THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
October 25, 2000

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

I am deeply concerned by reports that the Government of Sudan is bombing innocent civilians in the southern part of the country. Last week, government aircraft dropped munitions on a village while an international relief agency was distributing food. International relief workers report that the Government of Sudan has bombed civilian and humanitarian locations more than 60 times during the past year.

Such egregious abuses have become commonplace in Sudan's ongoing civil war, which has already claimed over two million lives. If the Government of Sudan seeks to demonstrate to the international community that it is prepared to act according to international norms and the rule of law, it must allow full and immediate access for humanitarian organizations seeking to provide relief to Sudan's war-ravaged civilians.