Washington, DC — House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) delivered an emotional account of the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, which she called "a challenge to the conscience of the world," in an address hosted by the Center for National Policy last Friday.
Pelosi visited refugee camps in Chad in February.
She recounted the deplorable conditions that the people of Darfur are forced to live in, where refugees -- including children and pregnant women -- have to walk several miles for water and firewood and live in "inhuman" sanitary conditions.
The camp Pelosi and her colleagues visited is home to about 100,000 people, she said, adding that it represents just a fraction of the staggering toll of violence in Darfur.
The United Nations estimates that there are about 3 million people in Darfur who need assistance and out of this number, about 2 million are displaced. Another 200,000 have died.
Pelosi compared the situation in Darfur to the 1994 Rwandan genocide and appealed to the world to come together as a body and immediately find a lasting solution to end the genocide.
She praised President Bush on his efforts and sincere commitment to see an end to this horror.
"This is the only thing I and the president agree upon 100 percent," she said.
Pelosi said it is unfortunate that the Sudanese government is not working to end the violence. She met with Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha, who told her that the United States is meddling in Sudanese domestic affairs and should allow them to settle their issues on their own.
"After persistent and diplomatic questioning by Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Vice President Taha finally admitted that the government of Sudan had supported the Janjaweed in the past," Pelosi said.
"With this stance from a government that supports the Janjaweed militant group, which engages in ethnic cleansing and genocide in Darfur, it will be a difficult task ahead for the world bodies to achieve a lasting peace in Sudan," she said.
Pelosi said the U.S. has not sent troops to Darfur -- as in the case of Kosovo. She said the AU peacekeeping force does not have enough vehicles, equipment and other supplies to fulfill their mission, but the AU has not yet requested additional support. "We are still waiting to hear from them before any material support can be made," she said. African Union troops are presently the only visible international peacekeeping force operating in Darfur.
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CNP President Tim Roemer said the United States is committed to providing material support, but not preemptive power support to the people of southern Sudan. He acknowledged however the difficulties and restrictions that AU peacekeepers encounter, like being subjected to curfews and not being able to shoot back, as Nigerian troops did in Sierra Leone. This situation has reduced the effectiveness of the AU mission to almost zero, he said.
Pelosi called for a change of strategy to stop the violence in Darfur.
The United States, European Union and United Nations should step out immediately from the rhetoric of press releases and conferences to a more active and effective solution by sending help to Darfur, she said, even if that means confronting the government in Khartoum, a key U.S. ally in the "war on terror."
