[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3191-3193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 54--CONDEMNING THE ESCALATING VIOLENCE, THE GROSS 
   VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND ATTACKS AGAINST CIVILIANS, AND THE 
  ATTEMPT TO OVERTHROW A DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVERNMENT IN SIERRA 
                                 LEONE

      By Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. Frist, Mr. Biden, Mr. Jeffords, 
        Mr. Wellstone, and Mrs. Feinstein):
  S. Res. 54. A resolution condemning the escalating violence, the 
gross violation of human rights and attacks against civilians, and the 
attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government in Sierra 
Leone; to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
       Whereas the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) 
     military junta and the rebel fighters of the Revolutionary 
     United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone mounted a campaign of 
     ``Operation No Living Thing'' in 1997 and have recently 
     renewed the terror;
       Whereas the atrocities and violence against the citizens of 
     Sierra Leone, which include forced amputations, raping of 
     women and children, pillaging farms, and the killing of the 
     civilian population, has continued for more than 8 years;
       Whereas the AFRC and RUF continue to kidnap children, 
     forcibly train them, and send them as combatants in the 
     conflict in Sierra Leone;
       Whereas the Nigerian-led intervention force, Economic 
     Community Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), which has deployed 
     nearly 15,000 troops to Sierra Leone, has made a considerable 
     contribution towards ending the cycle of violence there, 
     despite the fact that some of its members have engaged in 
     violations of humanitarian law;
       Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
     (UNHCR) estimates that in 1998 more than 210,000 refugees 
     fled Sierra Leone to Guinea, bringing the total number of 
     Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea to 350,000, in addition to 
     some 90,000 Sierra Leonean refugees who sought safe haven in 
     Liberia;
       Whereas the refugee camps in Guinea and Liberia are at risk 
     of being used as safe havens for rebels and staging areas for 
     attacks into Sierra Leone;
       Whereas the humanitarian crisis in Sierra Leone has reached 
     epic proportions with people dying from lack of food and 
     medicine; and
       Whereas the escalating violence in Sierra Leone threatens 
     stability in West Africa and has the immediate potential of 
     spreading to neighboring Guinea: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) urges the President and the Secretary of State to give 
     high priority to aiding in the resolution of the conflict in 
     Sierra Leone and to bringing stability to West Africa, 
     including active participation and leadership in the Sierra 
     Leone Contact Group;
       (2) condemns--
       (A) the violent atrocities committed by the Armed Forces 
     Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the Revolutionary United 
     Front (RUF) throughout the conflict, and in particular its 
     attacks against civilians and its use of children as 
     combatants; and
       (B) those external actors, including Liberia, Burkina Faso, 
     and Libya, for contributing to the continuing cycle of 
     violence in Sierra Leone by providing financial, political, 
     and other types of assistance to the AFRC or the RUF, often 
     in direct violation of the United Nations arms embargo;
       (3) supports continued efforts by the regional peacekeeping 
     force, ECOMOG, to restore peace and security and to defend 
     the democratically elected government of Sierra Leone;
       (4) recognizes that basic improvements in ECOMOG's 
     performance with respect to human rights and the management 
     of its own personnel would markedly improve its effectiveness 
     in achieving its goals and improve the level of international 
     support needed to meet those goals;
       (5) supports appropriate United States logistical, medical 
     and political support for ECOMOG and notes the contribution 
     that such support has made thus far toward achieving the 
     goals of peace and stability in Sierra Leone;
       (6) calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and 
     respect for human rights, and urges all members of the armed 
     conflict in Sierra Leone to engage in dialogue to bring about 
     a long-term solution to such conflict; and
       (7) expresses support for the people of Sierra Leone in 
     their quest for a democratic, prosperous, and reconciled 
     society.

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to offer S. Res. 54 with 
regard to the escalating violence, the gross violation of human rights 
and attacks against civilians in the West African country of Sierra 
Leone. I am joined in this effort by my colleagues, Senators Frist, 
Biden, Jeffords, Wellstone, and Feinstein.
  This resolution expresses in the strongest terms the condemnation of 
the ongoing atrocities committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone, 
including forced amputations, the rape of women and children, the 
pillaging of farms, and the murder of unarmed civilians. It urges all 
parties in the brutal violence to cease hostilities and engage in a 
dialogue to bring about a lasting solution that will support the people 
of Sierra Leone in their quest for a democratic, prosperous, and 
reconciled society. It further calls upon the President and the 
Secretary of State to give high priority to solving the conflict and 
supporting United Nations efforts to monitor respect for human rights 
and humanitarian law by all parties to this deplorable situation.
  Mr. President, since it gained independence in 1961, Sierra Leone has 
endured a series of military regimes and rebellions in struggles over 
economic and political power. However, the latest round of violence is 
unique in the scale and brutality of the attacks On

[[Page 3192]]

innocent civilians. Let me provide a little history to help set the 
stage for the current human tragedy faced by the people of Sierra 
Leone. In May 1997, a group of military officers, the Armed Forces 
Revolutionary Council (AFRC) seized power. During their nine month 
tenure, the AFRC joined forces with the armed rebel Revolutionary 
United Front (RUF) to form a regime characterized by serious human 
rights abuses and a complete breakdown of the rule of law. In response 
to this situation, in February 1998 the Economic Community of West 
African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), a Nigerian-led African 
peacekeeping force that helped restore stability to neighboring 
Liberia, forced the AFRC/RUF out of power, restoring President Ahmad 
Kabbah, who had been elected in March 1996 in Sierra Leone's first 
multi-party elections in almost three decades. Since their ouster, the 
AFRC/RUF forces have waged an increasingly vicious struggle against the 
weak Kabbah government. The situation is further complicated by the 
apparent participation by neighboring governments, Liberia and Burkina 
Faso, in supporting the rebel forces. Libya, too, has been identified 
as providing support to the rebels.
  In recognition of the unacceptable state of human rights and the 
massive humanitarian crisis brought on by the civil war, the United 
Nations took action in July 1998, when the Security Council established 
the UN Observer Mission in Sierra Leone (UNOMSIL) for an initial period 
of six months, until January 1999. UNOMSIL, formed of up to 70 military 
observers and a small medical unit, was tasked with monitoring the 
military and security situation in the country, including the 
disarmament and demobilization of former combatants, and the adherence 
to international humanitarian law. Unfortunately, a rebel assault on 
the capital in January forced the evacuation of UNOMSIL to neighboring 
Guinea.
  Mr. President, it is difficult for most of us to comprehend the 
extent and the brutality of the human crisis in Sierra Leone. The 
United Nations has estimated that over 400,000 Sierra Leoneans have 
fled the fighting, either as refugees to neighboring Guinea and Liberia 
or to camps for the internally displaced. Conditions for both 
internally displaced persons and refugees are often severe due to a 
lack of access to camps and poor security conditions.
  Mr. President, words cannot adequately describe the horrors that have 
been waged by the AFRC/RUF forces, which have included some of the most 
heinous acts ever committed in wartime. Human Rights Watch estimates 
that thousands of Sierra Leonean civilians have been raped, 
deliberately mutilated (often by amputation), or killed outright by the 
AFRC/RUF. In February 1998, these rebel groups launched two loosely 
organized campaigns of terror, ``Operation No Living Thing'' and 
``Operation Pay Yourself,'' designed to loot, destroy, or kill anything 
in the path of the combatants. During these campaigns, rebel fighters 
were encouraged to actively target women and commit sexual violence, 
including rape. Children, too, have not been spared from the gross 
violations of human rights committed by both sides to the conflict. The 
AFRC/RUF has abducted as many as 2,500 children--probably in the 
thousands--for use as laborers, fighters, and in the case of girls, 
sexual prisoners. They have abducted many children, some as young as 
eight or ten years old, and turned them into some of the rebels' 
fiercest fighters.
  In December, the Chairman of the UN Security Council's Sierra Leone 
Sanctions Committee stated that it was hard to find words strong enough 
to describe the atrocities committed by the rebels. He cited instances 
where AFRC/RUF forces have cut off body parts with large machetes or 
burned civilians alive. He estimated that more than 4,000 people had 
been summarily executed or mutilated, just since April. Given the 
restrictions on access to a significant portion of the country, these 
numbers are likely just the tip of the iceberg.
  The scope of the catastrophe is overwhelming, yet it is even more 
heart rending when viewed through the lens of the stories of individual 
experiences. International human rights groups have interviewed 
hundreds of survivors of the violence, each with a tale of suffering 
that is incomprehensible to many Americans. One woman described how she 
was captured, cut with a machete by a child rebel, had her hand 
amputated, and was left to bury her own hand. A reporter for the 
``Herald Guardian'' reported seeing rebels cut off the foot of a boy 
and then execute him, with the final words of ``You're too tall.'' 
Another woman recounted being captured, beaten, raped, and having the 
backs of her ankles sliced just below the Achilles tendon to ensure 
that she could not run away. Hundreds of Sierra Leoneans, who have 
swelled the refugees ranks in border camps in Guinea and Liberia, have 
similar stories.
  Mr. President, although the bulk of the condemnation must go to the 
rebel forces of the AFRC and the RUF, the Kabbah government is itself 
no paragon of liberty and the rule of law. In particular, the Kamajor 
civilian defense forces affiliated with the Kabbah regime have been 
cited for indiscriminate killings and torture. Many of the more than 
2,000 prisoners in Sierra Leone have been held under the 1998 Public 
Emergency Regulations, which provide for indefinite detention without 
trial. Section 13 of the same Public Emergency Regulations even 
declares that ``disturbing reports'' by the media are punishable 
offenses. Further exacerbating human rights abuses, government prisons 
are often overcrowded, unsanitary, and lacking in health care and the 
regular provision of food.
  In other examples, the High Court of Sierra Leone sentenced to death 
twenty-seven civilians convicted of treason, including five journalists 
and a seventy-five-year-old woman. International observers questioned 
the appropriateness of the treason charges for the journalists, and 
criticized the lack of a right to appeals in sentencing by the military 
court. In October, the government of Sierra Leone executed by firing 
squad, without benefit of an appeal process, twenty-four soldiers.
  Unfortunately even elements of the otherwise admirable ECOMOG forces 
must also shoulder some of the responsibility for the devastation that 
wracks Sierra Leone. According to international humanitarian groups, 
shelling by ECOMOG during its assault on Freetown, Sierra Leone's 
capital, in February 1998, took a high toll on civilians. Its forces 
have also obstructed humanitarian assistance and some members may seek 
to prolong their mission in order to exploit the conflict for economic 
gain.
  Mr. President, it is unconscionable to allow this situation to 
continue without exerting every effort to help resolve the conflict 
that generates such atrocities. While no other country or international 
organization can impose a settlement on Sierra Leone, it is incumbent 
upon us to offer our assistance in ending the catastrophic violence. We 
must call on the combatants to come to the negotiating table, and on 
neighboring governments to cease their support for the rebel forces 
that have prolonged Sierra Leone's political and humanitarian agony. We 
should be prepared to support such a process through provision of 
additional logistical support to the regional peacekeeping force and 
through encouragement of a renewed commitment for UNOMSIL to carry out 
its mandate. To provide for a long term solution, we must also actively 
support multinational humanitarian operations to address the wide-
ranging needs of a displaced and brutalized population. But even if the 
humanitarian disaster can be stemmed, we must not walk away until there 
is the prospect of a government that adheres to the rule of law and 
supports the universally recognized standards of human rights.
  Mr. President, it does not please me to have to introduce this kind 
of resolution here in the Senate. But I believe it is important for the 
Senate to be on record in strong condemnation of the atrocities 
currently raging in Sierra Leone. I hope we can all move quickly to 
pass this resolution through the Committee on Foreign Relations and 
through the full Senate.
  Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I am pleased to co-sponsor the resolution

[[Page 3193]]

being submitted by Senator Frist and Senator Feingold condemning the 
escalating violence and violation of human rights in the nation of 
Sierra Leone. The past six weeks we have seen the end to peace and 
security in that country as a result of the renewed offensive by the 
combined forces of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council military 
junta, known as the AFRC and a rebel group known as the Revolutionary 
United Front, or RUF in a effort to once again overthrow the 
democratically elected government of Sierre Leone.
  The Economic Community of West African States stepped in almost a 
year ago, sending its Military Observer Group, called ECOMOG, to 
restore President Tejan Kabbah to power. Since that time, ECOMOG has 
been the sole thin line standing between notoriously inhumane AFRC/RUF 
forces and the fall of the democratically elected government.
  Unfortunately on January 6 of this year, the AFRC/RUF once again 
attacked Freetown and continued waging an inhumane and unbelievably 
brutal war on the civilian population in the countryside. There are 
disturbing reports both in the media and from our embassy in Sierra 
Leone that the AFRC/RUF has rounded up civilians including men, women 
and children for the purposes of torture and mutilation. AFRC/RUF 
soldiers use machetes to amputate one or both hands, feet, ears, arms, 
and fingers of their civilian victims.
  These reports indicate that victims are sometimes instructed to take 
a severed limb, body part or note to the government or ECOMOG stating 
that the government should replace the amputated body part, and that 
ECOMOG should leave Sierra Leone. These atrocities are carried out 
regardless of age or gender, and do not appear to be ethnically or 
religiously motivated.
  Women and girls are kidnaped and forced into sexual slavery. Some 
kidnap victims are used as labor in rebel camps. Boys and young men are 
compelled to join the AFRC/RUF as soldiers against their will. 
Witnesses say that children as young as seven years have been forcibly 
recruited by the rebels.
  The result of the escalated violence has been the exodus of over 
450,000 people into neighboring Guinea and Liberia. Nearly twice as 
many are wandering around within the borders of Sierra Leone, their 
homes and villages destroyed, vulnerable to further attacks from 
insurgents, without access to food or medicine.
  With the help of external actors who are acting in direct violation 
of a United Nationals arms embargo, the AFRC/RUF has been able to 
effectively sustain its assaults against civilians and ECOMOG troops. 
However, the AFRC/RUF has demonstrated no organized political platform 
or agenda. It enjoys no popular support among the people of Sierra 
Leone. In short, this group can accurately be described as a band of 
well armed, determined thugs.
  I applaud the administration for providing aid to ECOMOG. However, as 
I wrote to the Secretary of State this week, and as this resolution 
indicates, the United States can and should do more to support ECOMOG 
financially. While ECOMOG is far from perfect, it is the only thing 
standing between the civilian population the fall of the duly elected 
government to indiscriminate, brutally violent AFRC/RUF forces.
  It is for all of the above reasons that I join my colleagues Senators 
Frist and Feingold in sponsoring this resolution.
  In addition to condemning the heinous actions of the AFRC/RUF rebels 
and the involvement of external actors in support of the rebels, the 
resolution urges the Administration to continue to give a high priority 
to solving this conflict.
  Thousands of innocent men, women and children have been wounded, 
maimed and killed in the past months alone. We must do all we can do to 
bring about a swift and long-term political solution to this war. This 
is the only way to put a decisive end to the suffering of the 
population of Sierra Leone.

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