“While I am encouraged by the President’s long overdue announcement that he is expanding and strengthening sanctions on Sudan, unilateral actions are only a first step. A decade of unilateral American sanctions has failed to force the Sudan regime to end the genocide in Darfur. In order for the initiatives announced today to be effective, the administration must redouble its diplomatic efforts at the United Nations, and in particular with reluctant Security Council members, to ensure these initiatives are complemented by similar multilateral measures. This administration must work in concert with the international community if targeted sanctions and economic pressure are to have any meaningful impact in reversing the humanitarian crisis and ending the genocide in Sudan.”

Senator Feingold, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, is a cosponsor of the Sudan Divestment Authorization Act. Earlier this year, Feingold introduced S.Res.76, a resolution calling for a comprehensive regional strategy in Africa to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian operations, contain and reduce violence, and contribute to conditions for sustainable peace in eastern Chad, northern Central African Republic, and Darfur, Sudan. Read more about what Senator Feingold has done regarding the situation in Darfur here: http://www.feingold.senate.gov/issues_sudantimeline.html.