[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 195 Engrossed in House (EH)]


                 In the House of Representatives, U.S.,

                                                         July 28, 1997.
Whereas during the 1970s and 1980s Cambodia was wracked by political conflict, 
        civil war, foreign invasion, protracted violence, and a genocide 
        perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge from 1975 to 1979;
Whereas the Paris Agreement on a Comprehensive Political Settlement of the 
        Cambodia Conflict led to the end of 2 decades of civil war and genocide 
        in Cambodia, demonstrated the commitment of the Cambodian people to 
        democracy and stability, and established a national constitution 
        guaranteeing fundamental human rights;
Whereas the 1991 Paris Peace Accords set the stage for a process of political 
        accommodation, national reconciliation, and the founding of a state 
        based on democratic principles;
Whereas the international donor community contributed more than $3,000,000,000 
        in an effort to secure peace, democracy, and stability in Cambodia 
        following the Paris Peace Accords and currently provides over 40 percent 
        of the budget of the Cambodian Government;
Whereas the Cambodian people clearly demonstrated their support for democracy 
        when over 93 percent of eligible Cambodian voters participated in United 
        Nations sponsored elections in 1993;
Whereas since the 1993 elections, Cambodia has made significant progress, as 
        evidenced by the decision last month of the Association of Southeast 
        Asian Nations to extend membership to Cambodia;
Whereas notwithstanding the notable societal and economic progress since the 
        elections of 1993, concern has increasingly been raised regarding the 
        fragile state of democracy in Cambodia, in particular the quality of the 
        judicial system, which has been described in a United Nations report as 
        thoroughly corrupt; unsolved attacks in 1995 on officials of the 
        Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party; and the unsolved murders of 
        journalists and political activists;
Whereas tensions within the Cambodian Government have erupted into violence in 
        recent months;
Whereas on March 30, 1997, 19 Cambodians were killed and more than 100 were 
        wounded in a grenade attack on a peaceful political demonstration in 
        Phnom Penh;
Whereas preliminary reports by eyewitnesses and reports in Phnom Penh to the FBI 
        of witness intimidation indicate that forces loyal to Hun Sen were 
        involved in the March 30, 1997, grenade attack;
Whereas in June 1997 fighting erupted in Phnom Penh between military and 
        paramilitary forces loyal to First Prime Minister Prince Norodom 
        Ranariddh and Second Prime Minister Hun Sen;
Whereas on July 5, 1997, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen deposed the First Prime 
        Minister in a violent military coup d'etat;
Whereas at least several dozen opposition politicians have died in the custody 
        of Hun Sen's forces, some after being tortured, and hundreds of others 
        have been detained due to their political affiliation;
Whereas democracy and stability in Cambodia are threatened by the continued use 
        of violence to resolve political differences;
Whereas internal Cambodian Government reports and investigations by United 
        States drug enforcement agencies have reported that Hun Sen and his 
        forces have received millions of dollars in financial and material 
        support from major international drug dealers; that Hun Sen has publicly 
        threatened violence against any Cambodian official who attempts to 
        arrest alleged drug barons Teng Bumma and Mong Rethy; and in a July 23, 
        1997, press conference in Cambodia Teng Bunma admitted to providing 
        $1,000,000 to Hun Sen to fund the ongoing coup and is providing his 
        personal fleet of helicopters flown by Russian pilots to ferry Hun Sen's 
        troops to suppress democratic forces in western Cambodia;
Whereas representatives of the United Nations and the Government of Thailand 
        estimate at least 30,000 Cambodian refugees (including wounded civilians 
        and malnourished children) displaced by the ongoing fighting are massed, 
        without assistance, in northwest Cambodia near the border of Thailand;
Whereas the administration has suspended assistance to Cambodia for 1 month in 
        response to the deteriorating situation in Cambodia; and
Whereas the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has decided to delay 
        indefinitely Cambodian membership: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
            (1) the forcible assault upon the democratically elected Government 
        of Cambodia is illegal and unacceptable;
            (2) the recent events in Cambodia constitute a military coup against 
        the duly elected democratic Government of Cambodia;
            (3) the authorities in Cambodia should take immediate steps to halt 
        all extralegal violence and to restore fully civil, political, and 
        personal liberties to the Cambodian people, including freedom of the 
        press, speech, and assembly, as well as the right to a democratically 
        elected government;
            (4) the United States should release the report by the Federal 
        Bureau of Investigation concerning the March 30, 1997, grenade attack in 
        Phnom Penh;
            (5) the United States should declassify and release all reports by 
        the United States Drug Enforcement Agency related to Cambodia that were 
        compiled between 1994 and the present;
            (6) the United States should press the authorities in Cambodia to 
        investigate fully and impartially all abuses and extralegal actions that 
        have occurred in Cambodia since July 4, 1997, and to bring to justice 
        all those responsible for such abuses and extralegal actions;
            (7) the administration should immediately invoke section 508 of the 
        Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs 
        Appropriations Act, 1997 (Public Law 104-208), as it is required to do;
            (8) the United States should urgently request an emergency meeting 
        of the United Nations Security Council to consider all options to 
        restore peace in Cambodia;
            (9) the United States should encourage the Secretary General of the 
        United Nations to expand the monitoring operations of the United Nations 
        Special Representative on Human Rights in Cambodia;
            (10) the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian 
        Nations (ASEAN) should coordinate efforts to restore democracy, 
        stability, and the rule of law in Cambodia;
            (11) direct United States assistance to the Government of Cambodia 
        should continue to be suspended until violence ends, a democratically 
        elected government is reconstituted, necessary steps have been taken to 
        ensure that the election scheduled for 1998 takes place in a free and 
        fair manner, the military is depoliticized, and the judiciary is made 
        independent;
            (12) at least a substantial share of previously appropriated United 
        States assistance to the Government of Cambodia should be redirected to 
        provide humanitarian assistance to refugees and displaced persons in 
        western Cambodia through nongovernmental agencies or through Cambodian 
        civilian, political, or military forces that are opposing the coup; and
            (13) the United States should call for an emergency meeting of the 
        Donors' Consultative Group for Cambodia to encourage the suspension of 
        assistance as part of a multilateral effort to encourage respect for 
        democratic processes, constitutionalism, and the rule of law.
            Attest:

                                                                          Clerk.