[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 25 (Wednesday, March 9, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES IN CONGO

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly today about the 
human rights situation in the Congo, where civil strife and 
irregularities in the recent elections have undermined the process of 
democratization in that country.
  I believe that virtually all Members of this body support an active 
human rights policy abroad. During the last 20 years, the United States 
has made promotion of human rights a vital dimension of its foreign 
policy, a development supported by both parties and by four Presidents.
  We have all welcomed the remarkable developments in the former Soviet 
bloc in recent years, but we must just as actively work for the 
advancement of human rights and democracy in the developing world, 
including Africa.
  There have been hopeful human rights developments across Africa in 
recent years. One of those was the 1992 presidential election in Congo, 
which was won by Pascal Lissouba, a technocrat who formerly served as 
an adviser to UNESCO. Following the breakup of a coalition government 
in the National Assembly, Lissouba dissolved the Parliament and called 
for new elections. The opposition charged that the first round of the 
elections were fraudulent, with charges and countercharges degenerating 
into civil strife.
  Fortunately, mediation efforts by the Organization of African Unity 
and the President of Gabon succeeded in preventing a full scale of 
civil war. However, even after the initial implementation of the so-
called Libreville Accords in late October 1993, renewed violence broke 
out between the army and opposition militias.
  As the Department of State Human Rights report states,

       Following the enormous strides achieved between 1990 and 
     1992, the human rights situation seriously deteriorated in 
     1993. While citizens now legally enjoy many civil and 
     political liberties denied them in the recent past, 1993 saw 
     the perpetration of widespread abuses.

  There have been many grievous violations of human rights by the 
Presidential Guard, some directed at minority ethnic groups.
  Mr. President, it is imperative that the United States speak out 
against these abuses. If we want to continue global progress toward 
democracy and human rights, if we want to make democracy the wave of 
the future, the United States must speak out in favor of those values 
not only in the former Soviet Union, China, and Latin America but also 
in Africa. If we press for renewed democratic change in the Congo, the 
hopeful progress of the 1990-92 period can get back on track, 
benefiting not only the people of the Congo but also the democratic 
revolution in Africa.

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