[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1419 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1419

                  To impose sanctions against Nigeria.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            November 17 (legislative day, November 16), 1995

Mrs. Kassebaum (for herself, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. 
 Simon, Mr. Pell, Mr. Wellstone, Mr. McCain, and Mr. Gregg) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
                  To impose sanctions against Nigeria.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Nigeria Democracy Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Nigeria is one of the most important countries in 
        Africa, with the largest population on the continent, a 
        critically important role in West Africa, and tremendous 
        economic and human potential.
            (2) The American and Nigerian people have enjoyed a long 
        history of friendship and cooperation.
            (3) Since independence in 1960, Nigeria has experienced a 
        series of military and civilian governments, marked by coups 
        and political instability, including the devastating and tragic 
        civil war in the Biafra region.
            (4) On June 12, 1993, Nigeria held a presidential election, 
        which most observers believe generally represented the will of 
        the Nigerian people despite imperfections in the electoral 
        process, but the Nigerian military government nullified that 
        election and later installed an interim government.
            (5) On September 23, 1993, General Sani Abacha overthrew 
        the interim government and assumed power in a military coup, 
        and more than two years later, on October 1, 1995, he announced 
        a three-year transition to democratic elections, a period 
        widely regarded as unnecessarily long.
            (6) The rule of General Abacha has been marked by egregious 
        human rights abuses, a devastating economic decline, and 
        rampant corruption.
            (7) On November 10, 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa, an 
        internationally-recognized human rights activist, and eight 
        others, were executed following a seriously-flawed judicial 
        proceeding despite numerous pleas for clemency from the 
        international community; others, including M.K.O. Abiola, 
        General Obasanjo, Beko Ransome-Kuti, and General Sheu Musa 
        Yar'Adua, have been sentenced in secret tribunals to long 
        prison terms.
            (8) Since 1993, the United States and other members of the 
        international community, including Great Britain, have imposed 
        limited sanctions against Nigeria to promote human rights and 
        an expeditious transition to civilian, democratic government, 
        but these efforts have had limited impact.
            (9) The continued military rule of General Abacha 
        undermines confidence in the Nigerian economy, damages 
        relations between Nigeria and the United States, threatens the 
        political and economic stability of West Africa, and harms the 
        lives of the people of Nigeria.

SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY.

    The Congress declares that the United States, working in concert 
with the international community, should maintain a policy toward the 
Government of Nigeria that is designed to protect internationally 
recognized human rights, expedite the transition to civilian, 
democratic government, and promote equitable economic development in 
Nigeria.

SEC. 4. SANCTIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA.

    (a) United States Measures To Promote Democracy and Human Rights.--
            (1) No assistance.--No assistance may be made available 
        under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 or the Arms Export 
        Control Act to the Government of Nigeria.
            (2) International financial institutions.--The President 
        shall instruct the United States Executive Director of each 
        international financial institution to vote against any loan or 
        other utilization of the funds of the respective institution to 
        or from Nigeria.
            (3) Air transportation.--Air transportation with Nigeria 
        shall be prohibited in accordance with subsection (b).
            (4) Defense articles and services.--No defense article or 
        defense service may be sold or financed with respect to 
        Nigeria, and no license to export to Nigeria a defense article 
        or service may be issued.
            (5) Exclusion of nigerians from admission to the united 
        states.--Except as required by United States treaty 
        obligations, any Nigerian national who formulates, implements, 
        or benefits from policies which hinder Nigeria's transition to 
        democracy and members of their immediate families shall be 
        ineligible to receive a visa and shall be excluded from 
        admission into the United States.
            (6) Eximbank, opic, and tda.--No funds available to the 
        Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Overseas Private 
        Investment Corporation, or the Trade and Development Agency may 
        be used with respect to Nigeria.
            (7) Prohibition of new investment.--
                    (A) No national of the United States may, directly 
                or through another person, invest or participate in the 
                liquefied natural gas project at Bonny, Nigeria.
                    (B) In addition to the prohibition contained in 
                subparagraph (A), no national of the United States may, 
                directly or through another person, make any new 
                investment in Nigeria, including new investments in the 
                energy sector.
                    (C) The prohibition contained in subparagraph (B) 
                shall take effect 45 days after the date of enactment 
                of this Act.
            (8) Assets freeze.--The President, acting through the 
        Secretary of the Treasury, shall exercise the authority of the 
        International Emergency Economic Powers Act to block the assets 
        of any Nigerian national who formulates, implements, or 
        benefits from policies which hinder Nigeria's transition to 
        democracy and members of their immediate families.
            (9) Sports.--It is the sense of Congress that the 
        international community should consider excluding or suspending 
        Nigeria from international sports activities, including the 
        1996 Summer Olympic Games.
    (b) Prohibition of Air Transportation With Nigeria.--(1)(A) The 
President shall immediately notify the Government of Nigeria of his 
intention to suspend the rights of any air carrier designated by the 
Government of Nigeria under any air transport agreement between the 
United States and Nigeria to service the routes provided in the 
agreement.
    (B) Ten days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President 
shall direct the Secretary of Transportation to revoke the right of any 
air carrier designated by the Government of Nigeria under such 
agreement to provide service pursuant to the agreement.
    (C) Ten days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President 
shall direct the Secretary of Transportation not to permit or otherwise 
designate any United States air carrier to provide service between the 
United States and Nigeria pursuant to such agreement.
    (2)(A) The Secretary of State shall terminate any air transport 
agreement between the Government of the United States and the 
Government of Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of that 
agreement.
    (B) Upon termination of such agreement, the Secretary of 
Transportation shall prohibit any aircraft of a foreign air carrier 
owned, directly of indirectly, by the Government of Nigeria or by 
Nigerian nationals from engaging in air transportation with respect to 
the United States.
    (C) The Secretary of Transportation shall prohibit the takeoff and 
landing in Nigeria of any aircraft by an air carrier owned, directly or 
indirectly, or controlled by a national of the United States or by any 
corporation or other entity organized under the laws of the United 
States or of any State.
    (3) The prohibitions contained in paragraph (1) or (2) do not apply 
when such air transportation is important to the national interest of 
the United States, including emergencies in which the safety of an 
aircraft or its crew or passengers is threatened.
    (4) For the purposes of this subsection, the terms ``aircraft'', 
``air transportation'', and ``foreign air carrier'' have the meanings 
given those terms in section 101 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 
(49 U.S.C. 1301).
    (c) Multilateral Measures To Promote Democracy and Human Rights.--
(1) The President should actively urge other countries to undertake 
steps, similar to those in subsections (a)(1)-(9), including freezing 
assets, to promote democracy and human rights in Nigeria.
    (2) The President, acting through the United States Permanent 
Representative to the United Nations, should actively pursue the 
passage of a resolution in the United Nations Security Council to 
impose an international arms embargo against Nigeria.
    (3) The President, both at the United Nations and together with 
other members of the international community, should actively seek 
multilateral support for an international embargo on the sale or 
distribution of any crude oil or refined petroleum product from 
Nigeria.
    (4) The President, acting through his representative, should 
actively pursue the passage of a resolution condemning Nigeria at the 
United Nations Human Rights Commission.
    (d) Waiver of Sanctions.--(1) The President may waive any of the 
sanctions contained in this section if he certifies to Congress--
            (A) that the Government of Nigeria has--
                    (i) released all political prisoners;
                    (ii) demonstrated a commitment to respecting 
                internationally recognized human rights, including 
                respect for the rule of law; and
                    (iii) demonstrated an unequivocal commitment to 
                civilian, democratic government; or
            (B) such waiver is important to the national interest of 
        the United States.
    (2) In addition to the grounds of waiver set forth in paragraph 
(1), the President may waive the sanctions contained in subsection 
(a)(1) or (a)(4) for purposes of supporting international peacekeeping 
operations.
    (e) Termination of Sanctions.--The sanctions contained in this 
section terminate when the President certifies to Congress that the 
conditions contained in subsection (d)(1) have been met and the 
Nigerian Government is civilian and democratic.

SEC. 5. ADDITIONAL MEASURES.

    (a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that the United 
States should impose additional measures against the Government of 
Nigeria if substantial progress has not been made within three months 
of the date of enactment of this Act in moving toward the establishment 
of civilian, democratic government and respect for internationally 
recognized human rights.
    (b) Report.--(1) The President shall prepare and transmit to the 
Congress within three months of enactment of this Act a report on the 
extent to which significant progress has been made toward the 
establishment of civilian, democratic government and respect for 
internationally recognized human rights.
    (2) If the President determines that significant progress has not 
been made by the Government of Nigeria in moving toward establishment 
of civilian, democratic government and respect for internationally 
recognized human rights, the President shall include in the report 
required by paragraph (1) steps taken under paragraphs (2) and (3) or 
subsection 4(c) to build support for an international oil and arms 
embargo, as well as a recommendation and analysis of additional 
unilateral measures to be imposed, including a unilateral oil embargo 
and a ban on the export of any refined petroleum product to Nigeria.

SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) International financial institution.--The term 
        ``international financial institutions'' includes the 
        International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the 
        International Development Association, the International 
        Finance Corporation, the Mutual Investment Guarantee Agency, 
        the African Development Bank, the African Development Fund, and 
        the International Monetary Fund.
            (2) National of the united states.--The term ``national of 
        the United States'' means--
                    (A) a natural person who is a citizen of the United 
                States or is an alien lawfully admitted for permanent 
                residence in the United States, as defined by section 
                101(a)(20) of the Immigration and Nationality Act; or
                    (B) a corporation, partnership, or other business 
                association which is organized under the law of the 
                United States, any State or territory thereof, or the 
                District of Columbia.
            (3) New investment.--The term ``new investment''--
                    (A) means--
                            (i) a commitment or contribution of funds 
                        or other assets, and
                            (ii) a loan or other extension of credit, 
                        and
                    (B) does not include--
                            (i) the reinvestment of profits generated 
                        by a controlled Nigerian entity into that same 
                        controlled Nigerian entity or the investment of 
                        such profits in a Nigerian entity; and
                            (ii) contributions of money or other assets 
                        where such contributions are necessary to 
                        enable a controlled Nigerian entity to operate 
                        in an economically sound manner, without 
                        expanding its operations.
            (4) Nigerian entity.--The term ``Nigerian entity'' means--
                    (A) a corporation, partnership, or other business 
                association or entity organized in Nigeria; or
                    (B) a branch, office, agency, or sole 
                proprietorship in Nigeria of a person that resides or 
                is organized outside Nigeria.
                                 <all>