To provide assistance for the crisis in Sudan, and for other purposes.

July 22, 2004

Mr. LUGAR (for himself, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. HAGEL, and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

To provide assistance for the crisis in Sudan, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act'.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES- The term `appropriate congressional committees' means the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on International Relations of the House of Representatives.

(2) JEM- The term `JEM' means the Justice and Equality Movement.

(3) SPLM- The term `SPLM' means the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.

(4) SLA- The term `SLA' means the Sudanese Liberation Army.

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

Congress makes the following findings:

(1) A comprehensive peace agreement for Sudan, as envisioned in the Sudan Peace Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 note), and in the Machakos Protocol of 2002, is in grave jeopardy.

(2) Since 1989, the Government of Sudan has repeatedly engaged in and sponsored orchestrated campaigns of attacking and dislocating targeted civilian populations, disrupting their ability to sustain themselves, and subsequently restricting assistance to those displaced in a coordinated policy of ethnic cleansing and Arabization that is most recently evident in the Darfur region of Sudan.

(3) In response to 2 decades of civil conflict in Sudan, the United States has helped to establish an internationally supported peace process to promote a negotiated settlement to the war that has resulted in a framework peace agreement, the Nairobi Declaration on the Final Phase of Peace in the Sudan signed June 5, 2004.

(4) At the same time that the Government of Sudan was negotiating for a final countrywide peace, enumerated in the Nairobi Declaration on the Final Phase of Peace in the Sudan, it refused to engage in any discussion with regard to its ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing in the region of Darfur.

(5) According to United States and United Nations officials, the Government of Sudan has engaged in an orchestrated campaign, with the assistance of its Arab Sudanese proxy militia, the Janjaweed, to cleanse a significant part of the ethnically African population from North Darfur, West Darfur, and South Darfur, Sudan.

(6) The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights identified `massive human rights violations in Darfur perpetrated by the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed, which may constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity'.

(7) Evidence collected by international observers in the Darfur region between January 2003 and July 2004 indicate a coordinated effort to target African Sudanese civilians in a scorched earth policy, from both air and ground, that has destroyed African Sudanese villages, killing and driving away its people, while Arab Sudanese villages have been left unscathed.

(8) As a result of this coordinated campaign that may well constitute genocide, reports indicate tens of thousands of African Sudanese civilians killed, the systematic rape of hundreds of women and girls, the destruction of hundreds of Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa villages and other ethnically African populations, including the poisoning of their wells and the plunder of crops and cattle upon which they sustain themselves.

(9) According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 1,200,000 people have been displaced in the Darfur region of Sudan of whom nearly 200,000 have been forced to flee to Chad as refugees.

(10) Even as refugees were fleeing Sudan, the Government of Sudan conducted aerial attack missions and deadly raids across the international border between Sudan and Chad in an illegal effort to pursue Sudanese civilians seeking refuge in Chad.

(11) In addition to the thousands of violent deaths directly caused by ongoing Sudanese military and government sponsored Janjaweed attacks in the Darfur region, the Government of Sudan has restricted humanitarian and human rights workers' access to the Darfur area, primarily through bureaucratic and administrative obstruction and delays in an attempt to inflict the most devastating harm on those displaced from their villages and homes without any means of sustenance or shelter.

(12) The Government of Sudan's continued support for the Janjaweed and their obstruction of the delivery of food, shelter, and medical care to the Darfur region--

(A) is estimated to be causing 500 deaths each day; and

(B) is projected to escalate to 1,200 deaths each day by August 2004, and 2,400 deaths each day by December 2004, so that even a best-case scenario will likely result in the death of more than 320,000 people between April 1, 2004 and December 31, 2004.

(13) The Government of Chad in N'Djamena served an important role in facilitating the Darfur Humanitarian Cease-fire dated April 8, 2004 for the

Darfur region between the Government of Sudan and the 2 opposition rebel groups in Darfur (the JEM and the SLA) although both sides have violated it repeatedly.

(14) The Government and people of Chad have allowed the entry of 200,000 refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan and have generally facilitated the delivery of international humanitarian assistance, although logistical obstacles remain a challenge in a crisis that is taxing the people of eastern Chad and the refugees.

(15) The cooperation and mediation of the SPLM is critical to bringing about a political settlement between the Government of Sudan, the SLA, and the JEM.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE CONFLICT IN DARFUR, SUDAN.

(a) SUDAN PEACE ACT- It is the sense of Congress that the Sudan Peace Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 note) remains relevant and should be extended to include the Darfur region of Sudan.

(b) ACTIONS TO ADDRESS THE CONFLICT- It is the sense of Congress that--

(1) a legitimate countrywide peace in Sudan will only be possible if the principles and purpose of the Machakos Protocol of 2002 and the Nairobi Declaration on the Final Phase of Peace in the Sudan signed June 5, 2004, negotiated with the SPLM, should apply to all of Sudan and to all of the people of Sudan, including the Darfur region;

(2) the parties to the Darfur Humanitarian Cease-fire dated April 8, 2004 (the Government of Sudan, the SLA, and the JEM) must meet their obligations under that agreement to allow safe and immediate access of all humanitarian assistance throughout the Darfur region and must expedite the conclusion of a political agreement to end the conflict in Darfur;

(3) the United States should continue to provide humanitarian assistance to the areas of Sudan to which the United States has access and, at the same time, develop a plan similar to that described in section 10 of the Sudan Peace Act to provide assistance to the areas of Sudan to which United States access has been obstructed or denied;

(4) the international community, including African, Arab, and Muslim nations, should immediately provide logistical, financial, in-kind, and personnel resources necessary to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals in the Darfur crisis;

(5) the United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes should travel to Chad and the Darfur region immediately to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity, to develop a more accurate portrayal of the situation on the ground and best inform the report required in section 11(b) of the Sudan Peace Act;

(6) the United States and the international community should use all necessary means to assist in the immediate deployment of the full mandated African Union contingent of 100 monitors and a security force of 300, and work to increase the authorized level to that which properly addresses the gravity and scope of the problem in a region the size of France;

(7) the President should immediately name a new Special Envoy to Sudan to further efforts begun by John Danforth and to allow the United States to continue to lead the peace effort toward a comprehensive and sustainable peace in Sudan;

(8) the President should use all means to facilitate a comprehensive solution to the conflict in Sudan, including by directing the United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to pursue a resolution of the United Nations Security Council that--

(A) condemns the actions of the Government of Sudan in engaging in an orchestrated campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur;

(B) calls on the Government of Sudan to cease support of ethnic cleansing and the killing of innocent civilians, disarm the Janjaweed militias, prevent such militias from harassing and killing civilians, and ensure immediate access for all humanitarian assistance to all areas of Darfur;

(C) calls on all parties to the conflict in the Darfur region to permit unimpeded delivery of humanitarian assistance directly to Darfur and to allow such assistance to cross directly from countries that border Sudan, and abide by the Darfur Humanitarian Cease-fire dated April 8, 2004;

(D) calls on the Government of Sudan to provide all assistance possible, including release of its strategic food reserves to respond to the Darfur crisis;

(E) calls on the international community, particularly those countries with strong economic ties to Sudan, to expedite the provision of humanitarian assistance to Darfur;

(F) endorses the African Union Observer and Protection Force now deploying to the Darfur region of Sudan;

(G) establishes an international commission of inquiry to examine the actions and accountability of those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity that have precipitated and perpetuated the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region; and

(H) confirms the right of all displaced Sudanese to return to their land under safe and secure conditions;

(9) the United Nations should immediately deploy a United Nations force to Sudan to ensure an appropriate international humanitarian response to the catastrophe in the Darfur region;

(10) sanctions should be imposed on the assets and activities of those Sudanese government officials and other individuals that are involved in carrying out the policy of ethnic cleansing in the Darfur region; and

(11) the Government of the United States should not normalize relations with Sudan, including

through the lifting of any sanctions, until the Government of Sudan agrees to and implements a comprehensive peace agreement for all areas of Sudan, including Darfur.

SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO THE SUDAN PEACE ACT.

(a) ASSISTANCE FOR THE CRISIS IN DARFUR AND FOR COMPREHENSIVE PEACE IN SUDAN-

(1) IN GENERAL- The Sudan Peace Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

`SEC. 12. ASSISTANCE FOR THE CRISIS IN DARFUR AND FOR COMPREHENSIVE PEACE IN SUDAN.

`(a) ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT A COMPREHENSIVE FINAL PEACE AGREEMENT AND TO RESPOND TO THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN DARFUR-

`(1) AUTHORITY- Subject to the requirements of this section, the President is authorized to provide assistance for Sudan to support the implementation of a comprehensive peace agreement that applies to all regions of Sudan, including the Darfur region, and to address the humanitarian and human rights crisis in the Darfur region and its impact on eastern Chad.

`(2) REQUIREMENT FOR CERTIFICATION- Notwithstanding section 501(a) of the Assistance for International Malaria Control Act (Public Law 106-570; 50 U.S.C. 1701 note), assistance authorized under this section may be provided to the Government of Sudan only if the President submits the certification described in paragraph (3).

`(3) CERTIFICATION FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN- The certification referred to in paragraph (2) is a certification submitted by the President to the appropriate congressional committees that the Government of Sudan has taken demonstrable steps to--

`(A) ensure that the armed forces of Sudan and any associated militias are not committing atrocities or obstructing human rights monitors or the provision of humanitarian assistance or human rights monitors;

`(B) demobilize and disarm militias supported or created by the Government of Sudan;

`(C) allow full and unfettered humanitarian assistance to all regions of Sudan, including Darfur;

`(D) allow an international commission of inquiry to conduct its investigation of atrocities in the Darfur region and Khartoum, preserve evidence of atrocities and prosecute those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity; and

`(E) cooperate fully with the African Union and all other observer and monitoring missions mandated to operate in Sudan.

`(4) SUSPENSION OF ASSISTANCE- If, on a date after the President submits the certification described in paragraph (3), the President determines that the Government of Sudan has ceased taking the actions described in such paragraph, the President shall immediately suspend the provision of any assistance to such Government until the date on which the President certifies that the Government of Sudan has resumed taking such actions.

`(5) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS-

`(A) IN GENERAL- There are authorized to be appropriated to the President to provide the assistance described in paragraph (1), $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2005, in addition to any other funds otherwise available for such purpose. Of such amount, $200,000,000 may be made available for humanitarian assistance in the Darfur region of Sudan and eastern Chad in response to the ongoing crisis, notwithstanding any provision of law other than the provisions of this section.

`(B) AVAILABILITY- Amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of appropriations under subparagraph (A) are authorized to remain available until expended.

`(b) GOVERNMENT OF SUDAN DEFINED- In this section, the term `Government of Sudan' shall have the same meaning as such term had immediately prior to the conclusion of Darfur Humanitarian Cease-fire dated April 8, 2004.'.

(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT- Section 3(2) of such Act is amended by striking `The' and inserting `Except as provided in section 12, the'.

(b) REPORTING REQUIREMENT- Section 8 of the Sudan Peace Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 note) is amended in the first sentence by striking `Sudan.' and inserting `Sudan, including the conflict in the Darfur region.'.

SEC. 6. REQUIREMENT FOR REPORT.

(a) REQUIREMENT- Not later than 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report on the planned United States response to a comprehensive peace agreement for Sudan.

(b) CONTENT- The report required by subsection (a) shall include--

(1) a description of the planned United States response to a modified peace process between the Government of Sudan and the SPLM that would account for the implementation of a peace in all regions of Sudan, in particular Darfur; and

(2) a contingency plan for extraordinary humanitarian assistance should the Government of Sudan continue to obstruct or delay the international humanitarian response to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

(c) FORM OF REPORT- The report required by subsection (a) may be submitted in classified form.

END