Whereas the Democratic Republic of Congo was devastated by
civil wars lasting from 1996 to 1997 and 1998 to 2003, spawning some of the
world’s worst human rights violations and involving at least 6 neighboring
countries;
Whereas, despite the signing of a peace agreement and
subsequent withdrawal of foreign forces in 2003, eastern Congo has continued to
suffer from high levels of poverty, insecurity, and absent or inadequate
institutions, allowing armed and criminal groups to operate freely;
Whereas continuing abuses committed by the national
military against civilians in Congo and apparent ties between the military and
armed groups in the region have tainted attempts to restore the rule of law in
the eastern region of the country;
Whereas, according to a study by the International Rescue
Committee released in January 2008, the conflict and related humanitarian
crises in the Democratic Republic of Congo have taken the lives of an estimated
5,400,000 people since 1998 and continue to cause as many as 45,000 deaths each
month;
Whereas sexual violence and rape remain a pervasive tool
of warfare used by all parties in eastern Congo to terrorize communities,
affecting hundreds of thousands of women and girls and frequently resulting in
traumatic fistula and other severe genital injuries;
Whereas the continued plunder and trade of eastern Congo’s
rich mineral base, notably cassiterite, coltan, and gold, by armed groups and
members of the national military make war profitable and undermine peace
efforts;
Whereas the Governments of the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Rwanda signed the Nairobi Communiqué in November 2007, committing to
work together to address the continued activity of the Democratic Forces for
the Liberation of Rwanda and other armed groups operating in their shared
border region;
Whereas, on January 23, 2008, with the active support of
the international community, the Government of the Democratic Republic of
Congo, and 22 armed groups in the eastern region signed the Goma accord,
committing to an immediate ceasefire and buffer zones for troop disengagement
and ultimately disarmament;
Whereas these agreements together provided the first
working framework in years for peace and lasting stability in eastern Congo,
but a continued culture of impunity and suspicion has impeded their
implementation;
Whereas the United Nations reported more than 200
violations of these agreements between January and July of 2008, as well as
2,000 cases of rape and hundreds of people killed;
Whereas hate speech inciting ethnic violence by local and
national leaders in Congo continued during this period, feeding the concerns
and perceived insecurity of minority Tutsi communities;
Whereas, since August 28, 2008, fighting has resumed in
North Kivu Province between the national military and the forces of General
Laurent Nkunda, known as the National Congress for the Defense of the People,
the latter of which has taken control of several government military bases and
major towns around the city of Goma;
Whereas, according to Human Rights Watch, an estimated
250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes as a result of this renewed
fighting in eastern Congo, often without access to shelter, water, food, and
medicine, and adding to the over 1,000,000 people already displaced from North
and South Kivu;
Whereas the United Nations Mission in Congo, known by its
French acronym MONUC, has proven unable to protect civilians in light of this
new offensive by General Nkunda’s forces, causing resentment and protests by
local communities;
Whereas allegations of troops from Angola, Rwanda, and
Zimbabwe crossing into eastern Congo have strained existing regional tensions
and increased fears of a wider war that could draw other countries from the
region into the fighting, as happened in 1998;
Whereas the United Nations’ Special Representative of the
Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Alan Doss, and United
Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have called for more troops and better
capabilities for MONUC to stop the rebel offensive and protect
civilians;
Whereas United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, on November 7, 2008, and convened a summit of
regional leaders, including the heads of state of the Democratic Republic of
Congo and Rwanda, which led to a joint statement calling for an immediate
ceasefire and the creation of humanitarian corridors; and
Whereas, in 2006, Congress passed the Democratic Republic
of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006, which was
signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 22, 2006 (Public Law
109–456), stating that it is the policy of the United States to work for peace
and security throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo by supporting efforts
to protect civilians, to disarm illegal armed groups, and to hold accountable
individuals, entities, and countries working to destabilize the country: Now,
therefore, be it
That the Senate—
(1)condemns the
continuing violence, forcible recruitment of children as soldiers, and abuses
against civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo;
(2)calls on the
national military in Congo, the National Congress for the Defense of the
People, and all armed groups operating in eastern Congo to cease hostilities,
end all human rights abuses, and respect an immediate ceasefire based on the
principles of the Goma agreement;
(3)calls on the
Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to meet its obligations under
the Lusaka Agreement of 1999, the Pretoria Agreement of 2002, and the Nairobi
Communiqué of 2007 to take action to end the threat posed by the Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda;
(4)calls on the
Governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda—
(A)to fully restore
bilateral relations;
(B)to work together
to mitigate escalating tensions in the region; and
(C)to break any ties
that still exist between them and illegal armed groups in eastern Congo;
(5)calls on all
governments in the Great Lakes region of Africa and those of the Southern
African Development Community to support a peaceful resolution to the crisis
while ensuring that the volatile situation does not spark a wider regional
war;
(6)supports the
efforts of the United Nations Secretary-General, his newly appointed United
Nations Special Envoy, former President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo, and the
international facilitation team to bring all parties to the negotiating table
and establish a clear roadmap to implement the signed peace agreements;
(7)encourages the
international community to take immediate measures to enhance the effectiveness
of the United Nations Mission in Congo to protect civilians, specifically
through increased troops and additional capabilities as requested by the
Secretary-General;
(8)urges the
President to sustain high-level diplomatic engagement together with the African
Union, the European Union, and the United Nations to avert a wider regional war
and revive a comprehensive peace process in eastern Congo;
(9)urges the United
States and the international community to develop and support monitoring and
verification mechanisms that can hold the parties in Congo accountable to the
signed peace agreements, investigate alleged ceasefire violations, and
ultimately challenge the continued culture of impunity in Congo; and
(10)urges the
President and the international community to adopt measures to help the
regional governments to identify and ultimately address the factors underlying
the conflict in eastern Congo, especially weak governance and the exploitation
of the region’s lucrative minerals.