From: Steve Hurst/CNN
In: Washington
Posted 10-15-97

Subject: U.N. Ambassador Richardson To Visit Congo

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is dispatching U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson and two others to Congo to try to resolve a stalemate that has blocked a U.N. investigation into alleged massacres there.

Richardson will be accompanied by Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.) and former Rep. Howard Wolpe, chosen because they know the situation and have met with President Laurent Kabila, who changed the name of the country from Zaire after taking control.

State Department spokesman James Rubin said the investigation must go forward if the United States is to drop promises to block Congo's access to international financial institutions for failure to cooperate.

Rubin hinted, in addition, the United States might seek sanctions against Congo if Richardson's mission failed to break the impasse.

In Other News:

Wednesday Oct. 15, 1997

• Reno Makes Her Case For Slow Course
• White House Releases More Tapes
• Clinton Addresses Economic Inequality In South America
• Jones Attorney Probes Clinton's Sexual History

E-mail From Washington:
• New York City To Challenge Line-Item Veto
• U.N. Ambassador Richardson To Visit Congo