Transcripts For CSPAN2 Political Situation In The Congo Part 1 20171117

Joseph kabila. The government has been accused of halting preparations for elections for over a year to replace him. The hearing will come to order. Im very, i think the committee is privileged to see our distinguished chairman, and roys joins, and i thank him for his leadershiphi on africa, havg once served as chairman of this subcommittee. So great to see you and thank you for your ongoing leadership and for yesterday important briefing with nikki haley, our ambassador to United Nations and a major portion of that important briefing late in the afternoon was on the dr congo so iq, chairman royce. The democratic republic of congo was supposed to conduct election one year ago this month. In order to achieve the required transition of political powers y december 19. 19th. However after years of stalling on making preparations for elections, the government of the drcc failed told elections last year and provide on a constitutional provision that president Joseph Kabila could not step down until the election was held to select a replacement. Both chairman royce and i and others and karen bass are Ranking Member have had ongoing beings with drc officials fisheg highlevel people that floated washington and time and time again admonished them to stick to the schedule and hold these elections and assure they are free and fair. The t interpretation by presidet Joseph Kabila of the constitution is an apparent contradiction to other constitutional provisions requiring elections to be held on time and limiting president kabila to two terms. The election commissions Just Announced election cannot be held until sometime in late 2018. We were told by ambassador nikki about december of 2018 at how often have we seen those timelines slip and then we will be in 2015 at a think she very clear in yesterdays briefing that the art and abundance of sanctions, almost like a sort of damocles that were held over the heads of those again were pushed to delay and i think thats very real and hope its very compelling pressureho to ensure to do exacy what they say they would do because this is what the people of the dr congo want to it when a free election at the what to choose the next leader. Paul sevigny get the majority of congolese what the government to intervene replaced by a Transitional Government until a new one can be elected. We dontt take sides would you want free and fair will to make sure the peoples will prevails. During conflict hotspots in eastern drc have seen recent flips and i would note parenthetically back in 2000 i traveled with my good friend and chieff of staff great simkins ad we saw on the ground and met many of the people who had been raped, many ofri the women had been so horrifically sexually abused but we also like with africa, compassion and that did wonderful work with helping to heal and to mitigate the damages ofon such abuse. Saw that there were people on the ground, indigenous congolese who cared so much that they were going the extra mile to make sure that the fighting stopped and also that they would be a way forward for those who were abuse. In two other regions, the conflicts had caused a displacement of nearly 2 Million People since mid2016. This is in the country where they were the seem to never end took the lives of some 4 Million People get to we all focus as a shirt on darfur at the loss of life there. A number of people lost their lives in congo historically eclipses that which is a terrible, terrible legacy. The drc is one of the highest rates of human displacement in the world. Little unrest in urban centers large prison break so by the attacks by members of a religious sect that has declared itself in opposition to kabila have further contribute to the worsening of the street of the conflict. It has become a catastrophic american crisis featuring severe atrocities in a widespreadt recruitment and abuse of children. Meanwhile they ongoing conflict in eastern drc at one time someone activity by 2 million militia groups and an outofcontrol National Army resulting in a systematic rate of about 50 women and girls per hour. His hearing is intent to look at possible solutions to a political stalemate they could very well lead to. Further violence and a a people in a lae african country bordering on nine neighbors. It follows a successful resolution on drc that introduced the past by the house last year and new legislation Ranking Member bass and i are introducing very soon. We understand that theres no easy solutions to the Current Crisis in drc. Negotiate transition likely to be achieved that president kabila were convinced that neither he nor his family would be prosecuted for Human Rights Violations or corruption. However that would reap, plundering the countries resources and that is even as members of his government were not covered. A palace coup might take place. This is not a note in the drc. His father was assassinated an office in 2001. The elder kabila had overthrown, had overthrown, had himself overthrown in 1965. He was chased from powell and fled into exile in 1997. However, up to would not support International Efforts to instill democratic practices to drc and deadly to protractedld infightig and chaos piqua. When it orderly and peaceful transition and thats what were asking and really demanding the status quo as detailed earlier is leading the growing violence and will not lead to a peaceful solution. The longer the transition is delayed. In fact, it is more likely violence could spill over into every country as did conflict and 67. 96 i should say to 97, and 98 2003. Over the. Over the past year wees have hed many, many promises by the government of the drc about when elections would be held. There have been several dates given when Voter Registration wouldny be completed during this past year. Government timetable calls for Voter Registration to extend to the point which elections could not be held in the drc until late 2018. When inauguration in early 2019. That would mean Joseph Kabila would have an extra half term in office when the constitution precluded him from going past december 2016. Consequently we will today hear from the state department on our governments diplomat effort to resolve the transition stalemate and u. S. Agency for International Development on our governments programs on the ground to promote democracy and free and Fair Elections. Le our second panel consists off scholars and activists will give us their informed insights as to how we can break this political stalemate and prevent more bloodshed in the drc. Again no solution will be easy or without cost, but nonaction and even have a higher cost in terms of human life. And that we must not tolerate. I like to yield to my distinguish friend no . F okay, go to travis. I will defer to the Ranking Member. I thank you, mr. Chairman, and mr. Chairman. Appreciate that. Thank you for your leadership for holding this hearing today and i to thank and welcome our distinguished witnesses today. You know what is so tragic is that we all know that drc is potentially one of the richest countries on earth. We know that it has an abundance of deposit of copper, gold, diamonds, kovar and many other minerals. We know the congo river is the secondlargest river in the world and the most powerful river in africa which means the country has enormous potential to generate hydroelectric power and some Scientists Say he could provide enough power for all of subsaharan electricity needs. Now on the other side of this we know the stark reality of living in drc today get we know its one of the poorest countries in the world ranking 176 out of 187 onno the latest u. N. Human development index. More than half of the country live in extreme poverty and we know theres 3. 8 million internally displaced, displaced persons, and we also know that there are parts of the drc that are on the brink of hunger and famine. We shouldnt forget in march of this year all of the humanitarian efforts, we had to u. N. Investigators of american and swedish y nationality and hr congolese interpreter were found adead. They were there to investigate alleged largescale violence and alleged Human Rights Violations by the Congolese Army and local militia groups. So we know with the worlds most complex humanitarian crisis, the drc has 7. 3 Million People indeed of humanitarian assistance. But aid workers are fighting an increase or difficult to address the deteriorating situation in the drc emily face the risk of attacks and are unable to access areas in most native humanitarian assistance the signs come out of the drc are not encouraging. The congolese government estimate Opposition Coalition reached a political agreement organized about by the end of 2013, and kabila commit to not run for a third term. However, yesterday we met as the chairman mentioned, we met with our u. N. Ambassador nikki haley who said that the drc has announced that they will hold president ial elections in december 2018. That seems that seems like a ridiculously long time to wait, considering the elections were supposed to be held long ago. I think as you mention in your comments, thats just the way of really extending it to another term. But my concern is that even if it is genuine that will be elections held in december of 2018, im not convinced that doesnt mean that kabila wont be on the ballot. Until we hear definitively a public announcement that he will not seek a third term and will not change the constitution. And i believe if i heard the ambassador right, mr. Chair, she did say that he said he wouldnt change the constitution, correct . But i do not believe he has made the Public Statement that he will not be on the ballot. Which obviously is on the ballot thats a violation of the constitution. However, we all know that sometimes people find ways of saying you are not violated the constitution like in burundi. It was just a differentha interpretation. The world will not tolerate that. I was encouraged by the ambassador yesterday making very strong statements that the United States will not be there in support ofra the country and less we do see a commitment for a peaceful transition. With that ideal to the other chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Look, i want to thank you and i want to thank Ranking Member bass for the focus of both of you kept on the drc and for the trips that both of you taken to the drc. The resolutions that the two of you have passed, the effort to sort of galvanized our attentio on this tragedy, tragedy like the other as you mention when you talk about the millions and millions who lost their lives. A lot of it is a governance issue with respect to a lack of rule of law, that emanate,ac unfortunately, from laurent and then Joseph Kabila. I also want to thank greg, greg simpkins, four back in 1997 we were, tom sheehy and i and a delegation from this committee were in neighboring angola meeting a with them with our ambassador trying to piece there. That night the government was overthrown and we, when we were there and greg was our interpreter, luckily, we were able to take a plane into the airport, and we met with the new government that was one day new, and he was able to also communicate with the person being pushed aside if we didnt find out all until a little later we were able to track and follow lowrent kabila, met with him in order to discuss this issue. The rule of law. The constitution. The importance of elections. And we have struggled under did. I think we made three trips. I have with mr. Sheehy and we met numerous times here or new york. I have to give Ambassador Haley credit for not just the commitment she got in terms of the december 23 election exit but the benchmarks that are to be put in place and the announcement on the part of Joseph Kabila, that there will be that election. Nappy falls on us and the International Community, so this is really good news. We finally have an election calendar and i think we have to look not only the announcement but the sense among the people in congo when you see them in Civil Society asserting their rights to have come to be part of this process. Because they have felt the consequences more than anyone. And so i think that the state department, the administration and us on the committee, weve got to monitor this progress. And if deemed insufficient, we must use every tool we have to pressure the government in congo. Now is the time. If we do not address the political instability, thene. E violence and the unrest across that country which is cost over 4 million lives so far will only escalate. And as we watch people flee and recently we have seen another 1 billion try to escape the violence, when we see the 2 million that are displaced on our trips there living in camps, we know that thank you making situation is dire and warrants our immediate attention and the worlds immediate attention, i would really encourage the ngo communities, some of who are here today. Because too many congolese are suffering. So we look forward to the witnesses testimony today, and again, chairman smith, i thank you for this hearing. Thank you very much again for your longstanding decadelong leadership. Really appreciate it. The gentleman from staten island. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Since im not a chairman, or Ranking Member, and ive learned so much more by listening and speaking i just learned how long break has been here. By listening to chairman im going to yield my time so that secretary yamamoto and administrator anderson could have more time to testify. Thank you, sir. Id like to network reduce our first panel, out you very distinguished Public Service in leaders, ambassador Donald Yamamoto asserts as acting assistant secretary to the bureau of africanli affairs in u. S. Department of state. He asserts as Deputy Assistant secretary of state in the bureau of African Affairs from 03 to 064 he was responsible for coordinating u. S. Policy towards 20 countries in east and central africa. He was also our ambassador to republic of djibouti from 2000 20002003 as well as the ethiopic as Deputy Director ofro the stuffing affairs from 98 to 2000. And without objection your full resume and thatas of our distinguished other witness part ofnderson made a the record. Ms. Anderson is working as the acting assistant administrator for the bureau of African Affairs for usaid, the agency for International Development. Ms. Anderson is more the 20th development expressed mostly in africa since joining usaid as a Foreign Service officer shows worked in the democratic republic of congo, uganda, sudan and east africa. Prior to joining usaid she worked as a Program Manager at health link worldwide and also served as a peace corps volunteer in ghana. Shes also testify before a subcommittee, so both of you will come back and we look forward to your insights and recommendations. The floor is yours, ambassador yamamoto. Thank you very much, mr. Cha. And ask for the longer version to be submitted for the record. Without objections order. Thank you very much chairman smith and Ranking Member bass and chairman royce. Thank you very much for this very important hitting today. Todays hearing comes at a critical juncture for the drc, and the country faces two starkly different possible trajectories over the next 12 months. When we have president ial december 2018 and the drc verse peaceful democratic transfer of power . Or alternatively we see the absence of genuinely free and Fair Elections and a continuation of the current political impasse . We could see the drc return to widespread violence and instability. We have an opportunity to support the congolese people, however this will require political will on behalf of the government, organize critical elections and encouragement to dissipate in democratic processes and engagement and support from the International Community including the United States. Master haleys visit sent a clear andth powerful message to the president and his government that further delays would be unacceptable. He also told Opposition Party leaders that the United States does not support calls and instruct them to work within the framework of the constitution and in decemberee 2016 agreement. Theyre building on the momentum provided by a master haleys visit had they would like to push all parties to advance electoral process. There is much at risk due to the strategic location including Nine International borders. Continued delays by the government and Holding Election has increased tension and undermine week or nonexistent state authority and increase violence, unrest and instability. Lee administrations focus is on ensuring that they implement the calendar and do take any action that postpone the election. We believe theres an effort, a democratic transition of power which can only come throughli Fair Election is essential for the congolese people. Including preventing widescale instability which have been precursors to multistate war and genocide, denying Illegal Armed Group criminal network and isis access to blackmarket through widgets trade and other Natural Resources. Preventing the region from becoming a stateless own thats impossible to monitor and respond to disease outbreaks such as ebola pandemics and preventing the recruitment of child soldiers in the rape of women and girls. While elections will not solve the challenges alone, they are critical to the countrys stability. El we are prepared to work with our International Partners to share that the electoral process is transparent, conducting in accordance with national and international standards. Its important to understand this extremely complex country. Its home to 80 Million People and almost no basic input structure. All National Elected 8 politician politicians, not just president kabila have now overstayed their elected terms alin office. Opposition parties and Civil Society are understandably stressing the importance of election. The motivation of opposition leaders has exacerbated tensions on the Weekend Limited state authorities and its becoming increasingly tenuous and absent in many areas and some elements of the state Security Forces have committed Human Rights Violations and mass atrocities. State groups continue to operate in the drc. Its one of the worlds poorest countries despite having and normas Natural Resources and wealth. S despite the complex environment, we know generally free and Fair Elections can be held in 2018 and there is no question the congolese people deeplyai desire to choose a new leader through elections. The state department is working with our interagency partners to ensure concrete steps are implemented toward elections that are generally free, fair, credible, timely and inclusive result in a peaceful democratic transfer power. We are similarly coordinating closely with our International Partners in regional states and institutions, key elements of the approaching crude, the approaching calendar of december 18, we are coordinating with our International Partners to actively press the government to fully implement all requiredat steps the electoral process. Second, we are actively pressing the government and the opposition to operate within the framework to reject violence and change. We are actively pressed, both through Public Statements and private engagement, the government of the drc to respect freedom and rights and refrain for excessive and unlawful use of force. We correlate our messaging and advocacy with key partners including our european and regional partners. Finally, since june 2016 we have imposed targeted sanctions on six current and former drc government officials. We remain prepared to impose additional sanctions as development warrant. Our immediate focus is on the electoral process pretty urgent and ongoing security and humanitarian needs also remain important priorities. Together with our International Partners, the United States has driven to end the violence throughout the drc including specificallyd the east where we continue to provide assistance in response to the humanitarian crisis and to ensure the response of abusesesponsible for and atrocities are held macountable. We have worked with International Partners to address the humanitarian need of 3. 8 million displaced persons, over 620,000 congolese refugees now living outside the country and nearly 543,000 refugees and neighboring countries inside the drc. We will continue to engage with the government, the un, our International Partners in finding a longterm solution to bring about peace and stability. In conclusion, the stability ofag the drc is a key administrative objective and given the drc significant economic geopolitical and security related enforcement, we need only recall the ramifications of the last years he worked from 1998 until 2002. We understand and enormous transformation of Armed Conflict in political crisis in the congo and through free, fair, critical Inclusive Elections leading to a peaceful democratic transfer power, our longterm stability andec development, there remains many challenges and risks to achieve these goals. Our engagement and commitment are unwavering. Thank you. We welcome your questions. Thank you very much. Miss anderson. A morning chairman smith, Ranking Member bass, congressman donovan, thank you for inviting me to speak today about the democratic republicc of the congo. Its always an honor to have an opportunity to discuss our africath supporters of , and for me its a pleasure to be back testifying before the subcommittee. Usaid has maintained a longterm relationship with the drc and its people since the country became independent in 1960. With its vast mineral wealth, the country has tremendous opportunities for economic i growth that could lift citizens out of poverty and propel the country into middle income status. Instead Political Uncertainty is feeling violence and instability and prevents realization of the countrys full potential reality is they are teetering on the brink of a crisis such as it has not seen since the formal end of the second congo war in 2003. Due to the political crisis and continued electoral delays, the mandates of all elected drc government officials have officially expired. While an election alone will not solve the drc many challenges, credible, inclusive, president ial and legislative elections are critical to ensuring a peaceful transition of power, reducing the risk of widespread violence, and strengthening the countrys Democratic Institutions and economic development. We are pleased with the recent release of an electoral calendar but Voter Registration, already months behind schedule must be completed. Revise electoral laws have to be passed in funding has to be appropriated by the drc government to cover the cost of organizing National Elections. Finally, theat b government of e drc needs to take immediate steps to allow Civil Society, journalists and citizens to express themselves, protect the human rights of its citizens and ensure all Political Parties are afforded equitable access to the media and their rights to assemble peacefully are respected. Alongside other u. S. Agencies, usaid remains committed to the timely organization of peaceful, credible and elections. We have provided 37 million in election and political processes programming since 2013. This includes five components. Support for domestic election and observation, civic and Voter Education, targeted Technical Assistance to the Electoral Commission, Political Partyed strengthening andta electoral justice. Usas Election Observation is implemented by the local applicable justice and peace association. This is the leading observation. We are helping build their capacity to train and deploy long and shortterm domestic election observers in accordance with international standards. The civic and Voter Education program is helping more than 35 different congolese Civil Society organizations to inform citizens and particularly women in other traditionally marginalized groups about the electoral process, the rights and role as voters and the importance of peaceful participation in the election. A grants the United Nations Development Program provides Technical Assistance to the Electoral Commissions for operations, logistics and effective use of information technology. The Political Partyth strengthening Program Provides training to ten parties. Live from the ruling party and live from the opposition to better represent and respond to citizens concerns. It improves the internal management and organization of the parties. Finally, our human rights electoral justice activity strengthens the capacity ofie National Level justice actors. The courts and Civil Society organizations to conduct legal education, provide legal services, and monitor and respond to Human Rights Violations. It includes electoral disputes. The stakes for the drc and for its neighbors cannot be higher. Again, we are encouraged by the announcement of an electoral calendar, but we will now need to see confidence Building Measures to ensure this timeline is respected and implemented. All measures must be taken for credible and peaceful elections. This includes an end to politically motivated prosecutions, the release of Political Prisoners in the right for assembly and association so that opposition parties and Civil Societies maymb hold peaceful Public Meetings without government interference or intimidation. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Ranking member bass, members of the subcommittee, i look forward to hearing your counsel and responding to your questions. Thank you very much. To begin the questioning, i just want make clear, especially for the cspan audience that is following us, somebody might say why are we doing this, but we care whether or not a president rule of law is eclipsed by the potential for horrific conflict and loss of life that we are already seeing shaping up. We know whenen these elections and people from various tribes in south sudan, that the flareups are huge. Large numbers of people are slaughtered and women are raped and horribly abused as a result. We are on the cusp of what could be, as you pointed out in your testimony, an incredible new flareup of pviolence in a region that is the size of western europe with 100 Million People, large country where the potential loss of life is very real. My questions first, beginning with the violence, the number of congolese surged more than 3. 8 million while the number of suffering from acute Food Insecurity has reached 7. 7 million. Y the un has declared a level three humanitarian emergency in the drc, putting it on par and crises in iraq, syria yemen. Im wondering if you could speak to how we are trying to mitigate this terrible humanitariansi crisis that is festering before our eyes. Let me ask you, with regard to peacekeeping, as you might know am the author of the trafficking protection act. It is a passion of mine and the passion of this committee to stop all trafficking because it is modernday slavery. As we all know come the peacekeepers who werest deployed to the congo early on during investor swings tenure in office had a terrible record of bribing or taking gifts from young people, raping 13 yearolds, these are the peacekeepers from the un. We held several hearings on the subcommittee. Greg and i traveled and met with the peacekeepers there and we have raised it at the United Nations here in washington unceasingly. We understand, ive been tracking this, the efforts are far better than theyve ever been but certainly not there yet. People who do commit crimes f congolese, particularly women and girls are not only sent back to their home countries, but there is a heavy admonishment by the un to prosecute, put them behind bars and ensure they are never redeployed to another peacekeeping mission ever again where they can recommit those crimes. If you would speak to the zerotolerance policy where we said zerotolerance policy in the congo, zero compliance because it was so ineffectively being implemented, notwithstanding the great efforts by the american in a key position to fight for that. Finally, let me ask you about the most credible and reliable and effective provocative for peace reconciliation and free and Fair Elections, especially in the dr congo is the Catholic Church. We were in south sudan last may and we met with the president and had a very straightforward conversation with him, not all that happy because of the terrible killings that are occurringha there. Hery wouldnt even meet with the faithbased consortium of leaders, bishops, clergy of all tim kind who really are the key to reconciliation and now we see potentially deja vu of that in the dr congo. How do we support the church in its effort and all those were trying to have free and Fair Elections. The amount of money, who is it going to and as nikki haley said yesterday, this roadmap for having this election, if it does not happen we wont support the election. We will not support a fraud and a sham. Ad m thank you, mr. Chairman. That is a long list of issues that we need to tackle. First, the peacekeeping operation, as you know 63 of all un operatives are in africa. We been firmly committed, especially with this new un committee sector general but also our own Community Human rights and also to your legislation which has been h supported and very helpful. We look at minutes go and all un a operations, that they have taken this necessary and proper steps on the Sexual Exploitation and assure that those have committed those violations are held accountable. Were not just doing it on misco but all the other organizations. The missions conduct Interdisciplinary Team is currently composed of 23 personnel with offices and they are implementing strong preventive actions in training, et cetera through risk assessment, military patrol, enforcement of strict curfews, and out of bound regimes and they have taken a very strong and tough position. The state department, we train peacekeeping troopsos over 300,000. Part of that is human rights protection and the protection of sca. Let me go into the other areas of violence. The main goal is to protect civilians. Of course, we have had, in trump 2013, its been used to target groups like and 23 and prevent other problems or militias from rising. Those are some helpful uses. We have to keep up a very consistent, persistent observation of the gross human rights abuses taking place in the drc. Not only by malicious but by all and we have to hold each persondr accountable. As you may recall mr. Chairman , in june, at the human rights council, we supported the International Efforts being sent to look at the gross human rights atrocities and of course, not only looking at the atrocities but also investigating the cases, particularly the death. [inaudible] that will remain priority for us to look at and to investigate. The other thing is during investor haleys visit to the drc, she met with the Catholic Church and also faithbased groups and very strongly supported, and we agree in supporting this facilitation that the Catholic Church had arranged in this agreement of 2016. As you know, faithbased agroups have been a cornerstone, pillar for a lot of our operations. Not just in drc but throughout ethiopia, east africa, et cetera because of their commitment and quality of work. I guess let me turn. On the peacekeeping, are we satisfied that they are protecting. The issue for the peacekeeping is not. Lets be very clear. Its not. The issues, the complexity of the drc, by having a political impact it has emboldened a lot of the militias to conduct and engage in very striking human rights abuses. One way to kind of rain in some of this is to have a coherent free, fair, open elections that are going to be executed. There are three requirements that we are going to be focused on. The other thing is the political requirement and the human rights requirement their announcing and registering voters, ensuring they are scrubbed, looking up a registration and at the candidates registrations, thats on the technical side. On the political side, were looking at very carefully is that the government has to have confidence Building Measures. In other words, they cannot arrest Political Prisoners. They had to have open political space. They have to haveon assembly and allow people to assemble and discuss and they have to look at the excessive use of violence. This goes into the human rights issue of looking at and trying to prevent the excessive encroachment of abuse. You talked about peacekeeping in the churches. I would like to start with the situation in the providence. The widespread violence and human rights violation are totally unacceptable. The violence has been subsiding but that should not take attention away from the fact that this is a very seriousut security and human rights and humanitarian situation. We also have to make sure we dont lose sight of the fact that people need to be accountable of the abuses weve seen. The United States, along with our bilateral and multilateral s partners. They been responding to and the violence and hold people responsible for the heinous act. It has been hard to operate and hard to get in there. It can be very treacherous but we did scalable response for health and Food Security as well as protection of children who are affected by the violence. We are lifted 300 metric tons of blankets and cooking kids and other kinds of humanitarian supplies into the area in kasai and two other provinces. The whole country, this is just one part of the country. There are different numbers out there. The ones that i have are that we have as many as 3. 9 million. 600 refugees have now left the drc. We have provided, in fiscal year 2017, the u. S. Government has provided hundred 90 million in humanitarian crisis across the country. Of that 128 million is from u. S. Aid. Weve always remained committed to providing humanitarian assistanceth to people who are in need, working with the un and our partners. I wont really speak on peacekeeping except to say that in the area of genderbased violence, i think you are aware that usaid has been very engaged since 2002 in preventing and responding to genderbased violence. On the Catholic Church and faithbased organizations, definitely these groups a play such a Critical Role in keeping peace and helping to ensure they are holding their government accountable. We continue to urge respect for that agreement and i did mention earlier which we are working with the justice and peace organizations on elections and peace operations. Without objection we will put that into the record. Thank you for your testimony. Just a few questions, i wanted to get a few specifics, when you are talking about both of our witnesses, when youre talking about Holding People accountable, i wanted to know how we do that. You were referring to political, technical, the confidence boosting measures. You said technical, political and human rights. Is that what you said . I want to know how we specifically go about that. Mel, i hear from people all time, of folks being arrested and i dont know what our role in that is, or when we see the violence taking place, especially government initiated violence. Let me give kind of one introductory remark and then go into the discussion. Pl so they asked the acting secretary to make an effort to par talk to all our partners and colleagues dealing with the drc. An issue is we find it unacceptable that the elections have taken so long. The instability that has given rise to militias and other groups because theyve been emboldened by the lack of political certainty. We talked to the African Union and our european colleagues and donors and the issue comes in that by holding the opposition accountable, but mostly in this case, he doesnt have politicals space to maneuver or delay, but he is held focused that you will have elections. The other issue is i know we discussed with the opposition one of the areas that they want to look at the transition of government. We said no. Under the constitution and under the safe investor agreement, that will be there until the new president is selected. That means we will hold them responsible and accountable to instituting, implementing, the agreement and the constitution , the process for election of the president. I just wonder what we specifically do. I understand we talk to them, but what measures do we specifically take . Is there something we would hold back . I think on the broader scope, by s having the africans and europeans committed and focused, that puts on the onus that he has no political space. He has to implement. He has to be committed to doing this and there is no alternative or no ability to delay that process. Well yes, although he has delayed it. So you mentioned also there were sanctions that were prepared and i was wondering what kinds of sanctions, and then you noted we are looking at legislation, and i wanted to know what your thoughts were about that. Everything has to be on the table. As you know, we did implement target sanctions on six specific individuals. Sanctions are on the table. So if we target the specific individuals, what are we sanctioning them for . They cant come to the United States. And their assets. To the have assetss here. Not only here but in other countries. It helps restrict their operation. Its something similar weve done in other countries and for other individuals. I know we have, thats on the other side for the other issues we can look at limiting their ability in the United States through visa processes. We can also build on it. I dont know specifically about the group youre talking about, but some of them still have children here. Its only on the specific individuals. If an individual is banking because they have ill assets, then that obviously will affect them members because those are illgotten assets. Too ever say their families can come here . It depends on if they have been targeted. I understood on the financial part. I know that one of the strategies that you used is that they are not in the country when all of the strife is happening, and their families are protected. You make a very good point. That is something we are discussing. The issue that comes in is that family members are living outside the country, benefiting from illgotten assets. Those people as well cannot access banking facilities were any of the benefits from those assets. One thing we do is we allow folks to come here and buy real estate and all sorts of things. Theyre living well. The way we do the target sanction has to be looked at, it has to b to we can go into who were considering for sanctions but generally everyone is on the table. The breadth and depth of those. Do we have an investor . We have not had one since december of last year. Is there one in pipeline . There is one, but i defer to our white house personnel system. He i understand you defer for the specifics, but do you know if a person is waiting Senate Confirmation . Im not at liberty to say. Again its for the white house personnel. What are we doing . We have an american citizen , one was an american. But that doesnt matter because both of them were part , they are investigating the mass atrocities that have taken place. Their work is important toti us. As part of the process of coordinating and looking at investigations, pushing the United Nations, pushing operations, pushing the drc. Who is doing the investigation . Is the drc doing it or is it international . We have said everyone is going to be participating in this investigation because this is a priority for the United States to look at who was involved and to hold those people accountable. One thing is that we supported the un secretarygenerals recentop appointment of Robert Pettit of canada to had a team that will assist in the National Investigation into thel death and then we are looking at other means and methods to help those investigations. Also, on our end, i know that we were talking about the peacekeeping troops, but we pushed for a rather deep reduction in the troop levels so how does that work . I think you are saying, was that humans anderson . Were you talking about the real need for troops, but yet we propose cutting them back. So the investor, and her trip to the drc, one of the issues was focusing on peacekeeping missions better fit for purpose but i think that was a keyword, fit for purpose. And so, if we look at one of the largest and longestserving peacekeeping operations for the United Nations, the issue comes in, how do you make those more efficient, affected, targeted. On the one hand, yes, i know investor haley had raised issue of the refugees beingen killed by the troops, how did they respond, or not respond, but how about the intervention , its not enough to target and go after all of the problems that are in. I was just referencing that we asked for reduction but yet we said more were needed so i didnt understand why. Sk so i think, right now the current way is to assess the effectiveness, looking at whether or not we have the rightur admission set in that its fit for purpose according to what investor haley. I see, so there might be fewer, but youre saying it might be moreur specific. Specific and targeted. You are mentioning, and i believe ms. Anderson was mentioning the Electoral Systems that we provided over the years, you gave quite a span of the years and i was just wondering what we are doing now specifically, how much and what does it mean that we provide Electoral Systems . I mentioned that we have been providing assistance since 2013 in preparation for thisce election thats coming up. Its not just the one day of election, but its a process. F our 37 million in funding, for those five components i mentioned, a lot of it has been in process because we have been working on things like voter and Civic Education so that the people know what to expect, how to get involved in elections, working with clinical parties. So just to understand specifically, i dont understand that in the abstract, but specifically, do we fund the u. S. Ngo or drc that goes in villages and sits down and talks to people . Is that an example . Are we doing anything, and if we are, specifically, can you give an example of a project we fund and what they do . Sure. Thats really important now because we have to keep adjusting. Now we have a date. That means we can put a number of things into motion toward the date of the election, but i can talk about, for example, the civic and Voter Education component of our program, this is, weve invested 90 million inic this program and its implemented by Counterpart International and they work with 38. Is that a u. S. Company. Ed yes. Its working with 38 different congolese Civil Society organizations, and thos those, that is how we are helping to build the local capacity so that those organizations now, they inform the citizens. They work with the citizens to talk about the electoral process, what are your rights as a voter, what is your role as a voter, what you need to do to get involved, and they also have a specific component on peacefulte participation. Is a consulting firm. I may have to get back to you. It may be a notforprofit organization. We have four other components. I would like to mention the component on elections observation, and that is one of our few direct awards to drc based organization. Is it ndi and iri urges that comese out of another. Ndi is involved in the component of our assistance that we call Political Party omantraining. And then you fund the drc group to do the observation. Right. So they coordinate a number of congolese groups to the observation and this is the justice and peace organization. So given that now we know the election is december of next year, is more money needed now or because these elections have been stalled, have you been holding onto the dollars in anticipation that one day we get a date. We are hustling now to have a look at what we have, but we had extended our awards into and 2019, and at this point, i think we may have to make some adjustments to get us through that. Through the. Of the elections, but for the most part, we had doneke extensions to the programs to allow us to continue into 2018, potentially 2019. Thank you. Its a long process. Its not just the election. And we hope they stick to this, to the date. We have to hold them to that. As you realize unmet need, if you could advise our subcommittee so that we can try to meet that need. I yelled to my friend and colleague. Thank you very much. I have one question. Mrs. Secretary, maybe you can speak about the election process and maybe you can talk about our manager and efforts. We are a passionate nation, particularly when it comes to both democracies and humanitarian efforts progress a very compassionate. How do we see our role in the government of other countries. Theres a lot of talk about other countries influence on our election process here in the United States. They were talking about the United States involvement in another country. Role for define our what we see is a proper and humanitarian effortt when theyre not cooperative with usaid efforts and we reached out to those folks from the rest of the globe who are suffering and sometimes our government may not appreciate our government and see what we are trying to do in the humanitarian environment is trying to influence her people in other ways. Winners, losers, we are not navigatin advocating for any candidate. These are agreements, the constitution of the drc and its negotiated by the Catholic Church which both the government and the opposition signed. What we are doing is holding both parties accountable and committed to what they had signed. For four years, i led destabilization efforts in the congo. The United States stands as a symbol that we are goings to work for what the people i of congo want and they demand an orelectio election, a credible, free, fair, open election. In that context, we are going to support people of the congo to say yes, we are behind you, we will hold the government and the opposition accountable to do these electoral processes. Mr. Secretary,oi do we do that as a nation or as a group, how do we do that . Does the United States and alone in doing that where will our partners at the un assist in that. We do that in the context of negotiation with the Donor Community and also the African Unions and local communities within the congo and various groups. Mr. Secretary, can you speak about humanitarian efforts . Yes, we always do our best to respond to humanitarian crises wherever they are. In the drc, we have a very challenging environment, we work closely with the un, with other bilateral and Multilateral Development partners, with international and local ngos, we always have to coordinate our efforts. We always encourage the government, we need their cooperation and we always encourage them to do atincreasingly more to respond to humanitarian crises. This is a tough one in the drc. I can say we are a major donor in humanitarian assistance in subsaharan africa, and that includes the drc. So many of the other players look to us to play a leading role. I would just conclude by saying this is a very challenging environment and its very difficult to get ahead of thein situation as well as to decide what to do because it is a dangerous environment. We say we are great donors. As of that just in financial or human resources, what is our actual presence there . We have personal the ground who work on military and assistance we work with local whether international organizations, especially the United Nations to deliver humanitarian assistance in the form of food assistance, Emergency Health assistance, other types of relief supplies and one thing we work on is the protection of citizens, especially children in dangerous situations. My last question, do you findpr resistance in the drc from the effort you just described . I would say one of the Biggest Challenges is the questionable will of the government to move forward on its commitments in the december 31 agreement, anden also the fact that we have such a dangerous environment that with the violence in Human Rights Violations, it makes it very hard for us to do our humanitarian work. Thank you both. The chair recognizes the german from virginia. Thank you. Thank you for convening this important meeting. Its interesting, as a freshman member of the committee, to sort of do the learning curve on africa, in particular, and certain trends have emerged in my observations, but first let me thank our panelists, mr. Chairmanan who service goes all the back to oversight of the tragic events in tiananmen square. Thank you for your service in the peace corps, putting a good face on america for the remainder of the world. The opinion of america that people across the world to otherwise only get that a opinion from mass media have them and its so important. Thank you for that. I dont want anybody to break out in laughter when i asked this question, but as we work toward free, fair and Transparent Elections in congo what can we say we are doing to ensure the chinese influence over the electoralal process doesnt tilt the scales in the direction that would be to the benefit of the chinese . Thank you very much. We have looked at in a coronation with an International Community, we do hold annual discussions with the chinese on what theyre doing inn africa, and we are trying to steer not only china but all these countries to play a helpful, supportive role. The other area that we have concern is the exploitation of resources in eastern congo. Thats my next question. That is the area we been working on for long and hard. The people of congo need to benefit from the resources. There has to be a rational process in whereby you develop these resources. One of the things is, looking at the question, we do discuss on a whole spectrum, not just china, its all the other countries that are involved, positively and negatively. Ms. Anderson, if you want too, or if you dont want too, i will keep going. I guess i would say, if youre referring to the elections and our involvement related to the chinese, we are focusing on local capacity and we are working so the congolese can be prepared to participate in their election and hold their own government accountable so they can start to be able to define their own future and thats the role we are playing in the election. That is quite different from the chinese. That is something thats noteworthy that as we as americans recognize that perhapselon overreach globally s manifested itself in ways that we didnt anticipate, that there are certain types of aid that are greatly appreciated and others that are taken because their aid but come with a backlash, if you will. L. There is a vacuum inherently created and the chinese are too happy to fill it. Ive not spend a ton of time on the ground in africa but i did speak to a raking member of the north african country where in the entire president ial palace and i would say it probably rivals the Office Building in square footage, it was built by china. They built a palace and when ai airport,the thats the dynamic question where if we get it right great things will happen and if we dont tragic things will happen. You almost feel like you are in a a chinese annex and the chinese record of exploitation of individuals is apparent even from 2007 in the drc as it relates to exploitation of child labor, as it relates to the monopolization of the Mineral Deposits and if properly levied should make the drc one of the most prosperous nations on the planet. The chinese efforts, historically ensure a chinese access to things like tungsten and tantalum and cobalt that has manufacturing components. I get it. Except, what we are trying to do is empower the people in the drc to be the leaders of the people in the drc and without a combative tone, and understanding that there is a Global Economic struggle of foot and strong competitors therein, how do we ensure the power goes to the congolese, that our money spent arent converted by chinese exploitation that we help create to enrich the chinese at the expense, literally, of the poorest and weakest people in places like the drc . Im asking for suggestions because i dont know the answer. Understanding that we dont want to take a combative stanceke but our primary function, to the extent that its relevant and possible for the United States to create a better circumstance for human rights to do so, how do we do that without empowering the chinese to continue exploitative practices . I think its very difficult question in a complex with situation. The issue is this not just the chinese but theres a lot of outside countries and regional states that are exploiting those resources. Of course our effort is to ensure that we monitor and hold people countable and look at how the resources are being distributed and find ways that the people of the congo can benefit from those resources. and ways the people can benefit from those resources. Since your question is on china, we do have were womening up to another annual discussions with china to see where they can play a looking and seeing where we can have areas of commonality and where we do not and how do we make sure thatits beneficial to the people in africa. Absolutely. From california, miss bass. One of the things i wanted in to say in terms of chinas t involvement, i want to see more involvement from our companies. And one of the areas that im really cinterested in is promoting our companies in the us to get involved in infrastructure , building roads in africa and its a real mixed bag exactly, not so good roads but we certainly know the quality of our companies but id like to work with you in the future and the ways we can establish partnerships to promote us business involvement because im disgusted by chinese involvement as well but one answer is to step up hours. I went back to congresswoman and sort of pile on there, weve spoken a couple times originally with regard to repressed minorities in africa and i look forward to working with the congressman. It strikes me that theinfrastructure has from the Natural Resource to the ports. Go figure. But its at some level a National Security situation for our nation as it relates to minerals, etc. And again, there is a role for this country to play in perpetuating basic human dignities and freedoms and expectations. We can yspend an entire other hearing on alleged abuses by Un Peacekeeping forces and we have. Its a real problem its tragic, to paraphrase ronald reagan, and from the us and im here to help and it gets worse. That doesnt mean we should throw up our hands and stop trying but awhen we have people of your caliber and experience, within the appropriate role and purview of the federal government, we need to care about human beings across the world and a prominent foreignleader said look, if the chinese will help us and theres strings attached, its still health. If we withdraw and create a vacuum , somebodys going to fillit. But the challenge here is how we are good stewards , work within the appropriate realm of whats federally allowable in this country and then dont subsidize bad outcomes. What frustrates me and in no way shape or form an adversarial to you to find people, its that i want to hear, we have these hearings and it feels good but what are the answers. So i think congresswoman bass and i are on the same page, that there are opportunities to be had if the corporate entity wants to make money, thats fine but if they help people while theyre doing it, even better so how do we do that . Do we invest, how do we ensure that our investments are hurting our geopolitical rivals militarily and how do we do so without victimizing people who have a 200 year history of being victimized by outsiders. Before we go to our panel, briefly i want to shout out my good friend. One trip to kentucky ill never forget. I had a senator with a number of parliament and he said anything. I really love his attitude and it showed grow anything. I cant get into the market. Theres no roads, no bridges and i say that. Theres very few. And the chinese have come in and in a quid pro quo, and a fleecing, which they done elsewhere in africa, it got minerals , all kinds of commodities. And at unbelievably discounted prices or those roads and bridges. We happy foreign corrupt practices act and it holds in accountable those who engage in bribery and other corrupt practices, chinese have no such law so we know that corruption is a serious issue here and congolese are not getting anywhere near what they should be getting for what they give to china in exchange for those roads and bridges so we need to do more trying to ensure that our i would say our friends and allies who are truly democracies with Something Like before and practices cell but especially the United States. One final question, while finished with this c. If i can interrupt, i apologize. Thank you for yielding. The first thing we can do is tell the world the chinese are exploiting their people and again, i dont have a problem with chinese corporate entities but they are leasing is a great word. Weve had several hearings on that kind of corruption and that really exploitation of African Resources on their way to donna and many countries. Unfortunately, that doesnt get covered by the press. We hold these read hearings, we get bills passed and its not even on page 15weve got to do it anyway because we got to do it right but i think my friends for raising that. My question n would be , in 2017 you had a hahumanitarian plan, its now running through this year at 42 if the needs assessment, is it accurate . Do we have confidence that they had a handle on what needed to be done humidity needs . Death, mortality on things like hunger and illnesses . And secondly, what does a near six percent underfunding of you and missions, humanitarian the mean to women and children in vulnerable populations . Picture chairman, we always have some involvement when the un is doing their assessments. Were engaged with validated80. By the same token, we look at the assessments with a critical eye. Based on our knowledge of the situation and the ground. And the reality is that often the requirements are much higher than what we all together and me. So it means that we always have to prioritize and thats what we are constantly doing is prioritizing and looking at what we can provide, what is the highest eepriority is going to make the most difference. The United States will always be there. For people in need. Our iresources are not unlimited. So its very important for us to prioritize and thats why or its important for us to have a good assessment of what the situation is on the ground. I would point out that i had hearings about the mass exodus of people in the middle east and once they got to refugee camps, usually in the offices of the un cr, they found was they were there that the worldview program which other allocations, it rightly was an order of magnitude of 40 percent of what the un assessment was. Thats why they uprooted and left flocking into europe and elsewhere. No education opportunities, certainly there wasnt enough food, clothing and shelter to make it a legitimate deed so for the International Community to go cheap on refugees and it fees, its a very bad bargain. First and foremost, but secondly because theyre going to move somewhere else, they have to. You again or your great leadership and for your testimony today. Just real quick if i could comment, i will make one comment from what stafford said the point is that i dont want to play defense, i want to play offense and we need to get more American Companies and how do we encourage American Companies in the areas of Risk Insurance and financingand other supports. Our embassy is supporting 100 percent and were looking at ways and means so we need to do that. Thank you. Id like to welcome our second panel beginning with h mister dizolele who is an independent journalist, veteran of the United States marine corps, mister dizolele was at the Polster Center on crisis reporting and covered the 2006 collections in the democratic republic of the congo. He produced condos buddy conte, a documentary report on the relationship between the condo conflict and the scramble for mineral resources. He served as an Election Monitor with the Carter Center in 2006 and again in 2011. He was embedded in the un peacekeepers and the congo district as a reporter, testified before various subcommittees with both chambers and we welcome here today. Were going to hear from mister fred bauma who is with an organization, the american acronym or name is the struggle for change. This nonviolent, nonpartisan study group was founded in june 2012 and the capital of the nrc. Moving the campaign for social justice into the drc, he encourages congolese citizens to push forward with respect or human rights. Mister bauma was arrested in 2015 and released, he currently resides in the United States. We will then hear from 17 autesserre who is a professor of Political Science and african studies. And at columbia university, she works on civil wars, keeping peace and humanitarian aid. Professor autesserre, the latest Research Project was a Successful International contribution bottomup peacekeeping. Earlier Research Projects focus on violence and International Intervention in the eastern part of the democratic republic of the congo where she traveled v regularly since 2001. Her fieldwork is analysis cultivated in trouble with condo, local violence and the failure of International Peace building. Published by Cambridge University press in 2010. Then we will hear from either sawyer, who is the africa director for human rights watch. Shes in Congress Since january 2008. Into 2011 and in the capital. In august 2016, sshe continued her work in the country. Following a series of human rights publications on political repression. She is now based in brussels where she oversees and rights watch working condo, rwanda and baroody. Miss sawyer has conducted research in areas of northern congo and in neighboring countries afflicted by the Resistance Army and her research has been integral to numerous human rights reports and has informed the world about whats been going on. Mister dizolele, if you could begin. Thank you mister chairman. Thank you for the invitation and im honored to testify before you. Mister chairman, Ranking Member bass and the thing with members. The views expressed today are mine and my own. With your permission i would like to submit a remark for the record. Over the years i proudly provided my analysis for comments to certain subcommittees in both chambers of congress. Today, however i beg your indulgence. I do not wish to speak as an academic, a lawyer, a journalist analyst. I want to speak as a human being. I would love to speak plainly, no diplomatic jargon. In other words, what i want to say, the responsibility for the suffering of the congolese people rest with one man. Joseph kabila. The way he shares with his associates and families. Over the last 16 years, the group has captured with total impunity at the expense of the people. A series of reports including those from the Carter Center, panama papers, beluga papers, paradise papers, and the condo Research Group have documented and exposed why and which extends drcs Financial Resources s are donating billions of dollars to benefit a small group. The kabila regime has been characterized by three things. Looting, plunder and deadly violence. They have cultivated this for too long. It is time for a new leadership. Again, kabila must go. His biography is a cinderella story with a bloodied twist. Having grown in outside condo showed up in congo for the first time at the age of 26 during the war. And eventually vanquish the late president. When he saw 2they took over a year later, he appointed him chief ofstaff of the armed forces. 40 years later, his father was assassinated, and Joseph Kabila becamepresident. The congolese approved , the International Community fully embraced him. With total diplomatic financial support. Donors, had a number of projects to help kabila when the war from his father, including the transition, the constitutional referendum and fa the 2006 election. Undersecurity , the world raised the largest peacekeeping force or peacekeeping mission tohelp kabila. The world bank remitted the debt of about 13 billion and again to start the new economy and then the World Bank Also wrote a new mining code and eventually kabila would use that mining code to trade his power for financial and political gain. So we were determining in the world that this is his success and nothing could derail what he started. And even arrested his main opponent to get him out of the way so that that could be there. Unfortunately, he did not rest. He himself out to undermine the political gain and democratic gain of the country. Despite the legitimacy that he achieved, he wanted to sp change the constitution, eventually leaving the country in 2011 in a highly contested election. So despite the goodwill , kabila has not succeeded. The country has gone from crisis to crisis. When we confront kabila and his associates about his abysmal record, you can particularly blame everyone and everything from the weather to political position, rwanda, uganda, the United States and even the militias. Everybody except themselves. Nobody ever takes responsibility for actions in the rc and the government thinks defies anyone and nobody ever resigned. So even by the standards of functional space. In this regime stands alone in mediocrity. He has caso unpopular that he cannot see his fellow citizens and explain why he should stay in power. Every time he has made an attempt to stay longer, he has faced resistance from the population. His government has defied an attempt to organize the elections. His action has only emboldened the congolese. So i believe that we should not be as a government opposed today, blissfully nacve about the decision that we will be holding in the elections next year. By december. They can stand for itself, its been 16 years. I dont have to go further into this. But i want to say that internally, kabila has no good options. Hes tried everything except respect for the constitution, the International Community has helped him be felt. The only option he has is to rely on military force and weve already seen toomuch of that so at this point , he is illegitimate and unconstitutional president which he is. They are already referring to him as a former president. Outside the drc, kabila and his associates are spending money efto fend off the pressure. They are massacring the key Medication Systems and his early friends represent interest in washington dc, over 6 million. This is in a country where Civil Servants nurses and doctors are on strike because they are not being paid. Yet the government is spending over six Million Dollars in lobbying efforts. Kabilas mandate expires and we give him another year, that way its up to anybody can accept. It is unacceptable, kabila must go. The longer these days in office, the greater the risk for violence and instability. My recommendation excuse me, this body and the government of the United States should impose sanctions onkabila and his family. Has been imposing sanctions on people irrelevant. Journalists, ministers of information, that wont work. Kabila is the obstacle and he should be held accountable. Weve spoken tokabila for a long time at the highest levels of government. President obama , secretary clinton , senator feingold both engaged kabila with more than they would have wished for and he has not attested. We should impose sanctions with the head of the independent national commission. He is posing an even greater risk for stability. Many of you have met him. Heis convinced that what he is saying makes sense. But most of his time it is nonsensical. In fact, he has retained a lobbying firm in washington dc with 30,500. We would present him, he had an Electoral Commission with an llc representing the National Election commission for a fee of 25,000. This is a red flag. A message here is that the Electoral Commission and president care more about the Us Government while showing utter contempt for his opinion. While the congolese position to update them on the electoral process is spending millions of taxpayer dollars hoping the us and in congo on frequent travels and on expensive efforts in washington dc. This again is unacceptable. none got should be held accountable and put on a section list. The us congress has been Holding Hearings with the drc for years to limit effects on the ground. I feel that we are all accomplices and unless we act, these hearings will remain under discussion. Your subcommittee has been considering legislation for six months. Now is the time to show resolve and roll out the legislation forcefully and much more stronger. I think i will stop here and wait for two and a, thank you very much. Thank you. I was reading your bio and i think that you probably speak more languages than the rest of the room combined which is unusual for a marine and i was an army guy. Without objection, the full remarks of all witnesses will be entered into the record but thank you for that. We have votes coming up relatively quickly and i want to get everyonestestimony in if we can so i would ask you to continue and mister bauma, we welcome your comments. Ranking member, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to speak about my country the drc. I hope to share some insight. On monday, october 5, generalb and john Lindsay Conti and name rwanda and mbele, all under 20 years old were shot by police and the military. Those indiscretions were called by the Coalition Including movement lucia. The aim of these demonstrations was to cause kabila to resign and create consequences for his failure to organize elections. It should concern the United States that this violence cracking down on Peaceful Protesters took place within the week after Ambassador Nikki Haley visited the United Nations. Violence and oppression of the colleagues for free and Fair Elections have kabila willing to show contempt for congressionally mandated term limits and have become obvious. I have personally experienced this repression and when i stand over a month in jail, exercising my right but my story, that is not unit. Since september 2015, almost 150 demonstrators have been killed while 100 more have been arrested or kidnapped by Security Forces and many of them remain in jail. Government officials including many heads of police in some cities have been critical to some other name like bonomo the. The group deployed to direct and sometimes arbitrary arrests as a member of the opposition. His group has been responsible for severe Human Rights Violations inmany places in the drc and we are working with the congolese. At the same time, journalists and Media Outlets are shut down, according to a new report by an independent watchdog, the congolese government and Security Forces are responsible or over 83 percent of attacks against the media over last year. Then while affecting reflection, congolese people are the most threatened the same message. The need for a peaceful transition by the end of this year by the court agreement. There political repression is a part of the overall human rights enterprise that affects millions of congolese people. Over 4. 5 million persons including 1. 5 million in the entire region were in international adjuncts have committed more than 30,000 refugees to angola and over 500, 5000 civilians schools destroyed. And the congo, the region of time and he got has been the cause of massacres and intercriminal violence. This repression is linked to the coast proprieties conducted by kabila and leaving his organize elections and his attempts to overstate his power and the same cosponsors of the government. This agreement the government one additional year to organize elections and see conditions for transitions of power. The political intensity is causing trouble and may undermine the peace and security in not only the drc but most of the region. While poverty and misery are increasing significantly and the country is collapsing and the economy is collapsing, president kabila and his family are known to have achieving high means. According to reports, his organization including the Group Witness , and more recently he state parks, Mister Kabila is in the military entourage has been involved in massive looting of Natural Resources, corruption, Money Laundering and eventually implicated terrorist groups. These activities include some individuals and companies in the us citizens and us Financial System that the u. S. Treasury would target. By choosing to respect the constitution and their opposition of Political Parties, it should be conducting in good faith, Joseph Kabila as undermine trust and credibility necessary for any dialogue. On the path of kabila is so blatant that it would be a total waste of time to push for yet another round of sanctions between kabila and his opposition. Now there are few less dialogues to no longer be considered asthe only path for sustainable solutions. Further, this government has almost certainly showed again and again that its a delayed exit. And then to compromise, to divert attention from the fact that the government has no intention of organizing elections would remove him from power. This subject is the best way to ensure that the election will not be held and that if and when they are, they will be rust in the manner that they will never be free or fair. This is a dangerous path for the congo and one that i hope the us will also want to avoid. The only tenable solution lies in the row removal of kabila from the office and his replacement by respected civilians or teams organize the election. We the people of drc are not seeking for pity or charity from the us. We are seeking the support in ourefforts. We apply once again under a dictatorship. We are prepared to seek cost for all peaceful means by a president who has violated the rule of law to defend our constitution. There are steps the Us Government can take for election and democratic transition and we have a peaceful transfer of power. The us people should directly target kabila and his inner circle, responsible for Human Rights Violations, Money Laundering and political and electoral position. The us should require the un any kind of support for Congolese Security services along with army and police. For our main perpetrators of Human Rights Violations. Any unconditional support to minus go to the army or the police came to support institutions responsible for massive atrocities in the Human Rights Violations. The Us Government should work with the Un Security Council to make mandates more effective and precise, allowing it to protect civilians from any form of danger including the one from the Us Governmental officials. The un should stop without any ambiguity that they will not pass any electoral projects, that would not end in free and Fair Elections organize in a truly independent commission. With a credible resistance and in an environment where all governments are free to organize and conduct campaign and have access in a including public measures and where a Civil Society has a voice, where the military are free and independent. None of this criteria are met by the congolese government. Finally, the us and International Partners particularly African Union should force kabila to resign and petition for a new deal to vacate the office by the end of the year. Any support of kabila should aim to affect his resignation so that he will return to conditional order. Chairman, members of the committee. I hope that this committee and the us is in understand our hunger for peace, for liberty, for dignity and for happiness. I hope that you understand as edid the us congress that whenever any form of government becomes constructive to end, as it is drc. Not only is the most suffered rights of the people to abolish its indispensable duty, thank you. We do have a vote on the floor. Hr 2201, a micro offering. We will tell you a brief recess subject to the call of the chair and will reconvene our hearing. I apologize. Thank you so much. Thankyou member bath and the members of the committee for organizing this hearing. Name is christina always got, a profit of Political Science at barnard college. Over the past two years, these politicians have focused mostly on the he political price of elections and of thestruggle for power. We are still preoccupied with the upcoming elections. Because we are diverting our attention away from the many other issues that are causing violence in condo. And we are wasting the opportunity that of these other issues. Based on 18 years of research including several year working in the congo, i believe and i will show you in my statement that there is a better way to help resolve the conflict. Congress should revise its approach