Jackson Lee calls on Congress to take action on Darfur crisis

Returning from a journey to Sudan, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said she wants Congress to become more involved in pushing for an end to the four-year conflict there.

“Everyone’s looking for the next step in Sudan,” she said. “The next step is to reach for normalcy.”

{mosads}Jackson Lee, chairwoman of the Congressional Children’s Caucus, traveled to Sudan and several other African countries in a congressional delegation with Reps. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) and Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) from Aug. 26 to Sept. 4. It was first codel to visit the Darfur region since the United Nations authorized a 26,000-member peacekeeping force for the Western Sudanese region.

More than 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced since 2003, when ethnic African rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government. Sudan’s government is accused of retaliating by unleashing a militia of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed, blamed for the worst atrocities. The government denies the charge.

The delegation was briefed by U.N. officials, met with Sudan’s foreign minister the African Union force commander, and visited the Abu Shouk Internally Displaced Persons camp.

Jackson Lee said she was struck by the “resiliency of the people,” and told of an elderly woman, considered a leader the camp, saying the most important thing for her people is “security, security, security.”

“They’re in constant fear of being dragged out of bed, being sexually ravaged or brutally killed,” the congresswoman said.
Though the U.N. authorized a force to quell the violence, the force has not set up in Darfur because the government has not provided land for bases in the region, Jackson Lee said.

She said more international pressure is needed to ensure the government provides the land and eliminates impediments to humanitarian aid. She is calling for an international conference on peace and security in Sudan to pressure Sudanese officials, but she said it’s important that participants “not throw stones.”

Jackson Lee said she would like to see congressional hearings on the Sudan issue, along with congressional letters that join in international pressure on the Sudanese government to live up to its obligations to the United Nations.

She said she is also interested in introducing legislation aimed at helping refugee children in Sudan, dealing with issues like malnutrition and access to drinking water.