[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 410 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 410

Supporting peace and democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 
          and an end to the plunder of its natural resources.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 23, 2002

 Mr. Hall of Ohio (for himself, Mr. Royce, Mr. Houghton, Mr. Wolf, and 
  Mr. Payne) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
          referred to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Supporting peace and democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 
          and an end to the plunder of its natural resources.

Whereas during the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that began in 
        1998, involving rebel groups in that country as well as armed forces of 
        Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi, the United 
        States has supported the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
        in their desire for peace and democracy through moral and financial 
        support of Congolese citizens, and through United Nations and other 
        initiatives designed to secure peace;
Whereas, despite a peace agreement signed by most parties to the conflict in 
        1999 (the ``Lusaka Peace Accords''), and despite the efforts of the 
        United Nations there through peacekeeping forces and otherwise, 
        suffering caused by the war continues, in significant part because rebel 
        groups and foreign armies are profiting directly from their control of 
        the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and are 
        therefore dissuaded from agreeing to end the war;
Whereas independent reports confirm that most of the more than 2,500,000 deaths 
        in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the war began in 1998 have 
        been caused by starvation and disease, and are not the direct result of 
        fighting;
Whereas the human suffering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is extreme; 
        one-third of the population is in critical need of food, infant 
        mortality in some isolated regions exceeds 41 percent, maternal 
        mortality in the country is among the highest in the world, 60 percent 
        of school-aged children are not being educated, and large numbers of 
        children are forced to serve as soldiers;
Whereas there have been many reports by United Nations organizations, private 
        charities, journalists, and others concerning the extent of the human 
        suffering in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and concerning the 
        role that plunder of natural resources, including diamonds, timber, and 
        coltan, is playing in preventing an end to the war;
Whereas international efforts to sever the funding that the trade in diamonds 
        provides for wars that are underway encourage diamond-producing 
        countries to develop a system of certification to assist international 
        efforts in excluding ``conflict diamonds'' from international trade; 
        however, because the United Nations has not imposed sanctions on 
        diamonds that fund the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 
        there is no way for consumers to be confident that the money they use to 
        purchase diamond jewelry is not funding the most deadly ongoing war in 
        the world; and
Whereas there is growing evidence that the trade in diamonds mined in lawless 
        areas such as much of the Democratic Republic of the Congo supports not 
        only terror against Africans, but also acts of terrorism against 
        Americans: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That--
            (1) the Congress joins the international community in 
        supporting peace and democracy in the Democratic Republic of 
        the Congo, and an end to the plunder of its natural resources; 
        and
            (2) it is the sense of the Congress that--
                    (A)(i) the President should direct the United 
                States representative to the United Nations immediately 
                to work to bring before the United Nations Security 
                Council a resolution imposing comprehensive sanctions 
                against the sale of diamonds mined in the territory of 
                the Democratic Republic of the Congo unless the 
                diamonds are certified by the government of that 
                country as not funding the conflict there; and
                    (ii) sanctions referred to in clause (i) should be 
                similar to those sanctions relating to conflict 
                diamonds that have been imposed against rebels in 
                Angola and UNITA, and against Liberia, taking into 
                account the recommendations of the report of the United 
                Nations Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of 
                Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the 
                Democratic Republic of the Congo;
                    (B) the President should urge the United Nations 
                Security Council to give priority to taking steps to 
                control the illegal harvesting of timber in the 
                Democratic Republic of the Congo;
                    (C) combatants in the Democratic Republic of the 
                Congo, whether members of rebel groups within that 
                country or members of armed forces of other countries, 
                should be condemned by the United Nations and the 
                international community for failing to abide by the 
                1999 Lusaka Peace Accords, and for inflicting 
                unspeakable suffering on the vast numbers of civilians 
                in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including more 
                than 2,500,000 people who have died and more than 
                2,000,000 who have been driven from their homes;
                    (D) the President should forthwith send 
                representatives of the United States to the Democratic 
                Republic of the Congo, to countries whose armed forces 
                occupy the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and to 
                countries whose support sustains rebel groups operating 
                in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to advise the 
                leaders of those countries--
                            (i) that peace in the Democratic Republic 
                        of the Congo is in the national security 
                        interests of all countries, including the 
                        United States; and
                            (ii) that continued strife in that country 
                        threatens to impede the war against terrorism; 
                        and
                    (E) the United States Government should not grant a 
                visa to any individual who is suspected of committing 
                war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or 
                to members of the individual's family, and should 
                transfer any such individual found in the United States 
                to the jurisdiction of the International War Crimes 
                Tribunal for prosecution.
                                 <all>