Letter to US House Africa Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) on Including Sudan Sanctions Review in Omnibus Bill

July 25, 2017

Mr. Jeff Beck

c/o Rep. Chris Smith (R) – 4th CD-NJ

House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health & Global Human Rights

Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2373

Washington, DC 20515

Re:  Amending Omnibus Legislation before House to include Sudan Sanctions Review

Dear Mr. Beck:

On behalf of my colleagues and co-authors, Lt. Gen M. Abakar of Sudan United Movement (SUM), Ms. Deborah Martin, I want to thank  Rep. Chris Smith for his leadership at the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Globe Health and Global Terrorism in holding the April 26, 2017 Hearing on Sudan Sanctions. You may recall we submitted testimonies for the record from several Sudan resistance commanders and humanitarian officials from Darfur and the Nuba Mountains:

1.  Lt. Gen. (ret.) Abakar M. Abdullah, Chairman of the Sudan United Movement (SUM);

2.  Gen. General Abdalaziz Adam AlhiluSPLA/N General commander/Chief of staff of SPLA/N and Deputy Chairman of the SPLM-N;

3.  Mr. Sodi Ibrahim Executive Director of the Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (SRRA-N); and,

4.    Mr.  Yunan Musa Kunda, SSRA-N External Relationship Coordinator.

We also appreciated the June 30, 2017 bi-partisan letter sent to President Trump suggesting deferral of permanently lifting those 20-year sanctions in view of continual violations by the Bashir regime in Khartoum on the several tracks of Executive Order No. 13761 issued by former President Obama on January 13, 2017. The letter significantly contributed to the executive order issued by President Trump on July 11, 2017 deferring a decision on Sudan sanctions until October 31, 2017.

We are enclosing an advance copy of a report on current conditions in both Darfur, neighboring Chad and Libya that are indicative of the continuing violations of the Executive Order and sanctionsby the Sudan regime of President Bashir with the support of the emirate of Qatar and the Islamic Republic of Iran that will appear in the August 2017 edition of the New English Review, “Sudan regime rampages against Darfur while involved in overthrow of Chad and Libyan Governments.”In the wake of the Trump Administration Executive Order on July 11, deferring a decision to permanently lift the 20-year sanctions against the regime of ICC indicted war criminal, Sudan President Bashir, there was evidence of violations of two of the five tracks included in the original Obama Executive Order No. Executive Order No. 13761 of January 13, 2017.

First was the brutal ejection by the Rapid Support Forces/Janjaweed militia (RSF/Janjaweed) of Darfur university students on a protest march. Second, were actions by the RSF/Janjaweed against several communities across Darfur. Third, was further evidence of Sudan providing a base for the overthrow of the regimes of President Idriss Deby of Chad and the Libyan National Army (LNA) regime of Field Marshall Khalifa Hafter in Tripoli. The objective of the Bashir regime is to destabilize Northern and Central Africa creating a caliphate ruled under Islamic Shari’a law from Khartoum.

In view of today’s House deliberation on the pending Omnibus Russia, North Korea and Iran sanctions bill, we are seeking the Representive’s considerationof an opportunity to enter a floor amendment to add a provision with respect to Congressional review of any changes in Sudan sanctions proposed by the President. If that is feasible under House rules, we believe that might be consistent with the objectives expressed in the June 30, 2017 letter signed by 53 members, including Representative Smith.

We highly regard the exemplary efforts of Representative Smith and members of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Global Human Rights on concerns for the civil and human rights and freedom from oppression of the indigenous African people of Sudan.

Sincerely,

Jerome B. Gordon

Senior Editor

New English Review

cc. Lt. Gen. Abakar M. Abdallah, SUM

     Deborah Martin