Congress Rangel Protest Sudan Genocide

I am protesting today to urge the United States government and the United Nations to take immediate action to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. An international peacekeeping force must be mobilized to restore order in Darfur and to save the lives of the millions of African villagers currently at risk. We must use any avaliable means to compel the Sudanese government in Khartoum to stop assisting the murderous Janjaweed militias in their campaign of genocide, and we must assure that aid groups are given unfettered access to millions of refugees who currently lack proper food, water and shelter.

Secretary of State Colin Powell recently returned from a visit to the Sudan. During that time, he threatened the government in Khartoum with travel restrictions and sanctions if they did not take actions to diffuse the genocide that has left nearly 30,000 people dead, a million displaced and threatens to kill a million more.

While I applaud Secretary Powell for his efforts, i am worried that our government is constructively engaging a government who has, by almost all accounts, been the primary sponsored (sic) genocide in Sudan. The Khartoum government has directly contributed to the slaughter of tens of thousands of black Africans in Darfur, and I believe more than dialogue and sanctions are needed to stop the violence and return the displaced villagers to their homes.

The situation in Sudan has clearly reached the level of a genocide. US Agency for International Development Administration Andrew Natsios has declared that at least 300,000 people will be dead by years (sic) end, in best-case scenario, and over a million will perish if things continue on their present course. We must take immediate actions to condemn the government of Sudan for their complicity and save the lives of these innocent people.

We acted too late to save millions of Jews during World War II. We didn't act at all when hundreds of thousands of innocents were slaughtered in Rwanda. We have the opportunity now to stop a genocide, and we must act. I urge the Administration and the United Nations to immediately send a multinational peacekeeping force to Sudan and to provide the region with enough enriched food, medicine, and water to support the hundreds of thousands that are displaced. These people will die if we do not act now.

Typed from hard-copied "STATEMENT: CONGRESSMAN CHARLES RANGEL" obtained from the Congressman's aide.