Mr. Speaker, it is an honour for me to take part in the debate on my colleague's motion. It is unfortunate that he did not have enough time to give all of his speech.
His motion calls for Canada to take the lead, to become a real voice against crimes against humanity, against the genocide that is taking place in Sudan as I am speaking right now, as he was just speaking, and the potential genocide that the president of Iran is calling for against Jews, against Israel and possibly against anyone who does not share his point of view with the nuclear armaments and nuclear capacity he is building up.
I am not going to repeat what my colleague whose motion I am now discussing has already stated, but I would like to give a couple of facts. In Sudan why should Canada divest?
On January 7, only a week after the UN African Union hybrid peacekeeping force began operations in Darfur, the Sudanese government fired on a clearly marked UN supply convoy.
On January 21, the Sudanese government confirmed that Musa Hilal, leader of the Janjaweed militia, was named adviser to Sudan's ministry of federal affairs. I want to quote Rick Dicker of Human Rights Watch, who said, “Musa Hilal is the poster child for Janjaweed atrocities in Darfur”. He said that naming him to a senior government position is a new “slap in the face to Darfur victims and to the UN Security Council”. The UN Security Council imposed travel and financial sanctions against Hilal in April 2006.
Over the weekend of January 12, not even a month ago, a Sudanese government Antonov aircraft bombed two villages in west Darfur killing at least three civilians. Twenty-two World Food Program vehicles have been attacked and stolen during the month of January alone, threatening to cut food rations for more than two million people in Darfur.
The first genocide that China helped to underwrite was Pol Pot's in Cambodia. The second now is in Darfur, Sudan. Chinese oil purchases have financed Sudan's pillage of Darfur. Chinese made AK-47s have been the main weapons used to slaughter several hundred thousands of people in Darfur so far and China has protected the Sudan in the United Nations Security Council. It is because of China's support that Sudan felt it could get away this month with sending a proxy army to invade neighbouring Chad.
Some 60% of Sudan's oils flow to China. Beijing has a close economic and even military relationship with Khartoum. Women and children are being torn apart by bullets that come from China. It is happening in Darfur and now it is happening in Chad. China bears a responsibility in fostering the murderous regime in Darfur which is committing genocide and creating instability in that region.
Now let us go to the Arab League. They met last month in Sudan. By meeting there they legitimized the slaughter of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Muslims in Sudan. Fatema Abdul Rasul in The Daily Star of Lebanon wrote this month, “For the entire Muslim and Arab world to remain silent when thousands of people in Darfur continue to be killed is shameful and hypocritical”.
Let us go to Russia. There were photographs released last August which showed Sudanese soldiers in the Darfur region moving containers from a Russian made Antonov cargo plane onto military trucks.
According to Amnesty International, these findings reinforce the suspicions that Sudan continues to violate a UN imposed arms embargo. The photographs also showed Russian supplied Mi-7 and Mi-24 military helicopters in the town of Geneina in Darfur.
On Iran, one simply has to listen to a few quotes from the President of Iran inciting genocide against Jews across the world and inciting genocide against any people who support the state of Israel, including Muslims, and refusing to abide by UN resolutions, accords and protocols regarding nuclear armament.
How would divestment be an effective tool in Iran and Sudan? If Canada plays the leader and divests from Sudan, that would reduce state revenue that is being used currently to sponsor Sudanese military and Janjaweed militia aggression in Darfur. Currently, 70% of Sudan's oil reserves are used to give arms and supplies to the Arab militias engaged in violence, in genocide in Darfur.
Moreover, in Iran, companies have invested in Iran's oil and natural gas sector and account for 80% of the country's hard currency. That currency is the currency that Iran needs to fund its nuclear weapons pursuit and to support terrorism.
I think Canada has a role to play. We played that role when we divested from South Africa. I have to say it was a proud moment for me as a Canadian. Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, before people started talking about divestment and abolishing apartheid, I was participating in demonstrations, as were some of my other colleagues on this side of the House. Most Canadians could not even find South Africa on the map and did not know what apartheid meant.
Canada stood up. Canada was a leader. Canada needs to stand up again. It needs to stand up as a leader and divest from Sudan. It needs to stand up as a leader and divest from Iran. Both. One for committing genocide as I speak, the other one for inciting genocide and for creating nuclear weapons which it is threatening very--