[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 298 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 298

 Condemning the terror, vengeance, and human rights abuses against the 
                  civilian population of Sierra Leone.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

              October 9 (legislative day, October 2), 1998

 Mr. Abraham submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Foreign Relations

             October 21 (legislative day, October 2), 1998

        Committee discharged; considered, amended, and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the terror, vengeance, and human rights abuses against the 
                  civilian population of Sierra Leone.

Whereas the ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) military junta and 
        the rebel fighters of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) have mounted 
        a campaign of terror, vengeance, and human rights abuses on the civilian 
        population of Sierra Leone;
Whereas the AFRC and RUF violence against civilians continues with more than 500 
        survivors of atrocities, including gunshot wounds, amputations or rape;
Whereas the International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that only 1 in 4 
        victims of mutilation actually makes it to medical help;
Whereas the use and recruitment of children as combatants in this conflict has 
        been widespread, including forcible abduction of children by AFRC and 
        RUF rebels;
Whereas UNICEF estimates the number of children forcibly abducted since March 
        1998 exceeds 3,000;
Whereas the consequences of this campaign have been the fight of more than 
        250,000 refugees to Guinea and Liberia in the last 6 months and the 
        increase of over 250,000 displaced Sierra Leoneans in camps and towns in 
        the north and east;
Whereas the Governments of Guinea and Liberia are having great difficulty caring 
        for the huge number of refugees, now totaling 600,000 in Guinea and 
        Liberia, and emergency appeals have been issued by the United Nations 
        High Commission for Refugees for $7,300,000 for emergency food, shelter, 
        and sanitation, and medical, educational, psychological, and social 
        services;
Whereas starvation and hunger-related deaths have begun in the north where more 
        than 500 people have died since August 1, 1998, a situation that will 
        only get worse in the next months;
Whereas the humanitarian community is unable, because of continuing security 
        concerns, to deliver food and medicine to the vulnerable groups within 
        the north and east of Sierra Leone;
Whereas the Economic Community of West African States and its peacekeeping arm, 
        the Economic Community of West African States Military Observer Group 
        (ECOMOG), are doing their best, but are still lacking in the logistic 
        support needed to either bring this AFRC and RUF rebel war to a 
        conclusion or force a negotiated settlement;
Whereas arms and weapons continue to be supplied to the AFRC and RUF in direct 
        violation of a United Nations arms embargo;
Whereas the United Nations Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and 
        Emergency Relief Coordinator, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, 
        and Refugees International, following visits to Sierra Leone in May and 
        June 1998, condemned, in the strongest terms, the terrible human rights 
        violations done to civilians by the AFRC and RUF rebels; and
Whereas the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for 
        Children and Armed Conflict, following a May 1998 visit to Sierra Leone, 
        called upon the United Nations to make Sierra Leone one of the pilot 
        projects for the rehabilitation of child combatants: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) urges the President and the Secretary of State to give high 
        priority to solving the conflict in Sierra Leone and to bring stability 
        to West Africa in general;
            (2) condemns the use by all parties of children as combatants, in 
        particular their forcible abduction by the Armed Forces Revolutionary 
        Council and the Revolutionary United Front, in the conflict in Sierra 
        Leone;
            (3) calls on rebel forces to permit the establishment of a secure 
        humanitarian corridor to strategic areas in the north and east of Sierra 
        Leone for the safe delivery of food and medicines by the Government of 
        Sierra Leone and humanitarian agencies already in the country mandated 
        to deliver this aid;
            (4) urges the President and the Secretary of State to continue to 
        strictly enforce the United Nations arms embargo on the Armed Forces 
        Revolutionary Council and Revolutionary United Front, including the 
        condemnation of other nations found to be not in compliance with the 
        embargo;
            (5) urges the President and the Secretary of State to continue to 
        encourage the contribution of peacekeeping forces by member governments 
        of the Economic Community of West African States to its peacekeeping 
        arm, ECOMOG;
            (6) urges the President and the Secretary of State to continue to 
        support the appeal of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees 
        for aid to Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea, Liberia, and elsewhere, as 
        well as other United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations 
        working in Sierra Leone to bring humanitarian relief and peace to the 
        country, including support for the United Nations Observer Mission in 
        Sierra Leone;
            (7) urges the President and the Secretary of State to take a more 
        comprehensive and focused approach to its relief, recovery and 
        development assistance program in Sierra Leone and to continue to 
        support the Government of Sierra Leone in its Disarmament, 
        Demobilization and Reintegration Program (DDRP) for the country as peace 
        becomes a reality;
            (8) urges the President and the Secretary of State to work with the 
        Government of Sierra Leone, with organizations of civil society and with 
        ECOMOG in their efforts to promote and protect human rights, including 
        respect for international humanitarian law;
            (9) encourages and supports the United Nations Special 
        Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, 
        Olara Otunu, to continue efforts to work in Sierra Leone to establish 
        programs designed to rehabilitate child combatants; and
            (10) urges all parties to make a concerted effort toward peace and 
        reconciliation in Sierra Leone.
                                 <all>