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(Springville Students for Darfur)

Save Darfur Lauds Congressional Actions on Darfur

Resolutions, letters continue congressional drumbeat for peace, security in Darfur

WASHINGTON – The Save Darfur Coalition today praised several Congressional measures that extend the push and vocal advocacy for effective action to end the violence and suffering in Darfur. Senate Resolution 432, led by U.S. Senators Joe Biden (D-DE) and Richard Lugar (R-IN), urges world leaders in general and President Bush in particular to quickly identify and provide the equipment and helicopters needed to ensure the UNAMID peacekeeping mission has a chance to succeed.

Complementary letters in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, led by U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Brian Higgins (D-NY), and signed by 17 Senators and 60 Representatives respectively, pressed President Bush to renew America’s leadership in resolving the crisis in Darfur by enhancing the authority of his Sudan envoy and dispatching an expanded diplomatic team to the region. Both measures successfully advanced last week.

“The Congress continues to be at the forefront of raising awareness and pushing key policies to improve the lives of the Darfuri people,” Colleen Connors, Communications Director of the Save Darfur Coalition, said. “Senators Biden and Lugar have advanced a resolution that sends a loud message firmly rooted in sound Darfur policy. The letters to President Bush, jointly coordinated by Senator Clinton and Representative Higgins, are likewise crucial to building and maintaining the pressure necessary to achieve peace in Darfur. Activists across the country will continue to look to the Congress for their leadership and vocal efforts to end the Darfur crisis.”

The Biden-Lugar resolution, Senate Resolution 432, urges countries “including the United States, that possess the capability to provide the tactical and utility helicopters needed for the United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur to do so as soon as possible.” The bipartisan measure also presses President Bush to “to intervene personally by contacting other heads of state and asking them to contribute the aircraft and crews for the Darfur mission.”

The Clinton-Higgins letters to President Bush urges the U.S. government to expand its leadership role on Darfur.

“While the United States has taken some action to encourage peace in Darfur, we believe that several steps need to be taken to strengthen American leadership in the region,” say the Clinton-Higgins letters. “With a strong leadership structure in place and a focused diplomatic team on the ground, the United States will be able to develop and implement a more coordinated and effective policy for Darfur. […] Improved leadership in form and substance will send an urgently needed message abroad that the United States is a moral nation that will stand to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

Information from: http://www.savedarfur.org/newsroom/releases/save_darfur_lauds_congressional_actions_on_darfur/

Congressman Higgins
Senator Clinton
Senator Schumer

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