Congress: Justice Delayed
Sudan Peace Act may be a casualty of the war on terrorism.
Art Moore | posted 11/12/2001 12:00AM
On the morning of September 11, activists urging the U.S. Congress to sanction Sudan's militant Muslim regime were about to hold a press conference on Capitol Hill. Then they received an order to evacuate. Terrorists had struck New York and the Pentagon.
The September 11 attacks brought a taste of southern Sudan's terror close to home for the Sudan Coalition. This broad-based movement includes the National Association of Evangelicals, the Family Research Council, and the afl-cio.
That day also apparently spurred a shift in U.S. policy toward Sudan that has stalled potentially punitive legislation. Sudan's National Islamic Front regime, which once harbored prime suspect Osama bin Laden, says it will now help bring some of his associates to justice.
The Sudan Coalition has been pressing Congress to maintain provisions in the Sudan Peace Act that would ban from U.S. markets companies that cooperate with Khartoum. Sudan is exploiting newly discovered oil reserves with foreign investment. The country had $500 million in oil revenues last year. That money, in turn, fuels Sudan's military campaign to impose Islamic law nationwide.
In southern Sudan, the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army continues to fight back, but it has not been easy. Sudan's government has bombed civilian targets, condoned slave raids, and orchestrated mass starvation. More than 2 million southern Sudanese have died. More than 4 million have been displaced since 1983.
While the House version of the Sudan Peace Act supports capital-market restrictions, the Senate version does not. House and Senate versions were about to be reconciled on September 20. But House Speaker Dennis Hastert halted the process, apparently on behalf of the Bush administration.
An Unreliable Partner
Sudan Coalition members believe that Khartoum's sudden cooperation in Washington's new war on terrorism has stalled further action on the bill. Gary Bauer, a Sudan Coalition member and former Republican presidential candidate, believes the Bush administration is mistaken.
"It's tragic and ultimately makes no sense. What Khartoum is doing to the Christians in the south is a form of terrorism," says Bauer, president of American Values, a political advocacy group. "I'm hopeful the administration will rethink this tradeoff, which is likely to increase suffering rather than ease it."
Faith McDonnell, who has mobilized American churches for the Sudan Coalition, believes the U.S. government is dealing with an unreliable partner. "It looks incredibly naïve to trust a government that came to power illegitimately in a coup and has never spoken the truth about anything," says McDonnell, campaign director of the Church Alliance for a New Sudan, a project of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. "Every time they've declared a cease-fire they've bombed people. They do and say whatever is expedient."
Both versions of the Sudan Peace Act would have required the U.S. government to condemn bomb attacks on civilians. The bill also would have given $10 million to the National Democratic Alliance, an opposition group in Sudan.
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