****Congo has a new president, former rebel commander Laurent Kabila, who last year toppled
the country's long-standing dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. Unfortunately, Kabila has proved to be
no democrat himself. He promised to formulate a "transitional agenda" leading to legislative and
presidential elections in two years, but his constitutional drafting commission includes only
members of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (ADFL), the rebel
force he led to power. Kabila has banned all non-ADFL political activities, and security forces
have attacked the offices of rival political groups, violently dispersed their peaceful marches, and
arrested and tortured their members. In February, the authorities detained opposition leader
Etienne Tshisekedi and sent him into internal exile. Independent journalists have been attacked;
in November, ten of them were taken to a military compound, undressed, and given twenty to
forty lashes each -- for attending the press conference of an opposition leader.
The U.S. has refrained from criticizing Kabila publicly for these abuses.
Question: Is Clinton at least warning Kabila privately? Does the U.S. have benchmarks that the Congolese government must meet in order to receive U.S. aid?
Question: Is the U.S. proposing security assistance for the Congolese military, and if so, what kind?
Question: Is Clinton urging Kabila to change his position and allow U.N. investigators full access to regions of the country where his troops allegedly committed massacres against unarmed civilians in the months before he came to power?
*****Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, and quickly became a close ally of the United States. Prospects for democracy there remain dim, however, as the ruling People's Front for Democracy and Justice has imposed a tight monopoly over public life, including opposition parties, non-governmental organizations, and private media.
*****Ethiopia is governed by a coalition, most of whose leaders helped fight and win the ten-year civil war. Known as EPRDF (the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front), the coalition maintains a near-monopoly on power through allied political parties. Major opposition groups charged that elections in 1992 and 1995 were not fair. Non-governmental organizations are watched closely and cannot operate outside the capital, Addis Ababa, while labor leaders and human rights advocates have been arrested and one was even killed. Various donors, including states and international financial institutions, together grant Ethiopia about $800 million a year in aid and loans, and its economy has performed well in the years since the civil war ended.
Question: Will the U.S. require that Ethiopia improve its human rights record in order to continue receiving aid?
*****Kenyan president Daniel Arap Moi is an "old leader" who has long been overtly harassing and intimidating the political opposition, the independent media, human rights organizations, and ethnic groups he thinks oppose him. The constitution gives the president nearly absolute power. During the presidential campaign in 1997, security forces shot protesters at point-blank range and even stormed the Anglican cathedral to break up a prayer meeting. International pressure helped persuade Moi to prohibit police from using force against non-violent protests. But the constitutional reforms he's promised have yet to materialize. U.S. aid to Kenya is now channeled almost entirely through non-governmental organizations. Question: Special envoy Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke out publicly about the need for political liberalization in Kenya during his February 1998 visit. What strategy can the U.S. pursue to follow up on Rev. Jackson's statements?
*****Rwanda is on Clinton's itinerary later in the trip, but the Kampala summit will offer the first opportunity to raise questions about the regime directly, to its representatives. On April 6, 1994, Hutu extremists launched a genocide against their Tutsi fellow citizens. The international community beat a hasty retreat from the killing fields, where between half a million and one million people were slaughtered by mid-July. The Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front fought back and took power later that year. In 1997, they sent soldiers over the border into then-Zaire to ferret out the Hutu insurgents who were using refugee camps as their power base. As the Rwandan troops (and some local allies) pursued their Hutu enemies across Zaire, they also killed thousands of civilians.
Both the Rwandan government and the Hutu rebels are still killing civilians. The Hutu insurgency has escaped international sanction because it has no political leadership. The government, however, has responded to Hutu attacks with excessive and indiscriminate use of force, killing thousands of unarmed civilians. It has brought a few officers to trial for these abuses, but generally acquitted them of any serious charges. Secretary of State Albright has strongly condemned the "resurgent genocide" of the Hutu rebels. But the U.S. has not publicly condemned the Rwandan government for its atrocities against civilians. It is even providing military training for the Rwandan government, although Assistant Secretary of Defense Vincent Kern described that training in December 1996 as the "softer, kinder, gentler" kind of training -- civil-military relations, leadership training, and so on.
Question: Is the Clinton administration going to insist on improvements in human rights if Rwanda wants to receive U.S. military aid?
Question: U.S. military training has included some "marksmanship" courses for Rwandan army officers. Is Washington sure that those officers didn't then use those skills against civilians?
*****Tanzania has a multi-party system and promises to allow political liberalization. Although the country has historically hosted many refugees, the sharp increase in that population (since the massacre of refugees last year in neighboring Congo) has strained Tanzania's welcome. What's more, various rebel groups are militarizing Tanzania's refugee camps. Since late 1996, the Tanzanian government has forced some refugees to return home against their will.
Question: The militarized refugee camps in the former Zaire eventually helped spark regional war. What is the international community doing to prevent that from happening again?
*****Sudan will not be present at the summit, but its 15-year civil war will certainly be on the agenda. The U.S. views Sudan as the region's chief trouble-maker. Its militant Islamic government has stifled civil and political rights in an attempt to make Sudan's diverse society conform to an Islamist, Arab identity, clamping down on women's rights forces, dissident lawyers protesting denials of fair trials for alleged "conspirators," and students, among others. For military reasons and in disregard of humanitarian criteria, the government denies international relief access to war-torn areas of the south and the Nuba Mountains. The Sudan government backs the Ugandan rebel group the Lord's Resistance Army, and provides bases on Sudanese territory for the LRA to train abducted and grossly abused Ugandan children. However, the opposition Sudan People's Liberation Army also commits human rights abuses, among them forced conscription of underage soldiers, diversion of food from civilians, and disappearance of dissidents. Albright has met with SPLA leaders in Kampala to demonstrate U.S. support.
Question: Has the U.S. raised human rights concerns with the SPLA?