[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 131 (Wednesday, October 18, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Page S10736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           CONDEMNING THE ASSASSINATION OF FATHER JOHN KAISER

  Mr. SESSIONS. I ask unanimous consent the Foreign Relations Committee 
be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 146, and the 
Senate then proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Con. Res. 146) condemning the 
     assassination of Father John Kaiser and others in Kenya and 
     calling for a thorough investigation to be conducted in those 
     cases, a report on the progress made in such an investigation 
     to be submitted to Congress by December 15, 2000, and a final 
     report on such an investigation to be made public, and for 
     other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. SESSIONS. I ask unanimous consents the resolution be agreed to, 
the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and any statements be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Con. Res. 146) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                            S. Con. Res. 146

       Whereas Father John Kaiser, a Catholic of the Order of the 
     Mill Hill Missionaries and a native of Minnesota, who for 36 
     years served as a missionary in the Kisii and Ngong Dioceses 
     in the Republic of Kenya and advocated the rights of all 
     Kenyans, was shot dead on Wednesday, August 23, 2000;
       Whereas Father Kaiser was a frequently outspoken advocate 
     on issues of human rights and against the injustice of 
     government corruption in Kenya;
       Whereas fellow priests report that Father Kaiser spoke to 
     them of his fear for his life on the night before his 
     assassination;
       Whereas the murders of Father Stallone, Father Graife, and 
     Father Luigi Andeni, all of Marsabit Diocese in Kenya, the 
     circumstances of the murder of Brother Larry Timors of Nakaru 
     Diocese in Kenya, the murder of Father Martin Boyle of 
     Eldoret Diocese, and the murders of other local human rights 
     advocates in Kenya have not yet been fully explained, nor 
     have the perpetrators of these murders been brought to 
     justice;
       Whereas the report of a Kenyan governmental commission, 
     known as the Akiwumi Commission, on the government's 
     investigation into tribal violence between 1992 and 1997 in 
     Kenya's Great Rift Valley has not yet been released in spite 
     of several requests by numerous church leaders and human 
     rights organizations to have the Commission's findings 
     released to the public;
       Whereas, after Father Kaiser's assassination, documents 
     were found on his body that he had intended to present to the 
     Akiwumi Commission;
       Whereas the nongovernmental Kenyan Human Rights Commission 
     has expressed fear that the progress achieved in Kenya during 
     the last few years in the struggle for democracy, the rule of 
     law, respect for human rights, and meeting the basic needs of 
     all Kenyans is jeopardized by the current Kenyan government; 
     and
       Whereas the 1999 Country Report on Human Rights released by 
     the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the 
     Department of State reports that the Kenyan Government's 
     ``overall human rights record was generally poor, and serious 
     problems remained in many areas; while there were some signs 
     of improvement in a few areas, the situation worsened in 
     others.'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) condemns the violent deaths of Father John Kaiser and 
     others who have worked to promote human rights and justice in 
     the Republic of Kenya and expresses its outrage at those 
     deaths;
       (2) calls for a thorough investigation of those deaths that 
     includes other persons in addition to the Kenyan authorities;
       (3) calls on the Secretary of State, acting through the 
     Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and 
     Labor, to prepare and submit to Congress, by December 15, 
     2000, a report on the progress made on investigating these 
     killings, including, particularly, a discussion of the 
     actions taken by the Kenyan government to conduct an 
     investigation as described in paragraph (2);
       (4) calls on the President to support investigation of 
     these killings through all diplomatic means; and
       (5) calls for the final report of such an investigation to 
     be made public.

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