[House Hearing, 111 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
THE GREAT LAKES REGION:
CURRENT CONDITIONS AND U.S. POLICY
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA AND GLOBAL HEALTH
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
MAY 25, 2010
__________
Serial No. 111-106
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman
GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida
ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
Samoa DAN BURTON, Indiana
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey ELTON GALLEGLY, California
BRAD SHERMAN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois
BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts EDWARD R. ROYCE, California
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas
DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey JOE WILSON, South Carolina
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
MICHAEL E. McMAHON, New York J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, CONNIE MACK, Florida
FloridaAs of 5/6/ JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
10 deg. MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas
JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee TED POE, Texas
GENE GREEN, Texas BOB INGLIS, South Carolina
LYNN WOOLSEY, California GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
BARBARA LEE, California
SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada
JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
MIKE ROSS, Arkansas
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina
DAVID SCOTT, Georgia
JIM COSTA, California
KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota
GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona
RON KLEIN, Florida
Richard J. Kessler, Staff Director
Yleem Poblete, Republican Staff Director
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Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey, Chairman
DIANE E. WATSON, California CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
BARBARA LEE, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona
BRAD MILLER, North Carolina JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas
LYNN WOOLSEY, California
C O N T E N T S
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Page
WITNESSES
The Honorable Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of
African Affairs, United States Department of State............. 8
Mr. Franklin Moore, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for
Africa, Office of the Assistant Administrator, United States
Agency for International Development........................... 27
LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING
The Honorable Johnnie Carson: Prepared statement................. 11
Mr. Franklin Moore: Prepared statement........................... 29
APPENDIX
Hearing notice................................................... 60
Hearing minutes.................................................. 61
The Honorable Donald M. Payne: Material submitted for the record. 62
THE GREAT LAKES REGION: CURRENT CONDITIONS AND U.S. POLICY
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TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2010
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:08 a.m. in
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Donald M. Payne,
(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.
Mr. Payne. The hearing will come to order. Good morning.
Thank you for joining the Subcommittee on Africa and Global
Health for this important hearing entitled ``Great Lakes
Region: Current Conditions and U.S. Policy.'' The Great Lakes
region of central Africa is perhaps the richest, most verdant
area of the continent. It is the home to vast forests and
wilderness areas, lush agricultural land, extensive mineral
deposits, a wealth of diversity, and of course thousands of
lakes.
The richness is undoubtedly what attracted King Leopold of
Belgium to Congo. In his attempt to transform Belgium into an
empire in the late 1880s, he remotely created a living
nightmare in Congo based on the grotesquely violent opposition
of native Congolese for the purpose of exporting Congo's rich
natural resources to Europe. For decades, the region's wealth
washed ashore in ships at ports in Antwerp, and Congo's loss
became Leopold and Belgium's gain.
As destructive as their rape of the Congo was on the
country's natural resources, the impact on its people is
immeasurable and still plays out today. Yet, its impact is
still misunderstood and underestimated. As chairman of the
subcommittee and a former teacher, I believe we much understand
the history of any region or people. If we are not fully able
to understand, we are not able to bring it up to its present
situation. Many of the problems we see today can be traced back
to history. The roots of the instability and destruction of the
Great Lakes region are found in Leopold's legacy.
Now that we have that foundation, let me bring us up to
date to more recent history. The Great Lakes region has been in
crisis since the early 1990s. Although, conditions have
improved in the past year. Shortly after Rwandan genocide in
1994, millions of civilians and ex-combatants fled to the
Democratic Republic of Congo. The former Rwandan Armed Forces
launched an insurgency in late 1994 targeting the survivors of
the Rwanda Genocide.
In May 1997, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the
Liberation of Congo Zaire (AFDL) with the support of Rwanda and
Uganda marched into Kinshasa and ousted long-time dictator
Mobutu Sese Seko. Within 1 year however, tensions between
President Laurent Kabila and his Rwandan and Ugandan allies
begin to mount. In August 1998, open conflict erupted between
Kabila and the Congolese forces supported by Rwanda. Angolans,
Namibians and Zimbabwe joined the fighting in support of Kabila
plunging the region once again into a major crisis.
In July 1999 at a summit in Lusaka, Zambia, the leaders of
Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola signed a
peace agreement. The signing of the peace agreement however did
not bring peace and stability in the Great Lakes region. Armed
groups from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the DRC continued to
target civilians and government forces in DRC and Rwanda. In
2008, Rwanda and DRC launched a joint military operation
against these forces.
The military operation severely weakened these armed
groups. Nevertheless, the DRC continues to face insurgency and
major humanitarian crisis, especially in eastern Congo fueled
by a resource grab. The humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo
has captured the attention of thousands of Americans across the
country. Rape and sexual violence are used as a weapon of war
in numbers that are simply unimaginable. In addition, the large
resistance army led by Joseph Kony continues to wreak havoc
through the region and into Sudan.
Beyond the security concerns, there are also issues of
democracy and governance. Burundi and Rwanda face Presidential
elections this summer. President Kabila has called for the
withdrawal of the United Nations Mission MONUC by 2011.
Meanwhile, the DRC needs strong engagement from the
international community to build institutions, and Uganda has
been at the center of a controversy over a draconian anti-
homosexuality bill. The United States continues to play a key
role in an effort to bring out peace, stability and development
in the Great Lakes region.
The purpose of today's hearing is to receive an update on a
variety of issues facing the region and how U.S. policy efforts
are addressing the major challenges that remain. To provide an
insight, we are joined here on this panel by two distinguished
officials, Ambassador Johnnie Carson and Mr. Franklin Moore,
whose bios will be read following the ranking member's opening
statement. We thank you both, Mr. Carson and Mr. Franklin, for
participating in today's hearing.
We also planned a private panel, but due to traveling
schedules of several of the witnesses, we have postponed that
portion of the hearing to a later date. Before I recognize the
ranking member, let me recognize members of the diplomatic
corps. I know that in our front row we are joined by Ambassador
Mitifu of the DRC. We are happy to have you with us and other
diplomatic representatives, and maybe those representatives
from the Great Lakes regions who are in the audience, if you
would all stand, I would appreciate it.
Great. Thank you. We have others in addition to the Great
Lakes region who are also present with us. At this time, we
will turn over to our ranking member, to Mr. Smith of New
Jersey for his opening remarks.
Mr. Smith.. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for calling
this very important hearing and providing this opportunity for
the subcommittee to hear from Assistant Secretary Johnnie
Carson and Deputy Assistant Administrator Franklin Moore about
the critical issues related to the African Great Lakes region.
We are fortunate to be able to hear directly from Assistant
Secretary Carson about his just completed trip to Uganda. It
will be useful to hear his assessment of the situation there
leading up to the 2011 Presidential and Parliamentary elections
and what reaction he received to Congress' passage of the LRA
Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which the
President signed into law just last evening. It is my sincere
hope that this legislation will achieve its goal of supporting
civilian protection and development in northern Uganda.
It also will be particularly timely to hear whether he
received any indication as to how Uganda intends to vote on the
Iran sanctions resolution being circulated in the U.N. Security
Council. The international community is rightly concerned about
whether Iran's dangerous nuclear ambitions can be reined in
through a coordinated and effective global response. Uganda's
vote as a non-permanent member of the council on this
resolution is a key element to the answer to that question.
I will also be interested in our witnesses' assessment of
the elections that are currently underway in Burundi. The
outcome of these elections and whether they are conducted
fairly and peacefully is considered by many as a precursor to
what can be expected for the August 9th Presidential election
in Rwanda. The stability of both countries as well as that of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo is inter-related, not only
because of the geographical proximity of the three countries,
but also because of their related ethnic demographics and
historic refugee flows. Democracy and peace for the entire
region or oppression and violence are potentially at stake with
the political outcome in each country.
I appreciate that our distinguished witnesses will be
addressing sexual- and gender-based violence and human
trafficking in the region and in particular in the DRC.
Assistant Secretary Carson will recall that when he was with us
for a previous hearing just 2 months ago, I referenced a visit
that I had made to the DRC and my inquiry about MONUC 2 years
ago.
Not only were serious allegations being made against
peacekeeping soldiers, but the U.N. Office of Internal
Oversight Services, the OIOS, that is responsible for
investigating those allegations was moving its personnel to
Nairobi, Kenya, far from where it could effectively fulfill its
mandate. Recently, I was informed that one OIOS investigator
still is permanently based on Goma. Given the seriousness and
the scope of this problem in the DRC, I will be interested to
hear about what, if any, efforts have been successfully made by
our Government to re-establish a sufficient number of permanent
OIOS investigators in the country, and in particular Goma.
A deeply troubling issue that is receiving increased
attention both in the media and here in Congress concerns the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. U.S.-implementing
partners for HIV/AIDS programs in Uganda have received a letter
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating
that in FY 2010 and FY 2011, each partner should expect to have
a flatlined budget for antiretroviral procurement and that
patients in need of antiretroviral therapy should be enrolled
only if new patients can be supported without a future increase
in funding.
This policy, apparently implemented without advance warning
to the implementing partners, is resulting in serious and
perhaps unforeseen consequences. One disturbing scenario is
that of family members on ARVs sharing with other family
members later infected with HIV who cannot obtain treatment and
both developing a drug-resistant strain as a result. Another
scenario is that of a mother of several children returning her
medication because one or more children are being denied
treatment, and she cannot save her own life while watching them
die.
I have been further informed that this flatlined PEPFAR
funding for treatment is expanding to other countries, and
eventually will apply to our care and prevention programs as
well. It is clear that the United States isn't likely to fund
universal treatment and other HIV programming for exponentially
growing numbers of patients in Africa. However, it is extremely
important that any major changes, such as denial of treatment
to those currently in PEPFAR care programs whose CD-4 count
falls below the level where ART becomes necessary, be pursued
through a well-considered strategy.
I will be interested to hear from the Deputy Assistant
Administrator about whether and how such a strategy is being
implemented and any information he may have on how our partners
are reacting to this growing crisis. I thank you, Mr. Chairman,
again, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. Ms. Woolsey, do you have an
opening statement?
Ms. Woolsey. No, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Payne. Thank you. Mr. Royce?
Mr. Royce. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to
mention that Ambassador Carson and I had a chance to
participate in a bill-signing ceremony yesterday at the White
House regarding legislation on the Lord's Resistance Army. The
President signed into law this particular act, the Lord's
Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act,
and that bill will task the administration with devising a
strategy to put an end once and for all to Joseph Kony and the
Lord's Resistance Army and their use of terror, recruitment of
and indoctrination of child soldiers and the rape and mayhem
they have spread across the continent of Africa.
Of course, Ambassador Carson will be key in cobbling this
strategy together, and I am appreciative of the strategy
meeting afterwards at the Old Executive Office Building where
in the meeting with the NSC that Ambassador Carson helped
arrange. I know that members of this committee look forward to
working with Ambassador Carson on this strategy. I think
implementation is key, and it is going to take congressional
engagement. This is a tragedy that has affected families
throughout Uganda, the Congo, the Central African Republic and
southern Sudan.
People in the United States may not know the name Joseph
Kony, but I guarantee you parents across Africa quiver when
they hear that name. So I am appreciative of that legislation
being signed. Congressman Payne, some years ago I had a
resolution calling for Mobutu to stand down, calling for his
replacement in Congo because of the legacy of corruption,
malfeasance and mismanagement, and we did pass that
legislation.
Shortly thereafter, Codel Islet was in Angola. We found
that frankly Mobutu had fled that morning, so we took a small
plane into Kinshasa and had a chance to meet. It turned out the
drivers that jumped into our jeep were not Congolese forces but
Rwandan and Ugandan forces that were there helping to install
Laurent Kabila as the new leader of Congo. Since that time,
Congo has had many challenges. To repair the damage done to
civil society, which was never that strong, and certainly to
the institutions, it is going to take increased engagement by
the United States House of Representatives.
I know Chairman Payne has made quite a commitment in that
regard. I think that as we move forward the first step is to
set an example by taking apart the Lord's Resistance Army is to
bring to the bar of justice or eliminate Joseph Kony. When we
set up the institutions to help Africa accomplish that
objective, we can move on to other problems such as the
pillaging of minerals in eastern Congo both from Zimbabwe and
from Rwanda. We need to lean in more heavily in terms of trying
to force responsible behavior by the neighbors of the Congo.
Again, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing,
and I thank Ambassador Carson for all of his work on the
African continent then and now in order to help guide that
continent toward stability. Thank you very much.
Mr. Payne. Thank you, Mr. Royce, and thank you for all your
years of interest and many of the achievements you have helped
in Africa. Ms. Lee?
Ms. Lee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to welcome
our witnesses and thank you so much for your service. I look
forward to your testimony.
Mr. Payne. Dr. Boozman? Let us see. Ms. Watson?
Ms. Watson. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for
holding this timely hearing on U.S. policy and current
conditions in the Great Lakes region. The international
community has focused on this region, and yet there seems to e
little improvement in the condition of the people. You have
described much of it. The countries of the Great Lakes region
are linked by a common history and culture. Boundaries have
done little stymie the flow of people across the borders
oftentimes fleeing to perceived safety in a neighboring region.
Each nation has a unique political story, which nonetheless
affects not only its own citizens, but people all around the
Great Lakes regions. However, strikes are a common thread
throughout. Human rights abuses are rampant, and though rape,
as a tool of submission, remains prevalent throughout the Great
Lakes region, the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo remains
known for the high incidents of rape of women and of children.
The mineral conflict too rages on in the DRC making it one of
the longest and most violent wars in the history of mankind.
There are even stories of child soldiers fighting in these
battles already hyped and romanticized in popular films, and
much of the youth in this region remain without jobs and
susceptible to manipulation leaving them easy prey for militant
organizations. Democracy too is elusive. As we watch the
preparation for elections in Rwanda and Burundi, I am unsure of
how peaceful and fair the outcomes will be. Newspapers have
been shut down. There are reports of violence occurring in
Burundi already.
With the constant instability, the condition of the people
remains deplorable. Displaced by the Lord's Resistance Army,
thousands of people are in need of humanitarian assistance in
the DRC. Food and water shortages often occur, and healthcare
is intermittent at best, and education services are limited for
many. The President's initiatives are on food security, focused
on food delivery at this time, PEPFAR and the President's
Malaria Initiative cannot do enough because the need is too
great.
Nonetheless, great strides have been made already. Rwanda's
MCC threshold program shows promise of increased stability in
the region. The mineral conflict is beginning to be addressed
effectively through the Kimberly Process though we still have a
long way to go. The Great Lakes region is rich in terms of its
people, its culture, its history and its natural resources, and
I hope that we continue to help the people in the region reach
stability, protect individual rights and maximize their
potential, so I thank you, and I wait to hear from our
distinguished witnesses, and I yield back the remainder of my
time.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. Mr. Flake?
Mr. Flake. Glad to be here and look forward to the
witnesses.
Mr. Payne. Mr. Miller?
Mr. Miller. Thank you, Chairman Payne and Ranking Member
Smith, for holding this hearing. Mr. Royce and I created the
Africa Great Lakes caucus some time back to call more attention
to the conflicts and challenges that this region faces. There
has been a cycle of conflict and economic failure. Conflict
begets extreme poverty. Extreme poverty begets conflict, and on
and on. As a result of the recurring conflict, there are now
grave humanitarian conditions.
Several members before have mentioned the brutal insurgency
by the LRA and northern Uganda has displaced more than 1.5
million people, resulted in the abduction of at least 20,000
children, and that has gone on for more than 20 years in the
Great Lakes region of Africa. The group continues to commit
atrocities and abduct children across the region often
targeting schools and churches. The United Nations estimates
that 90 percent of the LRA's combatants are abducted children
often as young as 10.
When this horrific conflict finally ends, those children
must somehow return to civilized society after learning as
children to kill innocent human beings without hesitation or
remorse. Whatever grievance may have originally motivated the
LRA, that grievance has long since been forgotten, and the
LRA's atrocities are just barbarism for Barbarisms own sake.
Unfortunately, in that response, the LRA's insurgency is
distressingly similar to other insurgencies in the region where
brutal kleptocratic regimes create ample justification for
conflict for rebellion.
The rebels are frequently not motivated by the desire to
free their country from brutality and conflict but by desire to
replace the brutal kleptocrats in the regime so the rebels can
be brutal kleptocrats themselves. It makes this very hard for
us to pick a side in the conflicts of the region. The DRC has
the deadliest conflict since World War II. It continues to
terrorize communities throughout DRC and all the conflicts
spill over from one country into the next. DRC after a
generation or more of conflict now has the second lowest gross
national income of the world.
I visited DRC a couple of years ago on a congressional
delegation to Kashasa, and Kashasa appeared to be a post-
apocalyptic society. It appeared to be a road-warrior movie in
an urban setting. Rwanda has made great progress since the 1994
genocide, but genocide sets the bar pretty low. There are
increasing efforts apparently to stifle political descent. A
New York Times article just last month described beggars,
homeless people, petty thieves and dozen of children being
rounded up and sent without any legal process at all to an
island for rehabilitation.
Refugees, rebel groups and resources flow across borders,
and humanitarian crisis has increasingly become a regional
challenge. Chairman Payne, again thank you for holding this
hearing, and I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses
today.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much all of the members who took
time to come here this morning. Now, we will turn to our
witnesses. First, we will hear from Ambassador Johnnie Carson.
Ambassador Carson currently serves as Assistant Secretary of
State for the Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of
State. He has an established career in foreign service. He
previously served as ambassador in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda
as well as the principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the
Bureau of African Affairs from 1997 to 1999.
In addition to several posts in sub-Saharan Africa, he
served as desk officer in the Bureau of Intelligence and
Research from 1971 to '74, staff officer for the Secretary of
State from '78 to '82. Beyond the State Department, Ambassador
Carson served as the staff director for the House Africa
Subcommittee from 1979 to 1982 and was a Peace Corps volunteer
in Tanzania from 1965 to 1968.
During his career, Ambassador Carson received several
awards including the Department of State's superior honors
award and the Centers for Disease Control's champion of
prevention award. Ambassador Carson holds a bachelor of arts
and history and political science from Drake University and a
masters of arts in international relations from the School of
Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.
Secondly, we will hear from Mr. Franklin Moore, Deputy
Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Africa at the United
States International Development Agency, USAID. A career member
of the Senior Executive Service, Franklin C. Moore was
appointed as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Agency
for International Development's Africa Bureau in January 2008.
Prior to his appointment, Mr. Moore served as Director of the
Office of Environmental and Science policy within the Agency's
Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, EGAT, since
October 2002.
Additionally, Mr. Moore has served as the acting Deputy
Assistant Administrator and Director of the Agency's Global
Center for the Environment. He received a masters degree in
agricultural economics as well as a certificate in African
studies from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Mr. Moore
studies for his PhD in development studies at the University
Wisconsin in Madison, has served and lived both in west and
southern Africa, and has worked in approximately 40 countries
overseas. We are very pleased to have two very distinguished
persons.
I would also like to recognize a former colleague of ours,
former Congressman Howard Wolpe, and I had the privilege to
serve with former member Wolpe, who served as chair of this
subcommittee when I was a new member and is now a senior
advisor on the Great Lakes region at the State Department. We
are very pleased to still have your expertise, and I know you
are a great asset to the Department of State. Thank you.
Ambassador Carson?
STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JOHNNIE CARSON, ASSISTANT SECRETARY,
BUREAU OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Mr. Carson. Chairman Payne, Ranking Member Smith, and
members of the committee. I welcome the opportunity to appear
before you today to discuss the current conditions and U.S.
Policy in the Great Lakes Region. I have a longer statement
that I would like to submit for the record.
Mr. Payne. Without objection.
Mr. Carson. The countries of the Great Lakes region are
inextricably linked. Although each has its own unique
challenges, events in one country invariably affect the others
and often the wider region as well. We spend a great deal of
diplomatic time and effort on the Great Lakes issues trying to
help the countries of the region to resolve the many domestic
and cross-border challenges that continue to put millions of
civilians at risk. this has been a slow and daunting process,
but the situation has improved as the countries in the region
have strengthened ties amongst themselves.
We have remained dedicated to doing what we can to keep
that positive momentum going. Central to our efforts is
improving the situation in the eastern part of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo where the continuing presence of armed
groups has been exacerbated by the lack of state authority. The
Democratic Republic of the Congo's military, commonly referred
to as FARDC, is ineffective and frequently abusive. The
judicial and penal systems in the DRC are broken, and impunity
rather than accountability reigns.
Illegal natural resource exploitation funds armed gangs.
Sexual- and gender-based violence is at crisis levels
particularly in the eastern region. The Lord's Resistance Army
is perpetuating and perpetrating attacks against civilians in
the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and also in
the Central African Republic. The U.N. mission in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUC, is stretched to the
limit.
I met with President Kabila on April 16 and expressed
concern about the security vacuum that would result if MONUC
left the DRC before the security situation in the east had
dramatically improved and before local security services were
sufficiently trained and able to protect civilians. He was
receptive to the concerns that I raised as well as the concerns
that have been raised by the international community. President
Kabila has taken important steps to address insecurity, but
they remain insufficient.
Last year, he announced a zero-tolerance policy for sexual-
and gender-based violence and also against corruption.
Implementation has been lacking, but the recent arrest of a
FARDC general for sexual- and gender-based violence-related
crimes is an encouraging step forward. Both Secretary Clinton
and Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice have pressed
for action on this case during their visits to the Congo in
2009, and we welcome the action by President Kabila and his
government to go after individuals of senior rank who have been
involved in sexual- and gender-based violence.
President Kabila has also voiced strong support for our
program to train a light infantry battalion in Kisangani. The
training there includes a strong focus on improving FARDC human
rights practices. In late 2009 and early 2010, we deployed
assessment teams to the DRC to investigate the five issue areas
that Secretary Clinton and President Kabila identified for
greater bilateral cooperation when they met in August 2009 in
Goma.
The five areas include security sector reform, sexual- and
gender-based violence issues, anti-corruption, economic
governance and agriculture and food security. We have received
the recommendations of these teams and are now pursuing with
the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Government those
recommendations that we believe can achieve the best short- and
medium-term results. We also need to keep an eye on population
movements. There are over 1 million internally displaced
persons (IDPs) in the North Kivu Province alone and 2 million
displaced persons nationwide.
As these IDPs and DRC refugees in surrounding countries
begin to return home, there is a potential for renewed
conflict. There will also be increased demands for humanitarian
assistance and also limited capacity by the Government of the
Democratic Republic to provide it. Lastly, with regard to the
DRC, we are looking ahead to national elections in September
2011 and local elections 1 year later. In my conversations with
President Kabila last month, I stressed the importance of
adhering to this democratic electoral calendar. The government
has promised that the elections will be free, democratic and
transparent. We hope that this will be the case.
Let me turn briefly to Rwanda. In Rwanda, the August
Presidential elections are expected to be peaceful and non-
violent, but the security environment ahead of that vote is of
ongoing concern. Recent grenade attacks in Kigali have caused
numerous casualties as well as anxiety and unease in the
civilian population. We strongly condemn those attacks. We also
have concerns about recent acts by the Rwandan Government,
which appear to be attempts to restrict freedom of expression.
These actions, including suspending the licenses and
activities of two newspapers, revoking the work permit of a
Human Rights Watch researcher and arresting and later releasing
on bail the opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire, who has ties
to the FDLR. Two political parties, the green party and the
FDU-Inkingi party have been unable to register. We have urged
senior Rwandan Government officials to respect the freedoms of
expression, press and association as well as assembly.
We have stressed that the international and domestic NGOs
and media should be allowed to operate and report freely in
Rwanda. We have also called for due process and a fair and
speedy trial for Mrs. Victoire Ingabire. Overall, longer-term
stability in Rwanda is best promoted by democratic governance
and a respect for human rights. Rwanda and its regional and
international partners must work together to achieve the free,
fair and peaceful elections that the people of Rwanda deserve.
Now, turning to Burundi. Our hope is the same in Burundi,
which has just held the first in a series of five elections for
local and national-level institutions. We have undertaken
numerous public and private efforts to reinforce the message
that credible elections are necessary for long-term stability,
economic growth and the growing partnership between the
Government of Burundi and the United States. The political
arena in Burundi is diverse. Twenty-three political parties
competed in yesterday's communal-level elections including the
last of Burundi's rebel groups, the FNL.
The party seems satisfied with the neutrality of the
National Independent Electoral Commission, CNIE. The media are
relatively free and professional and have mobilized to pool
resources and share their national electoral coverage.
Burundian Civil Society has mobilized to observe the elections
and to monitor outbreaks of violence, and all political
parties, including the ruling party, have welcomed
international observation.
Unfortunately, Burundi also suffers from a large population
of young, unemployed people who are frustrated with their
economic position. Given that there are 200,000 weapons still
in circulation throughout the country, the risk of violence
continues to be high. In addition, ruling party officials have
used government resources for political advantage, and some
have intimidated opponents. There have already been violent
clashes among the members of the five major parties.
Most alarming, two members of the Movement for Solidarity
and Democracy Party were killed in a rally on May 13. We have
repeatedly cautioned all political party leaders about the need
to avoid intimidation, provocation and violence. We have called
on the government security forces and prosecutors to accelerate
the investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for
election-related incidents of violence and intimidation.
The Government of Burundi's decision to expel a Human
Rights Watch researcher on the grounds that a recent Human
Rights Watch report is biased against the ruling party appears
to be an effort to clamp down on foreign and domestic NGOs that
are critical of the government and its policies. We have
conveyed our concerns to Burundian officials about this and
have urged constructive dialogue with NGOs and civil society.
Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I want to thank you
for this opportunity to appear before you today, and I will be
happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Carson follows:]
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Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. Mr. Moore?
STATEMENT OF MR. FRANKLIN MOORE, DEPUTY ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU FOR AFRICA, OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT
ADMINISTRATOR, UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Mr. Moore. Good morning, Chairman Payne, Ranking Member
Smith and members of the subcommittee. I appreciate the
opportunity to appear before you today to discuss conditions in
the Great Lakes region and USAID's contribution to sustainable
development in those countries. I have a longer written
statement, which I would like to submit for the record.
Mr. Payne. Without objection.
Mr. Moore. Thank you. My testimony today will add to that
of Assistant Secretary Carson's, who has provided the
subcommittee with information on the U.S. Government policies
in the region. Our work directly supports those policies and
focuses on a number of sector, including economic growth, peace
building, democratic development, health, education, food
security and environmental protection. We also continue to
respond to both man-made and natural humanitarian crises in
many of these states.
While significant progress has been made across the region,
equally significant challenges persist: Corruption, poor
infrastructure, cross-border conflicts, sexual- and gender-
based violence and human rights abuses, poor health outcomes,
high unemployment, humanitarian crises and food insecurity.
National issues frequently spill across borders to become
regional concerns or crises. I would like to briefly outline
some of these key issues and USAID's response.
One of the most pressing issues that will affect
development in the Great Lakes in the coming year is rapid
population growth. This will strain the abilities of already
stretched government to provide service delivery and
sustainable economic growth. An increasingly young population
present an increased risk for instability and conflict. USAID
programs across the sectors target youth in order to boost
civic participation, improve livelihoods and increase access to
education to provide an alternative to confrontation and
violence. The recruitment of child soldiers also remains a
critical concern for youth population, particularly the lasting
damage caused.
Another issue for the region is the abhorrent use of
sexual- and gender-based violence both as a tool of war and as
part of the daily lives of women and children throughout the
region. In addition to addressing the immediate care and needs
of victims of sexual- and gender-based violence, USAID has
actively supported the drafting of critical legislation and
subsequent prosecutions in cases of sexual- and gender-based
violence in the DRC, and we continue to seek opportunities to
address this issue at all levels. Combating this issue is not
solely about broadening access to legal, medical, psycho-social
and economic services. It fervently tied to changing
perceptions of gender and women's empowerment.
Food security is of paramount concern. In the DRC, 72
percent of the population is currently undernourished and
surviving on less than the absolute minimum daily caloric
requirement. This administration's Feed the Future initiative
will boost production to attempt to meet the food needs for the
growing population of these states.
Recognizing that higher production does not automatically
translate directly into a better quality of life, activities to
address nutrition and governance issues related to distribution
and regulation are critical and included. Activities will focus
on linkages to the regionally strong and very active common
market for eastern and southern Africa and Economic Commission
for Africa to ensure that there is a sustainable platform for
trade.
Land tenure issues also continue to be an underlying source
of many of the region's conflicts. With high population
densities, internally displaced persons and the return of
refugees in Rwanda, Burundi, eastern DRC and Uganda, the
question of land distribution and access is critical to
economic growth. USAID is working on programs in Burundi to
inclusively develop new land policy in order to reduce the risk
of conflict.
There are mounting tensions over land tenure and property
rights in eastern DRC. USAID is addressing these issues through
peace building and community mediation programs as well as
working with the Government of DRC to address the overall legal
framework for land tenure. In Uganda, we have launched an
inter-agency conflict assessment to look at the sensitive
issues of decentralization, proposed relocation of pastoralist
communities to urban centers and the discovery of oil.
We believe that we are in a new era for development in
Africa focused on aid effectiveness and host-country ownership
that will translate into meaningful progress toward the
Millennium Development Goals. We are aligning our work to more
directly support harmonization of aid strategies, results-based
programs and mutual accountability between donors and aid
recipients. Our work in the Great Lakes is coordinated with
both host-country action plans on a sectorial basis and with
broad-reaching poverty reduction strategies.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Smith and members
of the subcommittee for your continued support for USAID. I
welcome your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Moore follows:]
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Payne.. Thank you very much. We certainly appreciate
both of your testimonies, and I might just begin by asking,
Ambassador Carson, you mentioned that you had a conversation
with President Kabila in regard to his strategy to have the
MONUC forces reduced. What was the rationale for his wanting
initially to see them reduced, and where does it stand at the
present time?
Mr. Carson. Mr. Chairman, thank you for that question.
Indeed, I did have an opportunity to talk with President Kabila
about the presence of the MONUC forces there. I think that we
have to remember that this year is the 50th anniversary of the
Congo's independence, and I think that President Kabila wanted
to demonstrate that after 50 years of independence in which
there has been an almost continuous presence of U.N.
peacekeepers there that the country could move ahead and begin
to do without United Nations' peace keeping forces.
I think he was intent on making a statement at the
anniversary that there would be a withdrawal of U.N. peace
keeping forces, so I think it had a lot to do with domestic
politics, the country's political pride, the long-standing
presence of U.N. peacekeepers there and the desire to show
after 50 years that the Congo no longer needed to rely on
peacekeepers. I must say that President Kabila demonstrated
flexibility in the discussions about this and I think he is now
increasingly aware of the continued need for U.N. peacekeepers
in the eastern part of the Congo.
I took the opportunity to stress to President Kabila that
as long as there was wide-spread instability in the eastern
Congo, the presence of rebel groups that had not been
contained, and a high level of sexual- and gender-based
violence, that there was a need for a presence of U.N. forces.
But, as I said, President Kabila is showing increasing
flexibility on this issue, and we hope that it will be resolved
in the U.N. Security Council to the satisfaction of the council
as well as to the satisfaction of the Government of the Congo.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. Mr. Moore, since the whole
Congo basin region, the Great Lakes region is so fertile, are
there any agriculture programs? I know you touched on it a
little bit, but what are we doing to try to encourage Great
Lakes countries to take a stronger look at agriculture in
general?
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the President's food
security initiative, Feed the Future, two of the targeted
countries or three of the targeted countries if one goes just a
little beyond the Great Lakes includes Ethiopia and includes
Uganda within the Great Lakes. It also includes Kenya. As
Ambassador Carson pointed out, one of the five assessments that
was made in DRC was a food security assessment, and so their
food security and agricultural portfolio is also being
heightened.
That is looking particularly at the production side. On the
other side, there is a desire to make sure that increasingly
food and agricultural produce is able to move across borders
more quickly and more efficiently, and for that work, as I said
in my testimony, we are working primarily with COMESA, which is
looking at the concept of one border stops so that two
countries would adhere to the same standard.
That would allow food to move across their borders much
like food moves across the borders of our states here in the
United States as well as looking at transportation corridors
and working increasingly with the Millennium Challenge
Corporation in those places where they have engaged in programs
to provide them and the countries with some information that
might help to mitigate transportation problems.
Mr. Payne. Thank you. My last question since my time has
expired, but, Ambassador Carson, I previously raised the
question of Rwandan genocide suspects who are living in the
United States of America. I could currently give you a list of
five persons who are still here, but two in particular, Mr.
Zahirim Berry, and one who is actually in my home state
teaching at a university, Montclair State, Dr. Munyakazi, who
then left the state after I raised some questions with the
university there but came down to teach again at Tulsa State
University.
There is evidence he escaped from prison in Rwanda. There
is a warrant out for his extradition, and he continues to be
able to live here in the United States. I wonder if there is
any information you have regarding at least the case from the
professor who is still in education here in the U.S.?
Mr. Carson. Mr. Chairman, I don't have any specifics about
that particular case, but I would like to say that the United
States remains committed to doing everything that it possibly
can as a part of the international community to bring to
justice those individuals who were most responsible for the
perpetration of the genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994.
The United States has had a Rewards for Justice program that
has been effective in helping to track down genocidaires around
the world, and some of our people in our embassies, our legates
and others have helped to do so.
You probably are aware with respect to individuals in this
country that we do not have an extradition treaty with the
Government of Rwanda, but that does not in fact inhibit us from
looking at individuals who have come into the United States
under false pretenses and violated our immigration laws. We
also look at individuals whom we believe to be involved in
crimes that are also against other statutes of the United
States.
We will look at these individuals. We will refer the names
to our legal office and also to the Department of Justice, and
we will continue to follow up on any individuals who we believe
to be involved in the past genocide in Rwanda.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. We will certainly like I
said give you all the information that we have. We are very
particular as my colleague, Mr. Smith, has a different type of
a case, but a young child whose parents were here in the United
States and tried for years and years to finally have that child
come back to this country, and we were criticizing the laws of
Brazil for not allowing this to happen more quickly, and here
in a situation where Rwanda is asking us to cooperate with
them, we can't have it both ways.
We can't ask other countries around the world to cooperate
with us and then we don't cooperate with other countries, and
so I certainly will follow up with you on that, Mr. Assistant
Secretary. Mr. Smith?
Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me just
ask. I think, Mr. Moore, you would be the one that might want
to answer this. The CDC letter pointed out that in Uganda
approximately 100,000 HIV-infected individuals received ARV
interventions funded by the U.S. Government, and yet the letter
said that the U.S. Government recognizes that in the coming
years the number of patients in need of antiretroviral
treatment will increase dramatically.
Basically, the letter said there is a moratorium put on new
patients being signed up and that the government is being
encouraged to find additional funding to meet this great need.
I am wondering what has been the impact of this new policy on
people who are sick? Have people died as a result of this unmet
need not being adequately met by either ourselves or in
collaboration with our partners in Europe and elsewhere? To me,
this is a banner issue, the fact that we have raised
expectations, and it would appear we are not about to meet
those expectations.
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Unfortunately, I will have
to get back to you on that. Here is the reason: Last week, the
U.S. Government--all of the U.S. Government including CDC,
USAID, Peace Corps and all of those who are implementing
PEPFAR--had their annual meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, and this
was one of the major subjects that they took up. Unfortunately
for us, our staff who participated in the meeting since they
were on the continent, went off to visit some of the countries
concerned and are just beginning to get back. I will pose this
question to them, and we will get you something.
[The information referred to follows:]
Written Response Received from Mr. Franklin Moore to Question Asked
During the Hearing by the Honorable Christopher H. Smith
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Smith. If you would. One of the things that all of us
recognized when the original PEPFAR legislation was passed and
then when it was reauthorized is that we need to keep faith
with those who are sick and dying in Africa and anywhere else
where the ARV can not only extend their life but give them a
quality of life. There is a broad consensus in Congress that
every dollar we spend in helping people with this dreaded
disease is money well spent.
I don't know if the chairman was advised, but I certainly
wasn't advised except by some of the partners who got this
infamous letter putting a moratorium on any new patients that
might sign up. As I said in my opening, this could have very
severe, negative consequences even within families themselves
as decisions are made as to who gets what. If new enrollees are
being blocked, it seems to me that individuals who are
currently getting ARVs might take themselves off of it, so it
is a very serious issue. Ask us if you need more money.
Secondly, let me ask, and I have asked this several times,
about the OIOS investigators for MONUC. I met with a member of
the Royal Police from Canada who headed up the OIOS mission in
Goma, and he was shocked beyond words that there would be a
redeployment. This was a couple of years ago. That redeployment
of those investigators has taken place. How do you monitor
something from so many miles away? Yes, there are some people
that could alert the OIOS folks, but it seems to me you need a
very significant deployment rather than decreasing it.
Let me also ask you if I could? You mentioned, Ambassador
Carson, how did you put it? You are mildly encouraged that
President Kabila had announced a zero-tolerance policy, which I
think is a good thing obviously, regarding gender-based
violence but also that they had arrested a general. Could you
elaborate on who that general was, what he has been accused of
and most importantly, because we have learned this, and I know
the chairman knows this as well from all of our trafficking
work, an arrest does not a prosecution make. What is being done
with the prosecution and how far along is that?
Finally, I do have many questions, but time is of the
essence I guess. When you talk about drafting legislation,
which sounds like a very good thing, could you provide the
committee with exactly what it is we are drafting, what kind of
legislation we are collaborating with in each of these
countries?
Also, I chaired a briefing a couple of weeks ago on the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's blockbuster study on
maternal mortality that was carried in the Lancet in early
April. I have read the study. It is a very well-controlled
study. The Gates Foundation found that the number of women
dying, maternal mortality, is significantly less than what WHO
and others had advertised, which is good news. It is great
news. But they also said that the reasons why the mitigating
factors for maternal mortality include such things as having a
skilled birth attendant available so that if there is an
obstructive delivery, a cesarian section could be performed so
that both mother and baby are allowed to live rather than dying
a terrible, terrible death.
Nowhere in Lancet or in the article did it mention abortion
as in any way a factor. I think it is one of the most
misconceived ideas that somehow killing an unborn child averts
or brings down maternal mortality, and it wasn't in the study I
am happy to say. But if you could speak to the issue of what
are we doing to build up, train up skilled birth attendants,
because that is the answer it would see to me. And it now has
been further authenticated by the Gates Foundation and by the
Lancet publication of that foundation study.
Mr. Carson. Congressman Smith, you addressed two questions
that I think I should answer. The first one pertains to the
OIOS, which is in fact the Office of Internal Oversight
Services of the United Nations. This organization, as you and
other members are probably aware, is set up to look over the
conduct of U.N. peacekeepers in the field. The U.S. position
with respect to OIOS is clear. We believe that U.N.
peacekeepers should be held to the highest legal and
humanitarian standards in carrying out their responsibilities
and obligations overseas, and we think it is important that the
OIOS in fact be present to do their work.
There are currently three OIOS positions based in the
eastern part of the Congo in Goma. Two of those individuals are
investigators, and one is a senior support staff member. In
addition, there are no less than 10 OIOS officers and staff
based in Kinshasa, but there are indeed 22 OIOS investigators
assigned to the regional hub in Nairobi, Kenya, and I think it
is the deployment of those 22 investigators that your question
pertains to the reality is that the U.N. has moved those
individuals to Nairobi as a part of a pilot effort in order to
be able to save some money and resources.
The other side of the reality is that it is actually easier
to move from Nairobi to Goma on most days than it is to move
from Kinshasa to Goma given the limited transportation
arrangements. We have looked at this issue, are waiting for the
U.N. to determine whether this pilot effort will work
affectively, but our central concern remains, and that is that
those individuals who are part of the U.N. peace keeping forces
who do undertake illegal activities should be investigated and
prosecuted and that the OIOS should do this wherever they are
centrally based, whether it is Kinshasa or whether it is
Nairobi or whether there are people on the ground in Goma.
You also asked about the recent arrest of a senior
Congolese general, and I am going to butcher the name because I
think the name is General Kakwavu. Last year in 2009 when
Secretary Clinton met with President Kabila in Goma, she
reiterated a message that had been conveyed earlier by U.N.
Ambassador Susan Rice about five senior Congolese military
officers who had been accused of sexual- and gender-based
violence. These individuals have been known as the FARDC 5. The
general who was arrested was the highest ranking of those
individuals.
Three of the FARDC 5 are now under government
investigation. The general has been arrested. Two other
individuals who are colonels have been relieved of their
responsibilities and are under detention/house arrest in
Kinshasa but not carrying out military activities at all, and
two of the other individuals have fled and we believe have left
the country, certainly at least one. We have continued to press
President Kabila to take action at all levels against officers
as well as enlisted individuals in the military who have been
involved in sexual- and gender-based violence.
We believe again that this is a step forward, but I want to
underscore that given the high level of sexual- and gender-
based violence, the high level of violence that exists in the
eastern Congo, these are very, very small steps, and they need
to be magnified not in terms of 5 or 10, but in terms of 100
and 1,000 times. There is in fact far too much gender-based
violence in the east, and there should be no impunity for those
who carry it out whatever their rank. This is a step forward.
We encourage President Kabila to live up to all of his
commitments in this area. It is not enough simply to say I
support zero tolerance. It must be made to be fact, and that
can only be demonstrated by arrests, by prosecutions and
imprisonment.
Mr. Smith. Thank you.
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Mr. Smith. The two pieces that you
asked for me, I spoke to critical legislation as it relates to
sexual- and gender-based violence in DRC, and we will get you a
full list. But the legislation falls basically into two areas.
The first area is the fact that there are still on the books
many discriminatory laws that sanction the lower status for
women in DRC. For example, women can't open a bank account or
file a case in court without their husband's approval.
[The information referred to follows:]
Written Response Received from Mr. Franklin Moore to Question Asked
During the Hearing by the Honorable Christopher H. Smith
[GRAPHIC(S)] [NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Mr. Moore. Also, in many cases, women are not permitted to
actually own land in their name, so one of the areas is looking
at getting some of these laws off of the books and creating
some laws that empower women such as the land tenure that I
speak of. The other areas, there is a little work being done
with the judiciary given that the judiciary continues to suffer
from a lack of independence. The other area that you asked
about was maternal mortality and birth attendants.
I believe that this is one of the justifications and
reasons for the President's Global Health Initiative, and that
Global Health Initiative is intended so that many of the areas
of health, like maternal health, which given our emergency look
at HIV/AIDS or emergency look at malaria, in the short term
suffered because many of the women who would be women as birth
attendants moved into these areas of care. One of the ideas of
the initiative is to help rebalance that care in the health
field so that it covers such things as maternal mortality,
birthing, et cetera, et cetera. Thank you.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. Ms. Watson?
Ms. Watson. I want to shift the questioning a bit to Mr.
Ambassador Carson. In your testimony, you mentioned the
political environment in Burundi and Rwanda, and both nations
are quickly approaching elections that we hope will be fair and
peaceful yet. There are 200,000 weapons in Burundi, and most of
the over 25-year-old population is unemployed and frustrated,
and there have been violent clashes among the five ruling
parties.
The Government of Burundi's decision to expel a Human
Rights Watch researcher is also very disturbing, and Rwanda
similarly has recently suspended two newspapers, prevented some
political parties from registering for the election, also
denied the visa to a Human Rights Researcher. The question is
in the face of such adversity, what kind of elections can we
really expect, and what can be done to reduce the violence
before or after the elections, and will any election results
hold legitimacy with the public?
Mr. Carson. I think that both of these countries have had
very, very traumatic histories in which they have faced great
adversity and civil unrest, and they are both coming out of
long periods of adversity. I think that we have worked with and
encouraged both governments to hold elections that are credible
and fair, that they should in fact open up political space for
the opposition, that they should allow civil society to
participate, and we continue to encourage them to move in a
positive direction.
Despite the violence that we have seen in Burundi, progress
is being made in that country and that it is coming back from a
long period of greater instability. In Rwanda, we continue to
encourage the government to build on the progress that it has
made since the genocide of 1994 and not to begin to stall its
political process or to allow it to move back.
Ms. Watson. Let me ask you if do we get the international
election observation groups like the Carter Center involved
prior to these elections? We know they will come in, these
international organizations, during an election as observers. I
have been part of that group from time to time. What are we
doing prior to help them know how to run good and effective
elections?
Mr. Carson. In Burundi we have been extremely active in
helping the government improve the climate for multi-party
activities. We have worked not only via the Carter Center but
also the Woodrow Wilson Center. The National Democratic
Institute also has been engaged and involved on the ground.
Ms. Watson. Is that ongoing?
Mr. Carson. These are ongoing. We also ourselves in the
Department of State have a robust democracy and governance
program that we fund to help support elections, and we have
contributed a substantial amount to the government to help
ensure that the elections are run and run freely and fairly, so
we are engaged, and we are actively monitoring the situation in
Burundi and also in Rwanda.
Ms. Watson. I was stunned. Which one of the countries has
23 parties?
Mr. Carson. That is Burundi.
Ms. Watson. How does that work?
Mr. Carson. It is in fact democracy at its best.
Ms. Watson. I will have to look into that more. Let me move
on to Ambassador Moore.
Mr. Carson. Lots of public participation.
Ms. Watson. Exactly. Everyone in the public is in a party
in the legislature. Okay. Ambassador Moore, your testimony
noted that Rwanda has made extraordinary progress to improve
the economic health and social well-being of its people
relative to its neighbors, and the MCC just recently signed a
threshold program to improve its progress. Yet, in light of the
coming elections, newspapers have been closed and political
parties unable to register.
Rwandans that fled during the genocide are said to be
returning to the nation, especially as the situation in the DRC
worsens, so what is the situation currently between the Hutu
and the Tutsi, and are any of them returning and with what
frequency, and will this return affect the relationship between
the Hutu and the Tutsi? I am also glad to hear of the MCC's
threshold program in Rwanda, so can you expand on that, and
what is USAID's role in all of this?
Mr. Moore. Thank you, ma'am. Let me see if I can sort of
systematically try to answer your question.
Ms. Watson. Yes.
Mr. Moore. I do believe that there is a continued return of
displaced persons to Rwanda. Part of that is pushed from the
places they currently are living as conditions deteriorate, but
part of that is a pull from Rwanda from the economic success.
Ms. Watson. Right.
Mr. Moore. I think you contrasted some of the things that
may be viewed as economic success with some of the things that
may be viewed as political lack of success, but on the economic
side, there has been a lot of success in Rwanda, and it has
attracted returns. Does that create problems? Yes, it does
create problems. Rwanda is an area that has a very high
population density. As one attracts people back to the country,
it creates issues of land tenure, land ownership, and who has
rights to use what land.
They have been, in some areas, very successful in
integrating those populations. I would say from my visits there
I certainly haven't noticed that it contributes to an increased
ethnic tension. It has in some ways caused them to do their
economic business in some different ways. For example, they
have moved from pastoralists, who are wandering pastoralists,
toward a more settled form of both milk production and meat
production and converted some of their farms into growing
traditional grasses for cows so that they can produce dairy by
holding the cow in a pen rather than allowing the cow to
wander. Let me see.
Ms. Watson. That is all right.
Mr. Moore. I think I have covered the highlights.
Ms. Watson. Yes, you have given us an overview, and my time
is up. If I may, Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to go back to
Ambassador Carson, and you mentioned the funding that comes out
of State Department for these election activities. Do we fund
you adequately enough to do this tremendous job you are trying
to do in that area of the world?
Mr. Carson. Democracy and governance in Africa is President
Obama's principal foreign policy objective and priority in and
across the continent. He said as such in his speech in Cairo in
June of last year when he spoke before the Parliament.
Additional monies and resources to fund the number one priority
are always useful. We can never spend enough on helping to
strengthen the principles of good governance which are
fundamental to both our human rights protection as well as the
strength of economies.
Ms. Watson. Well, I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that I
think our monies that we give and donate to these countries
could be well used rather than our monies that we put into
fighting wars that have no end to them, and the $15 billion we
put in a month to Iraq to me was wasted money, and we lost
lives, too. We have a difficult time with budgeting as you know
with these deficits, but I can see these countries through the
efforts through the State Department, your efforts, making
progress.
It might seem small, but it is, and they can use the money
we give more effectively than we do, and the USAID is an
example of finding ways and giving monies to NGOs because I
think they do a better job, but anyway, I would hope that we
can have some concentration on funding the activities in these
countries because I think the continent of Africa is the
resource we are going to be looking toward in the next 10 years
right now in terms of supplying our needs in this country, too.
Helping to settle and stabilize that continent would help
us in other areas of the world, so thank you very much, and I
am sorry to use so much time, but I think these are important
statements with these very informed experts here. Thank you.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much, Congresswoman. Mr. Royce?
Mr. Royce. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was going to ask a
question of Ambassador Carson that relates to the referendum on
independence of southern Sudan. That is looming, I think, in
January of next year. The worry for a lot of people that have
looked at this is that unless the LRA is permanently dealt with
now that given the reported ties they have had in the past in
terms of both munitions they have received and training and
then especially recently sending some of their officers to
Khartoum to be patched up, the worry is that Khartoum might put
that killing squad to work if things went from bad to worse in
south Sudan. I want to ask you about that.
Mr. Carson. Congressman Royce, thank you. Let me first of
all say that we are committed to the full implementation of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement that was signed in Naivasha,
Kenya, back in January 2005, and the key component of that
agreement is the opportunity for the people of southern Sudan
to participate in a referendum, which should be held in January
2011, to determine whether they want to remain as part of a
united Sudan or a part of an independent souther Sudan. We
think it is important that Comprehensive Peace Agreement be
fully implemented and that the will of the southern Sudanese be
allowed to take expression.
With respect to the LRA, we are deeply concerned about the
continued activities of Joseph Kony and the LRA. They have
moved out of Uganda into the northeastern part of the Congo
into the area around the Garamba Forest and have occasionally
forged further north into the Central African Republic and also
into parts of the southern Sudan. We have committed ourselves
to being of assistance to the Ugandan Government as they have
attempted to track down one of the most violent killers in
Africa, and we remain supportive of Ugandan efforts consistent
with the Ugandan Government securing the permission of
neighboring states to have their troops operate across borders.
Mr. Royce. Very good. Well, let me also ask you about two
other issues, one Ethiopia and the other Rwanda, where I think
we need to lean in. After the 2005 election where the
opposition did too well for his liking President Meles began a
process where political opponents and local journalists were
often jailed. Foreign journalists were denied visas. The
government there jams our VOA broadcasts despite the fact that
they receive nearly $1 billion of aid. The State Department
reports that the Ethiopian Security Services commit politically
motivated killings, so the Meles government has the repression
thing down pretty well.
As I have said before, only brutal Eritrea next door makes
Ethiopia look good. There was a piece in the New York Times
with a comment by a dissident, but basically the government
there is committed to revolutionary democracy, and that is a
collectivism that tolerates no dissent. The New York Times
quotes this prominent Ethiopian dissident saying they still
have this leftist ideology that the Vanguard party is right for
the people. Well, they always will, and we need to lean in
hard. We have to speak out more about the human rights
violations that occur there. Otherwise, these elections become
a charade.
On Rwanda, I thought you put it well in your paper. You
said, ``In a period of months, the Government of Rwanda has
suspended two newspapers, revoked the work permit and denied
the visa of a Human Rights Watch researcher and arrested and
subsequently released on bail an opposition leader.'' Well,
Paul Rusesabagina wrote in the Wall Street Journal the other
day, ``Warning signs are everywhere.'' Then, we have the
problem in the eastern Congo that Rwanda continues.
As Human Rights Watch reported, ``[T]he Rwandan Government
has repeatedly backed Congolese rebel groups willing to fight
the Hutu militias. Since 1996, Rwanda has backed three
different Congolese rebel groups (and sometimes other splinter
factions) who agreed to fight the Rwanda Hutu militias,'' but
here is the other part of that, the real difficulty of it is
those same groups also see the overthrow of the government in
Kinshasa.
You mentioned that you are stepping up your engagement on
conflict minerals. This is of course another problem with
respect to the extraction the Rwandans are doing in the eastern
Congo. It is a good place to start, but how do we bring
additional pressure and muscle to bare on both Ethiopia and
Rwanda so that in the future there are elections there in which
people actually have an opportunity to bring about the rule of
law, and you don't have a continuance of problems?
I see Mr. Wolpe here. We appreciate the special envoy's
engagement to try to solve these problems. If civil society
really sees a hopeful future where everyone has a place, and
there is freedom of speech, and there is the ability of upward
mobility because you have a more open society, there is a
better chance of resolving conflicts. Ambassador?
Mr. Carson. Congressman Royce, we do a number of things in
both Rwanda and also Ethiopia, and across the continent with
respect to issues of democracy and government. We engage with
senior government officials encouraging them to strengthen
their democratic institutions, to provide for freedom of the
press, provide for greater opportunities for civil society,
improvement of independent electoral commissions so that when
elections are held, people will have confidence that they have
credibility.
We encourage groups like NDI, NED, IRI, and the Carter
Center to become engaged in democracy-building programs. We
encourage the growth of civil society at all levels so that
they can become more active in terms of their participation as
well as in their ability to audit and review government
activities. We work with our diplomatic colleagues from other
democracies and encourage them to engage with governments, and
we do that, and we speak out aggressively.
Mr. Royce. Well, we should shout from the rooftops if we
are giving $1 billion to Ethiopia and they are simultaneously
jamming our VOA broadcasts. I can't even imagine what would be
so objectionable that they have to jam the broadcasts. These
corrupt elections in these countries receive so much largess
and support from the United States. I agree on the engagement,
and I know how much you are engaged.
Sometimes we just have to bellow and shout. Otherwise how
are we going to change the dynamics in Ethiopia to make sure
once all of the newspapers, beyond that once all the reporters
have been jailed, and the opposition are either jailed or
intimidated that if you join the opposition you might be?
Additionally VOA broadcasts can't even come into the country.
How are people going to get news and information?
Mr. Carson. Let me just speak to a couple of those points,
and you talked about shouting very clearly.
Mr. Royce. Yes. Right.
Mr. Carson. I will send you, Congressman Royce, the letter
that was sent from the State Department to Prime Minister Meles
about the issue of jamming VOA. It was in fact very strong. It
was very clear, and it was very forceful. We note in the world
that there are probably only four or five nations that attempt
to jam VOA today, and I think that Ethiopia does not want to be
included amongst them, and of course those are nations such as
Cuba and North Korea.
Mr. Royce. Yes.
Mr. Carson. We appreciate the level of collaboration that
we receive from Ethiopia in a number of areas, but we also
believe the Ethiopia must do better in strengthening its
democratic institutions. Ethiopia went to the polls on Sunday,
just a couple of days ago, and while the elections were calm
and peaceful and largely without any kind of violence, we note
with some degree of remorse that the elections there were not
up to international standards.
We note that over the last 1\1/2\ years to 18 months that
the government has taken clear and decisive steps that would
ensure that it would garner an electoral victory, and that is
indeed what has happened because of the level of opposition
representation that appears to have won seats in the
legislative branch of the Ethiopian Government has dropped
quite significantly. It is important that Ethiopia move forward
in strengthening its democratic institutions, and when
elections are held that it level the playing field to give
everyone a free opportunity to participate without fear or
favor.
Mr. Royce. I appreciate that, Ambassador. The international
community has been speaking out about his election not being
credible, and I also appreciate your words as well, and thank
you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Payne. Thank you. Mr. Miller?
Mr. Miller. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is apparent from
conversations if not from public statements that some of the
international community's earlier enthusiasm for the Museveni
government in Uganda has dimmed substantially and seems on a
trajectory to dim much further. Both of you in your testimony
apparently suggest that governments in this region should not
be judged by how they compare to an ideal, but by whether they
are getting better or getting worse, and it appears that on
democratic governance issues at least, Uganda is getting worse.
Mr. Moore, you said in your testimony that USAID is
expanding programs directly related to the 2011 elections in
the Ugandan elections to support electoral process, assistance
to parties, civil society, and obviously no civil society or no
election is going to work very well without an independent
media. There is now legislation pending in the Ugandan
Parliament to require annual licensing for all newspapers and
will allow the license to be revoked if the newspaper publishes
anything prejudicial to national security stability or unity
amounts to economic sabotage or is injurious to Uganda's
relations with new neighbors or friendly countries.
It is pretty hard to imagine that kind of threat of
revocation of a license would square with anything we would
regard as freedom of the press or that it would serve the
Uganda people very well in preparing for an election to get the
information that they need. Are both of you aware of this
pending legislation? What are the implications for democratic
governance in Uganda, and are there other signs of democratic
decline in Uganda leading up to the February elections?
Mr. Carson. Congressman Miller, I am aware of the
legislation. I think that it is not very thoughtful
legislation. The Ugandan media has spoken out against it. even
the government-owned New Vision newspaper, which is the most
widely read and most widely circulated paper in the country has
also editorialized against this media legislation as well. I am
sure that our embassy has also weighed in and made their views
known to members of the government there about what they think
of this legislation, but let me just say in general terms about
Uganda and the issue of democratization.
It is important that Uganda not move backwards, that it not
stall but continue to move forward in strengthening its
democratic institutions. Last Thursday, I had an opportunity to
make a very quick trip to Uganda, and I had an opportunity to
speak with the President of the country as well as with several
senior ministers in that country, and while the nature of my
visit had to do with broader foreign policy issues, I
specifically raised the issue of democratization and the
strengthening of democratic institutions with the President.
I can say this very clearly because if you had a copy of
the New Vision, you would see that for the 2 days that I was in
country, on both days there were widely-reported stories of why
I was coming to Uganda and what the response was, but I spoke
to the President and senior ministers among other things about
making the election commission more broadly representative of
society in general and making it more credible.
I also spoke to him about the registration process and the
need to ensure that all Ugandans had an opportunity to be
registered and to be able to participate in next year's vote.
The discussions were wide ranging, and most instances when I am
traveling around the continent, I will talk very clearly to
leaders about the need to strengthen their democratic
institutions. This is important for us, but it is even more
important for African countries and the stability and growth of
their democracies. As I said earlier, it is a major priority of
the administration to continue to encourage democratic progress
and to do so in a manner that benefits all the people and not
just a few.
Mr. Miller. Okay. Mr. Moore, you have spoken in your
testimony several times of land reform, tenure reform, tenure
security, property rights. Obviously, it leads to conflict as
you had said. It certainly can lead to great injustice, but it
also makes economic development almost impossible for their to
be no tenure security. No on is going to invest in improving
land if the land may be taken from them arbitrarily and if
their improvements make it more likely that it will be taken
from them arbitrarily.
I have introduced legislation that I hope becomes part of
the foreign assistance reauthorization to focus more on rapid
urbanization and tenure security, but could you describe for
us, you have mentioned it, but in more detail what we are doing
in DRC, in Rwanda, in Burundi, to encourage a land tenure
property right reform?
Mr. Moore. Thank you, Congressman. It is an area that is an
emerging area of concern for the Agency not just in the
countries you have mentioned but pretty wide-ranging in Africa,
including Liberia and a variety of other places. What are we
doing? To date, we generally have had one full time land-tenure
expert. That is moving to a land tenure team. We are as an
Agency I think recruiting an additional four other members for
that team. The current person spends about 60 percent of his
time in Africa.
We, the Africa Bureau, are bringing on a full-time land
tenure person who will work with the existing expert, and what
we are doing is working both with agriculture ministries and
land ministries, where they exist, to ascertain what really are
the tenure rules of the country, and in particular where there
are both traditional tenure rules and modern legal rules,
trying to resolve the differences between those so that
countries can move forward with one system of land tenure that
provides secure tenure for its citizens.
In particular, one of the things we are looking at is the
role of women in land tenure. We know that women make up 70
percent of the agricultural force, and often they are reduced
to agricultural labor because they don't have control of that
land. That is one of the things in particular we are looking at
in land tenure.
Mr. Miller. Okay. Mr. Moore, I understand how important it
is in agricultural areas. It is also important in urban
settings, in the slums of the rapidly urbanizing cities of
Africa. The absolute lack of any kind of tenure makes it almost
impossible that housing will be anything more than a shack
without water or sewer or electricity or anything else. Mr.
Chairman, thank you.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. Ms. Woolsey?
Ms. Woolsey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for keeping this
going long enough for me to leave and come back. I appreciate
you. Mr. Moore, in your testimony, you said that gender and
women's empowerment is very important, and in your written
testimony, you noted that the lifetime risk of maternal death
ranges from one and 13 in DRC and one in 25 in Uganda, so with
resources that the United States and the international
community have dedicated to reduce maternal mortality, why are
these numbers so high?
What about our current policies and practices or the
region's current policies and practices need to be changed to
improve these numbers, and what are the biggest challenges to
making real changes for women throughout the region?
Mr. Moore. Thank you, ma'am. I may have touched on this a
bit while you were out. I think that one of the things quite
honestly, as I said earlier, is that there were a variety of
health issues that we looked at as emergencies, and as we
looked as those as emergencies, we tended to move away from
systematic care to deal with particular diseases or particular
health concerns, and one of the focuses of the President's
health initiative is that we would more comprehensively focus
on health systems.
That comprehensive focus on health systems allows us, I
think, to help to engage a broader range of technical experts,
including birthing assistants, and to allow women, particularly
pregnant women, to have a system that responds more broadly to
their needs. I think if you look historically at maternal and
child health, it sort of dipped and then went up I think as we
looked more at individual diseases in emergency settings. The
desire is to look more comprehensively so that begins to dip
again.
Ms. Woolsey. Well, I don't want to take anything away from
malaria and HIV/AIDS or any of those programs, but I would like
maternal mortality to have that same level of support and
interest. On another subject, both of you, it is so clear that
it is the women and children who suffer at the hands of a bunch
of dudes, not just in developing nations, but really all over
the world, but the more educated area or a region or a country,
the more civilized it usually is, and you have said that the
youth population like in Burundi, 50 percent of the population
is under 25.
How are we educating these youths so that they will then
become adults who care about each other and not just about
competing and ending up with women and children being the brunt
of the whole program? So education, how are we educating?
Mr. Moore. Let me make a few remarks on that. As you are
aware, the United States is one of the traditional leaders,
particularly in basic education and increasingly in higher
education. One of the things that we talk about and debate
quite a bit is the missing aspects of vocational education,
which should be targeted in particular at youth bulges. We have
a number of countries that have huge youth bulges, and in those
settings we have a number of employers who complain that they
are not able to find people who have the particular skills that
they need for employment.
One of the big areas, for example, one would find is with
hotel workers or the hospitality field where they feel that
some targeted education might be useful in helping those youth
to acquire the type of skills that are needed so that they can
enter the hospitality area. We have just begun under our new
administrator to look at some of the ways we might be able to
respond to some of these needs and to look particularly at some
new partners in the United States that may be useful in
responding there.
One of the things that comes to mind is for many of the
areas where there has been an expressed desire by employers,
and we might be able to have some public/private partnerships
or training that in the United States is actually provided by
what we would refer to as community colleges or junior
colleges. That is one of the areas that I think increasingly as
we look at the needs for youth bulge particularly as it relates
to employment that we are going to have to get engaged in
education.
Ms. Woolsey. But what about the challenge that schools are
`free,` but it is the cost of the monthly fee that the parents
can't scrape up, so their kids don't go to school half the
time? I mean, these are little kids, and they can't go into
vocational education if they haven't had any education.
Mr. Moore. That is an issue I am not sure I have an
immediate answer for you on that.
Ms. Woolsey. Well, I think it needs to be addressed. In
something I read just this weekend, I can't even remember what
paper, I read so many of them, about families spending more
money on tobacco and liquor that they do for their kids to go
to school in a month or a week, so that is something I think
that needs to be addressed and needs to be worked on because
these children are our future, and we know it. Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Payne. Thank you very much. We will have a very short
second round, and we will limit the time, but I just have a
couple of quick questions. The Government of Rwanda and DRC
have sort of had contentions throughout the years, and I know
that there was an agreement signed in November 2007 in Kenya
that sort of started to create a better work relationship. How
is the work relationship going between the two countries? Have
they established diplomatic ties? They were going to exchange
ambassadors perhaps at one time at the lower level. How is that
moving along, Mr. Carson, Ambassador?
Mr. Carson. Mr. Chairman, the relationship between the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda has improved
dramatically over the last 18 months and certainly is a marked
improvement over where it was 5, 6, 7 or 8 years ago. The
improvement can be seen in a number of areas. One, there has in
fact been an exchange of diplomatic relations. Both countries
have now opened up embassies in their respective capitals, and
they have also exchanged ambassadors.
The two Presidents, President Kagame of Rwanda and
President Kabila of the DRC have met on several occasions, and
we hear that they in fact do talk to one another telephonically
on a periodic basis, but probably the most dramatic sign of the
improvement between the two countries occurred approximately
15, 16 months ago when the government of President Kabila
permitted the Rwandan Government to send troops across the
border into the eastern Congo in order to help to flush out
some of the rebel groups who were a part of the old
Interahamwe.
The Rwandan troops stayed for several months and then went
back across the border. They have not been back again. That was
done with the permission of the DRC Government and the
permission of President Kabila, but relations have improved
significantly. We hope that they will remain on an upward
trajectory. It is absolutely essential that they work together
at all levels and very collaboratively if the problems of that
region are to be resolved.
Mr. Payne. Thank you. I know that Rwanda has several
battalions of peacekeepers in Darfur, and I just wonder how
significant is that, and how their contribution in the peace
keeping in Darfur is working?
Mr. Carson. The Rwandan Government is to be complimented on
its commitment to peace keeping efforts not only in Darfur but
in other parts of Africa. They have a very skilled and
professional army, and their soldiers have turned out to be
very able peacekeepers. They have performed extremely well
according to reports that we have seen in their engagement in
Darfur, and a senior Rwandan officer has also served as a
senior commander in the U.N. peace keeping mission in that
region so that in Darfur they get a very positive and high mark
for their peace keeping commitment and performance.
Mr. Payne. And finally, about Rwanda, with the tens of
thousands of people who had taken part in the genocide and many
that are still in detention, a large number through the Gacaca
system have been released. How is that system working, and do
you see their release of more of the people who are
incarcerated speeding up?
Mr. Carson. The Gacaca system has worked extraordinarily
well given the large number of individuals who were involved in
the genocide in 1994 where there were clearly not just hundreds
but thousands of individuals across the country who were
complicitous in some of the enormous violence that went on from
April to November of '94. The Gacaca system, of course, is a
uniquely Rwandan system. It has been effective.
We continue to monitor its operations, and we certainly
encourage the Rwandan Government to exercise with care the
rights of all of those who were in Gacaca detention situations
and that those who in fact are rehabilitated and should be
released should be released, but the system has run fairly
well.
Mr. Payne. Thank you, and just finally, Mr. Moore, with the
social issues going on in Uganda--the anti-gay legislation,
homosexual legislation--has the USAID attempted to work with
government officials in trying to sort of explain or work with
them in their governance? I mean, some of the legislation was
pretty extreme. How have we dealt with that from a USAID
standpoint?
Mr. Moore. I don't think we have dealt with it directly.
What we have tended to do as we look at Uganda in the area of
governance is to try to find those areas on a local level where
civil society and NGOs and local governance can come together
or around some things that are positive in terms of moving
those communities forward, and then based upon that
relationship at local areas see how that can be moved up to a
national level so that there are those same alliances that are
working to solve problems. We probably have worked more on the
process of solving problems than we have on looking at any
particular thing that one may or may not decide is problematic.
Mr. Payne. Okay. Mr. Smith?
Mr. Smith. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could you tell us the
total amount of direct and indirect U.S. funding for the Kenya
Constitution reform processes, including money to the committee
of experts and the civic education program that is now
underway? And secondly, what has been the U.S. position on the
extraordinarily controversial part of that, which would
legalize abortion for health reasons?
Mr. Carson. Congressman Smith, I cannot tell you, but I
certainly will find out how much we have spent in supporting
the reform of the Constitution in Kenya, and so that number
probably is available, and I will make a earnest effort to get
it.
Mr. Smith. I would appreciate it, and could you provide us
the information as to what role, if any, we played with regards
to the extremely controversial piece of that? The abortion
provision has been so named by even the chairman of the
committee on experts, who said that it is one of the top most
controversial aspects to it that Kenya will go from a country
that protected its unborn children in almost every instance to
being an abortion-on-demand country, if this were to be
ratified.
Mr. Carson. We will find out, but again, we have not been
involved in the internal deliberations of any particular
clauses or amendments to the Constitution. What we have
encouraged the Kenyan authorities to do is to produce a
Constitution which incorporates all of the key elements of a
strong democratic institution.
Mr. Smith. A little over 2 years ago, the U.N. Population
Fund and China's population control police invited the health
ministers and other top officials in sub-Saharan African
countries to Beijing to talk about child limitation policies.
When that meeting was over, at least one very high official,
Paul Kagame of Rwanda, said that he wanted to implement a
three-child-per-couple policy. Now, as I think you know, Mr.
Ambassador, China's policy of one child per couple is among the
cruelest violations of women's rights in human history.
There are at least 100 million girls missing due to
feticide or gendercide, I should say, where children are
targeted because of their gender, killed by abortions simply
because they happen to be female. It is outrageous, and yet
this has been enabled by the UNFPA since 1979. The
international community has been largely silent, and now we see
countries in Africa actively looking at whether or not they
need that kind of child limitation.
I would point out parenthetically that Margaret Sanger in
her books, and she actually wrote a book called Child
Limitation, which talked about the ``cruelty of charity'' of
helping indigent women have children. She wrote in her book,
``The Pivot of Civilization''--she is the founder of Planned
Parenthood--and she made it very clear, that there are certain
ethnicities, certain people who should not procreate, and
Africans were among those that she singled out that should not
have children. Absolutely racist in my opinion. She was a
eugenicist, no doubt about it. She clearly stated that anyone
who was handicapped, disabled, in any way shouldn't be allowed
to live.
Having said that, Kagame's statement about a three-child-
per-couple-policy is, in my opinion, and many others I would
suggest, very dangerous to children. It shreds the welcome mate
for a child. Mr. Moore, you talked about population pressures.
You talked about the growth. I would hope that wouldn't become
a pretext for the U.S. Government supporting a child limitation
policy whether it be three children per couple, or as we see in
the PRC, the one child. It inevitably leads to coercion, and it
makes children profoundly unwelcomed. Do we take a position on
child limitation?
Mr. Carson. Congressman Smith, I am unaware of the
conference that you just mentioned in which the Chinese
Government invited healthcare officials from Africa to attend.
We will certainly look at it and see what the history of this
is, and this is actually the first time that I have heard
anything about President Kagame or Rwanda having a three-child-
per-family policy. I am totally unaware of that as well.
Mr. Smith. Mr. Moore, are you? If you could check into it?
I actually raised it with Paul Kagame myself. He acknowledged
that it is accurate. But again he had the false sense that
economic growth like what is going on in China. Economists now
are beginning to recognize that not only can men not find women
to marry because they are missing, because they have been
killed by sex selection abortions, but the economic problems
that China will soon begin to see are potentially catastrophic.
I hope there will be lessons learned from China that are not
misapplied because he came back feeling that if you want
economic growth, you need child-limitation policies.
Please get back to me for the record. But do we, in
drafting legislation, in any way encourage the legalization of
abortion with countries like Uganda, with countries like
Rwanda? Do you know?
Mr. Moore. I believe, sir, the answer to that is no.
Mr. Smith. Okay. Let me ask you, in terms of the moratorium
on ARVs, if you could elaborate on the impact that it is having
on the unmet need of men and women who are HIV positive,
whether or not anyone else is picking up the slack, and given
the fact that many people will die, will you be coming to
Congress or looking to take monies from other accounts and make
sure that perhaps we grow that number? I talked to a lot of the
partners in the field, and they are very concerned that huge
numbers of people will die because ARVs were not available to
them. You are going to get back to us on that?
Mr. Moore. I will get back to you on that.
Mr. Smith. I appreciate that, Mr. Moore. Finally, if I
could ask you about the light infantry battalion military
training that we are providing. Years ago, when we trained up
Kopassus in Indonesia, we heard reports of human rights abuses
committed by those who we had trained. I actually convened a
hearing and went to Indonesia as Habibie took over from the
Suharto regime and people that we had trained, we believe--but
we could never prove it--in urban gorilla warfare were actually
killing people in the streets.
My question to you is what kind of human rights training
are we providing? Are we keeping track of the trainees to
ensure that there is accountability? How many trainers are
there? Where is this actually happening? Could you provide us
the who, what, when, where? I know the why of it, but maybe
that as well because obviously it is a good idea. We want to
train professional military men and women with good components
of anti-human trafficking and human rights concerns, but if you
could give us the whole package on that, I would deeply
appreciate it.
Mr. Carson. We certainly will. Just two quick sentence. We
vet all of the individuals who participate in our military
training programs according to the Leahy amendment, and with
respect to the training that is going on in Kisangani right
now, a portion of that training is devoted to human rights
protection and respect for the civil liberties for civilians.
it is an integral part of what our people on the ground are
teaching to the unit that is being trained by the U.S.
Mr. Smith. And just one final thing. Will Uganda back the
U.S-lead effort for Iranian sanctions at the U.N. Security
Council?
Mr. Carson. Let me say that I sincerely hope so. That was
the purpose of my visit to Uganda last week. I hope that the
Ugandans will in fact support us. It is absolutely essential
that they do.
Mr. Payne. Let me thank both of you for this excellent
hearing. We are getting a lot information out. We really
appreciate it. We will be following up on a few issues, but
once again, thank you. I would also like to commend my members,
nine members at a subcommittee hearing is very commendable, and
so I appreciate their interest. With that, I ask unanimous
consent to enter testimony from John Prendergast of the Enough
Campaign into the record. Without objection, so ordered, and
also I ask unanimous consent that members have 5 legislative
days to revise and extend their remarks. Without objection. So
ordered. Thank you very much. The meeting stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:21 p.m. the committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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Material Submitted for the Hearing RecordNotice deg.
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