{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://rooney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rooney-urges-arms-embargo-on-south-sudan", "Rooney Urges Arms Embargo on South Sudan", "2016-12-09", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "FL", "Tom Rooney", "R000583", "rooney.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. - Yesterday, Congressman Rooney joined the U.S. Institute of Peace\u2019s event \u201cOptions to Prevent Mass Atrocities and Genocide in the World\u2019s Newest Country\u201d, where he urged immediate action by the international community to impose an arms embargo to avert the imminent risk of genocide in South Sudan. As Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Sudan and South Sudan, and as a Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, Rooney is also leading a Congressional letter to the United Nations Security Council imploring Member States to approve an arms embargo on South Sudan before the end of the year.\n\u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable that we\u2019ve all failed to join forces and take collective action to mitigate the scale of the violence in South Sudan,\u201d Congressman Rooney stated. \u201cWords will not stop South Sudan\u2019s leaders from starving, raping, brutalizing and murdering thousands upon thousands of its own people. We have a responsibility to show the leaders of South Sudan that their behavior does not put them on equal standing with the rest of the world.\u201d\nAccording to UN human rights investigators, rape is \"one of the tools being used for ethnic cleansing\" and 70 percent of the women in Juba, South Sudan\u2019s capital, have experienced sexual assault since the onset of the civil war. Over eight million people are facing some degree of food insecurity \u2013 roughly three quarters of the population \u2013 and the situation is likely to deteriorate, potentially reaching famine-level conditions in certain areas throughout the country. Continued escalation of ethnically-motivated hate speech, targeting of civilians, and sexual violence, coupled with reports of the government mobilizing thousands of forces to conduct wide-scale attacks, prompted Adama Dieng, the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide, to issue a warning last month that South Sudan is \"fertile ground\" for genocide. Rooney\u2019s draft letter is urging still-undecided Security Council members, many of which are steadfast U.S. allies, to publically announce their support of a resolution imposing an arms embargo on South Sudan.\n\u201cWe\u2019ve finally gotten to a point where this Administration and Ambassador Power are willing to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan,\u201d Rooney continued. \u201cI don\u2019t know what the new year and new Administration will bring \u2013 but I do know how this city works \u2013 and we don\u2019t have the time to wait and see. We need to use this political capital now. We have undeniable evidence of a catastrophe unfolding \u2013 and history will not excuse our inaction.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://rooney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rooney-urges-arms-embargo-on-south-sudan"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8010158780962229, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}