•HCON 406 IH 
bate as to who should represent Rwanda in the United 
Nations; 
Whereas on September 4, 1994, the commander of Ethiopia’s 
United Nations peacekeeping force in Rwanda stated that 
French troops provided protection and allowed former 
soldiers of the Rwandan Government to flee to Zaire; 
Whereas in a newspaper interview, the commander stated 
that he saw French troops transporting former soldiers 
to Zaire, although French officials had said earlier that 
officials of the former Rwandan government would not be 
allowed to enter the safety zone; 
Whereas in 1996 most of the refugees who fled to Zaire re-
turned home; 
Whereas in November 1994, the United Nations Security 
Council established an international tribunal to prosecute 
major suspects in the Rwanda genocide; 
Whereas the new Government of Rwanda voted against the 
resolution because the resolution did not allow the death 
penalty; 
Whereas, despite Rwanda’s objections to the exclusion of the 
death penalty, the international tribunal was established 
in Arusha, Tanzania, and took its first case against a 
genocide suspect on January 10, 1997, in which it pros-
ecuted Jean Paul Akayesu, a local government official; 
Whereas the Gacaca courts, a community-based system of 
participatory justice, were created in Rwanda to address 
lower level offenders who remained in custody in Rwan-
dan jails without trial, and to alleviate the burden that 
was placed on the judiciary system in Rwanda as a result 
of the sheer number of persons accused of participating 
in the genocide;
•HCON 406 IH 
Whereas in March 1998, during his first visit to Africa, 
President Clinton stated in Kigali that ‘‘the international 
community must bear its share of responsibility for this 
tragedy’’, and in a speech at the Kigali airport, President 
Clinton stated that ‘‘[a]ll over the world there were peo-
ple like me sitting in offices who did not fully appreciate 
the depth and the speed with which you were being en-
gulfed by this unimaginable terror’’; and 
Whereas as of January 2004, 23 genocide suspects were on 
trial, eighteen senior officials were convicted, twenty sus-
pects were awaiting trial, and six convicted officials were 
serving their sentences in Mali: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) remembers the victims of the genocide that 
occurred in 1994 in Rwanda and pledges to work to 
ensure that such an atrocity does not take place 
again; 
(2) acknowledges that the international commu-
nity, including the United States Government, failed 
the people of Rwanda and watched with indifference 
while hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians 
were being killed; 
(3) strongly supports assistance to the survivors 
of the Rwandan genocide; 
(4) urges political and financial support for the 
Gacaca courts;
•HCON 406 IH 
(5) acknowledges the heroic work of many indi-
viduals and human rights organizations for their 
campaign to help stop the genocide of Rwanda; 
(6) expresses deep appreciation to General 
Romeo Dallaire for his tireless efforts to stop the 
genocide from occurring and for helping many 
Rwandese civilians in their time of need; 
(7) accepts the fact that General Dallaire 
warned the United Nations on a number of occa-
sions of an impending genocide and was ordered by 
his superiors not to take action; 
(8) calls for an investigation of the role played 
by the United States Government prior to and dur-
ing the Rwandan genocide, noting that the par-
liaments of Belgium and France both created com-
missions of inquiry to investigate the roles played by 
their respective governments and issued their find-
ings; and 
(9) strongly urges the creation of a bi-partisan 
Commission of Inquiry for Rwanda to investigate all 
aspects of the role played by the United States Gov-
ernment prior to and during the Rwandan genocide, 
with a strong mandate and subpoena power to ac-
cess relevant documents and witnesses, a definite
•HCON 406 IH 
end date for completion of its work, and sufficient 
funding to cover necessary expenses. 
Æ