[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12877-S12878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RELATIVE TO THE HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST THE CIVILIAN POPULATION OF 
                              SIERRA LEONE

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                       ABRAHAM AMENDMENT NO. 3835

  Mr. LOTT (for Mr. Abraham) proposed an amendment to the resolution 
(S. Res. 298) condemning the terror, vengeance, and human rights abuses 
against the civilian population of Sierra Leone; as follows:

       Whereas the ousted Armed Forces Revolutionary Council 
     (AFRC) military junta and the rebel fighters of the 
     Revolutionary United Front (RUF) have mounted a campaign of 
     terror, vengeance, and human rights abuses on the civilian 
     population of Sierra Leone;
       Whereas the AFRC and RUF violence against civilians 
     continues with more than 500 survivors of atrocities, 
     including gunshot wounds, amputations or rape;
       Whereas the International Committee of the Red Cross 
     estimates that only 1 in 4 victims of mutilation actually 
     makes it to medical help;
       Whereas the use and recruitment of children as combatants 
     in this conflict has been widespread, including forcible 
     abduction of children by AFRC and RUF rebels;
       Whereas UNICEF estimates the number of children forcibly 
     abducted since March 1998 exceeds 3,000;
       Whereas the consequences of this campaign have been the 
     flight of more than 250,000 refugees to Guinea and Liberia in 
     the last 6 months and the increase of over 250,000 displaced 
     Sierra Leoneans in camps and towns in the north and east;
       Whereas the Governments of Guinea and Liberia are having 
     great difficulty caring for the huge number of refugees, now 
     totaling 600,000 in Guinea and Liberia, and emergency appeals 
     have been issued by the United Nations High Commission for 
     Refugees for $7,300,000 for emergency food, shelter, and 
     sanitation, and medical, educational, psychological, and 
     social services;
       Whereas starvation and hunger-related deaths have begun in 
     the north where more than 500 people have died since August 
     1, 1998, a situation that will only get worse in the next 
     months;
       Whereas the humanitarian community is unable, because of 
     continuing security concerns, to deliver food and medicine to 
     the vulnerable groups within the north and east of Sierra 
     Leone;
       Whereas the Economic Community of West African States and 
     its peacekeeping arm, the Economic Community of West African 
     States Military Observer Group (ECOMOG), are doing their 
     best, but are still lacking in the logistic support needed 
     to either bring this AFRC and RUF rebel war to a 
     conclusion or force a negotiated settlement;
       Whereas arms and weapons continue to be supplied to the 
     AFRC and RUF in direct violation of a United Nations arms 
     embargo;
       Whereas the United Nations Under Secretary for Humanitarian 
     Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Amnesty 
     International, Human Rights Watch, and Refugees 
     International, following visits to Sierra Leone in May and 
     June 1998, condemned, in the strongest terms, the terrible 
     human rights violations done to civilians by the AFRC and RUF 
     rebels; and
       Whereas the Special Representative of the United Nations 
     Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, following 
     a May 1998 visit to Sierra Leone, called upon the United 
     Nations to make Sierra Leone one of the pilot projects for 
     the rehabilitation of child combatants: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) urges the President and the Secretary of State to give 
     high priority to solving the conflict in Sierra Leone and to 
     bring stability to West Africa in general;
       (2) condemns the use by all parties of children as 
     combatants, in particular their forcible abduction by the 
     Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and the Revolutionary 
     United Front, in the conflict in Sierra Leone;
       (3) calls on rebel forces to permit the establishment of a 
     secure humanitarian corridor to strategic areas in the north 
     and east of Sierra Leone for the safe delivery of food and 
     medicines by the Government of Sierra Leone and humanitarian 
     agencies already in the country mandated to deliver this aid;
       (4) urges the President and the Secretary of State to 
     continue to strictly enforce the United Nations arms embargo 
     on the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and Revolutionary 
     United Front, including the condemnation of other nations 
     found to be not in compliance with the embargo;
       (5) urges the President and the Secretary of State to 
     continue to encourage the contribution of peacekeeping forces 
     by member governments of the Economic Community of West 
     African states to its peacekeeping arm, ECOMOG;
       (6) urges the President and the Secretary of State to 
     continue to support the appeal of the United Nations High 
     Commission for Refugees for aid to Sierra Leonean refugees in 
     Guinea, Liberia, and elsewhere, as well as other United 
     Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations working in 
     Sierra Leone to bring humanitarian relief and peace to the 
     country, including support the United Nations Observer 
     Mission in Sierra Leone;
       (7) urges the President and the Secretary of State to take 
     a more comprehensive and focused approach to its relief, 
     recovery and development assistance program in Sierra Leone 
     and to continue to support the Government of Sierra Leone in 
     its Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Program 
     (DDRP) for the country as peace becomes a reality;
       (8) urges the President and Secretary of State to work with 
     the Government of Sierra Leone, with organization of civil 
     society and with ECOMOG in their efforts to promote and 
     protect human rights, including respect for international 
     humanitarian law;
       (9) encourages and supports the United Nations Special 
     Representative of the Secretary General for Children and 
     Armed Conflict, Olara Otunu, to continue efforts to work in 
     Sierra Leone to establish programs designed to rehabilitate 
     child combatants; and

[[Page S12878]]

       (10) urges all parties to make a concerted effort toward 
     peace and reconciliation in Sierra Leone.

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