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Washington, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul delivered remarks at a full committee markup supporting H.Res. 1328, which declares the acts committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the Darfur region of Sudan against non-Arab ethnic communities as acts of genocide. Chairman McCaul called for warring parties, and their backers, to end the violence in Darfur and to hand power over to the people of Sudan.

WATCH HERE.

— Remarks as delivered —

It’s been over a year since fighting first broke out in Khartoum and throughout Sudan.

The war in Sudan has created a heartbreaking humanitarian crisis. Humanitarian workers have been killed and more than seven million people have been displaced, including three million children.  

There are reports of widespread rape and sexual violence, as well as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing.

Much, if not all, has been at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – also known as the Janjaweed – and its allied militias, targeting the non-Arab Sudanese.

This past April, at the one-year anniversary of the conflict – Ranking Member Meeks and I – along with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Cardin and Ranking Member Risch, sent a letter to the administration requesting that they examine the RSF’s actions and if they are guilty of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.

Since we sent that letter, the violence has only increased.

We want the world to know that the United States Congress stands together in our outrage of the genocidal actions by both the Janjaweed as well as their enablers.  

And, we also must send a clear message that Congress condemns the Sudanese Armed Forces, who are guilty of acts of war and other atrocities.

The United States must use all its diplomatic might to pressure both sides to cease this war and hand over power to the people of Sudan.

As millions face violence, famine, and ethnic targeting in [the] Darfur region in Sudan, it is time the body speaks with a unified voice that genocide and ethnic cleansing will not be tolerated.

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