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Week Ending November 2, 2007

H.RES.740 Condemning in the strongest terms the attacks on African Union peacekeepers that occurred in Haskanita, Darfur, Sudan, on September 29, 2007.

<< Click flag for map and country data, Sudan

The African Union is an UN-like umbrella organization that deploys African Union troops as peacekeeping forces. In Haskanita, Darfur, Sudan a Darfur rebel group with thirty heavily armed vehiclesoverran an AU mission camp killing ten peacekeepers, wounding seven and 50 are missing.

15,000 Haskanita natives were displaced.

More resolution below….

Sponsor:  Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18^th)

Vote: Passed House by voice vote October 29, 2007

Cost to the taxpayers: No discernible cost.

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MORE INFORMATION

Whereas, on September 29, 2007, an estimated 1,000 members of a heavily-armed Darfur rebel group overran a small base in Haskanita, Darfur, Sudan, occupied by the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), brutally killing 10 peacekeepers--seven Nigerian peacekeepers and three other soldiers from Mali, Senegal, and Botswana--and wounding seven peacekeepers, with 50 soldiers missing;

Whereas, in an assault described by the African Union commander as `deliberate and sustained', the rebel group broke into the AMIS base in 30 vehicles with heavy artillery and mortars and battled for hours until AMIS forces ran out of ammunition;

Whereas the attacks were the worst attacks on AMIS peacekeepers since the deployment of the peacekeepers to Sudan in July 2004;

Whereas the United Nations Security Council condemned the `murderous attack' on AMIS peacekeepers and demanded that `no effort be spared' to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of the attacks;

Whereas, in the aftermath of the attacks, Haskanita has been burned to the ground, driving more than 15,000 civilians into the bush or neighboring towns;

Whereas the attacks have been openly condemned by the United States Government, the African Union, the international community, and civilized people everywhere;

Whereas the Government of Sudan has not publicly spoken out against or condemned the attacks; and

Whereas the attacks occurred amid international peace efforts to deploy a hybrid African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force to Darfur, Sudan, and convene peace talks scheduled for October 27, 2007, in Tripoli, Libya: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) condemns in the strongest terms the attacks on African Union peacekeepers that occurred in Haskanita, Darfur, Sudan, on September 29, 2007;

(2) expresses its condolences to the people and Governments of Nigeria, Mali, Senegal, and Botswana, the families and friends of those individuals who were killed or missing in the attacks, and expresses its sympathies to those individuals who have been injured;

(3) expresses the solidarity of the people and Government of the United States with the African Union and the African Union peacekeepers as they recover from these cowardly and inhuman attacks;

(4) expresses its readiness to support efforts to bring to justice those individuals responsible for the attacks and efforts to detect, pursue, disrupt, and dismantle the networks that plan and carry out such attacks;

(5) expresses its support for the people of Darfur, Sudan, in their continued struggle against extremism and violence and support for their efforts to secure a permanent peace, justice, and return to their restored villages and homes; and

(6) encourage all parties involved in the conflict to commit to negotiate a final and binding peace agreement at the peace talks scheduled for October 27, 2007, in Tripoli, Libya.

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