US lawmakers want to halt aid to nations hosting Sudan's Bashir Reuters Washington, 17/05/12 - A U.S. House of Representatives committee voted on Thursday to cut off economic aid to any country that hosts Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes. The provision is not yet law, and could change as foreign aid legislation moves through Congress this year. It was approved by the House Appropriations Committee as part of that legislation, which would slash spending on the U.S. State Department and foreign assistance by some 9 percent. The legislation denies some aid the Obama administration sought for Pakistan, places conditions on some spending in Afghanistan and rejects a special fund that President Barack Obama wanted to set up for "Arab spring" countries. It is likely to pass the Republican-majority House this summer, but the Democrat-run Senate has not yet weighed in with its foreign aid blueprint for fiscal 2013, which starts on Oct. 1. The chambers must agree on the same version before the president, a Democrat, can sign it into law. The House committee approved the amendment dealing with Bashir on a voice vote following an impassioned plea by Representative Frank Wolf, who declared that international isolation of Bashir would lead to his downfall. "No one should allow this guy in - this is a moral issue," declared Wolf, a Republican. Some lawmakers warned of unintended consequences for U.S. policy. "We all agree that the situation in Sudan is deplorable, that President Bashir must be held accountable for his crimes," Democratic Representative Nita Lowey said. But in the last year and a half, Bashir has visited many countries including Ethiopia, China, Egypt, Chad, Malawi, Qatar, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, she said. "My colleague's amendment would cut off U.S. funding to all of these countries, some of them strategic allies," had it already been in effect when the visits were made, Lowey said. After Sudanese troops and militia fought a bloody campaign against a rebellion in the strife-torn western Darfur region, Bashir in 2009 became the world's first sitting head of state to be indicted for crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
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