Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: “I would like to thank Mr. Bachus and Mr. Frank for their leadership on this critical issue. And I am proud to rise in…”

“I would like to thank Mr. Bachus and Mr. Frank for their leadership on this critical issue. And I am proud to rise in strong support of the bill before us, Senate bill 2271, the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act. The timing of this bill is critical, Mr. Speaker, because as we speak, the United Nations is engaged in yet another effort to convince the regime in Khartoum to stop its foot-dragging and finally facilitate the deployment of a robust United Nations-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur. It has been 4 months since this force was approved by the United Nations Security Council, 4 months. And according to the timeline set by Security Council Resolution 1769, the hybrid mission is expected to take over full operational control from the overextended and underresourced African Union peacekeeping mission at the end of this month. But here we are more than halfway through this month, and the chances of this happening appear bleaker than ever. True to form, Khartoum has reneged on its promises and effectively blocked international efforts to get a credible peacekeeping mission deployed to Darfur.”