Barbara Lee Responds to Bush Sudan Sanctions
(Oakland, CA) - Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), a Congressional leader in the fight to end the genocide in Sudan, released the following statement in response to President Bush's announcement of new sanctions against Sudan today:
“It is critical that we move forward with the deployment of international peacekeepers, and the Bashir government needs to understand that their stonewalling will not be accepted. The sanctions the President announced today help to send that message, but I believe that we must go further. We must strengthen the movement to divest from companies that are indirectly supporting the genocide, and we must force China to get serious about using its leverage with Sudan to help end the violence and negotiate a lasting peace agreement,” said Lee.
Lee, who has visited Darfur three times, introduced a resolution calling on the League of Arab States to take more aggressive action to end the genocide that was passed by the House in April. The House will soon consider her legislation to bar federal contracts from going to companies that do business with Sudan as well as her resolution calling on China to use its diplomatic and economic influence with Sudan to help end the genocide.
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