Thank you so much chairman, smith, Ranking Members for organizing this hearing and for inviting me. Im a researcher and officer of Political Science at columbia university. Over the past two years dip mats, politicians have focused mostly on the political crisis around general elections and on the struggle for power. Were so preoccupied with the up coming elections that were diverting our attention awae from the many other issues that are causing violence in congo. And were wasting the opportunity to tackle these issues. Based on peace building and several years of working in congo, i believe and i will show you in my state, theres a better way to help revise these conflicts. There are many other caws of violence beyond the electoral political issue. And by acknowledging democracy and peace do not always go together. The two most important measures congress can take are to increase the United States support to peace building and to put local actors in the drivers seat. The delay of Holding Elections is only one of the many issues that fuel the violence going on in congo. And importantly local conflicts at the village and district level also fuel extensive violence. So to be clear, yes national and International Leaders regularly manipulate local armed groups including for electoral purposes. But at the same time local combatants usual national and regional tensions as a way to pursue their own specific local goals. So for instance rely on foreign leaders to regularly get our land. And the words in addition to are very important. Im not saying that we should replace the current centered election focused strategies with local peace building measures. What i am say we should add local peace building to the setup options we currently use to resolve the congolese conflicts. We should also recognize that democracy and peace do not always go together. And in fact the push towards rapid elections has fueled violence in many other war and postwar environments. So of course president kabila should go. And of course congolese people deserve elections and democracy. But in the short term there may be two goals to make, democracy and peace. And foreign dip mats should not be the one to make this choice. Ordinary congolese people should. And local people have relevant skills, capacity, contacts and means to resolve their own predicaments than we usually believe, and more than national, international and other lectures would have. You see that local ordinary citizens have managed to create literal islands of peace. Others have decreased tensions in a jury. And others have created wide democratic movements at a wide groups. The usual international approach is to ignore these local initiatives. Instead we should support, fund and protect these local initiatives so that we reinforce them. And i published a book on how to do that. The book is called peaceland. To summarize in one sentence we need to build expertise. And we need to build in the design of local efforts but also on local leaders, intended beneficiaries and ordinary citizens. So to wrap up, we can have congo establish sustainable peace and democracy, but to do that we have to look beyond elections and also support the other peace building priorities. We also have to build much more on the expertise and the capacity of congolese people, ordinary congolese people and to support peace building more much. Thank you so much for your testimony. Chairman smith, Ranking Member bass, members of the submit committee, thank you for the invitation to testify. I appreciate your ongoing and bipartisan interest in the republic of congo. He has used one contrivance after another to delay elections while plunging the country in a a web of security, Economic Crises that have devastating consequences for the people at risk to the stabilization of the region. In nikki haleys recent visit to congo, she press congo to held an election in 2018. Clearly they published a new calendar setting december 23, 2018 for elections. It shows the considerable influence the u. S. Government continues to have. Haleys visit and strong message signaled High Movement in congo. It showed congolese officials that the Trump Administration is also watching very closely. Yet at the same time the message that elections only need to be held before the end of 2018 was seen by many congolese as giving him a free pass to continue tactics and stay in power another year. Congolese officials have blatantly disregarded previous election calendars while kabilas coalition have largely disregarded the agreements signed last year. He should step down this year. By unilaterally extending the time frame, the u. S. Uses credibility with key actors in congo. Yet if the u. S. Is willing to use influence now, it could rebuild the loss of any legitimacy. When that deadline passed u. S. Officials pressed kabila to organize elections by the end of 2017. Since then kabila instead entrenched his hold on power through corruption. Officers went so far as to implement a strategy of chaos through orchestrated violence especially in the southern kasai region. More than 90 mass graves are scattered across the region. 600 schools have been attacked or destroyed and 1. 4 Million People displaced from their homes including 30,000 who fled from their home in angola. Michael j. Sharp, an american from kansas and a swedish shilayen citizen were killed while investigating violence in the region. Predictably government and officials have said at the violence in kasai is one of the main reasons it said elections have not been held this year. The millions of dollars in mining revenue that have gone missing. Such corruption have helped lead the government bereft to funds. Hundreds went on strikes in recent months, including hospital workers who hadnt been paid since 2016. Meanwhile brutal repression has continued unabated as fred described. Security forces shot dead more than 170 people in protests in 2015 and 16. Skurg forces killed five people including an 11yearold boy. Hundreds of leaders and activists have been jailed. In july an armed man shot and nearly killed a judge who refused to hand down a ruling against an opposition leader. These action are at the very heart how kabila and his codary seek to eliminate any opposition to his efforts to hold onto power. More protests are planned in the coming weeks. Citizens rights, human rights movements and opposition leaders have theyve urged the congolese people to mobilize. Theyve proposed a citizens transition to allow for credible elections. There is a real rick of increased violence in the coming months ach months. As things now stand the u. S. Including congress cannot afford to take its eyes off. Kabila has given no clear signals that he intends to leave power although repression, violence and corruption have become so pervasive across institutions and Security Forces that it is nearly impossible to imagine credible Peaceful Elections being organized with kabila is still president. While theres no easy path forward a citizens transition without kabila is probably the best way to ensure good elections. To get there the u. S. Should work closely with international and regional partners to ensure kabilas step down. And make sure kabilas physical concer concerns are actively addressed and support a postkabila transition. We also urge the u. S. To support the following. Previous sanctions against Senior Security force and Government Officials have had an impact and appear to have helped change the behavior and affect the calculus of some top officials. Yet additional sanctions are needed to show kabila himself that there are real consequences for the ongoing violence and election delays. Call for the Immediate Release of all Political Prisoners and all politically motivated chargers against militia leaders and activists to be dropped. We also hope you will continue to press for an independent investigation into the murders of the u. N. Experts sharp and and to help ensure those responsible are held to account. A failure to do so would send a message those responsible for such a heinous crime can escape justice risking future lives not only in congo but across the world where the u. S. And the u. N. Has deployed experts. The u. S. Can help prevent more bloodshed, but time is running out. Stronger actions are needed to demonstrate the u. S. Is on the side of the congolese people for a selfrespecting and rights accounting government. Thank you. Can i just ask a few opening questions. The imsition of sanctions now is something you clearly have indicated and of course imin hi testimony as well the doctor made a very strong real. In fact the first sanction is to impose one on Joseph Kabila and his family. I know theyre concerned about ocourse, they hope it doesnt come to it, but my sense from your testimony it should be done now. Ive been on this panel since the early 80s, when we voted on sanctions against africa which i supported. The aparthide was an abom nngz, there was always the concern the impact would have on intended victims who would get hurt by those baud based sanctions. When we did the democracy act in 2004, the whole idea was to single out the bad actors starting often with the president , in that case it was luther shanko, the president of that country and his henchman and people who were benefitting. And we put visa bans on them, and we also said you cant do business here. And i was the house sponsor of the magnitsky act here. And it became amendment, became law and a very useful tool. Im glad we have it, but the tool needs to be utilized. So the big question is not if will be done, and we have legislation im going to beal introducing joined by my good friend karen bass that allows the administration to do just that. Delay is denial. Unless we see very significant progress this is going to happen hopefully it would have happened sooner. December 28th is unconsciousinably long. Wait another year. So i just want to ask all of you up front if theres any down side to doing it now. Nikki haley said yesterday we would not provide funding for the election if there were problem wheres, if it was delayed again. And that perhaps could unwittingly incentivize kabila to say, okay, im out of here, im going to stay president for life. Of course the wrath of sanctions from the usa and others would come tumbling down upon him. That would be the hope. So i hope we fully understand consequences. I think sanctions are needed. If you dont use them, it becomes something in the toolbox that dictators and people who want to be president s for life turn around and say no worry here, theres not going to be a sanction now or into the the future. So i think they need to be used very crudely and very effectively. And again as you said professor dizalele, you want it now. I think it would be good to get it very clear should this be done today. Yes . Thank you, mr. Chairman. Two things really. I think now is the time of imposing these sanctions. In fact its long overdue. Sanctions should have been in place or the threat of sanctions should have been in place in 2016 in january because all the signs had been there. Were talking here about targeted sanctions to one specific group of people. Were not saying the entire country of drc should be under embargo from the u. S. This has worked in the past. The president in his last days before faced similar situations. So back then the u. S. Laid the charge along with the europeans, sanctions were imposed on him. He had been a Strategic Partner of this country, and we see that the legion of merit, one of the highest honors that the legion can bestow on a u. S. Officer, kwh the time let go, he did let go. We put sanction on him, his assets, on his children. One of his sons was studying in canada. Canada denied him visa. He could not go back to study. It was very effective in that way. His associate faced the same situation. Today if we are blissfully naive to accept that kabila will hold elections in december of next year, then weve not learned anything over the last 16 years, and the joke is on us. By that i mean kabila only understands the language of force. His people have said so so many times. They say that we come to force, if you want us to live, we only live to force. One force is to sanction. Again, its target specifically them. The children go to school here. They come to your offices with expensive suits and expensive ba ba bags to tell you why they should stay. We should not be catering to them. The idea that if they do not act a certain way the International Community will not engage, thats music to the their ear. Thats a perfect scenario. Nobody gets involved, let me play the field the way i want. So we should avoid actually aligning ourself behind that position. Its a very weak position from kabilas perspective. Thank you very much, sir. Id like to add something to what hes saying. I think the problem of drc is not only the group kabila and the democratic system running, its not only seeking power for the sake of power. I think its the way for them to get rich, to get access to resources and to use them in different ways. And i think the other things that the assembling resources are used to oppress people. And the recent Research Shows that for example, that they had paid over i think 750 million to the system, which could have been enough to organize election. The election is very expensive. So i think sanctions should be applied and applied now. And those sanctions the fact is that the inner circle of kabila is made of people who all of them are businessmen. Theyre officials, the people, his family, all of them are very deep in Mineral Resources or any kind of business. So i think the efficient way is not only to target them in the way of banning or Something Like that, but being able to touch their resources where they can really feel it. And if they can stay in power but without protecting their financial assets, i think the interest of staying in power will lose its sense. So i think its important to target them now and important to target them where its valuable, where its important to touch. Not only a general target. Thank you, chairman. Im going to add two points. The first one is if sanctions are used, they should really be used as part of a much broader part of programs. Sanctions may help. Its not 100 sure, but it may help. But clearly it wont be enough. So it should really getowards way support of peace building, for human rights and for basically what they were saying the human rights and political side of human rights and elections. The other point is that sanctions should not only be linked to the electoral issue or to the fact those in power are going to leave power but also to the broader problems. Meaning they should be to the respect of human rights and to an end to Human Rights Violations and to an end to violence as well. This is really important. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I fully agree that targeted sanctions should be applied now. We should not wait any longer. The fact that a calendar was announced does thought mean were necessarily having elections. And weve seen repression, the ihavance lns and massive human rights issues unabated. Targeted sanctions is a very clear tool that you have available to send that signal. Weve also seen how the targeted sanctions, which have already been applied have had an impact. Theyve rattled the political class, the Senior Security force officers. These are individuals who travel regularly to europe, to the United States. They do their shopping abroad, their medical appointments abroad. Many of them haveoms overseas, their children study in the u. S. Or europe. They have Bank Accounts in the u. S. Today. They are personally targeted by these sanctions. And they come to us today asking what can they do to avoid being on the list or what can they do to get off the list. So it already has an impact. But kabilas family members and Close Associates havent been affiliated so i think now is the time to go up and show kabila the consequences are real. I just want to point out the president has this authority. Its very clear, and compelling. Were rewriting the bill that the president of the executive order number 13671 shall impose the sanctions in 60 days against any high level individuals responsible for undermining democratic processes in the interest of the drc, the gulf Shore Companies and complicit family members and associates shall be imposed also imposed sanctions in our bill, wave got a draft now were working on. And it goes on from there. Were going to be looking for bold and demonstratives because talk is cheap. Luther shanko has released the Political Prisoners over the years. And there may be one left, two, were not sure. But the point is sanctions work but they have to be applied. So let me ask a question to sort of start with you, i asked the previous panel, obviously the two distinguished witnesses from the administration and spoke to issue of the 3. 8 million and there may be other estimates of the internally displaced which is catastrophic displacement but certainly 3. 8 million displaced. There are refugees in their own borders. The acute number has reached 7. 7 million. Again, those are acute numbers for that. But that means hunger, famine, low birthrate babies, stunting and the most delitary affects on the most Vulnerable Women and children. You pointed out that 5,000 people have been killed in the kasai region. 600 schools as you testified, 1. 5 million displaced from their homes and those displaced from their homes in angola. You make a very important point. Officials have cited the violence as one of the main excuses as why elections were not held in 2017. Seemingly and maybe you can speak to this, inciting the cruse of violence, which means using martial law to kill people in the streets. And maybe you can speak to that. And that is perverse outcome. Rather than getting to the election its 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. We have introduced numerous Security Officers in congo who have told about a deliberate strategy of chaos. So effectively orchestrating violence by either Security Forces or government backed militias insigating local conflicts to create more violence. And with the humanitarian violence like we saw in kasai. We cant deal with Voter Registration in kasai because were dealing with this terror threat. We see also in the east theres armed militias there. And southwestern congo reports of manipulation of the religious sect possibly to create violence and delay elections. So its perverse, and there is no sign we have seen of any intention by the part of kabila to organize elections and step down. Would the other point to the deliberate strategy of chaos fomented by the government . In fact, mr. Chairman, this is one of my greatest fears in terms of delaying until 2018. Because what happened in kasai is obviously part of this larger strategy of chaos. If we were to wait until 2018 ill willing to bet on my honor well see more flash zones and points of conflict in the next three months, may be longer. We dont know with theyre going to pop up, but its likely to happen. Going from crisis to crisis is one of the favorite pastimes of the kabila regime. In fact a good friend of mine who used to work in the system liked to say the boss is a specialist in rotten situations. In other words, they like these kind of situations. So waiting until 2018 will pose a serious risk for this. Thank you. I think in term of violence, the strategy. People like to focus on kasai because of course it was the main region there was a loss of balance. But i think now there are other regions where balance is once again used as a strategy. I feel like the focus on kasai has at least made the Government Official feel like its becoming a lot of pressure on them. And now we see that the violence will start again after almost one year of stability. We see that in ovila. Without the help novila would have been under the control of some group. And some of them have worked with the government in the past. We see that in other cities. So i think the strategy of violence works very well in drc. And i will not be astonished to see that in january or february or in april another region, another kasai is created somewhere and be used as a reason to postpone the election once again. Ask i have to say that there is always be a reason that seems to be a good reason to postpone the election. Last year it was we had an agreement, now we will have election at the end of the year. Everybodys okay. Today we have a calendar, we can have election next year. Next year we will have some other reason, and the u. S. And other countries will say, well, we can support election for 2019. And unless we understand that this all these are tactics for delayed election, we will never have elections. We have to understand what kabila and his government want really, and they will never organize the election that will end up moving him from power. They will organize violence and other kind of enterprises but not election. To emphasize something that he said, i think its really important to keep in mind yes you have manipulation of violence and instigation of violence linked to the electoral issues. But a lot of the iviolence is also unrelated. You also have local conflicts of traditional power, of whos going to be the highest ranked individual or maybe ethnic group in a specific area. And these sometimes relate to the electoral issue and sometimes it doesnt. So when were thinking about ending the humanitarian crisis you described and ending the violence, we have to focus, yes, on the electoral issue but also on all these other issues at the same time. You talked about the biggest take away from your own book, which i think was to bottom line it so well, i think is really helpful to the subcommittee. To build on local expertise. I think there is an underestimation, and i think you have really eloquently spoke to that. That local expertise is excluded by design or by just inability to appreciate what is available. Is usaid tapping into the that local expertise, and secondly and all of you myth want to speak to this as well, the role of the catholic community, the contactlic church not just in elections and super vision of humanitarian aide which is important, faith based entities do provide shafood, shelters, medicines. They often really get an army of volunteers mobilized, which is one of their assets. But if you could speak to that. And while youre answering it, the role of the church in elections, you might recall i asked the earlier panel in making sure that violence gets tamped down. Hopefully eliminated while they move towards a credible free and fair relation. Thank you so much chairman smith. I think regarding the usaid idea theyre doing better than they were ten years ago in terms of tapping into local capacity, but its still not enough. We know whats best people and were trying to help. We know whats best for people in congo and other parts of the world. Therefore we design programs here in d. C. And then when we involve congolese people its going oo be on the stage of implementation. So people on the ground in congo will only have to do things that is that because other ngos dont have the capacity to write those proposals or the Ngo Community 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 its most nongovernmental International Organization so the systemic problem throughout the whole humanitarian response. Exactly. We think outsiders know better and the way is to build on outsiders knowledge. Look at whos sitting next to me. There is local capacity. There are people who have the knowledge, the expertise and could design the international programs. Its just that the Standard Operating Procedure is not to ask them. And its to decide things by ourselves here in National Capitals and then go in the country and implement them on the grund. As to the role of the church, its very difficult i think to talk about the Catholic Church in general in congo. Because to me ive seen members including bishops, high Ranking Members actually fuel violence, have courses that are full of violence and hatred against a specific community. Ive seen that in oneonone meetings with these people. And that also means priests who are in a village of nowhere and who are the main reason you have peace in that village or why you have some response to that humanitarian response in that village. So i think we have to be responsible and not think about the contactlic church as a whole entity but really to think of specific individuals within the Catholic Church, all the individuals that want to support or whether theyre going the kind of people we should actually be staying clear of. On that point and it is my experience that the church plays a very decisive peace making role. If you have names of people who are doing something contrary to that, i would ask that you provide that to committee. I remember going back to it very old days of el salvador when there was silver war with the duterte government, i traveled down there and it was the church doing human rights work that provided a bridge between two groups that had nothing in common. Because thats a very serious charge if thats true. We work with a number of bishops throughout all of africa. And in my experience and i do meet with them every time i travel. And in essence its not catholic, the other wonderful faiths that are out there, muslim and christian alike who are playing very positive roles. So any names you have, please provide that for us. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I just want to nuance a couple of points. The congolese want a change. They want a couple of things. One is to respect the rule of law. They good in the referendum in 2005 to have this constitution. So they are not idealists who believe once this person leaves, kabila, itll become a paradise. But what they want is to respect the sacrifices of these people who fought for this change so that the president steps down and let the congolese men and women emerge and take it to the next level. All the problems that the doctor mentioned, an extension of the failed regimes that is leading the country. So the hope is that as a new regime, a new leadership comes in, some of those key issues of provision of Services Including security and health and communication and others will be addressed with new leadership. So thats what people are fighting for. In that case the election becomes very critical. In other words, well never get there to start if we are always going around and e around. Weve spent weve wasted 16 years. I mean the generation the kids were born and now at university. Fred was 10 years old when we fled 7. So the young man here was 7 years old when he fled, and now hes speaking for his country and were still talking about the same thing. So this is the time thats very decisive to cut that lot. And thats the importance of this transition become a reality as soon as possible. Thank you very much. If youd like. I would like to add to what he said, the beginning about the local capacities and the peace building. And one thing is that i think the way some expert or experts come with their solution and the way they understand for example peace and stability is like the minimum level of it, thats congolese people cannot anticipate. For example, when the u. N. Talks about peace its like if we can live in the city of where we will not have trouble within a week, its good enough. And for people who lived in a conflict, in the violence for a very long period, there is some low standard of peace that we will not accept anymore. And we are not looking for something minimal. We are looking for something that may be sustainable. And i think congolese people, we have some solutions to our own problem. And i think it may be the best way may be to work on the solution that congolese people are suggesting to their own problem. And instead of bringing some important solution, which is work in offices in d. C. Or u. S. Or ngos and where local actors will just have the road to implement them i think there are so many groups, small groups maybe less known who have very creative ways to address conflict, to mobilize communities, organize communities in their region that needs attention for usaid and other u. S. Based groups. And its important to listen to them, to understand how they do it and to support them instead of coming and give them what they should have done while they are the one who knows what they want. And what he said about election is just true. There are so many crisis in drc. But i think in time, and this is what i say, that minimum peace we will not accept anymore, the fact of saying, well, we have to make sure theres a kind of stable country and then small prevent, small prevent. But the root causes seems to be related on the problem of leadership in the country. And i think the election is just one way to do it. But its the fast way to do it. I think in the longterm process the process of creating another kind of citizenship, citizen is the main point. I think the election we understand the points where we stopped, to build a different country, a different system. For example, we believe its that we will make all possible to have peaceful transition, but we are sure that the process will take so long the process of having democracy in the country as we would like to see it would take so long. And we continue to work on it and to make sure then the next president well be able to hold him accountable and the next one. And we will oppose to any other prewho will do the same thing as kabila. So the election is not as simple. But its a key point. Its something which has to happen in order to see the future as we would like to see it. Let me ask with regards to u. N. Issues, your assessment of the u. N. Peacekeeping deployment, minusko, are the rules of engagement good enough, or is there need for more . Ambassador hail ayesterday made an important point about how women be much more included in those deployments particularly since Sexual Violence is so rampant. And on the zerotolerance policy for trafficking, again ive had four hearings on congo and previous terrible exploitations by peace keepers of Young Children and women, which was just i mean we went there, we argued with them, wept to goma as i said before. And right now were thinking of putting together another trip to go back to congo hopefully if not this year early next year to talk about the myriad of issues. And your thoughts on those things. And the second thing if you dont mind jotting down your answer, i mentioned ural the assessment done by the u. N. For how much humanitarian need was. I asked did they have confidence in those assessments and i my sense is that they. They may be a little bit low ball, high ball, who know. But its kind of magnitude correct. And finally last congress i was the house sponsor of the global Food Security act, which was signed into law. And that legislation largely drafted by pr totesy sitting to my right, our General Council and greg simpkens was an important focus on really faking sure that the food and security systemic problem especially in africa is addressed aggressively. It also put an emphasis from the first thousand days from conception to the birthday. Drc has signed from the program for the first 1,000 days, which is in my opinion the most Transformative Program ever, ever put together. If you ensure that from the moment of section to the second birthday both mother and child have food and supplementation it mitigates mortality and morbidity as well as Child Mortality and morbidity. And neonatal deaths which are rampant through africa are lessened as well. Including the original but most recent autism cares act in 2012. One of the biggest takeaways from the nrha project that when a woman gets folic acid in the first month of her pregnancy the incidence of autism drives by 40 . That is absolutely radically revolutionary in terms of every woman of childbearing age should have folic acid to lessen this growing pandemic in the world. In america 1 of every 68 on the spectrum of autism in the world its very similar, as far as they can tell though the studies have not been as robust. But we are there are 70 Million People in the world on the spectrum for autism. And in africa were talking about tens and millions, quoteunquote. So approximately 100 Million People well have huge numbers of children suffering, parents, no other intervention, no other processes that helps those children. Folic acid, first 1,000 days is just one of a number of initiatives that could make all the difference in the world in the life of a child and mother. Obviously we all know one of the greatest answers for that is to have a venue where the woman gets skilled birth attendance and access to safe blood, which another issue. My own daughterinlaw when she had one of our grandsons had a very serious problem with hemorrhaging in a princeton hospital, and they had had to go to other hospitals to get enough blood in her blood type. To assure those situations become catastrophic in a twinkling of an eye and a snap of a finger. I liked what you said on mr. Obama that the problems proceeding the election will tone after election. Again the u. N. Responses on those, i hope you jotted down some of those things. Is the u. N. Getting it right, are we doing what we can do on all these various issues . Okay, start from thank you, mr. Chairman. I will start by saying u. N. Peace keepers in congo do absolutely great job in protecting. And we cant imagine how bad it would be if minusko wasnt there to help protect the people, people go to the markets safely. So their presence is absolutely critical. And there is nothing happening on the ground now to indicate that we should start cutting back munusko or that their presence again, my suggestion wouldnt be to cut back but on sizing and the rules of engagement. I want to start by saying theyre that critical, but they could do more to make their presence much more effective. Their rules of engagement, their mandate is very strong, but its often not the same across the board how thats implemented. And different trip contributing countries will interpret their rules of engagement in different ways. And i think we have a difficult contradiction within the peacekeeping mandate in that theyre there to protect civilians but also support the congolese government and Security Forces and theyre also conducting joint military options with these forces or supporting them against armed groups. But this is the most abusive force in the country that theyre supporting. So that is often a contradiction. There is is human rights where theyre not supposed to be providing support to soldiers who have records. They could cut support, so i think more could be done there. And regarding the political situation and political crisis i think much more could be done by munusko peace keepers to protect p protesters and deploy alongside profesters. And that could be a deternity to Congolese Security who have a tendency to fire on these peaceful protesters. On the zero policy for trafficking and Sexual Exploitation and abuse, i think wave seen some improvements in recent years on issues more quickly and more effectively. But there again, much more could be done. And a lot of that is also with the host the contributing countries. So back home, these trips need to be held accountable and there often isnt followup. And the u. N. Can do their investigation in congo. But back in the capital, from where these troops come from, there often isnt enough followup to ensure theyre held accountable in a court of law. So more could be done there. On the humanitarian aid and what the underfunding means for Vulnerable People, the consequences are huge. You have hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes. That means that theyre often not going to school. Children are out of school. They dont have the health care they need. They often dont have access to the food they need. That has all of the medical consequences. But its also a generation of kids who arent getting an education. That makes them more vulnerable to being recruited into armed groups and you see the vehicles of abuse continue. So it is critical that these humanitarian needs are addressed, and theyre enormous. If you could just, one final, on the u. N. Civilian personnel, you mentioned peacekeepers with zero tolerance. What is your tense on the u. N. Civilian personnel exploiting sexually exploiting others . First, i would just like to say this civilian among the civilian personnel, that the Human Rights Office is doing critical work in congo. The u. N. Human rights team is part of the mission, and theyre deployed across the country and theyre meeting with authorities, pressing for change. Its really i would say a model in congo from one of the best u. N. Human rights teams that are deployed around the world. And thats something that should continue. On their plift caolitical officy could be doing more to press the government to abide by their commitments, to put more pressure on the authorities. But that role is critical, and could be enhanced. For Sexual Exploitation and abuse by civilian peacekeepers, i dont have specific information on that. But i dont have information about particular concerns, either. Thank you. Doc . Thank you so much. Im going to second what she said regarding the presence of United Nations peacekeepers, which is absolutely essential. In many villages in eastern congo, the United Nations peacekeepers are the only people who are protecting the population from horrific human rights abuses by all kinds of armed groups. So its really, really important to keep them on site. Now, regarding whether the way theyre working, i think there are two ways that they should revise the approach. The idea is not to is to make it more effective. The first thing is that currently they use what i call the top donor approach. Meaning they are trying to resolve the conflict by working with the government, working on high level state reconstruction, au and all of these very abstract things, which is important. But theyre not focusing enough on supporting local bottom up initiatives, the kind of initiatives we mentioned. So they should do much more to support local peace building initiatives. Again, not arriving saying were going to arrive in that village and resolve conflict. We need to support the local actors who know how to resolve their problems. So thats the first thing. The second one is to put local actors in the drivers seat. Because the way the United Nations peacekeeping mission works, its like what were talking with the usaid. They decide at the u. N. Headquarters, in new york, in geneva, they decide how theyre going to resolve the congolese conflict. And by the time it reaches the congolese people, theyre just implementing strategies that have been decided elsewhere. And the decision doesnt even include a lot of people who have extensive country knowledge. People who have been involved in congolese conflicts for 15, 20 years. There are very few in Decision Making power. So we end up with strategies that are very well meaning but dont address the problems on the ground. So thats why i think we should really revise this way of working, and to build much more on the expertise, not only of local people, but also of people who know something about congo and who already are within the United Nations system. But because of the way Human Resources work at the u. N. , they end up working in sudan or in another part of the world. So well be building more on local capacity and on expertise. On your question regarding the consequences of humanitarian aid, i have a couple of statistics in my region statement that illustrate what that means. So its a United Nations it says that 77 of congolese citizens live on less than 2 per day. The Life Expectancy is less than 60 years. More than 42 of children under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition. And less than 25 of congolese people go further than Primary School in their studies. So it really means that if there is a way to increase the founding to the humanitarian support in congo and to the development, that would be absolutely essential. But at the same time we should keep in mind that humanitarian aid means addressing the consequences of the problems. And especially the consequences of the violence. We should also prioritize peace building so we address the causes of this enormous humanitarian crisis. Mr. Chairman, thank you. I agree with a lot of what has been said. The performance of the Human Rights Office, their presence being critical. But i also have a lot of issues. I think we need to reduce the u. N. Mandate and scope in time. This is part of the entire problem we have. The expectations and priorities are now perverted. The entire social contract is perverted. People expect things of the u. N. Opposed of their own government. They expect the security to be delivered by foreign troops that are just trying to survive themselves. And this underscores the failure of the regime over the last the u. S. Has poured in billions of dollars to support congo. And if we continue to think of the u. N. As part of the salvation, then were in deep trouble. Were going on 20 years of u. N. Presence in congo. And there is no military rising anywhere on the congolese side. Can i just ask you on that point yes, sir. You dont mind the interruption. Again, as those u. N. Figures suggest, 42 of the kids suffer malnutrition, People Living on 2 a day. Many of us would like to see aid as a bridge to the point of selfsufficiency, but the concern among many of us, certainly me, is pulling Vulnerable People off of life support. Your point is very well taken. This is what the government ought to be all about and they have failed miserably. But that said, how do you on the interim, almost like an ambulance coming to the rescue, an emt, making sure that you get to the point of surviving and then to the point of hopefully flourishing . Your point is well taken. I respect it. But i would be concerned that weve got to there needs to be this bridge of humanitarian assistance. So i believe, mr. Chairman, that the Human Rights Branch of the u. N. Should be fully funded and made stronger because of the condition were in. Specialized units of the u. N. , unicef, the food program, those are specialized u. N. Missions that play a tremendous role in congo and they need more support. But thats different from taking looking at the u. N. As munesco. If youre 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 buttress that. So our challenge is how do we buttress those programs, whether its the integration of women who have been raped, the support they need to follow up, and 17,000 troops that are serving as an extension of a failed system, which by the way 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. So we should not conflate the u. N. Presence with munesco. Because thats become a problem as well. Thank you very much. He made a very good point on the difference between the munesco and the other u. N. Agencies which are doing great job, like unicef. I would like to focus a little bit on munesco. I also think that in munesco, the Human Rights Bureau should receive a lot of fund to allow it to work properly. Because i think they are doing an amazing job. But the rest of munesco, although i have to recognize that the situation may have been worse if they werent there, but there is many things, there are many things that has to be questioned on how munesco is. And i think there is a lot of for example, there is a lot of units in munesco that, in my opinion, are not effective at all. Like we have and if you have the potential to travel in congo, and if you came in benny, it would be important to have the position of people on how they see the munesco and how they develop it. In some places in the region of benny, there was a lot of killings, not far from the munesco camp. And in many circumstances, the munesco, after a certain time, they cant go out i dont know if its their internal policy, but they although they have equipment, they have guns and they have all means to protect civilians, they are i dont know if its the problem, but i think they are ineffective. And especially some units, the nepalese or indian units are ineffective. I think it is very important, if munesco is to be maintained, to rethink how it is composed, what kind of troop it is composed, and what kind of specific mandate they have. We cant accept to have 20,000 troops that will not react and when people are killed or beaten by the police, they are just there observing, taking notes. I think this is not how we understand civilian protection. I think if someone has to be safe, a life is to be safe, is at the time if the life of someone has to be saved, they have to react immediately. Not write a report in order to protect life of other people when they can protect life of people in the present time. I remember in 2013, i think, when gomar was about to fall, there was a lot of munesco troops that say we can assure you that gomar will not fall. And i was in gomar at that time, and i remember how they start changing how they were saying, say well, the primary responsibility of protecting the civilian is from the government, which is a little bit funny, because if munesco is in drc, it means somehow the government wasnt able to play its role. If the government was effective, we would not need them. So i think the way they are funded, what kind of troop they have has to be rethink. And some countries should be courageous enough to send their troops in murvenesco. Some countries dont send them in countries like drc. Maybe they have another priority, iraq or some country like that, and the consequences that we have a force which is ineffective. The other thing, i think they are professional congolese Security Forces, and i mentioned this in my testimony. I think that kind of support will be stopped. Because it is unbelievable to see the Police Coming in to arrest Peaceful Demonstrations or beat Peaceful Demonstrations with resources given by munesco. I pointed this out many times with munesco officials in drc. And i think its time to stop that kind of cooperation with munesco and the congolese Security Forces. Unless we want to agree openly that we are supporting Human Rights Violations and mass atrocities. Thank you for that insight and for your opinion. I would just note for the record, and i think we speak so often of all of you who are very well versed on what munesco is, but for those not, its the u. N. Organization Stabilization Mission in the drc. The Worlds Largest peacekeeping mission. About 17,900 uniformed personnel as of august 31. You look at the size and number People Living in the dr congo, thats a little more than a division of military capacity. Thats why i asked whether or not sufficiently numbers of deployed people are there to meet the need and since we are dealing with an escalating crisis, its not diminishing. Like you, fearful its going to get far worse, and staging a growing peacekeeping deployment cant be done overnight. It does take time. So i would note for the record too that the u. N. Security Council Resolution 8 p2348, tas munesco tasked with protection of civilians and implementation of the agreement and the electoral process. Before we conclude, is there anything else any of our witnesses would like to add . Yes . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I want thank your subcommittee for your support. We have traveled a long way. We have traveled deep into darkness and misery in terms of drc. I think we have one more opportunity to end this misery for the people of drc. The people of drc have suffered enough. They have committed themselves to sacrifice themselves. We have seep this through various protests, various processes. If you tell drc people to organize a dialogue for peace, they will come. But have also run out of strategic patience. And we dont know, if we do not act, we fight see a coup detat. Its very serious. And i think theres a cadre of people who are standing as obstacles to this. Again, we need to consider seriously imposing sanctions. We are not children, they should not be playing with us. Thank you very much, sir. And in those words. The hearing is adjourned. Thank you. Cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Friday morning, were live from the washington examines headquarters, speaking with hugo girden. On the papers mission and the challenges facing print and online news organizations today. Then laura brown lopez, washington examiners political reporter. Talks about democrats political strategy heading into campaign 2018. Also, the papers commentary editor to discuss the state of the Republican Party in the trump era. And then key legislative debates ahead in congress. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal live at 7 00 eastern friday morning. Join the discussion. In the morning, the future of u. S. Cuba relation also be the focus of a discussion in washington, d. C. With live coverage at 9 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan2. And in the afternoon, at the National Archives for a look back at the vietnam war. In the new exhibit remembering vietnam. Live coverage starting at noon eastern on cspan. And on saturday, Vice President mike pence will take part in the wreath laying at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Live from Arlington National cemetery at 11 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. We return now to capitol hill where earlier this week, a former Bush Administration solicitor general, and the ceo of the antidefamation league, discussed ways to