[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 111 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1628]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CRISES IN SUDAN AND NORTHERN UGANDA

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 6, 1998

  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome Assistant 
Secretary Susan Rice along with the other witnesses. I look forward to 
their testimony.
  Twelve years ago Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni marched a 20,000-
strong rebel army to Uganda's capital, Kampala, and liberated the 
Ugandan people from the reign of two of the most oppressive 
dictatorships the world has ever seen. During their successive regimes 
Amin and Obote murdered over one million people. While the United 
States and the Western Powers did nothing, Museveni took action.
  Since then, the story of Uganda is nothing short of phenomenal. 
President Museveni immediately formed a Human Rights Commission to 
investigate the atrocities committed under the former dictators. Today 
the Commission is chaired by a judge and overseen by Members of the 
High Court. The mandate of the organization is to serve as a watch-dog 
by monitoring government activities, and to educate the public about 
respect for human rights.
  After the establishment of the Human Rights Commission, President 
Museveni began assembling judges, lawyers, and other scholars for the 
purpose of drafting Uganda's Constitution. His administration actively 
solicited the involvement of men and women at the grass-roots level. 
Several thousand Ugandans submitted memorandums offering suggestions. 
An important component of the Constitution is a provision 
institutionalizing the Human Rights Commission.
  Perhaps most astonishing has been Uganda's economic growth under 
President Museveni. Real GDP growth has averaged 6.7% over the last ten 
years. Inflation has been reduced from 250% to 6%. The country has 
liberal current and capital accounts, so there is no restrictions on 
foreign exchange. To ease the concerns of foreign investors, Uganda now 
offers insurance to investors through the Multi-lateral Insurance 
Guarantee Agency of the World Bank. Under Amin, Ugandans of South Asian 
heritage were stripped of their properties and forced to leave the 
country. President Museveni has allowed them to return, and has given 
back their businesses and land. To encourage American tourists and 
investors, citizens of the United States no longer need visas to travel 
to Uganda.
  Understanding that an exclusively government breeds its own 
opposition, President Museveni held elections and has an administration 
that reflects the diversity of Ugandan society. In 1987 a reporter 
asked him how he could afford to have such a large and diverse 
government. His answer was a simple one: ``It is cheaper than war.''
  Mr. Chairman, this is what President Museveni has built in just 
twelve years. But even more important than what he has done for Uganda, 
President Museveni is perhaps the first of a new breed of leader on the 
Continent. He has proven that African leaders no longer need to follow 
the orders of their colonial masters to achieve success. Independence 
and security, Museveni has shown, are not mutually exclusive.
  Unfortunately, all of this is threatened by an entity as evil as the 
world has even seen. Northern Uganda is plagued by a rebel insurgency 
known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony. The LRA 
is notorious for looting homes, and abducting and enslaving thousands 
of Ugandan children. Boys as young as 11 years old are forced to serve 
as soldiers and to participate in extreme act of violence. Girls of the 
same age are made into sexual slaves. Nearly all of the children who 
escape from the LRA are found to be HIV positive. The UN Children's 
Fund estimates that up to 10,000 youngsters have been victims of rebel 
atrocities. Backed by an oppressive and terrorist regime in Sudan, the 
LRA is a direct affront on the new Africa.
  Mr. Chairman, it is time for Congress and the Clinton Administration 
to embrace President Museveni and Uganda as a partner for peace and 
stability on the African Continent. We must make a decision. Will the 
United States continue its centuries old neglect of Africa? Will it 
continue to support only the Mobutu Sese Sekos and Jonas Savimbis of 
Africa? Or, if President Clinton's trip truly marked a new beginning in 
relations between the United States and the countries of sub-Saharan 
Africa, will we support those that are doing the right thing?
  The current crisis in Northern Uganda poses this question. I, along 
the countless others who care about the future of Africa, await the 
answer.

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