[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 88 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 88

Remembering the victims of the genocide that occurred in 1994 in Rwanda 
  and pledging to work to ensure that such an atrocity does not take 
                              place again.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 9, 2005

   Mr. Payne (for himself, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Mr. 
      Grijalva, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Mr. Brady of 
 Pennsylvania, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Ms. Carson, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Jackson 
 of Illinois, Ms. Kilpatrick of Michigan, Ms. Millender-McDonald, Ms. 
   Norton, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Owens, Ms. Corrine Brown of Florida, Ms. 
Watson, Mr. Lantos, Ms. Lee, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. McCollum of Minnesota, 
Mr. Meeks of New York, Mr. Blumenauer, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Evans, 
 Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Faleomavaega, and Mr. Brown of Ohio) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
                        International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Remembering the victims of the genocide that occurred in 1994 in Rwanda 
  and pledging to work to ensure that such an atrocity does not take 
                              place again.

Whereas in August 1993, the government of President Juvenal Habyarimana and the 
        Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) signed a peace agreement, paving the way 
        for a power-sharing arrangement and the return of Rwandan refugees to 
        their country;
Whereas shortly after signing the peace agreement, President Habyarimana 
        deliberately and systematically delayed the setting up of the coalition 
        government as agreed to by the parties, expanded the training of 
        extremist groups, and intensified hate radio through Radio Mille 
        Collines;
Whereas as part of the Arusha Accords the United Nations agreed to deploy 2,500 
        peacekeeping troops, known as the United Nations Mission in Rwanda 
        (UNAMIR);
Whereas according to a UNAMIR report, on November 5, 1993, at a meeting chaired 
        by President Habyarimana, the government decided to provide the 
        Interhamwe and other youth militia weapons, including grenades and 
        machetes with a directive to kill Tutsis, and according to the same 
        report, distribution of the weapons began that same month;
Whereas on December 3, 1993, senior officers in the Rwandan Armed Forces warned 
        General Romeo Dallaire, commander of United Nations forces in Rwanda, of 
        increasing and systematic killings of civilians by the militia, and 
        planned assassinations of senior officials in the coalition government, 
        including the fact that President Habyarimana himself had authorized 
        this bloody campaign;
Whereas throughout December 1993, a number of reports, including reports from 
        the Ambassador of Belgium in Rwanda, UNAMIR officials, and human rights 
        groups, confirmed widespread killings of civilians by pro-government 
        militia and confirmed training of pro-government militia in government-
        run camps;
Whereas on January 6, 1994, General Dallaire reported to the United Nations that 
        the killings of civilians by militia groups were well-organized and 
        indicated that these killings would continue for the foreseeable future;
Whereas on January 10, 1994, UNAMIR officers met with an informant named Jean-
        Pierre, a commander in the Interhamwe militia, who told them of a large 
        weapons cache intended for members of the Interhamwe militia;
Whereas on January 11, 1994, General Dallaire sent a confidential cable to 
        United Nations headquarters informing United Nations officials about 
        militia training and arms cache;
Whereas General Dallaire wrote to his superiors that the militias intended to 
        kill a large number of Tutsi and moderate Hutu civilians, and he 
        informed the United Nations peacekeeping department that he intended to 
        seize the arms and asked for United Nations protection for the informant 
        who provided the information;
Whereas on January 12, 1994, General Dallaire was told by United Nations 
        headquarters that the United Nations mandate did not give him the 
        authority to seize the arms cache and the United Nations would not 
        provide protection to the informant, and instead, General Dallaire was 
        ordered to provide the information to President Habyarimana and the 
        ambassadors of Belgium, France, and the United States;
Whereas on February 21, 1994, extremists assassinated the Minister of Public 
        Works, Felicien Gatabazi, and on February 20, 1994, Prime Minister-
        designate Twagiramungu escaped an assassination attempt;
Whereas the security situation in Rwanda deteriorated rapidly in late February 
        1994, with the slaughter of 70 civilians in Kigali, the capital of 
        Rwanda;
Whereas on March 10, 1994, the National Republican Movement for Democracy (MRND) 
        party leaders expressed frustration and anger that President Habyarimana 
        did not consult them before he left for a meeting with President Yoweri 
        Museveni of Uganda and described his decision to go as ``a serious 
        political error'';
Whereas on April 6, 1994, the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, along with 
        several senior government officials, were killed when their plane was 
        shot down as it approached the capital of Rwanda;
Whereas on April 7, 1994, the Rwandan Armed Forces and the Interhamwe militia 
        unleashed genocide against Tutsi civilians and moderate Hutu politicians 
        when tens of thousands of innocent civilians, including women and 
        children, were massacred;
Whereas ten Belgian peacekeeping troops assigned to protect the Rwandan Hutu 
        Prime Minister were brutally murdered along with the Prime Minister;
Whereas on April 8, 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front launched an offensive to 
        stop the ongoing genocide and to rescue 600 RPF troops trapped in 
        Kigali, who were sent to protect RPF officials as agreed to in the 
        Arusha Accords;
Whereas on April 8, 1994, France, Belgium, and the United States evacuated their 
        citizens from Rwanda;
Whereas on April 11, 1994, an estimated 2,000 civilians were slaughtered at the 
        Don Bosco school in Kigali where they sought shelter and briefly were 
        protected by UNAMIR troops;
Whereas the civilians at the school were killed after the United Nations ordered 
        UNAMIR troops to abandon the civilians and withdraw to the airport;
Whereas on April 14, 1994, Belgium withdrew its troops from Rwanda and a week 
        later the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to withdraw 
        UNAMIR troops at the height of the Rwandan genocide;
Whereas almost a month into the Rwandan genocide, the Clinton Administration 
        refused to use the word genocide with respect to the situation in Rwanda 
        and on April 28, 1994, the United Nations Security Council deliberately 
        omitted the word genocide from a Council resolution in order to avoid 
        its legal and international obligations to intervene;
Whereas on May 13, 1994, the United Nations Security Council began deliberation 
        on a resolution to authorize a robust peacekeeping force for Rwanda;
Whereas the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Ambassador Madeleine 
        Albright, forced a delay on the United Nations Security Council vote 
        because of funding issues;
Whereas on May 17, 1994, Ambassador Albright defended her position by saying 
        ``sending a U.N. force into a maelstrom in Rwanda without a sound plan 
        of operations would be folly'';
Whereas on May 17, 1994, five weeks after the Rwandan genocide began, the United 
        Nations Security Council authorized the deployment of 6,800 United 
        Nations peacekeeping troops with a mandate to protect civilians;
Whereas the United Nations Security Council resolution authorizing such 
        deployment stated that ``acts of genocide may have been committed'';
Whereas on June 22, 1994, the United Nations Security Council authorized the 
        deployment of French forces to south-west Rwanda to create a ``safe 
        area'' for fleeing civilians and subsequently fleeing militia and 
        government leaders were given safe haven and protection by the French 
        forces most of whom eventually fled to Zaire;
Whereas on July 4, 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front captured Kigali, the Hutu-
        led government fled to Zaire, the French ended their mission and were 
        replaced by a United Nations peacekeeping force from Ethiopia, and the 
        RPF formed an interim national unity government;
Whereas on August 17, 1994, Rwandan Defense Minister, Paul Kagame, warned the 
        Government of Zaire not to allow members of the former Rwandan Armed 
        Forces and the Interhamwe militia to train and launch attacks from 
        Zaire;
Whereas in August 1994, the United States deployed troops to the Central Africa 
        region to assist in the relief operation;
Whereas an estimated 2,000 United States troops participated in Operation 
        Support Hope, however, the United States was criticized by some 
        observers for not responding quickly to the Rwandan crisis and for its 
        role in the United Nations Security Council;
Whereas, Rwanda having joined the United Nations Security Council in early 1994, 
        the United Nations representative of the new Rwandan Government took his 
        seat at the Security Council on September 1, 1994, after months of 
        debate as to who should represent Rwanda in the United Nations;
Whereas on September 4, 1994, the commander of Ethiopia's United Nations 
        peacekeeping force in Rwanda stated that French troops provided 
        protection and allowed former soldiers of the Rwandan Government to flee 
        to Zaire;
Whereas in a newspaper interview, the commander stated that he saw French troops 
        transporting former soldiers to Zaire, although French officials had 
        said earlier that officials of the former Rwandan government would not 
        be allowed to enter the safety zone;
Whereas in 1996 most of the refugees who fled to Zaire returned home;
Whereas in November 1994, the United Nations Security Council established an 
        international tribunal to prosecute major suspects in the Rwanda 
        genocide;
Whereas the new Government of Rwanda voted against the resolution because the 
        resolution did not allow the death penalty;
Whereas, despite Rwanda's objections to the exclusion of the death penalty, the 
        international tribunal was established in Arusha, Tanzania, and took its 
        first case against a genocide suspect on January 10, 1997, in which it 
        prosecuted Jean Paul Akayesu, a local government official;
Whereas the Gacaca courts, a community-based system of participatory justice, 
        were created in Rwanda to address lower level offenders who remained in 
        custody in Rwandan jails without trial, and to alleviate the burden that 
        was placed on the judiciary system in Rwanda as a result of the sheer 
        number of persons accused of participating in the genocide;
Whereas in March 1998, during his first visit to Africa, President Clinton 
        stated in Kigali that ``the international community must bear its share 
        of responsibility for this tragedy'', and in a speech at the Kigali 
        airport, President Clinton stated that ``[a]ll over the world there were 
        people like me sitting in offices who did not fully appreciate the depth 
        and the speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable 
        terror''; and
Whereas as of January 2004, 23 genocide suspects were on trial, eighteen senior 
        officials were convicted, twenty suspects were awaiting trial, and six 
        convicted officials were serving their sentences in Mali: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),  
That Congress--
            (1) remembers the victims of the genocide that occurred in 
        1994 in Rwanda and pledges to work to ensure that such an 
        atrocity does not take place again;
            (2) acknowledges that the international community, 
        including the United States Government, failed the people of 
        Rwanda and watched with indifference while hundreds of 
        thousands of innocent civilians were being killed;
            (3) strongly supports assistance to the survivors of the 
        Rwandan genocide;
            (4) urges political and financial support for the Gacaca 
        courts;
            (5) acknowledges the heroic work of many individuals and 
        human rights organizations for their campaign to help stop the 
        genocide of Rwanda;
            (6) expresses deep appreciation to General Romeo Dallaire 
        for his tireless efforts to stop the genocide from occurring 
        and for helping many Rwandese civilians in their time of need;
            (7) accepts the fact that General Dallaire warned the 
        United Nations on a number of occasions of an impending 
        genocide and was ordered by his superiors not to take action;
            (8) calls for an investigation of the role played by the 
        United States Government prior to and during the Rwandan 
        genocide, noting that the parliaments of Belgium and France 
        both created commissions of inquiry to investigate the roles 
        played by their respective governments and issued their 
        findings; and
            (9) strongly urges the creation of a bi-partisan Commission 
        of Inquiry for Rwanda to investigate all aspects of the role 
        played by the United States Government prior to and during the 
        Rwandan genocide, with a strong mandate and subpoena power to 
        access relevant documents and witnesses, a definite end date 
        for completion of its work, and sufficient funding to cover 
        necessary expenses.
                                 <all>