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SENATE PASSES HUMANITARIAN AID FOR SOUTHERN SUDAN

Washington -- Sudan "is among the most victimized civilian populations
in the world. The statistics attest -- 1.9 million dead in the last
decade, 4.3 million pushed out of their ancient homelands and forced
to live on the edge of starvation," Senator Sam Brownback said in a
news release June 30.

The news release included Brownback's remarks after the U.S. senate
passed a part of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill that
called for the U.S. to send humanitarian aid to Southern Sudan.

"I have called on the government to stop the terror of civilian
bombing, slavery, government-manufactured famine, and forced religious
conversions," said Brownback, a Republican from Kansas.

The 1998 Sudan Country Report on Human Rights Practices, released by
the U.S. State Department on February 26, reported that the Sudanese
government has "tortured youths, student leaders, and others whom they
deemed opponents of the government."

"A considerable number of children suffered serious abuse, including
enslavement and forced conscription in the war zones. There continued
to be reports that the government seized children for purposes of
forced labor," the Sudan Country Report also said.

The Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill that passed the Senate June
30 would expand on the U.S. aid already given to Sudan through
Operation Lifeline Sudan.

In order to become law both the Senate and the House have to pass
identical versions of a bill and the President must sign it.

Following is the text released by the office of Senator Brownback:

(begin text)

June 30, 1999

SENATE PASSES HUMANITARIAN AID FOR SOUTHERN SUDANESE

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback today was successful in passing
as a part of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill (S. 1234),
humanitarian assistance to the people in southern Sudan suffering
under the rule of the National Islamic Front (NIF) government. S. 1234
passed the Senate tonight by a vote of 97-2.

"I just returned a couple weeks ago from the Sudan where I visited an
oppressed but noble group of people who are suffering greatly at the
hands of the ruling government in Khartoum," Brownback said. I am
pleased that we were able to pass legislation in the Senate today that
will send humanitarian support to the southern Sudanese.

"After visiting the Sudan and personally witnessing the effects of the
human rights abuses brutally practiced by the Sudanese government
against its own people, I have called on the government to stop the
terror of civilian bombing, slavery, government-manufactured famine,
and forced religious conversions.

"In 1993, the U.S. officially placed the government of Sudan on a very
short, very exclusive list of seven states in the world that sponsor
terrorism. The Khartoum government is attempting to spread their form
of government throughout all of Africa.

"They support terrorists who bomb our embassies and plot to murder the
leaders of our allies. They support militia who steal women and
children, branding and selling them like cattle in open-air slave
markets. They deliberately withhold American food aid as a weapon of
war against their own people and induce a government-manufactured
famine that killed at least 100,000 last year.

"My trip to Sudan confirmed what I already had heard about -- this is
among the most victimized civilian population in the world. The
statistics attest -- 1.9 million dead in the last decade, 4.3 million
pushed out of their ancient homelands and forced to live on the edge
of starvation -- making this the largest refugee population in the
world," Brownback said.

The U.S. currently gives aid to Sudan, but it is primarily distributed
through Operation Lifeline Sudan, and is given to those who support
the Khartoum government. Under this Brownback language, humanitarian
aid would expand direct assistance, in the form of food, to the
southern Sudanese.

Brownback is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and
sits on the African Affairs Subcommittee. He is also a commissioner on
the Helsinki Commission (the Commission on Security and Cooperation in
Europe).