Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 99 Part 2.djvu/913

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PUBLIC LAW 99-000—MMMM. DD, 1985

PROCLAMATION 5309—MAR. 21, 1985

99 STAT. 2023

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the statutes of the United States, including but not limited to Section 212 of the Act, do proclaim that:

19 USC 2702.

(1) The list of countries in the Annex to Proclamation 5133 of November 30, 1983, is hereby amended by adding the Bahamas. (2) The Annex to Proclamation 5133 is further amended to strike the phrase "manufacturer or exporter of the article accompanied by an endorsement thereof by the importer or consignee" in Paragraph A of the Annex amending language in general headnote 3(g](ii)(B] of the ' ariff Schedules of the United States and to replace it with the phrase "appiopriate party." IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 14th day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-five, and of the Independenceof the United States of America the two hundred and ninth. RONALD REAGAN

Editorial note: For the text of the President's letters to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, dated Mar. 14, 1985, on his intention to sign Proclamation 5308, see the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (vol. 21, p. 302).

Proclamation 5309 of March 21, 1985

Afghanistan Day, 1985 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation In a time of prosperity, we do not think of hunger and hardship. In a time of peace, we do not think of suffering and war. In a time when our families are together and healthy, we do not think of the pain we would feel if they were pulled apart. Yet, for the people of Afghanistan, it is impossible to escape such thoughts, because terror, hardship, and suffering have become an everyday way of life ever since the Soviet Union brutally invaded and occupied their country over five years ago. March 21 is the start of a New Year for the Afghan people. It is traditionally a holiday when they bring their families together to celebrate life's new beginnings and to rejoice and give thanks for God's many gifts. But in Afghanistan today it may be hard to remember the days when their country had peace, when there was enough food to eat, and when their homes were safe, for the overwhelming majority of Afghans are engaged in a fierce struggle to end the Soviet occupation of their country and the rule of the puppet regime headed by Babrak Karmal. The year 1984 was an especially hard one for the Afghans. The Soviets have become frustrated with their inability to crush their spirit of the Afghan Freedom Fighters and are increasingly turning their military might against the civilian population of the country, forcing hundreds of thousands more innocent people into exile away from their homeland. Reports of Soviet atrocities and human rights violations are increasingly gaining the attention of the world's public. Respected organizations such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Amnesty International,

19 USC 1202.