Washington, D.C. — Following up on bipartisan Congressional Delegation trip to Sudan in April, Congressman G. K. Butterfield yesterday joined his colleagues at the United Nations to urge officials to take immediate action to address the genocide in Darfur.
“Everyone on the trip to Sudan was deeply affected by what they saw and this is part of our commitment to convincing the international community to take quick and decisive action that ends the suffering in Sudan,” Butterfield said.
The group met with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guéhenno, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad, and the Permanent Representatives to the United Nations from China and Egypt. The 10-member delegation was led by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and included Butterfield and fellow North Carolina Congressman Brad Miller. It was the same Congressional group that visited Sudan in April.
Butterfield said he appreciates the UN’s four-pronged approach to addressing the crisis in Darfur, which focuses on reaching a political resolution, continued humanitarian assistance, institution of a robust peacekeeping force and enhanced development aid. Still, Butterfield said, he’s deeply concerned about the continuing violence and the regularity of attacks on humanitarian workers. “It’s an urgent crisis that must be addressed with stronger action,” Butterfield said.
He said that the delegation discussed the need to bolster the current African Union forces on the ground, which continue to be under-manned and under-equipped, and have not been paid since February.
Butterfield said he was encouraged to hear Ban Ki-Moon say that resolving the humanitarian crisis in Sudan remains his top priority and that resolving this horrific, sustained conflict is critical to maintaining the UN’s relevance in today’s world.
Butterfield said that he and others pressed the Chinese officials on the need to exert more leadership and to abandon the notion that “this is just a simple matter of economics – when the economy improves, the problems will just go away.”
The House has already passed resolutions this year calling on China to increase its efforts to stop the genocide in Darfur and calling on the League of Arab States to acknowledge the genocide and to increase efforts to stop it. Butterfield said that he will continue to push passage of the “Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act,” which seeks to use U.S. economic leverage to address the crisis on Darfur.
In April, the same delegation traveled to El Fasher, in North Darfur. While there, they visited El Salaam Internally Displaced Persons Camp, and met with the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) Force Commander, Major General Luke Aprezi, at AMIS Headquarters. The delegation also met with United Nations (UN) officials working on the ground, including the UN Mission in Sudan, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Butterfield said that he saw tens of thousands of Sundanese refugees in the camps where people live in straw huts and rely on the support of humanitarian aid from the U.S. and non-governmental organizations.
The crisis in Darfur began in 2003 when two rebel groups emerged to challenge the National Congress Party (NCP) government in Darfur. The conflict has led to a major humanitarian disaster, with an estimated 2 million people displaced, more than 234,000 people forced into neighboring Chad, and an estimated 450,000 people killed.