[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 21, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5318-H5321]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      CONGRATULATING SIERRA LEONE DEMOCRATIC MULTIPARTY ELECTIONS

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 160) congratulating the people of 
the Republic of Sierra Leone on the success of their recent democratic 
multiparty elections.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 160

       Whereas since 1991 the people of the Republic of Sierra 
     Leone have endured a horrific civil war that has killed 
     thousands of individuals and displaced more than half the 
     population of the country;
       Whereas for the first time in almost 30 years, the Republic 
     of Sierra Leone held its first truly democratic multiparty 
     elections to elect a president and parliament and put an end 
     to military rule;
       Whereas the elections held on February 26, 1996, and the 
     subsequent runoff election held on March 15, 1996, were 
     deemed by international and domestic observers to be free and 
     fair and legitimate expressions of the will of the people of 
     the Republic of Sierra Leone;
       Whereas success of the newly elected democratic government 
     led by President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah could have a positive 
     effect on the West African Neighbors of the Republic of 
     Sierra Leone; and
       Whereas the historic event of democratic multiparty 
     elections in the Republic of Sierra Leone should be honored: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring), That the Congress--
       (1) congratulates the people of the Republic of Sierra 
     Leone for holding their first democratic multiparty 
     presidential and parliamentary elections in nearly 30 years;
       (2) encourages all people of the Republic of Sierra Leone 
     to continue to negotiate an end to the civil war and to work 
     together after taking the critical first step of holding 
     democratic elections in that country;
       (3) reaffirms the commitment of the United States to help 
     nations move toward freedom and democracy; and
       (4) further reaffirms that the United States is committed 
     to encouraging peace, democracy, and economic development on 
     the African continent.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
York [Mr. Gilman] and the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Moran] will each 
be recognized for 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman].
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, House Concurrent Resolution 160, introduced 
by our good colleague from New York, a member of our Committee on 
International Relations, Mr. Houghton, congratulates the people of 
Sierra Leone on the success of their recent multiparty democratic 
elections. The people of Sierra Leone have endured 4 years of brutal 
civil war and have showed great courage earlier this year. Voters stood 
in line, often for many hours, to participate in the presidential 
election and the following runoff election. The newly elected 
government is now negotiating with rebels on the long-term peace 
agreement.
  I do not think it is unreasonable to claim that Sierra Leone is an 
emerging success story in Africa. It is also a powerful rebuttal to 
those who believe that the entire developing world is sliding into 
chaos and humanitarian disaster.
  Despite the failures of neighboring Liberia, the people of Sierra 
Leone have shown they have the courage and determination to bring order 
to their society. I commend the gentleman from New York [Mr. Houghton] 
for introducing this resolution, and I urge support for the resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Houghton].
  (Mr. HOUGHTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. HOUGHTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for this opportunity to talk on 
behalf of Sierra Leone. A lot of us have been concerned about Africa, a 
lot of us have looked for leadership there, and we really have found it 
in the magnificent result of the elections in Sierra Leone to which the 
gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] has referred. I would like to 
particularly thank, if I could, Bob Van Wicklin, in my office, who has 
been there, who has helped create the staff work, and has pointed up 
some of the necessities of our working strongly with that country.
  Also I would like to thank, if I could, the 86 cosponsors, 
particularly the gentleman from North Carolina [Mr. Watt], the 
gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Chabot], the gentleman from New York [Mr. 
Ackerman], the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Payne], the gentleman 
from Florida [Mr. Hastings], the gentleman from New York [Mr. Engel], 
the gentleman from the Virgin Islands, [Mr. Frazer], and so many 
others, and also, although I cannot mention the names, several Members 
of the Senate, ranking about 53 in number.

[[Page H5319]]

  This bill is not complicated. It is noncontroversial and it is 
bipartisan. It simply congratulates the people of the West Africa 
Nation of Sierra Leone, who held their first democratic election this 
last year, for the first time until over 30 years, an extraordinary 
turnaround. People used to refer to Sierra Leone as really the pit of 
Africa. Many never thought there would be any opportunity for it to 
emerge from the darkness. Now it has.
  The new President, President Kabbah, has recently negotiated, for 
those who are not knowledgeable here, a ceasefire to the civil war in 
that country with the Revolutionary United Front. Our hope is that not 
only Sierra Leone will be successful, but also it will be the magnet 
which attracts democracy to other countries, like Niger, Liberia, 
Guinea, and Nigeria, countries that are having a great deal of trouble 
here.
  Let me if could just for a moment mention a few things. There really 
is hope in Africa. For the first time in sub-Sahara Africa in years and 
years and years the income per person has gone up 1 percent over last 
year. That does not sound very much, 1 percent, but it is really 
significant, because it is the first time that the income has increased 
in years. Usually you are taking a look at a negative figure.
  In democracies, that has increased greater than in nondemocracies. In 
certain nondemocracies, particularly the ones that are total out-and-
out dictatorships, that has gone down. So there is a correlation here.
  There is a drive towards political freedom, which is more than just 
the politics of it. It has to do with the well-being of individuals. 
There have been 30 elections over the last year, over the past 5 years 
in Africa, and many times this has resulted in greater maturity, 
openness and integration, not just to themselves and not to just the 
African market, but the world markets. The flow of capital for the poor 
countries is four times what it used to be. As a matter of fact, it is 
about $187 billion per year over the last five years. As it stands now, 
in terms of the poorer countries of this world, one-third of the 
world's foreign investment is going into those countries. It is a very 
helpful sign.
  So if Africa and the boom it is experiencing is going to represent 
some of the finest things we are looking for, we have got to support 
countries like Sierra Leone. That is what this particular resolution 
does, and I hope there will be full support of it.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for his 
sponsorship of this measure and for his very eloquent statement.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of this resolution, and 
commend the chairman of the committee for bringing this timely and 
well-deserved tribute to the people of Sierra Leone before the House. I 
particularly want to extend my appreciation to the gentleman from New 
York [Mr. Houghton] for his informative and insightful remarks, and for 
his very caring attitude on the part of the Third World peoples of 
Africa.
  This spring's elections were deemed free and fair by international 
observers, and a democratically elected president now does govern 
Sierra Leone. This election is especially noteworthy in that an African 
military government held elections and peacefully turned over power. So 
we want this example to serve as a model for other such nations, and 
that is why this resolution is particularly important. We hope that 
will also give impetus to the peace talks that are currently occurring 
in Sierra Leone. So we urge strong support for this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina 
[Mr. Watt].
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from 
Virginia for yielding time for the purposes of debate on this important 
resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, the truth of the matter is that resolutions of this kind 
tend to have no substantive value, so quite often I just ignore them 
and keep going. But this time, this resolution was introduced by my 
good friend from New York [Mr. Houghton], and it started me thinking 
that while there is no substantive content to the resolution, it does 
give us an opportunity to do some important things related to 
democracy, and, aside from the partisanship that quite often exists in 
this body, it gives us time to debate, in fact discuss, the merits of 
democracy in this world, and to talk about some of the value that we 
place in democracy and the value of a democratic election.
  It is hard for us to imagine in this country a country that can go 30 
years without having a democratic election. We take the ability to 
stand on this floor and outside this building and say what we want for 
granted. We take the democratic process and democratic elections for 
granted sometimes. But the value of democracy should never be assumed. 
It is captured quite eloquently by the gentleman from New York [Mr. 
Houghton] in is ``Dear Colleague'' about this resolution, in which he 
says, ``This is worthy of our consideration and important to the United 
States' national interest of seeing democracy triumph over tyranny 
around the world.''
  The people of Sierra Leone are eager to follow us down the path of 
democracy, and we forget that so often we are trying to get people to 
follow us down that path, because so often we dwell on the negative 
aspects of our democracy and forget that, as one person said, democracy 
is the worst form of government that we can have, except all the other 
forms of government.
  There are two other things that I want to cover very quickly, and 
that is democracy is not easy in other parts of the world, and there 
are challenges that democracies face around the world. We ought to take 
every opportunity to encourage and congratulate other countries who are 
following us down this path. So I want to applaud this resolution for 
that purpose.
  Finally, there are adjoining countries, countries that adjoin Sierra 
Leone or are in close proximity to them, where democracies are now 
struggling, the country of Nigeria, the country of Liberia. Both have 
ongoing struggles that illustrate better than I could ever talk about 
the challenges that face democracies in this world. So if we can 
encourage Sierra Leone to expand this concept to those adjoining 
countries, to those democracies that are facing challenges, then that 
is an important objective that we ought try to support.
  I want to congratulate the gentleman from New York [Mr. Houghton], 
and encourage my colleagues to support this important resolution.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Chabot], another member of our 
Committee on International Relations.
  (Mr. CHABOT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. CHABOT. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Committee on 
International Relations and the Subcommittee on Africa, I rise in 
strong support of this resolution congratulating the people of Sierra 
Leone on the success of the recent democratic multiparty elections.

                              {time}  1515

  I want to commend my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from 
New York, Mr. Houghton, who has introduced this legislation; also, the 
distinguished chairwoman of the subcommittee itself, the gentlewoman 
from Florida, Ms. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. I would also like to extend 
commendations across the aisle to the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. 
Moran, who has shown significant leadership in this area. Many people 
have worked very hard to bring this forward today.
  The March 15 democratic Presidential parliamentary elections marked 
an historic day in Sierra Leone. After nearly 30 years of one-party 
rule, civil war and military dictatorships, nearly 75 percent of the 
Sierra Leone citizenry, at great personal risk, went to the polls to 
cast their votes. Since that election, a cease-fire has been negotiated 
to end the fighting that has led to the deaths of more than 10,000 
individuals and also left more than 4.5 million homeless. This 
resolution encourages the people of Sierra Leone to continue those 
negotiations and to work for a lasting peace.
  Mr. Speaker, when a nation, in the face of so much adversity, is able 
to

[[Page H5320]]

take such a giant step forward toward democracy, it should be 
commended, and I am pleased to be able to join my colleagues in doing 
so.
  Again, I thank the gentleman from New York [Mr. Houghton] for his 
work on this issue and I urge the adoption of this resolution.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the very distinguished 
statesman from New York [Mr. Payne], to share with us a small part of 
his encyclopedic knowledge of the peoples and countries of Africa.
  (Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey asked and was given permission to revise and 
extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much 
for that kind introduction, and I rise today in support of House 
Concurrent Resolution 160 sponsored by my good friend, the gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Houghton].
  I also want to congratulate the people of Sierra Leone on their 
democratic elections held on the 26th and 27th of February of this 
year, the first time in over 31 years that the people of that country 
have had free elections.
  Sierra Leone gained its independence in 1961 from Britain and since 
that time it has had a government that showed very little compassion 
for its people. Relief agencies estimate that half of the country's 4 
million people are refugees. The life expectancy is 42 years, and the 
once diamond trade has virtually dissipated into the hands of the 
military government.
  However, thanks to many concerned individuals, we have seen a 
successful election. I would like to pay tribute to two individuals, 
Derhanu Dinka, the United Nations special representative to Sierra 
Leone who played a key role in this election, and James Jonah, a former 
senior United Nations official from Sierra Leone who returned back to 
his country to help save it.
  Let me speak of Mr. Jonah's role of bringing country peace to Sierra 
Leone. Mr. Jonah returned home at the military's invitation to head an 
electoral commission and surprised the army by keeping his promise to 
hold honest elections.
  Many times Mr. Jonah's determination almost cost him his life when he 
refused to raise the minimum wage required for Presidential candidates 
so that it would not discriminate against any other candidates. Many 
contributions were made by both Mr. Jonah and others who worked so 
hard.
  Others also contributed to the success of the elections. There were 
groups of international and domestic election monitors who stayed there 
to be sure that the elections were transparent, open and free.
  Despite deadly conflicts between citizens and those seeking to 
disrupt the elections in Bo and Kenema, the electoral process was 
largely peaceful and the people refused to allow a group of thugs who 
came in to disrupt the election to allow that to happen. They came out 
and said that we want to vote, and they voted, and it was fair and it 
was free. So I commend the people of Sierra Leone for this tremendous 
election.
  Let me just say in conclusion that there have been successful 
elections in a number of countries in Africa. We saw the 30-year 
leader, Kenneth Kuanden in Zambia, who stood for elections, take the 
defeat and move out to his village. We saw a 35-year President in 
Malawi, Life President Banda, they called him Life President because he 
was expected to be there for life, allowed multiparty elections. He 
lost and he also returned to his village.
  We see peace now in Mozambique where we have had recent elections, 
where the Renamo forces and the government have come together. In 
Angola, UNITA and the FLMA, President dos Santos' government have come 
to have a government of unity. Still problems, but they are working on 
it.
  In Namibia, the SWAPO organization have come in and taken hold of the 
government and those elections and are moving to a true democracy.
  South Africa we saw the first nonracial elections held recently, and 
the Mandela government is moving forth trying to create opportunities.
  Ethiopia has ended its long war, and with Mr. Meles Zenawi leading 
the government. Eritrea, Benin, and I could go on and on. But I want to 
point to the success of democracy. The world is taking what we have and 
we should be willing to share it and help with its development.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, as Chair of the Subcommittee on 
Africa, I am pleased to have this opportunity to address the value of 
House Congressional Resolution 160--a resolution congratulating the 
people of the Republic of Sierra Leone on the success of their recent 
democratic multiparty elections.
  I would first like to commend our colleague, Mr. Houghton, on his 
leadership in introducing this resolution, and note that this measure 
received unanimous support of the members of the Subcommittee on 
Africa.
  The importance of this resolution is twofold. In the strictest sense, 
it serves to encourage the people of Sierra Leone to continue on the 
long and arduous journey toward political stabilization and the 
consolidation of an open, just society, and system of government.
  However, its impact extends beyond the boundaries of this West 
African country.
  This resolution serves as an inspiration to emerging and fragile 
democracies throughout the African continent. It serves to illustrate 
U.S. commitment to the promotion of democratic principles, as well as 
American resolve to support and guide emerging democracies through the 
process of reform and transition.
  Normally, the focus tends to be on those African countries who 
succumb to their tumultuous pasts and choose violence as instruments of 
political change. This resolution compensates for this trend by 
focusing on a success and a positive outcome.
  The people of Sierra Leone truly deserve our admiration for their 
commitment and determination to bring peace to their country and create 
an environment where democratic ideals could flourish as they have 
done.
  For five years, anarchy and civil war have swept through this West 
African country like a bitter wind, claiming the lives of thousands. 
Twenty-nine years of dictatorship gradually stripped the country of its 
potential for growth and prosperity.
  But, throughout, the people of Sierra Leone persevered. This year, 
they exerted their will, overcoming great obstacles in their quest for 
peace. They suffered in the cause of democracy, enduring beatings and 
mutilations to press ahead with the second round of Presidential 
elections of March 15. In the end, they were successful.
  For their fantastic courage, the people of Sierra Leone merit our 
respect. They are at a threshold. The restoration of civilian 
democratic rule offers the best chance of peace and security in Sierra 
Leone. Thus, it is imperative that we praise the achievements of the 
people of Sierra Leone, and send an unequivocal message of support for 
their ongoing efforts to ensure a future of stability and growth for 
their country.
  Thus, I urge my colleagues in the House to support this resolution.
  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in 
praising the people of Sierra Leone for their remarkable determination 
in the face of extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
  By the simple act of voting this spring, they began to wrest their 
fate from the roving bands of rebel guerrillas that have driven more 
than half of the people of Sierra Leone out of their homes.
  The individual acts of courage in coming to the voting booth--in not 
one, but two rounds of elections--echo loudly, especially in Africa 
where democracy too often is an elusive goal.
  I believe that it helped both sides of the 5-year-old civil war to 
agree to a cease-fire, and I hope the leaders of both side of this 
civil war will follow the lead of their countrymen, and end their 
brutal conflict peacefully.
  When peace comes, I hope that the 320,000 Sierra Leoneans who have 
taken refuge in Guinea and Liberia--and the 1.5 million who are 
displaced within their own borders--will return home.
  And perhaps the sound of free and fair elections, the sound of peace, 
will echo into the chaos of Liberia, and throughout Africa.
  Nearly 100 years ago, Daytonians were among the first missionaries to 
Sierra Leone. A Dayton company, Nord Resources, long has operated the 
Sierra Rutile mine, which is the nation's largest employer. The civil 
war closed the mine more than a year ago; ending the war would mean 
jobs once again for more than 2,000 people there.
  I traveled to Sierra Leone 7 years ago, and found it to be a 
beautiful country. With the continued determination of its people--and 
with the encouragement of the United States--I believe that peace and 
prosperity is again within reach.
  I commend Congressman Houghton for his leadership in bringing the 
deserving efforts of Sierra Leone's voters to the attention of 
Congress. And I join him and many others from Dayton and throughout the 
United States in congratulating the people of Sierra Leone on their 
efforts to build democracy and peace.
  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.

[[Page H5321]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Wicker). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman] that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, House 
Concurrent Resolution 160.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was 
agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________