Some 5,460 recent Rwandan returnees were being held in detention throughout Rwanda as of 31 December 1996, according to a 6 January report from the Human Rights Field Operation in Rwanda (HRFOR) of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, the following Protocols to the 1980 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects: the amended Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (Protocol II or the amended Mines Protocol); the Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III or the Incendiary Weapons Protocol); and the Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons (Protocol IV). Also transmitted for the information of the Senate is the report of the Department of State with respect to these Protocols, together with article-by-article analyses.

Governor Christopher Patten spoke with reporters following a meeting of the Hong Kong Executive Committee.

President Richard Nixon of the United States of America visited the People’s Republic of China at the invitation of Premier Chou En-lai of the People’s Republic of China from February 21 to February 28, 1972. Accompanying the President were Mrs. Nixon, U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers, Assistant to the President Dr. Henry Kissinger, and other American officials.

I really appreciate all of you gathering here today to talk with us about something that is very important and near and dear to my heart. Some of you who have accompanied me on some of our overseas trips know that we have visited microenterprise projects and you have seen for yourselves some of the potential that those projects hold for transforming the lives of men and women and children. And I greatly appreciate the continued interest of those of you who have been with me on these trips and the new interest of others of you.

Obviously, he has been sick, and we have been following this very closely. We wish him well in his recovery. He has been very important in terms of pursuing democratic reforms, economic reforms in Russia. The Yeltsin-Chernomyrdin Government is one that is on the right track, and we are working with them. As you know, Strob Talbott and Leon Fuerth have just returned from some good meetings, getting ready for the Gore-Chernomyrdin meeting.

The Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech Republic Recalling the Treaty of 27 February 1992 on Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic with which Germans and Czechs reached out to each other, Mindful of the long history of fruitful and peaceful, good-neighborly relations between Germans and Czechs during which a rich and continuing cultural heritage was created, Convinced that injustice inflicted in the past cannot be undone but at best alleviated, and that in doing so no new injustice must arise, Aware that the Federal Republic of Germany strongly supports the Czech Republic's accession to the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance because it is convinced that this is in their common interest.

I'm pleased today to release officially the State Department's Annual Country Report on Human Rights. These reports reflect the American people's commitment to high standardsof respect for human dignity and freedom for all people.

I think it's across the board. First of all, we need to, as you know, there is a defense review that follows from the bottom-up review we're now engaged in, which takes our defense plans forward into the next century. So the first issue is adequately funding the defense needs of the next decade. Second, there's the 150 account generally, an account that has been shrinking rather dramatically over the last several years to the point where I think many people believe that there simply are not adequate resources—less than one percent of the budget being spent on all the range of diplomatic activities, whether it is fighting terrorism or the economic activities of our embassies or the diplomatic activities. We spent $1.7 billion, for example, assisting the Guatemalan government in the ‘80s in the war in Guatemala; we only have $27 million to help the Guatemalan government build a peace.