United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as va ...
sponsored by
Thomas Tancredo
Thomas Gerard Tancredo (; born December 20, 1945) is an American politician from Colorado, who represented the state's sixth congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2009 as a Republican. He ran for Presi ...
condemning
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
for
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
. President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
signed the Act into law on October 21, 2002.
The Act was passed to facilitate a comprehensive solution to the
Second Sudanese Civil War
The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originate ...
, and condemns violations of human rights on all sides of the conflict; the government's human rights record; the slave trade; government use of militia and other forces to support slaving, including enslavement and slave trading; and aerial bombardment of civilian targets.
It authorized the U.S. Government to spend $100 million in the years 2003, 2004, and 2005 to assist the population in areas of Sudan outside Sudanese government control.
The U.S. president must certify within 6 months of enactment, and each 6 months thereafter, that the Sudan Government and the
Sudan People's Liberation Movement
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; ar, الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political w ...
are negotiating in good faith and that negotiations should continue. If the Sudanese government did not do so or if it interfered with humanitarian efforts, the Act authorized the President of the U.S. to seek a UN Security Council resolution for an arms
embargo
Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...
and to actively seek other financial and diplomatic methods to influence the conduct of the Sudanese Government. Various members of the U.S. Cabinet must report on a regular basis about any measures that U.S. federal departments takes to make the Sudanese Government comply with the measures in the Act.
The Act stated that the U.S. president should seek to end Sudanese veto power over and manipulation of United Nations humanitarian relief efforts carried out through