For Immediate Release: December 3, 2009

(Washington DC December 3, 2009) This morning, members of the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health have the opportunity to ask tough questions about the Obama Administration’s new Sudan policy and how that plan will address serious problems identified in a recently released U.N. Panel of Experts report. That U.N. report detailed ongoing and systematic abuses against civilians in Darfur and provided new evidence of arms embargo violations by the Government of Sudan, the Justice and Equality Movement, and other belligerents, findings that underscore the importance of firm U.S. action in the region, according to Human Rights First.

Among those testifying today are J. Scott Gration, U.S. Special Envoy on Sudan, as well as Rico Carisch, Coordinator of the most recent U.N. Panel of Experts on Sudan, as well as a member of past panels investigating the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, and Liberia.

“Today’s hearing provides an opportunity for Envoy Gration to detail how the U.S. will work within the U.N. Security Council to address violations of the arms embargo in Darfur,” said Human Rights First’s Julia Fromholz. “Envoy Gration should provide assurances that the U.S. is fully committed to ensuring the effective enforcement of this tool from now on.”

In addition to its findings about arms embargo violations, the Panel of Experts report revealed the extent of the Sudanese government’s efforts to hamper the Panel’s work and to avoid cooperation with the Panel’s investigation. Fromholz notes, “The Obama Administration’s Sudan policy is designed around