On Wednesday, April 5, the House of Representatives voted 416-3 to pass HR 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (PDF). Many representatives, including Reps. Smith (NJ), Lantos (CA), Pelosi (CA), Payne (NJ), Lee (CA), Capuano (MA), Tancredo (CO) and several others, spoke in support of the DPAA on the House floor Wednesday morning. While the House-approved DPAA is not the perfect bill on Darfur, it is a step toward a resolution of the ongoing crisis, and it lends support to efforts to secure adequate funding for the AU mission in Sudan. A conference committee will now meet to work out differences between the Senate (S 1462) and House (HR 3127) bills.
Provisions of the Bill
As described in the text of the bill, the DPAA:
* imposes travel bans and asset freezes on individuals determined by the president to be complicit in atrocities in Darfur (with a conditional presidential waiver);
* authorizes U.S. assistance to strengthen and expand AMIS in order to adequately protect civilians, including but not limited to providing assistance in the areas of logistics, transport, communications, materiel support, technical assistance, training, command and control, aerial surveillance, and intelligence;
* urges the [Bush] Administration to use the voice, vote, and influence of the U.S. at NATO to advocate greater NATO reinforcement of AMIS;
* urges the Administration to deny the [government of Sudan] access to oil revenues, including by prohibiting entry at U.S. ports to cargo ships carrying Sudanese oil;
* directs the Administration to use the U.S. voice, vote, and influence at the UN Security Council to urge adoption of a resolution that would 1) help expand the AU mission, 2) strengthen peace talks, 3) impose sanctions on the [government of Sudan], 4) extend the military embargo established by UNSC Resolutions 1556 and 1591, and 5) call on UN member states providing military assistance to parties to the conflict in violation of arms embargo to cease and desist;
lays out benchmarks that must be met before the U.S. lifts any sanctions currently imposed on the [government of Sudan], with a presidential waiver [Senate version lays out non-binding benchmarks];
* states that nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt any state law prohibiting investment of funds, including state pension funds, in or relating to the Republic of Sudan.
