Coming elections that we are diverting o our attention away from the many other reissues that are causing violence in congot and we are wasting the opportunity to tackle these other issues. Based on 18 years of research, including several years living and working in congo, i believe and i will show you in my statement that there is effective ways to help the conflict. The approach to the congolese crisis by realizing that there are many other causes of violence beyond the political issues and the democracy and peace do not always go together. The two most important measures congress can take are to increase the United States support to local peacebuilding and to put vocal actors in the driver seat. The delay in Holding Elections is only one among the many issues that fuel the ongoing violence in congo and importantly local conflicts at the village or district level also feel fuel expense of violence. To be clear, national and International Leaders regularly manipulate vocal arm groups, and that at the same time, local combatants use national and regional tensions as a way to pursue their own specific local bowls. For instance, in the south, regularly aligned with National Leaders and militia is to get control of our neighboring land. As a result, the congo and its bottom that peacebuilding in addition to the topdown current approach. The words in addition to are very important. Im not saying that we should replace the current election focused strategies with local peacebuilding measures. Instead, what i am saying is that we should add local peacebuilding to the set of options to resolve the congolese conflicts. This is increasing the United States support, Logistics Support and Technical Support to local peacebuilding. We should also recognize that democracy and peace do not always go together. In fact,s. The push towards elections has filled violent thano many other environments. So of course, congolese people deserve elections and democracy. But in the short term, there may be a choice to make between the two poles of democracy and peace. And foreign activistse and diplomats should not be the one to make this choice. Ordinary congolese people should. And this leads to my last point. Local people have far more relevant knowledge, skills, capacity, contacts and means to resolve their own predicament than we usually believe in more than potential national or International Actors would ever have. When you t look at instead of actually worked in congo, you see that certain local ordinary citizens have managed to create islands of peace, maduro islands of peace. Others have decreased tensions and yet others like fred bauma sitting next to me have created a wide Democratic Movement at the grassroots. The usual international approach is to this kind of local initiative. Instead, we should support and protect the local initiatives so that we reinforced them. I published a book on how to do that. To summarize it in just one t sentence, we need to build on local expertise and we need to involve in the design and planning of International Effort , but also local leaders and ordinary citizens. But we have to look beyond elections and support after the priorities. We have to do build much more on the capacity of congolese people, ordinary congolese people and to support much more extensively. Thank you, so much credit for it to your questions. Thank you so much for your testimony. Ranking member basket by members of the b subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to testify. I appreciate your ongoing interest in the democratic republic of congo. The mandated twoterm limit in december 2016 utes used one contrivance after another to delay elections into a web of security humanitarian political and Economic Crises that have had devastating consequences for the congolese people and risks destabilizing. The u. S. Ambassador to the u. N. Come in the keeleys recent recent visit to congo she pressed elections before the end off 2018. Clearly in response, congos election published a new calendar december 23rd, 2018 as the date for president ial elections. The Silver Lining here is the response shows the considerable influence the u. S. Government continues to have. Alias is again strong messaging with renewed highlevel engagement on congo should congolese government officials that not only does congress continue to be seized by the political crisis in congo, but the trend administration is also watching very closely. At the same time, the message elections only need to be held before thedm end of 2018 was sen by many congolese is giving a free b pass to continue delaying tactics and stay in power another year despite his lack of constitutional legitimacy. Congolese officials have blatantly disregarded previous election calendars while the Ruling Coalition p of largely at the main terms of the new years eve agreement signed last year. Camilla should be stepping down by the end of this year, but unilaterally extending the time frame, the u. S. Runs the risk of losing credibility among key at us in congo yet if the u. S. Is willing and able to use its influence now to ensure Fair Elections to reflect the will of the congolese people they could rebuild in a lost legitimacy. The question now is how far will the u. S. Go. A senior u. S. Officials deliver messages similar to Ambassador Haley as the end of the twoterm limit approach to 2016. The deadline passed officials organize elections by the end of 2017. Sincet then, and entrenched his hold on power to corruption and repression could congolese Government Security force officers went so far as to implement a deliberate strategy caster orchestrated violence especially the Southern Region or up to 5000 people havee been killed since august 2016 with mass graves across the region. 600 schools attacked attacked to destroyed and one point for a Million People displaced from their homes including 30,000 to neighboring angola. In march, two u. N. Investigators, michael jay sharp in american from kansas and data catalog is citizen with violence in the region. The human rights investigation suggests government responsibility for the double murder. Predictably, officials have cited the violent as one of the main excuses for why elections could not be held this year. The refusal to relinquish the presidency can partly be explained by the considerable fortune he and his family, not during his tenure in the millions of dollars in mining revenue to im missing print such corruption is helped lead the government a raft of funds to meet the basic needs of impoverished population. Hundreds of Government Employees on strike in recent months includingel hospital workers in 2016 im in a nationalo cholera epidemic threatening millions of congolese had meanwhile, brutal repressionrs has continued unabated s in pratt described Security Forces shot dead more than 170 people during protests in 2015 and 2016. Earlier this year Security Forces killed 90 people and cracked down against the political religious sect during a protest in goma on october 30th Security Forces killed five people including an 11yearold lloyd. Hundreds of opposition leaders and activists and journalists have been jailed in july unidentified armed men shot and nearly killed a judge who refused to hand down a ruling against an opposition leader. These actions are very much at the heart of how they seek to overcome the political crisis by using all available authorities to squash them as pilots and flight out of lemonade and the opposition to efforts to hold onto power. More protests are planned in the coming days and weeks. Citizens movement, activists and leaders have denounced the new electoral calendar and shameful maneuver to stay in power indefinitely. They were so congolese people to mobilize and proposed a citizens transition led by individuals who cannot be candidates to allow for the organization of credible elections. Theres a real risk of increased violence in the coming months. The u. S. Including congress cannot take his eyes off congo with too much at stake. Congress should hold the executive branc to account and make sure the administration is not being fooled by empty promises. Kabila has given no clear signal he plans to leave power or the repression i of violent and corruption have become so pervasive across his tuitions and Security Forces it is impossible to imagine elections. While there is no path forward, short citizen transition is probably the best way to ensure good elections. To get there, you should work closely with the regional and International Elections to push trade twostep to share concerns about kavila after he. Leaves office and support consultation to determine the management of a postkavila. We urge congress and the u. S. Administration to support the following. Targeted sanctions on kavila family members and associates, including those involved in corruption and otherwise maintain the role. And have an impact to change behavior and affect the calculus of some top officials to showhe kavila himself but there are realeh consequences for the ongoing violence and debates. Call for the Immediate Release of all prisoners and opposition leaders to be dropped and the u. N. Peacekeeping mission. He will continue to press and those responsible are held to account. Offers to date are far from adequate. Failure to do so with and a message that those optimal for such a heinous crime can escape justice and the risk in future lies not only in congo but across the world where u. S. And the u. N. Has deployed expert. The u. S. Has important influence in congo to help prevent more bloodshed, but time is running now. Strong courageous positions and actions are needed to demonstrate the u. S. Is on the side of the congolese people and their aspirations for democratic and accountable government. Thank you. Thank you very much as well. Pardon me. Just a few opening questions. The imposition of sanctions now is something you clearly have indicated and of course it is testimony as well. Dr. Mvemba phezo dizolele the first recommendation is to impose sanctions against Joseph Kabila in his inner circle. I note the same shame is very serious about discourse and i hope it doesnt come to that, but my sense from your testimony should be done now. By way of background, i am the author of developers democracy act. Ony this panel, ive been on ths panel since the early 80s. When they voted on sanctions against south africa, which i supported and strongly supported is an abomination, there is always concern about the effect it would have on unintended victims who then would get hurt are those broad base stations. When the belarus democracy act of 2004 which became the template commendable idea was to single out the bad actors starting off in with the president shankill, president of the country and people who are benefiting and we also cant do business here. I was house sponsor of the actin became an amendment, and became law and is a very useful tool and am glad that we have it, but its what needs to be utilized. The big question is not if it will be done, boy of legislation im going to be introducing joined by my good friend, karen bascom really as much of the administration to do just that, delay his denial unless we see very j significant progress that this is really going to happen, hopefully happen sooner, september 28 comments t unconscionably long long, another year, more than a year. I just want to ask all of you right up front if theres any downside to doing it right now. For example, nikki haley has said yesterday, we would not provide funding for the election if there were problems if it was delayed again. And that perhaps would unwittingly incentivized to say okay, im out of here. Of course, the sanctions for not just the u. S. And the e. U. Would then come tumbling down upon him. At leastm that would be the ho. I want to make sure i fully under his hand the possible consequences. I think sanctions are needed critically dont use them it becomes something in the toolbox by dictators and people who want to be president t for life say no worry here. Theres not going to be a sanction now or into the future. They need to beor as very prudently and very effectively. And again a seaside, professor dizolele, you want it now. If you speak to the positive and negative im not, professor. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I think now is the time of imposing sanctions. In fact, long overdue. Sanctions are being placed in 2016, in january because all the signs have been there. We talked inn here about targetd sanctions to one specific group of people. The entire country should be from the u. S. This is working the past. In his last days facing similar situations. So back then, the u. S. Played the charge along with the h europeans and for impose on him in this country, one of the highest honors would put on his children, childrens starting overseas, started in canada, canada followed suit and to study. Ot go back his associates faced the same situation. Ld today, if we are naive to accept kabila will hold elections next year, we will not learn anything of the last 16 years and the joke is on us. By that, i mean, trying to understand the language of force. The people of said so many times. If you want us to live, we live through for us. The children go to school here. They tell you why in the time that is not founded in any logic. We should not cater to them. One thing i want to say, the idea thatt if they do not act a certain way, the International Committee will not engage. Thats exactly what he will do. Thats the perfect scenario. Nobody gets involved. So wehe should avoid actually aligning ourselves behind that position. A very weak position from kabilas perspective. I would like to add some pain i think the program the autocratic system is not only setting the powder for the sake of power. Its a way for them to get access and use them in different ways. They are used to a prius people. To price people 750 Million People sanctions should be applied those sanctions and all of them are business. They are officials and have Mineral Resources or any kind of business. The efficient way is not only to target them in troubles or Something Like that but able to attach their resources where they can really feel it and if they can stay in power, though without protect dean their financial asset, in the interest of staying in power we lose in a sense. But more important to target them where it is important to attach the target. Thank you, chairman smith. Im going to have to point spread the first one is if sanctions are used, and they should really used as part of a much more process. Sanctions may halt. It is not 100 sure, but it certainly wont be enough, so i should really go with support for peacebuilding, for human night and for basically the human rights in the political side of the organization of elections. The other thing, the other point is sanctions shouldd not only be linked to the electoral issue with the fact that whether or not they will leave power, but also to the broader problem, meaning their respect for human rights and violations and violence as well. This is really important. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I fully agree target sanction should be applied right now. We should not wait any longer. The calendar was announced that we are necessarily having elections and repression, violence continued unabated with complete accountability so a strong signal should be sent and targeted sanctions is a very clear till you have available to send that signal. Weve also seen how the targeted sanctions which have already then applied it had an impact. Theyve rattled the Political Class can a senior force officers are w individuals who travel regularly to europe, the United States, doing shopping abroad, many of them have home overseas, childrens daddy in the u. S. Or europe, bank accounts. Personally very affected by targeted sanctions in many are coming to us, to others asking what they can do to avoid being on the list are they pretty been targeted, how can i get off the list. So far kabilas inner circle, they havent been affect it. Now is the time to go further out and showed kabila himself the consequences are real. The president has this authority. Itss very clear. We iterated we will be reducing very shortly the executive order amended by 13671 shall impose sanctions described within 60 days of the date of enactment of this act. Any highlevelel individuals wih runcible for undermining democratic processes and institutions in the drc and the entities under control including senior officials and facilitators with offshore companies and complicit family members and associates shall be opposed in our bill, which we have yet to introduce and now we are working on. Sub session key goes on from there. We will be looking for bold talk is cheap in washington and we will make sure it is not up by something more significant. I can tell you i was just in mins. Im the cochair of the commission. Shane co. Has released the commissioners over the years and there may be just one be just one month, maybe two we are not sure. The point is sanctions work, but they have to be applied. Let me ask a question, starting with you. I ask the previous panel, obviously the two distinguished witnesseso and spoke to the isse of the 3. 8 million of internally displaced, which is a catastrophic event for congo or anywhere in the world, but certainly threepoint made alien displaced. The refugees how borders and that is a terrible, terrible situation. The acute forces and security average seven points 7 million. That means hunger, famine, low birth weight aps, stunting and a whole host of other deleterious effects on the most Vulnerable Women and children. You pointed out in your testimony that in the region 5000 people have been killed sincede a august 2016 and you py now the impact that has had in your testimony on the schools. 600 schools have been attacked or destroyed as he testified 1. 4 million displaced from their homes, including 32,000 fled to neighboring angola, obvious refugees. You make a very, very important point. Predictably violence as one of the main excuses for why elections were not held in 2017. Seemingly, maybe you can speak to this come incentivizing the use of violence to impose martial law which means killing people in the streets and so maybe you can speak to that amount is a perverse outcome rather than getting to the election it is in the governments interest to do these kinds of things and others. Maybe you might want to speak to that. Sure, thank you, mr. Chairman. Human rights watch we have interviewed numerous Security Force officers in congo who have told us about a deliberate strategy of chaos so effectively orchestrating violence by Security Forces or instigating local conflicts to create more violence with these consequences we saw them in later its used as an excuse. We kid to Voter Registration because we are dealing with this group in this area. We feel so when is the one of government manipulation of armed groups there in kinshasa and southwestern congo, reports of manipulation of political religious sects, possibly to create new violins repression, another excuse to delay elections. Very perverse than just another sign that we have not seen any signs of a real intention by the part of kabila to realize elections. Remember the other they also want to speak to the deliberate chaos fomented by the government . Yes, mr. Chairman, in terms of 2018, what happened in case i is obviously part of the larger strategy of chaos. If we were to wait until 2018, im willing to bet we would see more zones in the next three months that might be even longer. They are most likely to have been. Going from crisiss to crisis is one of the favorite pastimes of the kabila regime. The boss is especially in these situations. Another is coming to these situations. Thank you. I think in terms of violence as a strategy. People like to focus on kasai because of kasai was the main reason in nowadays that there reasoned parliament is once again used as a strategy. I feel like the focus on kasai has been at least make the government officials feel like its becoming a lot of pressure on them and now we see before we start again after almost one year,ha we see that in kabila without the help of nabisco will have been under the control of the group, some of them have worked with the government, we see it again and cosmic stan. The strategy of violence in drc. In general, kasai is created somewhere maybe and bungle or qatar and used in the region to postpone the election once again. I have to say there will always be a good reason to post bond election. We had an agreement, now we will have an election at the end of the year. Everybody is okay. Today we have an election next year. Next year we will haveto some other reason. We can support the election for 20 night team. Unless we understand that all of these are the elections, we will never have an election. We have to understand what the government would want and up with organized violence and the humanitarian crisis. To b emphasize something sad, you have to manipulation of violence linked to the electoral issues, but they are also unrelated. You have regional tensions, et cetera. Also havelo local conflicts of power, who is going to be the highest ranking ethnic group in a specific area. They sometimes relate to the electoral issue in sometimes doesnt. So when we are thinking about ending the humanitarian crisis described in ending the violence, we have to focus on the gate electrode issue, but all of these other issues at the same time. Speak to this as well. The humanitarian aid is an important faithbased entity thats provided food, clothing and shelter and medicine. I have been in countries all over the world. The Secular Group stood great but sort of the faithbased and they often get an army of volunteers mobilized which is one of their assets. If you can speak to that and while youre answering it, the role of the church in the election, you might recall i asked the earlier panel, and making sure that violence gets tamped down, hopefully eliminated while they move toward credible. [inaudible] thank you somi much. They are doing better than they were doing ten or 15 years ago in terms of tapping into local capacity but its still not enough. The way u. S. Aig works is that we know what is best for people were trying to help. We know whats best for people in congo and other parts of the world and therefore weut design programs here in d. C. And when we involve the congolese people it will be during implementation. People are on the ground in congo and they only have to be able to do things that were decided elsewhere. Is that because they dont have the capacity to write those proposals were that community is not including the locals in a way that makes them full partners . I dont think so. I think its mostly because its not only usaid but nongovernmental organizations. So theres problems from the whole humanitarian. Exactly. We think outsiders know better and have the interest in the way to help is to build an outsiders knowledge. What im saying is look at who sitting next to me. There is local capacity. There are people who have the knowledge and expertise and who could help o design the International Progress but the Standard Operating Procedure is not to ask them. Its to decide things by ourselves here in National Capitals and then go in the countries and command them on the ground. As to the role of thehi church, its very difficult to talk about the church in general in congo because to me, ive seen members including bishops, highranking members actually fueled violence and have discourse that are full of hatred. Ive seen that in oneonone meetings with these people and ive also met priests who are in a village in the middle of nowhere and are the main reason why you have peace in that village or why you have some response to humanitarian needs in the village. We have to be very careful not to think about the Catholic Church as an entity but to think whether specific individuals within the Catholic Church are the current individuals we should be staying clear of or helping. Ch it is in my experience that the church places a decisive peacemaking role. If you have names c of people who are doing something contrary to that i would have to provide that to the committee. I remember going back to the old days of el salvador whether a civil war with the , i travelednmentit down there frequently with Catholic Church was doing human rights work and humanitarian work in a way that providedve a bridge to to desperate groups that had nothing innt common because that is a very serious charge if thats true. We work with a number of bishops and others throughout africa who, in my experience and greg and i to meet with them every time we travel, and with pastor pastors, its also the other wonderful faiths that are out there not just catholic, muslim and christian alike who are playing very puzzled roles. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I just want to mention a couple points. The congolese want to change. They want a couple things. One is to respect the rule of law. They went to a referendum in 2005. They are not idealists who believe that once he leaves everything will become paradise. What they are really interested in is to respect the sacrifices of the people who fought for this change so that the president. [inaudible] men and women emerge and take it to the next level. All the problems of the mentioned are part of an extension a of this failed regime leading the country. The hope is that as a new regime and new leadership comes in, some of the key issues including security and talth will be addressed with the new leadership. Thats what people are fighting for. In that case then, it becomes very critical. They will never get there if we are always going around and around. We wasted 16 years. The generation, the kids were born when we fled. The fight was ten years old, seven, okay. So they were seven years old when they fled and now theyre talking about the same thing. This is the time that is very decisive to cut that not and thats the importance of this transition becoming a reality as soon as possible. Thank you very much. I would like to add the beginning about the local l capacities and faith building in one thing is that i think the way some come with their solution and the way they understand peace or stability is the minimum level of it that the congolese people cannot accept. When for example the un talks about peace, if we can live in the city where we will not haveea some trouble within a week, its good enough, and for people who have lived in the conflict for very long time, there is some low standard of peace and we are not looking for something minimal. We are looking for something that may be sustainable. We have some solutions to our own problem, and i think it may be the best way to work on a solution that the congolese people are suggesting to their own problem. Instead of bringing some important solution which is worked on in offices in d. C. And where local actors. [inaudible] i think there are so many small groups, may be less known have very creative ways to address conflicts and help organize communities in the region and its important to listen to them, to understand how they do it and support them instead of coming and give them what they shouldve done, whether they are the one who knows what they want. What they say about the election is true. I think with time, theres a minimal people piece that we will not accept we have to make sure theres a stable country but the root cause seems to be related on the problem of leadership in the country. I think the election is just one way tote do it but its the first way to do it. I think in terms of longterm process and civic education, the process of creating citizenship is the main point. I think the election is the point we start to build a different country and a different system. For example, we believe will make all possible transitions in the process will take so long, having democracy will take so long and we continue to work on it and hold them accountable and we will oppose any other president who will do the same thing. E the election is a key point, it is something that has to happen in order to allow us to see the future as we would like to see it. Are the rules of engagement robust enough for the number of personneling deployed or is there a need for more . Nikki haley made a very important point, how important it is that women be much more included in those deployments and Sexual Violence is so rampant. On the zero tolerance policy for tracking, ive had four separate hearings alone and previous terrible exploitation by peacekeepers of Young Children and women, we went there, weve argued with them and right now are thinking of putting together another trip to go back with the congo. I mentioned earlier about the assessment done by the un for 2017. I did ask, do they have confidence in those assessments and my sensesma they do. They may be a little highball or lowball but its order of magnitude correct. What does that kind of underfunding for at risk people do . Finally, last congress i was a house sponsor which was signed into law and that legislation was an important focus on really making sure that the food and security is addressed aggressively. It also put an emphasis on the first thousand days. You have signed up for the program which is the most transformative ever provided. They have food and supplementation it mitigates mortality and morbidity as well as child mortality. F spending goes away if its properly applied and things like neonatal death and the like which is rampant. Were also looking at autism in america. One of the biggest takeaways finds that when a a woman gets folic acid in the first month of her pregnancy, the incident of autism drops by 40 . That is absolutely radical in terms of every woman of childbearing age should have folic acid to lessen this growing a Developmental Disability that consume the world. In america one out of 68 individuals are on then spectrum for autism. In the world its very similar although the studies have not been as robust. We think theres about 70 million in the world on the spectrum. In africa we are talking about ten millions. Obviously a country of 100 Million People will have a huge number of t autism children suffering and no processes to help the parents with children. Folic acid is just one of a number of initiatives that could make a lot of difference in the life of the child and mother. I willir turn to mortality and we need to stop as much as we can. We all know the greatest answers for that is to have a venue where the woman gets skilled birth attendants and safe blood which is another issue. My own daughterinlaw, when she had one of our grandsons had a very serious problem with a hemorrhaging in a Princeton Hospital and they had to go to other hospital to get enough blood of her blood type to ensure those situations can become catastrophic in a snap of a finger. I like what you said, the problems preceded the election will continue after the election. This is not a panacea so your point is very well taken. I hope youve jotted down some of those things we can get a comprehensive answer. Are we doing what we can do on all these various issues. Okay. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would start by saying un peacekeepers in congo do absolutely critical work protecting civilians and their presence across the country has saved countless lives and we cant imagine how much worse it would be if we just say its not present and if the peacekeepers werent there to respond to threats to protect civilians and help displaced people and help people go to the market safely. Their presence is absolutely critical and theres nothing happening on the ground to indicate that we should start cutting back. My suggestion would not be to cut back it would be to bank right. On the rules of engagement. Yes, so wanted to start that they are critical but i think they could do much more to make their presence more effective. The rules of engagement, their mandate is very strong but its often not the same across the board how thats implemented. In Different Countries will interpret their rules of engagement and a different t way and some are willing to be more robust than others to protect civilians and how they interpret their mandates. I think we have a difficult contradiction within the peacekeeping mandate in that there to protect civilians but also protect the congolese government and Security Forces and they are often conducting joint military operations with these forces. This is the most abusive force in the country that they are supporting. That is often a contradiction. There is a strong human rights Due Diligence where un peacekeepers are not supposed to be providing any support to Congolese Army officers or soldiers who have serious human rights records. They should cut support if these abuses are taking place, but thats not applied as well across the board as it could be. I think more could be done there. Regarding the political situation and political crisis, i think much more could bere done by peacekeepers to protect Peaceful Protesters andn deploy robustly hi among protesters and that could be a deterrent to congolese Security Forces who have a tendency to fire on these Peaceful Protesters. In terms of the zero tolerance policy forit trafficking and Sexual Exploitation and abuse, i think weve seen some improvements in recent years and trying to address these issues more quickly and more effectively, but there again, much more can t be done and a lot of that is also the to contribute in countries. These trips need to be held accountable and there often is a followup and the un can do their investigation in congo but back in the capital where these trips come from, there often isnt enougho followup to make sure theyre held accountable an account court of law. On the humanitarian aid and what the underfunding means for Vulnerable People, the consequences are huge. They have hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes and that means there often not going to school. Children are out of school and they dont have the health care they need for access to the Health Carehe they need and that has all of the medical consequences but then also its a generation of kids were not getting an education. That makes them more vulnerable to being recruited into arms groups and then you see the cycles of violence and abuse continue. Itit is critical that these humanitarian needs are addressed and they are enormous. Just one final, on the unn civilian personnel, you mention peacekeepers, zero tolerance, i whats your take on the Sexual Exploitation of others. Among the civilian personnel is the humang Rights Office is doing absolutely critical working congo. The Un Human Rights Team is parte of the mission and they are deployed across the country in their documented abuses publicly, meeting with authorities and its really a model in congo and one of the best human rights teams deployed around the world. That is something that should continue. On their political offices, i think they could be doing more to press the governmentul to abide by their commitment and put more pressure on the authority, but that role is critical and could be enhanced. For Sexual Exploitation and abuse, civilian peacekeepers, i dont have specific information on that, but i dont have information about particular concerns. Thank you. Think it so much. Regarding the presen presence of peacekeepers which is absolutely essential, the United Nations peacekeepers are the only people who are protecting the population from horrific human rights abuses by all kinds of arms groups. Its really, really important to keep them on site. Now, regarding whether, where they currently work, i think there are two ways that they should revise the approach. The idea is not to get rid of the peacekeeping mission but make it more effective. I understand you wanted to do. The first thing is that currently they use an approach where they are trying to resolve the conflict and buildct peace by working with the government, working on sohighlevel construction and all of these very abstract things and that is important, but they are not focusing enough on supporting local initiatives, the kind of initiatives that were mentioned. So i think they should do much more to support local peace building initiative, and again, not arriving and singing were going to be late and resolve conflict in that village because we have no expertise to do that but to really support the local actors who know how to resolve their own problem. Thats the first time, the second one is to put local actors in the driver seat. The way the United Nations peacekeeping nation works is like what we were talking about with usaid. They decide at the un headquarters in new york, in geneva,he they decide how they are going to resolve the conflict and by the time it reaches congolese people they are just in lamenting strategies that have been decided elsewhere. The decision doesnt even include people with knowledge who have been involved for 15 or 20 years. They are very, very few in decisionmaking power. We end up with strategies that are very wellmeaningts but dont really address the problem. Thats why think we should really revise this and build much more on the expertise not only of local people but also people who w know something about congo and who already use the United Nations systems, but with the way they work at the un there working in sudan or in another part of the world. Really building more on local capacity and on expertise. On your question regarding the consequences of underfunding humanitarian aid, i have a couple of strategies in my statement that i think really illustrate what that means. It is a United Nations, it says that 77 of congolese citizens live on less than two dollars. D day. The Life Expectancy is less than 60 years. More than 42 persons of children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition and less than 25 of congolese people will finish primary schools in their studies. If there is a way to increase the support in congo and the development that is essential, but at the same time we should keep in mind that the humanitarian aid means addressing the consequences of the problem, especially the consequences of the violence. We should also prioritize peace building so we can get to the root causes of this enormous humanitarian crisis. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I agree with a lot of whats beingr. Said, the performance of the human Rights Office, their presence being critical, but they also have a lot of issues. I think we need to reduce the un mandate in scope and time. This is part of the entire problem we have. The expectation and priorities are now perverted. Thet entire social contract is now perverted. People expect things of the un as opposed to their own government. They expect the security to be delivered byyop foreign troops, and this underscores the failure of the regime which then billions of dollars literally to support congo. If we continue to think of the un as part of the salvation, then we are in trouble. We are going on 20 years of un presence in congo and theres no military rising anywhere on the congolese side. Again as those un figures suggest, many sufferr. Malnutrition. Many of. N us would only like to see a desert bridge to the point of selfsufficiency, but the concern among many of us is pulling Vulnerable People off life support. Your point is very well taken. This is what the government ought to be about. P that said, on the interim, how do you, almost like an animal coming toy the rescue making sure you get to the point y of surviving and to the point of hopefully flourishing. Your point is well taken. I respected, but i would be concerned that there needs to be a bridge of humanitarian assistance. Thehe human rights should be fully funded and made stronger because of the condition we are in. Especially units of the un. Those are specialized un missions that are playing tremendous role in congo and they need more support, but that is different from looking at the un so i think the nuances are very important because if were talking about security, its one thing in terms of armed security. If were talking about human security, this is what youre referring to, people on life support, we need to balance that. Our challenge is how do we balance those programs with integration of women who have been raped and supporting the need to follow up 17000 troops serving as an expansion of ath failed system, which by the way has received as much as it can get to build its own military to support it. That is undermining the entire emergence of the congolese state. We should not conflict un presence because that has become a presenc problem as well. Thank you very much. They made a very good point on the difference between the otheren un agencies which are doing a great job. I would like to focus. [inaudible] i also think in moments go, the Human Rights Bureau should receiveo, funds to allow it to work properly because i think they are doing an amazing job. I have to recognize that the situation may have been worse if they werent there, but there are r many things that has to be questioned. I think there is a lot. [inaudible] in my opinion they are not effective at all, like we have an issue, the issue to travel in congo, it should be important to have a position of people on how they see this and how they evaluate this. In somef places, there was a lot of killings not far from the camp, and in many circumstances, after a certain time they cant go out. I dont know if its a policy that although they have equipment and guns to protect civilians, i dont know if its a problemha of them on this but i think they are ineffective and especially somem, units are ineffective. I think its very important if it has to be maintained to rethink how it is composed and what kind of mandate they have. We cant accept have 20000 troops that will not react and when people are killed or beaten by police they are just there taking notes. I think this is not how we understand protection. I think if someone says, at the time they have to react immediately, not write reports about when they can protect lif life. I remember in 2013 when they were about to fall, there is a lotth that say well, we can assure you that was not there. I was there atca the time and i remember how late start changing what they were saying and say the responsibility is from the government. It means that somehow the government wasnt able to play its role because if the government was effective we would not need it. In some countries they should be courageous enough to send their troops because i think alsod the problem in some countries who have more effective troop dont send them. Maybe they have another priority and because of that we have a force that is ineffective. The companysth Security Forces, i think that support should be stopped because it is unbelievable to see police using the fuel come in and arrest peaceful demonstration or use money and resources. I pointed this out with officials and they think its time to stop that kind of cooperation unless we want to agree openly that we are supporting human rights violations. Thank you for that insight and for your opinion. I think we speak so often of all of you who are very well versed on what this is, but for those who w may not, its the Un Organization in the drc. Its a World Largest peacekeeping corporation with about 17900 uniformor personnel as of august 31. When you look at size and the number of People Living in dr congo, that is a little more than the division of military capacity. Thats why asked about whether or not sufficient numbers of deployed people are there to meet the need. I think you are very fearful it could get worse and staging a growing peacekeeping deployment can be done overnight. It does take time. I would note for the record that the security counsel 2348 tasks them with two strategic priorities, one protection of civilians, to support for the implementation of, december 31 agreement and the electoral process. Before we conclude, is there anything else any of our distinguished witnesses would like to add . Thank you very much mr. Chairman. I just want to thank your committee for your continued support. I think we have traveled a long way but we have traveled deep into darkness and misery in terms of drc. Think we have one more opportunity to and this d misery for the people of drc. The people have suffered enough. They have committed m themselves to sacrifice themselves. Weve seen a serious protest and processes. If you tell people to move and have a dialogue for peace, they will come but they will also run out of strategic patience and we dont know if we do not act. We might see a coupp detat. We might see people pick up weapons. We should not wear ourselves into thinking things will be the same way up our thinking. Its very serious. Ii will reiterate considering serious sanctions on these associates and on the way of elections and children who should not be playing with us or you, the future of the country is at stake. With those words, the hearing is adjourned. Thank you. Today the Senate Finance committee begins work on its version of tax reform with live coverage starting at 3 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan three. Tonight, on the communicators, we will discuss legislation imposing online sex trafficking. Missouri republican congressman and wagner talks about her bill, the fight online sex trafficking act. And counsel from that choice discusses why his group prefers a different approach than the house and senate bill. Actually, many different factors can be affected by these medications piece but what we are doing with my piece of legislation is to make sure we are very narrowly going in and amending section 230 to ensure that congressional intent is clear when it comes to the issue of sex trafficking. Right now, a lot of these Online Internet actors and providers websites like backpage. Com and a whole host of others that have been blossoming, sadly, over the past handful of years, to make sure they cannot hide behind the Communications Decency act and its immunity. When it comes to sex trafficking, weve been told a lot of this is in coded languag language, its harder to identify. One of the things we suggested is something of a clearinghouse where if a website or Single Society identifies certain types of code, certain language or ip address or phone numbers known with sex traffickers, you kind of put that in a central repository so that Online Services can scan against that and better identify these coded languages. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Next, the experiences of women Running Companies and working to promote ownership in american businesses. Its hosted by the Senate Small Business and entrepreneurship committee. [inaudible conversations] and know everybody is having a good time in networking and moving the enterprise forward but we really should get started. We have two votes starting at noon so we are going to be on a bit of a short string here. It shouldnt, in any way denigrate the importance of this hearing of the Small Business committee. What we are going to do today