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SRES 267 ATS

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President, acting through the United States Agency for International Development, should more effectively secure emergency famine relief for the people of Sudan, and for other purposes.

July 31, 1998

Mr. FRIST (for himself, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. DEWINE, Mr. GRAMS, and Mr. ASHCROFT) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

Expressing the sense of the Senate that the President, acting through the United States Agency for International Development, should more effectively secure emergency famine relief for the people of Sudan, and for other purposes.

Whereas the National Islamic Front regime in Khartoum, Sudan, continues to wage a brutal war against its own people in southern Sudan;

Whereas that war has already caused the death of more than 1,500,000 Sudanese since 1983;

Whereas famine conditions now threaten areas of southern Sudan as a direct consequence of the concerted and sustained effort by the regime in Khartoum to subdue its southern regions by force and including violations of basic human rights;

Whereas famine conditions are exacerbated by diversions of humanitarian assistance by armed parties on all sides of the conflict;

Whereas the United Nations World Food Program has now targeted 2,600,000 Sudanese for famine relief aid, to be distributed through an umbrella arrangement called `Operation Lifeline Sudan';

Whereas the regime in Khartoum retains the ability to deny the relief agencies operating in Operation Lifeline Sudan the clearance to distribute food according to needs in Sudan;

Whereas the regime in Khartoum has used humanitarian assistance as a weapon by routinely denying the requests by Operation Lifeline Sudan and its members to distribute food and other crucial items in needy areas of Sudan both within the Khartoum regime's control and areas outside the Khartoum regime's control, including the Nuba Mountains;

Whereas the United States Agency for International Development provides famine relief to the people of Sudan primarily through groups operating within Operation Lifeline Sudan and, thus, subjects that relief to the arrangement's associated constraints imposed by the regime in Khartoum;

Whereas several relief groups already operate successfully in areas of southern Sudan where Operation Lifeline Sudan has been denied access in the past, thus providing crucial assistance to the distressed population;

Whereas it is in the interest of the people of Sudan and the people of the United States, to take proactive and preventative measures to avoid any future famine conditions in southern Sudan;

Whereas the United States Agency for International Development, when it pursues assistance programs most effectively, encourages economic self-sufficiency;

Whereas assistance activities should serve as integral elements in preventing famine conditions in southern Sudan in the future;

Whereas the current international and media attention to the starving populations in southern Sudan and to the causes of the famine conditions that affect them have pushed the regime in Khartoum and the rebel forces to announce a tentative but temporary cease-fire to allow famine relief aid to be more widely distributed; and

Whereas the current level of attention weakens the resolve of the regime in Khartoum to manipulate famine relief for its own agenda: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--

(1) the President, acting through the United States Agency for International Development, should--

(A) aggressively seek to secure emergency famine relief for the people of Sudan who now face widespread starvation;

(B) immediately take appropriate steps to distribute that famine relief to affected areas in Sudan, including the use of relief groups operating outside the umbrella of Operation Lifeline Sudan and without regard to a group's status with respect to Operation Lifeline Sudan; and

(C) encourage and assist Operation Lifeline Sudan and the ongoing efforts to develop relief distribution networks for affected areas of Sudan outside of the umbrella and associated constraints of Operation Lifeline Sudan;

(2) both bilaterally and within the United Nations, the President should aggressively seek to change the terms by which Operation Lifeline Sudan and other groups are prohibited from providing necessary relief according to the true needs of the people of Sudan;

(3) the President, acting through the United States Agency for International Development, should--

(A) begin providing development assistance in areas of Sudan not controlled by the regime in Khartoum with the goal of building self-sufficiency and avoiding the same conditions which have created the current crisis, and with the goal of longer-term economic, civil, and democratic development, including the development of rule of law, within the overall framework of United States strategy throughout sub-Saharan Africa; and

(B) undertake such efforts without regard to the constraints that now compromise the ability of Operation Lifeline Sudan to distribute famine relief or that could constrain future multilateral relief arrangements;

(4) the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development should submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees on the Agency's progress toward meeting these goals; and

(5) the policy expressed in this resolution should be implemented without a return to the status quo ante policy after the immediate famine conditions are addressed and international attention has decreased.

SEC. 2. The Secretary of the Senate shall transmit a copy of this resolution to the President and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.

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