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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 19, 2008
Fact Sheet: United States Leading The Global Response To Crisis In Darfur
President Bush Remains Committed To Ending The Violence
In Focus: Africa Trip 2008
President Bush Visits Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda
The United States is committed to ending the genocide in Darfur and continues to lead the world in responding to the crisis there by providing humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations, enabling the deployment of an international peacekeeping force, and promoting a lasting political settlement. To spearhead these efforts, President Bush named Richard S. Williamson as Special Envoy to Sudan on Dec. 21, 2007.
The United States is pushing for full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which was signed in January 2005 and ended 21 years of civil war between the North and South. The CPA, which created the Government of National Unity, calls for democratic national elections before July 2009 and the deployment of troops away from the border. Implementation of the CPA will help end the crisis in Darfur and provide a framework for the development of a peaceful, unified, and democratic Sudan.
The United States has imposed economic sanctions on seven Sudanese individuals responsible for violence in Darfur and on more than 160 companies owned or controlled by the Government of Sudan. The United States took these steps to increase pressure on Khartoum to end the violence in Darfur. Furthermore, the United States has enforced the application of existing sanctions to deny Sudanese banks access to the U.S. financial system and use of the U.S. Dollar.
U.S. Assistance
The United States is the largest single donor to Sudan, including to Darfur where more than 2.5 million people live in camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Since the outbreak of violence in Darfur, the United States provided, through FY 2007, nearly $2.5 billion in humanitarian and peacekeeping assistance to that region. In FY 2007, the U.S. gave more than $1 billion in assistance to the people of Sudan, including Darfur, and anticipates providing a similar amount in FY 2008. In 2007, the United States provided more than 67 percent of the World Food Program's food aid to Sudan, serving more than 6 million people throughout Sudan and eastern Chad.
Peacekeeping
The United States supports the rapid deployment of 26,000 United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) peacekeepers. Since 2004, the United States has spent more than $15 million to airlift 11,400 peacekeepers and their equipment to and from Darfur, and has provided over $30 million to train and equip those forces. Since 2004, total direct and indirect U.S. support provided to peacekeeping operations in Darfur totals more than $600 million. The United States will pay more than one-fourth of the total cost of UNAMID through United Nations assessed contributions, amounting to roughly $330 million through June 2008. Over the past three years, the United States spent more than $450 million to build, operate, and maintain 34 peacekeeping base camps for African Union forces and also provided those troops with vehicles and communication equipment, which are now under the control of UNAMID.
The President is announcing the availability of $100 million in U.S. funding to augment the training and equipping of African peacekeepers pledged to deploy under UNAMID. Up to $12 million dollars of these new funds will help ensure that Rwanda's forces have the training and equipment they need. Already, the U.S. has helped train more than 7,000 Rwandans for peacekeeping in Darfur and spent more than $17 million to ensure they are properly prepared, equipped, and on the ground.
Political Process in Darfur
The United States supports the United Nations and the African Union in renewing a political process between the Government of Sudan and those rebel groups that did not sign the 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA). The U.S. supports full implementation of the DPA as it creates broad structures for a political solution that will allow millions of people in Darfur to return to their homes and rebuild their lives in peace.
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