[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 35 (Thursday, March 15, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H945-H946]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           CONFLICT DIAMONDS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Wolf) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hall) for focusing 
our attention on this very important issue. They have been tireless in 
their efforts to raise awareness of conflict diamonds.
  Over the last year, increasing attention has been given to the issue 
of conflict diamonds in Africa. The gross misuse of these resources in 
countries like Sierra Leone and Angola raise the stakes in Africa's all 
too many wars, making these conflicts more deadly by funding otherwise 
unaffordable weapons that are purchased overseas.

[[Page H946]]

  Yesterday, the Subcommittee on Africa, which I chair, held a hearing 
on the situation in West Africa, with particular emphasis on the 
destabilizing role of President Charles Taylor of Liberia and what has 
happened with conflict diamonds there.
  The West African country of Liberia, I have to report, is in terrible 
shape. Over the past 4 years, President Charles Taylor has waged a 
continuous assault on the democratic dreams of the Liberian people. He 
rules by decree. He suppresses the press, including USAID-supported 
STAR radio, which he forced off the air. He sanctions, if not directs, 
the murder of political opponents.
  As the subcommittee has profiled over the last several years, Charles 
Taylor is a menace to West Africa. One of our witnesses yesterday 
stated that, ``Charles Taylor's role has been to mastermind carnage in 
Sierra Leone for the sole purpose of controlling its diamond mines from 
which he derives income to enrich himself and to buy arms and 
ammunition to continue his control over Liberia and ultimately over the 
entire West African sub-region.''
  Now, Charles Taylor's accessories to this in Sierra Leone are a group 
that we call the Revolutionary United Front. Sometimes they are 
referred to as the RUF. A Panel of Experts report issued last December 
found unequivocal and overwhelming evidence that Liberia has been 
actively supporting the Revolutionary United Front at all levels in 
providing training, in providing weapons and related material, 
logistical support, a staging ground for tanks that they make and then 
a safe haven to retreat and to recoup, and has been aiding them in 
public relations activities.
  President Charles Taylor, the report goes on, is actively involved in 
fueling the violence in Sierra Leone. Underscoring his tight ties with 
the Revolutionary United Front, this report found that Taylor even uses 
personnel from the Front for his own personal security detail. This is 
the same Revolutionary United Front whose signature is forced 
amputations of men and women and children. I highly commend this 
report. It well documents the frightening syndicate of international 
crime and diamond smuggling that Taylor now stands at the center of to 
anyone concerned about West Africa's fate.
  Acting on this report, the UN Security Council last week acted to 
impose diamond export and other sanctions on Charles Taylor. 
Sanctioning Charles Taylor was the right thing to do, but it was a 
mistake to give him 2 months to comply with UN demands that he stop 
aiding the Revolutionary United Front before the sanctions bite.
  This man has a record. For him, peace agreements are tactical delays 
designed to lull opponents before he strikes again. This was the case 
with the Lome Accord to Sierra Leone. Taylor has worked a cease-fire 
between the Revolutionary United Front and the UN peacekeeping 
operation in Sierra Leone. Why did he do that? So he could free up the 
Revolutionary United Front to attack Guinea, which is now under way.
  So now Taylor is making a bid to stave off the diamond sanctions and 
the travel sanctions, but it is a feint. Instead of waiting 2 months, 
the Security Council should have imposed these sanctions now.
  West African states, frankly, in this region that are being impacted 
by the terror that is emanating from his training camps are weak, and 
these states are getting weaker. If we do not act with vigor now, the 
region neighboring Liberia will become an irreversible humanitarian and 
environmental nightmare. In a few years, our ability to do anything 
constructive may well be gone. We need to bring a sense of urgency to 
our West Africa policy. We are not serious about Africa if we are not 
serious about this crisis of what is going on here.
  So let me just say that Charles Taylor's time is up. For the sake of 
tens of millions of West Africans, it is time to act forcefully against 
President Charles Taylor.

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