HRES 559 EH
H. Res. 559
In the House of Representatives, U.S.,
October 10, 1998
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/RUF violence against civilians continues with at least 1,200 persons having hands of feet amputated by rebels (and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that every victim who makes it to medical help is only 1 of 4 who have been mutilated);
Whereas the AFRC/RUF continues to abduct children and forcibly train them as combatants, in numbers estimated by UNICEF to exceed 3,000 since March 1998;
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 (UNHCR) for $7,300,000 for emergency food, shelter, sanitation, medical, educational, psychological, and social services;
Whereas starvation and hunger-related deaths have begun in the north with more than 500 people dying 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 (ECOWAS) and its military peacekeeping arm called ECOMOG are doing their best, but require additional logistic support to either bring this AFRC/RUF rebel war to a conclusion or force a negotiated settlement;
Whereas arms and weapons continue to be supplied to the AFRC/RUF in direct violation of a United Nations arms embargo;
Whereas United Nations Under Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Sergio Viera de Melo, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Refugees International, following May through June 1998 visits to Sierra Leone, have condemned, in the strongest terms, the terrible human rights violations done by the AFRC/RUF rebels to civilians; and
Whereas the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunu, following a May 1998 visit to Sierra Leone, called upon the United Nations to make Sierra Leone one of the pilot projects in the rehabilitation of child combatants; Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(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) urges the State Department to give the needed logistical support to ECOMOG and the Government of Sierra Leone to bring this conflict to a rapid conclusion;
(3) condemns the use of children as combatants in the conflict in Sierra Leone;
(4) urges 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;
(5) urges the President and the Secretary of State to strictly enforce the United Nations arms embargo on the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and Revolutionary United Front (AFRC/RUF) rebel forces;
(6) urges the President and the Secretary of State to work with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) nations to ensure there are sufficient African forces and arms provided to its military peacekeeping arm ECOMOG;
(7) urges the President and the Secretary of State to support the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) appeal for aid to the Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea, Liberia, and other countries;
(8) urges the President and the State Department to support the United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations working in Sierra Leone to bring humanitarian relief and peace to the country;
(9) urges the President and the State Department to support the Government of Sierra Leone in its demobilization, disarmament, and reconstruction plan for the country as peace becomes a reality; and
(10) encourages and supports, Olara Otunu, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict, to continue in his efforts to work in Sierra Leone in the establishment of programs designed to rehabilitate child combatants.
Attest:
Clerk.