right thing by calling what was happening in Darfur ``genocide.''

In 2007 I did travel with the gentlewoman from Florida and others to Darfur and saw genocide and its consequences firsthand. It sticks with me today. Malnourished children, family members mourning the loss of loved ones, people without homes, disease and despair in refugee camps. But whether or not one has been to Darfur, we know what is happening there. And those of us that have seen it have the obligation to tell the story. While calling the killing and violence ``genocide'' is a first and necessary step, we must do more. Our responsibility as human beings extends beyond properly recognizing the atrocities as genocide. As witnesses to genocide, we and all nations are obligated to take every necessary step to end the loss of life.

So today I sadly rise 5 years after Congress declared genocide in Darfur knowing that peace does not yet prevail. Regrettably, we are here again, passing this resolution, to once more call on other nations to join us in taking steps to bring about lasting peace and to preserve the life of other human beings.

The time to act was long ago. And I again urge as strongly as I know how for the United Nations and countries with significant influence in Sudan, including China and certain members of the Arab League, to fully commit to helping end the atrocities in Darfur.

It is important to recognize genocide for what it is, but it is even more important that we stop genocide from taking place. The world has said ``never again.'' The world must mean it. In visiting the Holocaust Museum here in Washington, D.C., I was reminded of an earlier genocide.

While there, I saw the Wall of Honor recognizing those who placed their own lives at risk to save the lives of Jews.

May we be courageous enough to deserve such recognition in a wall of honor today in stopping the genocide of today.