African Activist Archive

Mailing to Members of Congress related to House Resolution 238 and Senate Resolution 80 that called for President Mobutu Sese Seko, the Zairian dictator, to step down. A poll conducted by Fred Steeger and Stan Greenberg found that 69 percent of U.S. adults favor direct U.S. government action if President Mobutu blocks a scheduled democratic election. Despite these clear expressions of public will and the clearly expressed desires of the 36 million people of Zaire, President Bush insists that Mobutu has a role to play in Zaire's future and in the present transition to democracy. The attached publication, "Zaire: A Nation Held Hostage," makes clear that Mobutu is the most flagrant example of a U.S.-backed dictator still clinging to power in Africa. All of the one-party states previously supported by the former U.S.S.R. have accepted multiparty rule. Experts on Zaire agree that the more than 30 mass killings described in this publication are only the tip of an iceberg. On June 16, Mobutu again displayed his willingness to block any attempt by the National Conference, the forum charged with charting Zaire's future, to return the country to civilian rule. The Bush administration's continued support of Mobutu places the lives of hundreds of Americans who remain in Zaire in danger. A coalition of more than 50 religious denominations, civil rights, and human rights organizations in the U.S. endorses the Alternative Policy Recommendations expressed in the attached publication. The recommendations call on the U.S. government to: 1) Use all possible diplomatic leverage to pressure Mobutu to retire from office and leave Zaire; 2) Respect the right of the sovereign National Conference to decide all the pertinent questions. placed before it independently of any foreign pressure or manipulation; and 3) Offer to assist the transition process with bilateral financial support and diplomatic support for active multilateral involvement as requested by the National Conference. The mailing mentions President Moi of Kenya, President Banda in Malawi, and other U.S.-supported authoritarian figures. [Note: the publication, Zaire: A Nation Held Hostage, is available on this website.]

African Activist Archive

[Dear Member of Congress: In November 1991 the House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution (House Resolution 238) …]

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