[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 76 (Thursday, June 16, 1994)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [Congressional Record: June 16, 1994] From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD ______ HON. DONALD M. PAYNE of new jersey in the house of representatives Thursday, June 16, 1994 Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I rise to note that this day of the 16th of June has been declared the ``Day of the African Child'' by the Organization of African Unity. I am pleased that a celebration of this event is being held at the United Nations in New York. It is a day that finds its origins in the uprising and massacre of school children in Soweto, South Africa. It is a day that we pause to remember the plight of children all over Africa, and what we as citizens and legislators can do to create a better environment for them to grow up in. A few weeks ago we passed the Foreign Aid appropriations bill in which some 800 million dollars to support the Development Fund for Africa was approved. This important part of our foreign aid bill provides funds to help the malnourished, the illiterate, and impoverished. Through foreign aid provided by America and other countries: The death rate of children under 5 has been halved since 1960. African governments provided safe water and adequate sanitation to an additional 120 million people during the 1980's, and now over 80 percent of the children living in urban areas have access to safe water. African girls face many obstacles in obtaining an education, but now approximately 60 percent of African girls are enrolled in primary school, up from 44 percent in the 1970's. While there has been progress over the last three decades there were several setbacks in the 1980's such as a falling off of school enrollment by 7 percent. This setback has been largely caused by the increasing civil wars in Africa. Most of the nations where these wars occurred such as Liberia, Zaire, Angola, Mozambique, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia have been victims of our former cold war policy. The condition that these countries find themselves in today is largely due to our policy of containment of communism in the cold war days. As proper as that may have been during that period, the truth is these countries are suffering today because of the divisions this policy created in their societies. Children of Africa have suffered due to this policy, and this should concern the American people so that we strive harder to right these wrongs. As an example of this concern I want to alert the American people to the terrible genocide going on in Rwanda. We have all read the accounts of thousands of people killed in a conflict triggered by shooting down of the plane of President Habyarimana on April 6. Many feel this is an ethnic war or tribal conflict. The truth is that this slaughter was planned and consciously triggered by a privileged clique of extremist political and military leaders who were determined to block political reforms that would loosen their exclusive grip on power. The killings which unfortunately have turned into the killing of Tutsi people by the majority Hutu interium government have not allowed any mercy whatsoever to children. Thousands have been killed in the most brutal way by hacking away arms and limbs. On June 14th milita members of the majority Hutu tribe abducted up to 40 children of the minority Tutsis from a church complex in the government held part of the Rwandan capital. The milita herded them off to almost certain death, a senior United Nations officer said. In the western part of Rwanda where government forces are fleeing from the advancing Tutsi Rwanda Patriotic Front they are killing all Tutsi civilians in sight. Special concern is now for several groups of majority Hutu Catholic nuns who will not separate from their Tutsi sisters and are placing their own lives at risk to protect them. My office just received a phone call from Allen Campbell of Air Care International who is willing to fly into this dangerous area to rescue the nuns because our own Government and international community seems unable to stop the killings. Won't you help too? Please think of the children of Rwanda and in each of the 56 countries of Africa and help in your own personal way as Mr. Campbell is doing. ____________________