[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 101 (Friday, July 24, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1426]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E1426]]
                      H. CON. RESOLUTION ON UGANDA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. HOWARD L. BERMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 24, 1998

  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, today, I join my colleague Mr. Payne in 
submitting this resolution condemning the forced abduction of children 
by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda. The LRA, 
a bizarre Christian group supported by the fundamentalist Islamic 
government in Sudan, has kidnapped some 10,000 Ugandan children and 
forced them to fight as insurgents. Some of these children are as young 
as eight years old.
  Captive children raid and loot villages and serve in the front lines 
against the Ugandan army. They are also forced to help kill other 
abducted children who try to escape. Young teenage girls suffer the 
additional horror of serving as ``wives'' to ranking rebel soldiers. If 
they resist, they are beaten, sometimes severely. Girls may be given to 
several men in the course of a year.
  I am heartened that the children's plight is getting more 
international attention. In March, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights 
condemned ``in the strongest terms'' the abduction of children in 
Northern Uganda, and the First Lady addressed the issue in a speech 
while visiting the country. Much more needs to be done, however.
  This resolution condemns the abduction of children by the LRA in 
northern Uganda and calls for the immediate release of all LRA child 
captives. It urges the recently-appointed U.N. Special Representative 
on Children and Armed Conflict to aggressively address the situation, 
and encourages the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child to 
investigate. The resolution also calls on the Al-Bashir Government in 
Sudan to stop supporting the LRA and asks President Clinton to provide 
more support to U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations 
working to rehabilitate and reintegrate former child soldiers into 
society.
  I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this important legislation 
and I urge all my colleagues to support it. Let us help end the 
nightmare for children in Northern Uganda.

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