Russ Feingold: “I would like to explain an amendment related to U.S. development assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo…”

“I would like to explain an amendment related to U.S. development assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DROC) that the managers of this bill have agreed to accept. This amendment revises Section 574 of the foreign operations appropriations bill for fiscal year 1999 to define restrictions on aid to DROC. It mandates that no aid may be granted to the Democratic Republic of the Congo until the President certifies that the DROC government is investigating and prosecuting those responsible for human rights violations or atrocities and is taking specific steps to implement a credible democratic transition program. When I originally began thinking about an amendment of this nature, I was concerned about the inability of the DROC government to follow up on what were really gross abuses of human rights committed during the takeover of the former Zaire by the rebel movement that became known as the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL).”