Washington — In an unexpected action Thursday, 15 House members were named by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to serve on a conference committee to resolve differing House and Senate versions of legislation known as "the Sudan Peace Act."
The move caught members of the House Africa subcommittee by surprise, since the White House had urged delay on the legislation while it sought Sudan's cooperation in the global anti-terrorism coalition. On September 19, just as Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO), who introduced the Peace Act in the House, was about to call for a conference committee from the House floor, Congressional leaders suddenly decided to postpone action, apparently agreeing that it was worth waiting to see whether the contacts with the government in Khartoum would produce results.
Neither Hastert nor Tancredo was available for comment, but a spokesperson in Tancredo's office said the Colorado Republican was pleased by the decision to move ahead. "We didn't make that decision, although obviously we're extremely excited that it [the Peace Act] is moving forward."
"This ratchets the pressure up, but not very high," said another Hill aide, who also predicted that, with Senate conferees not yet chosen, actual House-Senate conferencing on the legislation is not likely until after the first of the year. The conferees include nine Republicans and six Democrats.
Important sections of the Bush administration's right political flank, on Capital Hill and off, have made Sudan a priority concern. Because of this, part of the puzzle focuses on whether or not there was approval for this action from within the Bush administration.
Remarking on the sudden decision to proceed with the selection of conferees, one Hill staffer said: "This would have taken someone with some real clout." The House Republican leadership has been under pressure to make this move from powerful constituents belonging to the Christian coalition that has charged the Sudan government with permitting slavery, the aide said.
As the House decision was being made, John Danforth, a former Senator who is serving as the Bush administration's Sudan Peace Envoy, was visiting Sudan to present a four-point plan as a first step toward ending that country's brutal civil war. Opinion is divided over whether renewed Congressional movement on the Peace Act gives the envoy additional leverage or makes his mission more difficult. Danforth will have time to work with Sudan's government while at the same time, one aide said, "It shows we're still engaged."
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The House version of the Peace Act -- opposed by the Bush Administration and U.S. business groups -- prohibits "any entity engaged in the development of oil and gas in Sudan from raising capital in the United States." It also prohibits such entities from trading securities in any U.S. capital market. Neither of these provisions appears in the Senate version of the Bill. The House bill also makes $10m available to a Sudanese opposition group, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The Sudanese government still wants to improve its relationship with the United States, said Khartoum's ambassador to Washington, Khidir Haroun Ahmed. "But by doing this, Congress is sending a very negative message, he said in an interview today.
"The administration cannot send someone with the status of former Senator Danforth to make peace, and while he is still there [in Sudan] start discussing what they call a Sudan Peace Act - I call it the Sudan war act," he said.
