III

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. RES. 248

Relating to the violence in Liberia.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 18, 1996

Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mrs. KASSEBAUM, Mr. SIMON, Mr. LEAHY, Mr.

JEFFORDS, and Mr. PELL) submitted the following resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

RESOLUTION

Relating to the violence in Liberia.

Whereas the war in Liberia begun in 1989 has devastated

that country, with more than 150,000 people killed, up

to 1 million forced to flee as refugees to neighboring

countries, and thousands of children conscripted into the

rebel armies;

Whereas the Abuja Accords signed in August 1995 represented the most realistic path for lasting peace;

Whereas the Senate passed a resolution on September 20,

1995, expressing the sense of the Congress that the

United States should strongly support the peace process

in Liberia, including support for the West African peacekeeping force;
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Whereas the United States committed $10,000,000 in support for the West African peacekeeping force, but has delivered only $5,500,000, most of which arrived only in

February 1996;

Whereas the peacekeeping force has fewer than 6,000 soldiers, but needs over 15,000 to carry out its mission;

Whereas violence characterized by massive looting, shelling,

and ethnic hostilities broke out in Monrovia on April 6,

1996, forcing tens of thousands of people into hiding,

without food and water, halting most humanitarian assistance programs in Liberia, and signifying a failure of

the West African peacekeeping force to maintain order

and stability in Monrovia;

Whereas 214 United States Armed Forces and 1,400 support

personnel have been deployed to Liberia to facilitate the

successful evacuation of approximately 1,800 people, including over 300 Americans, from Liberia;

Whereas while the United States is the only functioning diplomatic mission in Monrovia, some nations, such as

Japan, have continuing economic concerns in Liberia and

other nations, such as France, have national interests in

Western Africa; and

Whereas negotiations for a cease-fire and the peaceful release

of hostages are being led by Ghanaian Kojo Tsikata, and

Cote D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and others are trying to use

their influence to moderate combatants: Now, therefore,

be it

1 Resolved, That the Senate—

2 (1) commends the United States Armed Forces

3 and the United States Embassy personnel for the
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1 successful evacuation of over 1,795 people from Li2 beria;

3 (2) declares that a breakdown of the Abuja

4 process would have disastrous humanitarian rami5 fications and seriously threaten other United States

6 interests in West Africa;

7 (3) calls upon all factions to reach a cease-fire

8 and recommit themselves to the Abuja process; and

9 (4) urges the administration to—

10 (A) scrutinize the Federal budget to iden11 tify funds that could be either reprogrammed or

12 transferred and used to support additional non13 Nigerian West African peacekeepers;

14 (B) consider the provision of excess de15 fense articles for communications and logistical

16 support and training for crowd-control tech17 niques for non-Nigerian troops to participate ef18 fectively in a West African peacekeeping force;

19 (C) use its influence with other nations

20 with interests in Liberia to solicit further sup21 port for West African peacekeeping forces, in22 cluding their participation at the April 26 meet23 ing of a newly formed Contact Group in Libe24 ria; and
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1 (D) lead efforts in the United Nations to

2 activate a Commission in the United Nations to

3 develop an implementation plan and sanctions

4 against those parties violating the United Na5 tions arms embargo on Liberia.

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