[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 31, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H144-H147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      A FIRST-HAND LOOK AT AFRICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kirk). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is

[[Page H145]]

recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I take this time today to report on my recent 
eight-day, six-country trip to Africa where I visited the Congo, 
Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Sudan and Kenya. I left Washington on January 
6 and returned January 14.
  I have closely followed events in Africa since being elected to 
Congress. My first trip to the continent was in 1984 when I went to 
Ethiopia to witness the heartbreaking famine which resulted in the 
death of hundreds of thousands of women and children.
  Mr. Speaker, I also have been to Algeria, Benin, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory 
Coast, Sierra Leone and Somalia.
  Let me begin by saying that there is far too much suffering going on 
in Africa. Pain and suffering are a constant. Too many children are 
dying of starvation, disease, war, and AIDS.
  70 percent of the world's AIDS cases are in Africa, where more than 
16,000 people a day are infected by the virus. More than 2 million 
Africans died of AIDS in the year 2000.
  The raging civil wars in both the Congo and Sudan are taking a 
tremendous toll on human life. More than 4 million, more than 4 million 
combined have died as a result of the two wars in the Congo and Sudan 
and millions have been displaced.
  My trip started in Kinshasa, the capitol of Congo. I visited Congo to 
help better understand the cause of a raging Civil War that has 
resulted in more than 1.7 million deaths since 1988, according to the 
International Rescue Committee, and to explore what, if any, role the 
United States may be able to play in bringing an end to the conflict.
  Mr. Speaker, I was there less than a week before Congolese President 
Laurent Kabila was assassinated. We met with him on January 8 in the 
Presidential palace. From Kinshasa, I traveled by plane 1,000 miles to 
what is called the Great Lakes Region in eastern Congo and spent a day 
in the town of Goma and a day in the town of Bukavu.
  I met with the rebel leadership, women's groups, clergy, average 
Congolese citizens and representatives of a number of nongovernmental 
organizations.
  I also met with the American missionaries. And I might say. Few of 
the people that we spoke with support the rebel leadership in this part 
of the Congo.
  Life is not easy for the average Congolese. There are few schools or 
hospitals and little potable water. Children go hungry. Women live in 
fear. I heard horrific stories and tales of rape and abuse by different 
armed forces and soldiers who come into one village, take the food, 
rape the women, do different things. Three days later a different group 
comes in. So life for the average person, particularly women and 
children, is very, very grim.
  Soldiers are everywhere; most are young boys or men carrying 
automatic weapons.
  I visited Rwanda to learn more about the reconciliation process the 
country is going through following a genocide of more than 800,000 
ethnic Tutsis in 1994. My trip to Burundi followed for similar reasons.
  From 1993 to the year 2000, violence between Hutu and Tutsi ethnic 
factions in Burundi has left more than 250,000 people dead and created 
hundreds of thousands refugees. In Rwanda, the first place we visited 
was Murambi Technical School, which is now a genocide site.
  The world seems to forget, but over the course of 100 days, in the 
spring of 1994, more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were 
systematically murdered in Rwanda as part of ethnic genocide. Some 
50,000 people were slaughtered in the villages near the Murambi 
Technical School that we visited.

  Contorted skeletons now rest on wooden tables in 18 of the school's 
classrooms. Some are missing limbs. Others have arms over their heads, 
as if trying to protect themselves from their killers.
  One room was filled with just skulls, and they were hacked to death 
with machetes and most skulls are fragmented from being smashed.
  In Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda, I met with President Paul Kagame, 
members of the Parliament and NGOs. Rwanda needs to pull its troops out 
of the Congo as do the other countries that have troops in Congo.
  Having said that, I do understand the security concerns that the 
Rwandans have, particularly with what took place with regards to the 
genocide, but some now appear to have other motives.
  They have fought, at least the Rwandans and the Ugandans, have fought 
at least three times over diamonds and other minerals near the town of 
Kisangani. And Kisangani is far from the border where they are 
threatened by EXFAR and Interahamwe.
  I next visited Burundi primarily to speak at a prayer breakfast 
attended by Hutus and Tutsis. Like Rwanda, Burundi has experienced 
ethnic violence between the Hutus and Tutsis, and more than 250,000 
people have been killed over the last decade.
  I also met with President Pierre Buyoya and members of the Parliament 
and, frankly, was very impressed with the efforts of reconciliation 
taking place both in Rwanda and also in Burundi.
  The last leg of my trip took us to Sudan, my fourth visit there in 11 
years. Over the past two decades, a Civil War pitting the Khartoum 
government against the black Christians and others in the southern half 
of the country has cost more than 2 million lives in war and famine-
related deaths, and millions more have been displaced.
  So in the last 17 years, over 2 million people, most black Christians 
and animists have died as a result of the Khartoum government in the 
North and with irreverence against those in the South. Regrettably, the 
situation in Sudan is no better today than in 1989, the first time I 
traveled to the war-torn region.
  The Khartoum regime continues to persecute members of different 
religious minorities, Christians, Muslim and animist, under the 
auspices of what they call the Sharia law.
  Since 1983, the government of Sudan has been waging a brutal war 
against factions in the South who are fighting for self determination 
and religious freedom. The Committee on Conscience of the United States 
Holocaust Memorial Museum has issued a genocide warning for Sudan. It 
is important for the people in the West to know if the Holocaust Museum 
believes it is that significant, then those of us in Congress and in 
the administration should also take note of the genocide warning issued 
with regard to Sudan.
  Earlier, Mr. Speaker, today in the House, during the debate on the 
resolution on the day of remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust, 
we took time to speak out to remind the people of genocide that took 
place less than six decades ago. We need to remember. We need to speak 
out. Our voices should be raised today about the genocide taking place 
in Sudan.
  Mr. Speaker, I visited the southern town of Yei where the Khartoum 
government last November committed one of the most heinous acts of 
violence in the war, bombing a busy marketplace in the middle of the 
afternoon. Nineteen people were killed. Fifty-two were injured, 14 
bombs were rolled out of the back of a Soviet-made Antonov bomber on 
November 20, the year 2000. No one was spared, women, children, young 
and old.
  I also saw a video that was given to me by an NGO when we were there 
taken of the bombing. The marketplace was packed. People had nowhere to 
hide. Some of those killed had their limbs blown off. Women and 
children were screaming as they witnessed the carnage. The photograph 
here shows one of the victims, one of the 19 victims of the bombing.
  Now, this is a civilian village. It is not a military target, and yet 
the Khartoum government of Sudan sends bombers over to bomb innocent 
women and children in the villages.

                              {time}  1415

  Now, if you look at the definition of genocide that is recognized, 
clearly what is taking place in the Holocaust Museum is accurate: 
genocide in Southern Sudan, and here is an example. Yei is hundreds of 
miles from the front lines. It is not a military target, but on a daily 
basis a high-altitude Antonov bomber passes over the town. People are 
terrified by the bombing runs. You can see it in their eyes. You can 
hear it in their voices. Ask anyone what concerns them most and the 
refrain is ``the Antonov bomber.''
  No one knows where the bombs are being dropped because the plane is

[[Page H146]]

sometimes beyond eyesight. Sometimes the planes fly overhead to play 
mind games with the residents of the town. Sometimes bombs randomly 
fall from the sky. They have hit churches, homes, hospitals, and 
sometimes the bombs are 55-gallon oil drums packed with dynamite and 
nails. The planes fly morning, noon, and night. An Antonov bomber flew 
over the town on January 13, the last morning I was in Yei. Panic set 
in. Psychological warfare is taking its toll. People are afraid to 
build houses or raise crops when they could be destroyed. Peddlers have 
dug foxholes in the marketplace so they can climb into the hole if a 
plane flies over, and they pray that the bombs fall somewhere else. We 
also saw a bomb shelter outside the hospital; people from the hospital 
went into the bomb shelter and then it was hit and people died. The 
bombing runs have become a major obstacle to daily life in Yei and 
throughout Southern Sudan.
  Last year nearly 100 innocent Sudanese were killed in bombings 
according to figures compiled by several NGOs in Southern Sudan. Bombs 
hit relief agency compounds and convoys, and getting food and supplies 
through Southern Sudan is difficult enough because of the deplorable 
conditions of the roads. It took us nearly 4 hours to travel from the 
border of Uganda to Yei. The actions of the Khartoum Government cannot 
and should not be tolerated any longer. It is a brutal, repressive 
regime. Government-sponsored militias torch houses and food supplies, 
and rape and murder with impunity. Civilian food production and supply 
lines are attacked, livestock is destroyed, and international relief is 
obstructed. In 1998 this strategy caused a famine in Southern Sudan 
that endangered millions and killed tens of thousands.
  Then there is the slavery issue. There is slavery in Sudan that we 
now know for a fact. Slave traders from the north sweep down in the 
villages and kidnap women and children and sell them for domestic 
servants or concubines. This is real-life chattel slavery in the 21st 
century in January and February of this year.
  There is also the issue of oil. In 1999 the Khartoum Government began 
earning hundreds of millions of dollars from oil exports. The hard 
currency that they are earning from these oil exports are now enabling 
them to buy new weapons. They are buying Soviet Hind helicopters, and 
they are killing people. So as they take the money, the oil from the 
revenue, which has now been listed on the stock exchange, the more 
money they get, the more helicopters they buy, the more weapons they 
buy, the more tanks they buy, the more people they kill. So the death 
rate will be increasing in Khartoum as the oil revenues increase for 
the Khartoum Government because they are using the hard currency to 
finance the weapons in the war to kill women and children.
  The Khartoum Government has doubled its spending on arms since it 
began exporting oil; and as I said, more people are going to die with 
the additional weapons that are being purchased.
  From my observations on this trip, we have several recommendations 
for the new administration. On the general issue of Africa, I would 
recommend that the new Bush administration move quickly to show an 
interest in Africa. A Presidential task force could be created to study 
Africa which could be made up of experts both in and out of government 
who have an expertise and interest and a sense of caring with regard to 
what is taking place in Africa, particularly with regard to women and 
children.
  The panel should make a top-to-bottom review of what policy the 
United States should take toward Africa, particularly sub-Saharan 
Africa. It should be charged with offering practical and strategic 
insight into the promotion of democracy, the prevention and spread of 
AIDS. Everywhere we went, the issue of AIDS came up over and over; in 
dealing with other diseases and economic development and trade and 
education and human rights and religious freedom and other aspects of 
improving life such as eliminating hunger for the average person in 
Africa. The panel should submit a country-by-country analysis as well 
as a regional analysis about the problems and challenges on what the 
United States should be doing with regard to Africa. There are many 
people in our government in the State Department and other agencies who 
have deep personal knowledge of Africa, and if they could be joined by 
some in academia and others to do this on a fast-track basis so we now 
know what the policy should be, how we deal country by country and 
region by region and problem by problem.

  Debt relief also must be addressed. Today I introduced the 
Responsible Debt Relief and Democracy Reform Act, legislation that will 
provide incentives to countries to institute democratic reforms and 
basic structures of civil society in order to receive debt relief. The 
problem is that it is the poorest people in the world and the poorest 
countries who suffer as a result of the government debt.
  Now, this has to be done in a way that as we forgive debt, they, an 
individual country, does things like bring about democracy, 
transparency, freedom of the press, freedom of movement; and this has 
to be done in a way that does not line the pockets of the dictators and 
the corrupt.
  Regarding the area of central Africa with the assassination of 
Congolese President Kabila on January 16, the situation in Central 
Africa is more complicated than ever. Kabila's son, Joseph, has been 
tapped the successor; but it is unclear how all of the Congo's rivals 
will react. Nevertheless, the United States needs to send a clear and 
early signal that it cares about the fate of Congo because I think we 
may have ignored it too long. And when you listen to what the new 
president, Joseph Kabila, says, he appears to be open and here is the 
opportunity. I said earlier that 1.7 million people in the Congo have 
died. There are millions more who are in the bush in a third of the 
Congo that cannot even be reached who may be dying on a daily basis and 
no food, and so there are many more that we cannot even get into the 
region to find out how bad life is for them.
  I also recommend that all foreign armies be publicly pressured to 
leave the Congo. In addition, something must be done to disarm and 
demobilize and resettle the former Rwandan Army and militia forces and 
the rebel factions warring in the Congo. When we ask the Rwandan 
Government to pull its soldiers out, we also have to have some 
mechanism whereby the Rwandans are comfortable that their border will 
be protected and those who did the mass genocide cannot come back in 
and do those things again. There are ways of doing it with balance.
  The United Nations should put together an assessment team to develop 
a strategy for withdrawal. The United States must forcefully speak out 
and act creatively on this issue. Our failure to speak out during the 
genocide in Rwanda in 1994 was wrong. The failure of the United States 
and the failure of the West not to speak out on the issue of genocide 
in 1994 was wrong and will go down as a dark day as historians look 
back on that period. We should not now remain silent on the issue of 
foreign troops because nearly 2 million people have already died in the 
Congo over the last few years and that number should not be allowed to 
continue to multiply.
  Regarding Sudan, I believe there should be a major effort on the part 
of the United States, the United Nations and the European Union to 
bring an end to the war in Sudan and peace with justice. Peace with 
justice has to be a priority of the Bush administration. Sudan is a 
litmus test; and as history looks back for those who care about human 
rights, about civil rights, and about religious persecution and about 
hunger, it should be viewed in terms of this decade's South Africa. The 
same amount of time and energy and resources should be put into ending 
the war in Sudan that was put into bringing democracy and freedom to 
South Africa.
  I recommend that a full-time high-profile envoy be appointed by 
President Bush to help bring peace to Sudan. This must be a person of 
national stature such as former Secretary of State Jim Baker or former 
U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.
  When President Clinton appointed former Senator Mitchell of Maine to 
be the special envoy for Ireland, everyone knew that Mitchell had 
President Clinton's ear. Any time Mitchell wanted Clinton to make a 
telephone call, he was able to get it done; and former Senator Mitchell 
should be commended for the outstanding job he did in bringing peace to 
Northern Ireland.

[[Page H147]]

  When Tony Lake was working on the Ethiopian-Eritrean war, he was the 
special envoy, and when he needed something done, he was able to get 
President Clinton to do it. The envoy must be someone that the 
President and the Secretary of State have confidence in and has a real 
interest in seeing the conflict in Sudan resolved. The envoy also must 
have the President's ear. Clearly the envoy concept with somebody like 
Senator Mitchell worked in Ireland and I believe can work and will work 
in Sudan.
  Not to try it would be in essence sentencing the women and children 
in the south and the villages to continual death. One young man I spoke 
to said, I was born in this war and I am afraid I will die in this war. 
This is an opportunity for the new administration to really bring about 
peace and demonstrate that we can make a big, big difference. I also 
recommend that our allies in the region be pressured, be urged to be 
encouraged to become more engaged.
  Egypt. Egypt, for example, has tremendous influence over the Khartoum 
regime. The United States Government, the American taxpayer, everyone 
out there, should know that we have given over $45 billion in foreign 
aid to Egypt since the Camp David Accords were signed in 1978. Over $45 
billion. We should use this leverage. Egypt should not be sitting by on 
the sidelines when this war is raging in Sudan where there are over 2.2 
million people killed, where there is slavery, where there is terrorism 
problems. Many terrorist groups who operate in the Middle East have 
training camps and operate around Khartoum.
  Where the problem of hunger is growing, Egypt and other friendly 
countries like that who are friends of the United States should be 
urged to be engaged and be involved to help bring about the peace, as 
should our allies in Europe.

                              {time}  1430

  I also believe it is important for the United States to support 
systems of local governance and sustenance in southern Sudan. Operation 
Lifeline of Sudan, which has cost billions, is subject to the control 
of the government of Sudan and it is manipulated by the Khartoum 
government to suit its objectives. The government claims that its 
territorial integrity is violated by foreign NGOs in the south trying 
to help the people it claims as citizens. And until the fighting 
actually ends and there is peace, the United States should strongly 
support the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement.
  In conclusion, from what I saw on the trip, I believe the Bush 
administration and the Congress, working together, have a unique 
opportunity to make a real difference in Africa and in Sudan, and now 
is the time to seize it.
  I was pleased to learn that the African bureau was the first section 
area our new Secretary of State Colin Powell visited at the State 
Department. That is a small step, but it was an extremely positive one. 
I am also pleased that Secretary Powell addressed Africa during his 
confirmation hearings.
  Africa and the world is watching. We can provide hope and opportunity 
to these people who have suffered so much, particularly in southern 
Sudan and in central Africa. The figures are hard to comprehend, but 
more than 4 million people, more than 4 million, a population larger 
than some of our largest cities, have died in Sudan and in the Congo. 
Four million. The number is staggering and the number is increasing. 
With more weapons being purchased, it is increasing more. With more 
child soldiers running rampant through the Congo and Sudan it is 
increasing more.
  We cannot, we in the Congress and those in the Bush administration, 
cannot allow the suffering to continue without trying, without making 
an effort. The Bush administration has a unique opportunity to make a 
difference in Africa.
  Throughout my trip, the constant refrain I heard was that the United 
States just needed to show that it cared. No one, no one asked for 
American troops to be deployed. No one needs, supports, believes that 
American soldiers have to be involved in any way. They just want 
America to use its efforts, and they want America to send a signal that 
it will begin to focus on the plight of Africa before another 
generation of young people is lost to civil war, famine, disease, and 
AIDS.
  America has a rich history of reaching out to bring peace and 
stability and reconciliation to communities around the world. We have 
made a difference in northern Ireland, we have made a difference in 
Eastern Europe, we have made a difference in so many places. We are 
attempting to bring peace to the Middle East. It is now time to focus 
on Africa, to focus on the Congo and to focus on the Sudan to end the 
killing.

                          ____________________