Mar 14, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 14, 2007
Contact:
Judith Ingram, Communications Director,
(202) 523-3240, ext. 127
WASHINGTON—The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan federal agency, has sent a letter to President George W. Bush urging renewed U.S. leadership to achieve implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of January 2005 that brought an official end to the North-South civil war in Sudan and to advance United Nations protection efforts in Darfur. The Commission urges President Bush to use his personal prestige to enlist international support to press Khartoum to end its delaying tactics on CPA implementation.
USCIRF is concerned that the North-South peace is in jeopardy and that the crisis in Darfur, in addition to being a dire human tragedy, has contributed to severe delays in implementing CPA mechanisms, including promised commissions to resolve disputes over distribution of Sudan’s oil wealth and boundaries, elections, revenue-sharing, local governance and human rights.
At a reception March 13 honoring the Congressional Human Rights Caucus’ Task Force on International Religious Freedom and highlighting its upcoming work on Sudan, Commission Chair Felice D. Gaer said: “In this dark hour, when the progress enshrined in the CPA is imperiled, we urge you to exercise leadership in pressing Khartoum to end its delaying tactics on CPA implementation and United Nations protection efforts in Darfur.”
“The high-level attention of the Administration was pivotal to bringing about the CPA in January 2005 and is sorely needed today, when we note the palpable lack of progress in implementing the CPA’s mechanisms and the genocide in Darfur,” Gaer added.
Following is the full text of the letter, including recommendations.
March 13, 2007
The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan federal body, respectfully requests your leadership to prevent the Sudanese people from losing the hard-won gains that owe so much to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of January 2005. In addition to the grave situation in Darfur, North-South peace in Sudan appears to be in jeopardy. Now is the time to renew the high-level attention of your Administration that was pivotal to bringing about the CPA in 2005 and is so sorely needed today. In this dark hour, when the progress enshrined in the CPA is imperiled, we urge you to exercise leadership in pressing Khartoum to end its delaying tactics on CPA implementation and United Nations protection efforts in Darfur.
Sudan is now almost halfway between the signing of the CPA in January 2005 and national elections that should be held by July 2009. Although the CPA brought a halt to Sudan's North-South civil war, there has been a palpable lack of progress in implementing the CPA's mechanisms, including the promised commissions to resolve disputes over the distribution of Sudan's oil wealth and boundaries, elections, revenue-sharing, local governance and human rights, and the Commission for the Protection of the Rights of non-Muslims in the National Capital.
The genocide in Darfur is necessarily a huge focus of the world’s attention. In addition to the tragic consequences for its victims, the Darfur crisis has severely delayed implementation of the CPA. Since 2003, government forces and “Janjaweed” have carried out a genocide in slow motion. Though Darfur is a Muslim region, Khartoum’s policies and tactics regarding Darfur are shockingly similar to those it used previously in the South, where the victims were predominantly Christians or followers of traditional African religions. The Darfur conflict illustrates a broader pattern of deliberate marginalization and resource-deprivation of all of Sudan’s regions with non-Arab or non-Muslim populations by an unrepresentative and unelected elite drawn from a handful of tribes in the Khartoum area.
Implementation of the CPA, including elections to establish representative democratic institutions and governmental accountability at all levels, would go a long way to end the concentration of political power that has led to so much bloodshed.
More efforts are obviously needed, not only by the United States, but by others concerned with stability in a volatile and resource-rich part of the world: our European allies, Sudan’s neighbors, and countries such as China and India that are Khartoum’s economic partners in the oil sector and whose expanding international roles entail increased responsibilities for international peace and security.
The Commission calls on your Administration to lead others in ensuring high-level action on implementation of the CPA. Specifically, we ask you to use your personal prestige to enlist international support, including from the European Union, Sudan’s neighbors and nations such as China and India to press Khartoum to end its delaying tactics on CPA implementation. Other specific recommendations are included in an appendix to this letter.
Mr. President, success in Sudan is still achievable but it is absolutely contingent on sustained and far-reaching U.S. leadership. Thank you for considering the Commission’s recommendations on how that success can be secured.
Very truly yours,
Felice D. Gaer
Chair
cc: The Honorable Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State
The Honorable Stephen J. Hadley, National Security Advisor
The Honorable John Hanford, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom
The Honorable Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
The Honorable Michael Kozak, Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights, and International Operations, National Security Council
Andrew Natsios, Special Envoy for Sudan
Appendix
The Commission on International Religious Freedom recommends that the U.S. government should take the lead in the following areas:
Coalition Building
Verification and Follow-through
Strengthening the Peace
Increasing Resources
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom was created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad, as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and related international instruments, and to give independent policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and the Congress.
Felice D. Gaer,Chair•Michael Cromartie,Vice Chair•Elizabeth H. Prodromou, Vice Chair•Nina Shea,Vice Chair•Preeta D. Bansal•Archbishop Charles J. Chaput•Khaled Abou El Fadl•Richard D. Land•Bishop Ricardo Ramirez•Ambassador John V. Hanford III,Ex-Officio•Joseph R. Crapa,Executive Director |