Source: US House Committee on Foreign Affairs
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith delivered opening remarks at a subcommittee hearing titled, “A Dire Crisis in Sudan: A Global Call to Action.”
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-Remarks-
Over the decades, as especially our distinguished panel knows, the people of Sudan have been subjected to unbearable pain, suffering, loss of life, and even slavery. Since the 1990s, I have been a vocal advocate for human rights, democracy, and stability in Sudan. Soon after Republicans took control of the House, I chaired a hearing in 1996 on slavery in Sudan and Mauritania.
Today, there is a dire crisis again in Sudan, necessitating a global call to action. I went to Khartoum in August of 2005 to meet with President Omar al-Bashir and other government officials, a number of people from the faith community, to press for an end to the genocide in Darfur. The meeting was necessarily contentious. Bashir denied any wrongdoing or complicity in the killings of the Darfur genocide.
In 2009, however, Bashir was charged by the International Criminal Court with committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 2010, he became the first person ever charged with the crime of genocide by the ICC.
After meetings with Bashir and other government officials, I visited two refugee camps – many of you have done that, many of my colleagues have done that. Those two camps I went to in Darfur were Kalma Camp and I stayed overnight at another called Mukjar in western Darfur. That experience profoundly motivated me to do more to end the mass violence. When our helicopter landed at the remote Mukjar camp, thousands, and I mean thousand, a line was formed of these wonderful people: women and children dancing, clapping, singing beautiful African traditional songs. The people of Darfur have a remarkable generosity and spirit, and it was awe-inspiring.
Just about everyone I spoke with, especially the women, told me personal stories of rape, senseless beatings, and massacres by the Janjaweed and Sudanese militias. I was deeply impressed by the dedication of the African Union peacekeepers operating under extremely difficult circumstances and urged international partners, including the United States, to better equip them. I was shocked to learn they were receiving a little over $1 a day. It was absurd.
I went to Secretary Condoleezza Rice upon my return and said, “Please, we’ve got to augment that. We’ve got to increase it. These soldiers are putting their lives on the line. They should not be so grossly underpaid an not getting the kind of things that they need in terms of munitions.”
In November of 2005, I chaired another hearing on Sudan. It was absolutely clear that the situation in Darfur was a genocide. At that time, over 400,000 killed and over a million displaced. We did stress at that hearing, all of us, that the need for a comprehensive plan that could best contribute to peace and hold those who have murdered, raped, enslaved, and plagued the people of Sudan accountable.
Meanwhile, Chairman Henry Hyde, Donald Payne, who was my ranking member from New Jersey, Frank Wolf, Tom Lantos, and a number of others pushed the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act that declared that the slaughter in Darfur was genocide, imposed sanctions on malign actors and talked about helping peacekeepers. It was signed into law in October 2006. That law built upon the Sudan Peace Act of 2001 and the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act of 2004.
I also, and I wasn’t the only one, called on the Arab League to leverage its influence over the Sudanese government by encouraging the government to end its military offensive in Darfur and accept the United Nations peacekeeping which was there under the auspices of the AU. They didn’t do it. It was like crickets. We got almost no response at all other than “thank you for raising it.” So here we are again.
In January 2017, again on this committee, I objected to the Obama administration’s decision to ease sanctions on Sudan. I know it had to have been a tough call. We’re always evaluating when sanctions become counterproductive, so there was an argument to be made. But I thought it was the wrong one because Khartoum’s government continued to commit pervasive human rights violations. At the time, we pointed out the violent government actions against Sudanese citizens in Darfur, Nubia the Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile, alongside the nationwide persecution of Christians nationwide.
I was also disappointed in 2024 by the decision to allow Sudanese warlord Abdel Fattah al-Burhan into the country for a meeting with the UN Secretary-General. Burhan, as we all know, has massive amounts of blood on his hands and should never have been allowed into the U.S.
Yet the Biden administration delayed and denied robust sanctions against both Burhan and Hemedti, delaying until the administration’s final hours. While we were glad they finally did it, many of us believe it should have happened sooner. There will never be peace in Sudan until there is accountability for the atrocities committed by the twin butchers of Darfur.
Over 18,000 civilian deaths have been committed since 2023, with estimates as high as 150,000, and more than 10 million people displaced. These are not just numerical estimates; it’s evidence of an appalling range of harrowing human rights violations and international crimes. Each murder or displaced civilian is a person with dreams, hopes, and family – a person whose life has been taken or irrevocably changed by these attrocities.
Both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are guilty of arbitrary killings, detentions, abductions, rapes—including the rape of children—repression of fundamental human rights, illicit gold mining, and child soldier recruitment.
Illicit Sudanese gold, which the RSF smuggles through the UAE, is crucial to prevending the continued funding Hemedti’s atrocities and perpetuating this bloody conflict. The RSF’s main international backer is widely reported to be the UAE, which has supplied both weapons and financial support. Other external actors, such as Chad, have been credibly accused of enabling arms transfers and have been implicated in supporting the RSF.
Domestically, the RSF has allied with non-RSF Janjaweed militias. It is clear that the RSF is grappling with command and control, however, allowing its fighters to rape, pillage, target vulnerable women and children, and to attack civilian infrastructure. This is the opposite of capable government, and such behavior only confirms this to the Sudanese people.
The SAF has received support from domestic groups including the Al-Bara Battalion—known as the Popular Resistance—which openly espouses a militant Islamist ideology, as well as former rebel groups such as the Sudan Liberation Movement under Minni Minawi and Mustafa Tambour. Externally, the SAF has received support from countries like Egypt, Iran, Qatar, and Turkey. Russia continues to pursue naval access to Port Sudan.
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