III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 283 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 8 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 6), 2008 

Received and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Calling for a peaceful resolution to the current electoral 

crisis in Kenya. 

Whereas on December 27, 2007, the citizens of Kenya went 

peacefully to the polls to elect a new parliament and a 

new President and signaled their commitment to democracy by turning out in large numbers and, in some instances, waiting in long lines to vote; 

Whereas on December 29, 2007, the opposition presidential 

candidate, Raila Odinga, was reportedly over 


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300,000 votes ahead of the incumbent with 90 percent of 

the precincts reporting; 

Whereas on December 30, 2007, the head of the Electoral 

Commission of Kenya (‘‘ECK’’) declared that Mwai 

Kibaki won the presidential election by 197,000 votes; 

Whereas Mr. Kibaki was sworn in as President within an 

hour of the announcement of the election results, despite 

serious concerns raised about the legitimacy of the election results by domestic and international observers; 

Whereas the lack of transparency in vote tallying, serious 

irregularities reported by election observers, the implausibility of the margin of victory, and the swearing in of 

the Party of National Unity presidential candidate with 

undue haste, all serve to undermine the credibility of the 

presidential election results; 

Whereas the Government of Kenya imposed a ban on live 

media that day, and shortly after the election results 

were announced, in contravention of Kenyan law, the 

Government also announced a blanket ban on public assembly and gave police the authority to use lethal force; 

Whereas on January 1, 2008, 4 commissioners on the ECK 

issued a statement which called into question the election 

results announced by the Commission and called for a judicial review; 

Whereas the head of the European Union Election Observation Mission stated that ‘‘Lack of transparency as well as 

a number of verified irregularities . . . cast doubt on the 

accuracy of the results of the presidential election as announced by the ECK’’ and called for an international 

audit of the results; 


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Whereas observers from the East African Community have 

called for an investigation into irregularities during the 

tallying process and for those responsible for such irregularities to be held accountable; 

Whereas in 1991 President Daniel Arap Moi agreed to move 

from one party rule to multi-party politics, and in 1992, 

Kenyans voted in record numbers in the country’s first 

multi-party election in almost 26 years; 

Whereas in 1997 Kenya held its second multi-party elections, 

despite extremely high levels of tension between the opposition and the ruling party; 

Whereas in 2002 the opposition succeeded in forming and 

holding together a coalition that for the first time in history ousted the ruling party from power, demonstrating 

to Kenyans and Africans that incumbency and the entrenched clout of a ruling party can be defeated through 

the ballot box; 

Whereas the violence and unrest in Kenya threatens to roll 

back the democratic gains made over the past 17 years; 

Whereas more than 900 people have died and an estimated 

250,000 people, 80,000 of whom are children, have been 

displaced as a result of the violence; 

Whereas Kenya has been a valuable United States ally since 

independence, providing the United States with access to 

its military facilities and political support in the United 

Nations, and has been an important ally in the war 

against terrorism, especially since the United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998; 

Whereas the political instability in Kenya is connected to a 

larger struggle for democracy and is not merely the result 

of tribal violence; 


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Whereas continued violence and unrest could have serious political, economic, and security implications for the entire 

region; and 

Whereas the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs 

has stated that ‘‘serious flaws in the vote tallying process 

damaged the credibility of the process’’ and that the 

United States should not ‘‘conduct business as usual’’ in 

Kenya: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That the Congress— 

3 (1) commends the Kenyan people for their com4 mitment to democracy and respect for the demo5 cratic process as evidenced by the high voter turnout 

6 and peaceful voting on election day; 

7 (2) strongly condemns the ongoing violence in 

8 Kenya and urges all parties concerned to imme9 diately end use of violence as a means to achieve 

10 their political objectives; 

11 (3) calls for a peaceful, negotiated settlement of 

12 the conflict in Kenya; 

13 (4) calls on the 2 leading presidential can14 didates to continue to accept external and internal 

15 assistance to help find a solution to the current cri16 sis which has the support of the people of Kenya; 

17 (5) calls on Kenyan security forces to refrain 

18 from use of excessive force and respect the human 

19 rights of Kenyan citizens; 


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1 (6) calls for those who are found guilty of com2 mitting human rights violations to be held account3 able for their actions; 

4 (7) calls for an immediate end to the restric5 tions on the media, and on the rights of peaceful as6 sembly and association; 

7 (8) condemns threats to civil society groups, 

8 journalists, religious leaders, human rights activists, 

9 and all those who are making every effort to achieve 

10 a peaceful, just, and equitable political solution to 

11 the current electoral crisis; 

12 (9) calls on the international community, 

13 United Nations aid organizations, and all neigh14 boring countries to provide assistance to those af15 fected by violence and encourages the use of all the 

16 diplomatic means at their disposal to persuade rel17 evant political actors to commit to a peaceful resolu18 tion to the current crisis; and 

19 (10) urges the President of the United States 

20 to— 

21 (A) continue to support diplomatic efforts 

22 to facilitate a dialogue between leaders of the 

23 Party of National Unity, the Orange Demo24 cratic Movement, and other relevant actors that 

25 will lead to the establishment of an interim or 


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1 coalition government in order to implement nec2 essary constitutional reforms, establish a mech3 anism to investigate the election crisis, and ad4 dress its root causes; 

5 (B) consider the imposition of targeted 

6 sanctions, including a travel ban and asset 

7 freeze, on political leaders and other relevant 

8 actors who refuse to engage in mediation efforts 

9 to end the political crisis in the country; and 

10 (C) conduct a review of current United 

11 States aid to Kenya for the purposes of restrict12 ing all non-essential assistance to Kenya unless 

13 the parties are able to establish a peaceful polit14 ical resolution to the current crisis which is 

15 credible to the Kenyan people. 

Passed the House of Representatives February 7, 

2008. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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