IV

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 196

Expressing the sense of Congress that United States assistance to Algeria

should be terminated unless its military backed government proceeds

toward democratization.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

NOVEMBER 23, 1993

Mr. WASHINGTON submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was

referred jointly to the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress that United States assistance to Algeria should be terminated unless its military

backed government proceeds toward democratization.

Whereas, on December 26, 1991, Algeria successfully completed the first round of democratically-held multi party

national elections in that country;

Whereas the first round of elections expressed the will of the

people of Algeria who wanted an end to the 30 years of

one party rule;

Whereas on January 11, 1992, the Algerian military sized

power, cancelled the second round of elections due to take

place on January 16, 1992, and imposed unelected indi-
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HCON 196 IH

viduals by installing the five-man Higher State Council

(Haut Conseil d’Etat) as the national governing body;

Whereas the military actions of January 11th totally undermined the national democratic election process, and superseded virtually all constitutional rights by dissolving

parliament, and declaring a state of emergency for a year

which has now been renewed indefinitely;

Whereas international human rights organizations amply documented the alarming rise of executions and summary

death sentences which exceed 300, and thousands of

heavy prison sentences, meted out by recently constituted

special courts in violation of the most fundamental requirements of international law, and based on confessions

extracted under torture and the denial of the right to a

proper defense or an appeal;

Whereas the now ruling Higher State Council has led the

country into a deteriorating path of repression, denial or

civil rights and violence, engaged in a brutal and systematic process of arbitrary arrests, torture and the unrestricted detention of thousands of opposition members;

and

Whereas the United States Congress is deeply concerned

about the continuing deterioration of the economic and

social conditions within Algeria: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That—

3 (1) in order to promote the restoration of the

4 democratic process in Algeria, the President shall

5 actively encourage unconditional negotiations be6 tween the Higher State Council and all political par-
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HCON 196 IH

1 ties committee to multi-party democracy, including

2 those who won parliamentary seats in the first round

3 of elections; and

4 (2) United States assistance to the military

5 backed government of Algeria should be suspended,

6 and the United States should oppose all loans to Al7 geria from international lending institutions, unless

8 and until the President certifies that the Higher

9 State Council is making significant progress toward

10 the restoration of a democratic process in Algeria

11 by—

12 (A) immediately lifting of the state of

13 emergency;

14 (B) legalizing all political parties commit15 ted to democratic elections;

16 (C) good faith negotiations with all politi17 cal parties especially those parties who won

18 seats in parliament and who expressed their

19 commitment to multi-party democracy;

20 (D) dissolving the ‘‘special courts’’, and re21 ferring those accused of violent crimes to civil22 ian courts;

23 (E) releasing all political prisoners, par24 ticularly those who are imprisoned because of

25 their political beliefs;
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1 (F) appointing a caretaker government

2 agreed upon by all the political parties, espe3 cially those who won seats in the first round of

4 national elections, to ensure national reconcili5 ation and supervise the transition to democracy;

6 (G) returning freedom of the press, by

7 halting the detention and threats against jour8 nalists and permitting the publication of news9 papers which operated prior to 1992; and

10 (H) resuming the electoral process by re11 scheduling the second phase of the parliamen12 tary election within a one year period.

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