[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]








                          ASSESSING THE BIDEN
        ADMINISTRATIONS U.S. STRATEGY TOWARD SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                           NOVEMBER 17, 2022

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-138

                               __________

        Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs





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                             _________
                              
                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
                 
51-549 PDF               WASHINGTON : 2023














                      COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS

                  GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York, Chairman

BRAD SHERMAN, California             MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Ranking 
ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey                  Member
GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida
KAREN BASS, California
WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island
AMI BERA, California
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
DINA TITUS, Nevada
TED LIEU, California
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota
COLIN ALLRED, Texas
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania
TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey
ANDY KIM, New Jersey
SARA JACOBS, California
KATHY MANNING, North Carolina
JIM COSTA, California
JUAN VARGAS, California
VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas
BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois

                                     CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey
                                     STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
                                     JOE WILSON, South Carolina
                                     SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania
                                     DARRELL ISSA, California
                                     ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois
                                     LEE ZELDIN, New York
                                     ANN WAGNER, Missouri
                                     BRIAN MAST, Florida
                                     BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
                                     KEN BUCK, Colorado
                                     TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee
                                     MARK GREEN, Tennessee
                                     ANDY BARR, Kentucky
                                     GREG STEUBE, Florida
                                     DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
                                     CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York
                                     AUGUST PFLUGER, Texas
                                     PETER MEIJER, Michigan
                                     NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, New York
                                     RONNY JACKSON, Texas
                                     YOUNG KIM, California
                                     MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, Florida

                    Sophia Lafargue, Staff Director

               Brendan Shields, Republican Staff Director  
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
                            C O N T E N T S

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                                                                   Page

                               WITNESSES

Phee, Honorable Molly, Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of 
  African Affairs, U.S. Department of State......................    10
Muyangwa, Honorable Monde, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau 
  for Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development..........    16

                                APPENDIX

Hearing Notice...................................................    54
Hearing Minutes..................................................    55
Hearing Attendance...............................................    56

            RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

Responses to questions submitted for the record..................    57

 
                  ASSESSING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATIONS 
                U.S. STRATEGY TOWARD SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 

                      Thursday, November 17, 2022

                          House of Representatives,
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs,
                                                    Washington, DC.

    The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:27 a.m., in 
room HVC-210, The Capitol, Hon. Gregory W. Meeks (chairman of 
the committee) presiding.
    Chairman Meeks. The Committee on Foreign Affairs will come 
to order.
    And, without objection, the chair is authorized to declare 
a recess of the committee at any point.
    And all members will have 5 days to submit statements, 
extraneous material, and questions for the record, subject to 
the length limitations in the rule. To insert something into 
the record, please have your staff email the previously 
mentioned address or contact for committee staff.
    As a reminder to members, please keep your video function 
on at all times, even when you are not recognized by the chair.
    Members are responsible for muting and unmuting themselves. 
And consistent with House rules, staff will only mute members 
as appropriate when they are not under recognition, to 
eliminate background noise.
    I see that we have a quorum, and I now recognize myself for 
opening remarks.
    Before, though, we begin the hearing, I want to recognize 
our newest member to the committee, and that is Congresswoman 
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, from the great State of Florida.
    We welcome you to this committee and look forward to 
working together with you. Congratulations. It is good to have 
you.
    Pursuant to notice, the full committee meets today to 
discuss the United States' Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa. 
And so let me start by thanking Assistant Secretary of State 
for African Affairs, Molly Phee, and USAID's Assistant 
Administrator for Africa, Monde Muyangwa, for appearing before 
our committee today.
    Just a few months ago, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken 
traveled to South Africa to announce a renewed American 
approach to Sub-Saharan Africa that reframes the region's 
importance to the United States' national security interests.
    And I want to get into the substance of the strategy in a 
moment, but I think it is important to discuss why this 
reframing is necessary in the first place. For far too long, 
perceptions of Africa have been shaped by outdated and 
uninformed depictions of a region in constant crisis. And 
roughly 4 years of disparaging comments and misguided policies 
of the previous Administration set relations with many of our 
African partners back decades.
    To get back on the right track with our African partners, a 
serious and critical course correction was required, and that 
is why I applaud the Biden Administration for developing a bold 
and ambitious U.S. strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa.
    Many observers agree that Africa, the second most populous 
region in the world, will shape the future. By 2050, 1 out of 
every 4 people on the globe will be African. African nations 
comprise nearly 30 percent of the United Nations. The U.N. 
estimates that there are roughly 650 million cell phone users 
in Africa, more than in the United States or Europe. When it 
comes to critical minerals and other resources, it is hard to 
overState how important this region is to the global effort to 
modernize our economies and combat climate change.
    Once the African Continental Free Trade Area is fully 
implemented, Africa stands to become the fifth largest economy 
in the world. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that 
foreign partners in the private sector and public sectors alike 
continue to expand their engagement with their presence in 
Africa. And while opportunities in Africa abound, we must be 
clear-eyed about the challenges that negatively affect 
stability and undermine economic growth.
    When I meet with African leaders from across the continent, 
common themes emerge and continue to resonate with me. African 
people of all backgrounds and income levels favor democracy and 
strongly prefer America's democratic values, yet we continue to 
see governments in parts of Africa give way to autocratic and 
anti-democratic movements.
    Africa has experienced more coups than any other region 
since 1950, with recent trends heading in the wrong direction. 
So we need to take the opportunity the strategy provides to 
acknowledge the governance challenges facing the region and 
identify what actions State and USAID should undertake to 
fortify democracy in Africa.
    The demand signal for democracy is clear. We must step up 
to meet the moment. The United States is in a prime position to 
redouble efforts to strengthen democracy, support good 
governance, and address the conditions associated with 
democratic backsliding, like endemic poverty and human rights 
abuses.
    I have always been a strong proponent of engaging our 
African partners with an emphasis on equity and agency, 
ensuring African stakeholders have a seat at the table and lead 
the change we all want to see in many parts of the continent.
    What I find most promising about the Administration's 
strategy is that it outlines a clear and modern approach to 
enhancing our engagement in Africa and it rightly calls for 
leveraging the private sector and the African diaspora, 
bolstering civil society, supporting sustainable development, 
including through support for an equitable energy transition, 
strengthening trade and investment, and driving digital 
transformation on the continent.
    What will be key for this discussion is how, how are the 
State Department and USAID deploying their tools and resources 
to make this strategy successful; what resources are required 
to advance U.S. foreign policy objectives in Africa; and how 
can Congress be most helpful in this effort.
    So I look forward to the answers to these questions and the 
discussion that follows.
    And I now will recognize Mr. McCaul for his opening 
statement.
    Mr. McCaul. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to our new 
committee room. I told the chairman, I think I'm cursed. When I 
chaired Homeland Security Committee, I got moved out of the 
beautiful committee room to here, but it is nice and it is 
close to votes, but it is great to see all of you back here 
again. And let me say, first, Africa, that--let me thank the 
witnesses too.
    Ensuring strong engagement with our African partners has 
been a bipartisan priority, and for over two decades, both 
Republicans and Democratic Administrations, the U.S. has 
partnered with African nations to address key challenges.
    Next year will be the 20th anniversary of President Bush's 
launch of PEPFAR, which as I talk to leaders in Africa say, 
saved a generation from extinction. I look forward to ensuring 
that this important work continues in the next Congress and 
being reauthorized.
    The U.S. has a legacy of investment of which to be proud. 
In the last year, the United States provided over a billion 
COVID vaccines to African countries and funding to address 
unprecedented levels of food insecurity and famine in the Horn 
of Africa. But we need to also think long-term about our 
investments.
    And while the U.S. offers partnership, the PRC and Russia 
seek to leverage their offers of financing and security 
guarantees for their own political, economic, and security 
priorities. A perfect example of this is the CCP's debt-trap 
diplomacy through their Belt and Road Initiative. And, 
Secretary, you and I talked about this, and if we are not on 
the field, Mr. Chairman, you cannot win, if you are not on the 
field. And we need to get on field.
    And, again, when I meet with our partners and allies all 
over the world, they do ask--and ask why they are entering into 
these dangerous agreements with China, they tell me, again, 
because we are not there. And we need to be there. We cannot 
allow the CCP and Russia to exert their malign influence over 
the continent.
    Promoting two-way trade and investment with African nations 
and creating economic opportunity must be a top priority. And 
that is why I am proud that my bill, the Championing American 
Business Through Diplomacy Act, was signed into law.
    Earlier this year, I introduced legislation that codified 
the Prosper Africa initiative, and I want to thank Chairman 
Meeks for his cosponsorship and helping us get that marked up. 
This effort coordinates the various tools of the U.S. 
Government to speak with one voice and support U.S. companies 
looking to invest in Africa.
    I have some concerns, Secretary, as you and I talked about, 
about the Development Finance Corporation, that I worked very 
hard and many members on this committee did, to get private 
investment. I believe this Administration was putting a lot of 
restrictions on that investment as it has to be certain types 
of energy and has to have all sorts of restrictions. And I have 
heard from the private sector that this has really stalled our 
ability to have that private investment.
    I think that with the invasion of Ukraine by Putin and the 
world's rush to secure oil and gas from alternative regions 
reveals that we cannot really keep the DFC hamstrung from 
investing in traditional energy. It can only be green. We were 
in Romania. They wanted to have these small modular nuclear 
reactors, Madam Secretary, and we were told the Development 
Finance Corporation would not finance that because it was not, 
quote/unquote, green energy. However, nuclear power has zero 
carbon emissions, and even the EU Parliament voted that nuclear 
is green energy.
    So I think that is an issue on energy we need to focus on. 
We still have the counterterrorism issues there that I dealt 
with when I chaired Homeland--ISIS, al-Qaeda. Now, anytime you 
have instability, poverty, you have these terror groups. Al 
Shabaab, well financed; ISIS affiliates are active in over 20 
African countries, and they are growing.
    Passing the Global Fragility Act was an important step to 
stabilize Africa through a whole-of-government approach. Back 
then it was Chairman Engel and Senator Graham and Coons and 
myself.
    So I really look forward to hearing about the 
implementation of that as well, Madam Chair--Secretary, toward 
implementation in West Africa and Mozambique.
    So proud that the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership 
Act, which was stalled by the Senate last Congress, was enacted 
earlier this year to improve U.S. response to terror threats in 
the Sahel.
    So we have many challenges, a lot of work to do. It is time 
to roll up our sleeves and get things done, and I thank both of 
you for being here today.
    I yield back.
    Chairman Meeks. I thank the gentleman.
    I will now recognize for 1 minute--the title is still the 
chair of the Africa Subcommittee, it soon will be the mayor of 
the city of Los Angeles. The Honorable Karen Bass is now 
recognized for 1 minute. Congratulations.
    Ms. Bass. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for 
convening this hearing and for the opportunity to speak on the 
importance of President Biden's Africa STRATEGY.
    As noted in the Biden Administration's Africa strategy, it 
is impossible to meet this era's declining challenges without 
African contributions and leaderships. The strategy is a much 
needed effort to, quote, recast traditional U.S. policy 
priorities--democracy and governance, peace and security, trade 
and investment and development--as pathways to bolster the 
region's ability to solve global problems alongside the U.S.
    Throughout my time in Congress, I have worked to shift the 
paradigm from seeing Africa as a continent that is defined by 
crisis, conflict, poverty, and corruption, to engaging Africa 
as a continent with immense opportunities for robust and 
mutually beneficial partnerships. I have led several 
delegations to the continent with Members of Congress, and 
every time they come back, they are always amazed at the 
richness of the continent.
    But let me just conclude by thanking you. I know that this 
will probably be my last hearing. And the most difficult part 
of my decision to leave Congress was really because of the work 
of this committee.
    And so I look forward to elevating international affairs in 
an international city. And I just want to express my 
appreciation to our wonderful chairman and ranking member, soon 
to switch roles, and soon to be Chairman Chris Smith, for the 
partnership that we have had over the last 12 years, and all 
the members of this committee. So thank you for the opportunity 
to address you.
    Chairman Meeks. We thank you, Chairwoman-mayor, for your 
dedication, for surely this is the most appropriate last 
committee hearing that you attend because of your focus, your 
life-long focus, even before you became a Member of Congress, 
to the Continent of Africa.
    You have always been one that I depended upon and leaned on 
when it came to the continent, and your vision for the 
continent is absolutely, absolutely superb, and it leads to 
many of the things that has helped me as a Member of the House 
and as chair of this committee. And you will not escape, 
though, because I will still be calling the mayor of L.A. on 
various things, particularly as it regards the Continent of 
Africa.
    So thank you for your service to the U.S. Congress, and 
thank you for your service to this committee. We are deeply 
indebted to you. Thank you very much.
    Mr. McCaul. May I?
    Chairman Meeks. Yes.
    Mr. McCaul. And if I could echo that sentiment. Karen, it 
has been a joy to work with you. Your positive energy is 
infectious. And we have worked on many initiatives related to 
Africa together that have, I think, made a difference, and that 
is what it is all about really.
    I congratulate you on your new position as mayor of L.A. 
You may enjoy being an executive more than just one of 435. So 
we are going to miss you. I hope you come back to visit.
    I yield back.
    Ms. Bass. Thank you.
    Chairman Meeks. And I will yield to a person who has been a 
partner because, you know, oftentimes when I talked to 
Representative Bass, the next mayor, she always told me how she 
worked very well with Mr. Smith over the years. And so I 
recognize now Representative Chris Smith.
    Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    Karen, we are going to miss you. It has been a great 
partnership for many years, a dozen years. We have traveled 
together. I remember very well we traveled to Ethiopia. You 
came all the way from L.A., and as things turned out, you went 
back right away. I do not think you slept for about 3 days. We 
had some very good meetings with the new prime minister, 
unfortunately then he disappointed, but now we have a peace 
agreement that hopefully will flourish.
    You are taking over what is the equivalent of a small 
country, 4 million people, and, you know, you have a lot of 
friends on both sides of the aisle, and it has always been a 
real joy to work with you. Our staffs have worked very closely 
together, and I think that is extremely important.
    So I am going to miss you, Karen, but do not be a stranger. 
Look forward to seeing you over and over again going forward.
    Chairman Meeks. Run that clock back to a minute. That is 
not his time.
    Mr. Smith. Oh, good. Thank you very much, Chairman.
    Just a couple of things I would like to raise as we meet. 
It is good to see Ambassador Molly Phee. I remember when we met 
in Sudan in the past--South Sudan, I should say--and I 
appreciate your work, and, of course, to the--Muyangwa, 
congratulations to you for your work.
    Just a couple of brief things because this is an important 
hearing, and I thank the chair for calling it.
    As the primary author of the Frank Wolf International 
Religious Freedom Act, I am a little concerned that in the 
strategy--and I, you know, have read it, read it carefully--
that religious freedom is not there.
    And, you know, we have--I have, particularly in Nigeria and 
a number of other countries, whether it be Muslim on Muslim or 
Christian-Muslim fights, these issues have to be front and 
center and not in any way--we cannot look askance when 
Nigeria--and I disagree with the Administration when they got 
rid of CPC status for Nigeria. I think, you know, the country 
itself, particularly the Christians, there has been a spike in 
death to Christians that is because there are Christians in 
Nigeria. I hope that we can come back to redesignating--
designating Buhari and his government as a CPC country, because 
they have not earned getting off that.
    On Nigeria and on DR Congo real quick, I chaired a meeting 
on July 14 of the Tom Lantos Commission, and we focused on the 
cobalt mining. And we had a number of unbelievably incisive 
witnesses, including two DR Congolese who told us how 35-to 
40,000--some estimates there--a little bit lower, but that is 
order of magnitude--children are in those mines getting cobalt, 
and who is running them? Chinese Communist Party. They are 
taking over because they want to have a monopoly on electric 
cars going forward. You know, if you want an electric car, 
great, but it shouldn't be on the backs of little children and 
people who are adults who are exploited as well.
    So I hope we can really, really raise that issue to the 
highest possible level. Hearing about how kids are dying, 
getting cancer working in the mines without any kind of 
protection whatsoever. So I am deeply concerned about that as 
well.
    And I thank you. I yield back. Thank you.
    Chairman Meeks. The gentleman yields back.
    I will now introduce our witnesses. Ambassador Molly Phee, 
she is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the 
rank of minister counselor, and has served as U.S. Assistant 
Secretary of State for African Affairs since last September, 
and most recently served as deputy special representative for 
Afghanistan Reconciliation.
    Her experience in African affairs include serving as U.S. 
Ambassador to South Sudan, deputy chief of mission in Ethiopia, 
and chief of staff--the special envoy for Sudan and South 
Sudan.
    Assistant Secretary Phee has extensive experience in U.N. 
engagement in Africa and the Middle East, and began her career 
at several Middle Eastern posts, including Jordan, Egypt, and 
Kuwait.
    Dr. Monde Muyangwa was appointed as Assistant Administrator 
for the Bureau of Africa in September, and has over 25 years of 
leadership experience on Africa and U.S.-African relations, 
including in the areas of development, gender, education, 
housing, health, and nutrition.
    She previously served as the director of the Africa Program 
of the Woodrow Wilson Center, academic dean at the Africa 
Center for Strategic Studies, and professor of civil-military 
relations at ACSS.
    She served on the board of trustees at Freedom House, the 
board of directors at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS 
Foundation, the International Advisory Council of 
Afrobarometer, and the Advisory Council in the Ibrahim Index of 
African Governance.
    So I want to thank our witnesses for being here today. And 
I now yield to Ambassador, the Honorable Molly Phee--Deputy 
Secretary, I should say.

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MOLLY PHEE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR 
    THE BUREAU OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

    Ms. Phee. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member McCaul, 
Subcommittee Chair Bass, Subcommittee Ranking Member Smith, and 
distinguished members of the committee. Thank you for devoting 
your time today and to share your interest in Africa.
    As you know, the Africa strategy of the Biden-Harris 
Administration is based on a simple but important premise. 
Building a 21st century partnership with Africa is critical to 
meeting this era's defining challenges and achieving results on 
our shared global priorities.
    As Secretary Blinken has said, Africa is a geopolitical 
force that will shape the world's future. The continent is home 
to the fastest growing and youngest population in the world, 
enjoys breathtaking ecological diversity, and nurtures vibrant 
and historic cultures whose past is inseparably intertwined 
with our own.
    The strategy commits to elevating, broadening, and 
deepening our partnerships with diverse African audiences, 
including notably the diaspora. We will prioritize listening 
and acting on what we hear. Even when we have disagreements, we 
will seize the opportunity to engage and discuss.
    The Administration's National Security Strategy and the 
State Department-USAID Joint Regional Strategy for Africa 
recognize the profound transformation of the continent, capture 
the region's importance to U.S. national security interests, 
and identify how we will boost Africa's ability to maximize 
opportunities and counter challenges.
    The upcoming U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit is a prominent 
example of how we are putting this reframing into practice. 
President Biden also made this point at the U.N. when he 
announced U.S. support for permanent seats on the Security 
Council for countries in Africa.
    The strategy's first objective is to foster openness and 
open societies. Building on the hunger of African publics for 
foundational values--democracy, transparency, accountability, 
equity, inclusivity, rule of law, anticorruption, and religious 
freedom--we will support those who understand that 
incorporating these values into governance is the best path to 
unlock the potential and prosperity of individuals and 
societies.
    Choice is also central to our second objective, to deliver 
democratic and security dividends. Poor governance and abusive 
security forces render countries vulnerable to instability. We 
will direct U.S. programming to address the drivers of 
conflict, strengthen democratic institutions, and invest in the 
development of local security forces that are capable and 
accountable. Thanks to Congress, we now have an innovative new 
tool with the Global Fragility Act.
    Poor governance also affords space for malign actors such 
as the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group. We are engaging our African 
partners to counter Russia's malign influence. We are also 
working intentionally to present our African partners with 
alternatives to substandard Chinese practices while remaining 
open to collaboration when U.S., Chinese, and African interests 
align.
    Our third objective is to advance pandemic recovery and 
economic prosperity. We have provided millions of COVID-19 
doses and billions of dollars in COVID-related support. The 
additional resources provided by Congress for food security and 
humanitarian assistance have been invaluable in mitigating the 
compounding effects of Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine.
    We are committed to helping our African partners strengthen 
health systems for the next global health challenge, building 
on the foundation of decades of investment. One example, in 
recent weeks, the State Department has been a leader in the 
U.S. Government team, helping Uganda effectively respond to an 
Ebola outbreak.
    The strategy also includes plans to promote economic 
growth, especially job creation. We are working through 
multilateral banks, as well as U.S. Government programs you 
know well--the DFC, MCC, Prosper Africa, Power Africa, and Feed 
the Future. We need to do more and better in this space, and we 
look for your support and guidance as we seek to advance new 
initiatives such as PGII.
    Finally, in line with the fourth pillar, we will support 
conservation, climate adaptation, and a just energy transition. 
At COP 27 last week, President Biden announced more than $150 
million to accelerate the implementation of the President's 
emergency plan for adaptation and resilience across Africa. 
This funding will help address what African counterparts 
highlight as their most urgent need in responding to the 
climate crisis, especially facilitating access to finance for 
populations vulnerable to climate change.
    As we enter this decisive decade, we firmly believe that 
Africans should and must have a seat at the table. Our 
challenges are shared and so too should be our solutions. I 
look forward to addressing your questions.
    And, Mr. Chairman, if I might, I would like to speak on 
behalf of the State Department to honor and thank Congresswoman 
Bass for her leadership on Africa issues. I well remember when 
she and Congressman Smith visited me in Juba, a difficult place 
to be, and their engagement there, as it has been throughout 
the continent, has been so important. And if I might presume to 
speak on behalf of our African friends, I am sure they would 
want me to wish her congratulations and best wishes.
    Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Phee follows:]

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    Chairman Meeks. Thank you. And thank you for your remarks.
    I now recognize Assistant Administrator Muyangwa.

     STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE MONDE MUYANGWA, ASSISTANT 
   ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE BUREAU FOR AFRICA, U.S. AGENCY FOR 
                   INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

    Ms. Muyangwa. Thank you.
    Good morning, Chairman Meeks, Ranking Member McCaul, and 
members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to 
discuss the new U.S. strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa and for 
your longstanding bipartisan commitment to the African 
continent.
    I arrived at USAID only a few weeks after the new strategy 
was launched. It comes at a crucial moment and underscores my 
long-held belief that the future of the United States and 
Africa are inextricably linked.
    The COVID-19 pandemic has erased years of development 
gains, and recent conflict has killed thousands and displaced 
millions more. Roughly 21 million people face starvation in the 
Horn of Africa, and we are also seeing the setbacks to 
democracy as well as a rise of malign actors.
    Yet the Africa that I know is also characterized by 
resilience, transformation, and promise. African nations hold 
significant political heft at international organizations, and 
the African Continental Free Trade Area has created the world's 
fifth largest economy. And despite democratic setbacks, African 
citizens are demanding governments that respect the rights and 
dignity of all people.
    The U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Africa recognizes both 
challenges and opportunities facing Africa and reflects its 
influence on the international stage. Let me walk through how 
USAID is aligned with the strategy and highlight our way 
forward.
    First, the strategy commits to promoting fair and open 
societies, and USAID will continue to strengthen transparency 
and accountability. And we are working with civil society 
partners to improve the information ecosystem, including 
training journalists and others to stop the spread of 
misinformation.
    We will help countries address challenges of digital 
infrastructure and increase gender equality and inclusion. We 
will also strengthen the rule of law and independent 
judiciaries to address corruption and safeguard individual 
rights.
    Second, the strategy recognizes the essential role that 
effective democracy and governance play in peace and security. 
So we will continue to promote democracy and good governance 
and collaborate with the Department of State and Defense and 
other international partners to advance peace and security in 
Africa and to support locally led peace-building efforts 
through the Global Fragility Act.
    Third, the strategy emphasizes the need to continue our 
response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the U.S. Government 
vaccine effort Global VAX, over 229 million vaccines have been 
delivered to Africa. Public-private partnerships and engagement 
with key regional organizations like the West Africa Health 
Organization will continue to be essential.
    And when it comes to expanding economic opportunity, the 
U.S. Government, through Prosper Africa, Power Africa, and 
other USAID programs, will continue to strengthen trade ties 
and improve the business-enabling environment. Both Prosper 
Africa and Power Africa have already yielded impressive 
results. Since Prosper Africa's launch, the U.S. Government has 
helped close 800 trade and investment deals across 45 African 
countries, for an estimated value of $50 billion. Power Africa 
has connected more than 33 million homes and businesses to on-
and off-grid solutions, bringing first-time electricity to over 
159 million people across the country.
    Feed the Future has expanded to eight new African countries 
and continues to strengthen food systems across the continent.
    The Young African Leaders Initiative has trained more than 
22,000 youth, who bring innovation, creative energy, and 
opportunity to civil society and economies across Africa.
    Fourth, the strategy recognizes the need for climate 
adaptation, conservation, and the restoration of ecosystems and 
natural resources. USAID will expand engagement on climate 
change issues, especially adaptation, and build on our work in 
conservation and biodiversity. The U.S. Government recently 
renewed its longstanding commitment to the protection, 
conservation, and sustainable management of the Congo Basin.
    Power Africa will work closely with countries to diversify 
energy sources, advance the use of renewable energy, and 
increase the efficiency of existing systems while balancing gas 
to power infrastructure to help advance energy security.
    As you can see, USAID programs are well positioned to 
support the objectives in the U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan 
Africa. Yet it will not be business as usual. We must step up 
our engagement with African partners, diversify the breadth of 
countries that we work with, and engage with medium and small 
States to advance shared priorities, including the Africa 
Union's Agenda 2063.
    I am deeply committed to USAID's mission and to advancing 
the U.S. strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa. I thank you for 
your continued support of USAID's work, and I welcome your 
questions.
    As I conclude, I too would like to join Assistant Secretary 
Molly Phee in thanking Congressmember Bass for her work to 
advance and support U.S.-Africa relations, and we wish you well 
in your new job.
    Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Muyangwa follows:]

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    Chairman Meeks. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony.
    Thank you both for your testimony.
    I will now recognize members for 5 minutes each pursuant to 
House rules, and all time yielded is for the purposes of 
questioning our witnesses. And I will recognize members by 
committee seniority, alternating between Democrats and 
Republicans.
    And please note that I am going to be somewhat strict in 
enforcing the 5-minute time limitation for questioning, 
including with myself. But I will start by recognizing myself.
    Let me say ask this question. You know, the strategy that 
the Administration will redouble its efforts to ensure it has 
sufficient human and financial resources to plan, organize, and 
execute. Now, I want to make sure so I address this question to 
both of you. What deficits do you see in your staffing or 
funding in order to achieve the strategy's objectives, and what 
can we do to fill those gaps here in Congress? And also, how 
will the State Department and USAID ensure that--something that 
I have been on--that recruitment, retention, and incentives in 
your respective African bureaus are sufficient to meet the 
strategy's objectives?
    Ms. Phee. Mr. Chairman, first of all, I want to thank you 
for your attention to this issue, because to realize our 
ambitious goals, we do need resources.
    As you know, the State Department has a deficit of 
personnel related to decisions that were taken in the past 
Administration. This Administration asked for and received 
funding for 500 new positions, but we still have a challenge in 
meeting, particularly at the mid-level grade, filling our 
positions.
    So the Administration, and under Secretary Blinken's 
leadership, is working very hard on both recruitment and 
retention. He has, as you know, appointed a diversity officer 
to address that aspect of recruitment and retention. So we 
continue to focus on building up the State Department core so 
that we can staff our embassies and staff the Bureau.
    Second, on resources, Congress is very generous with 
resources for health. There is a lot of money earmarked for 
health, also education. I think we would benefit from more 
resources in the democracy area. That would help us address the 
issues of backsliding that you identified in your opening 
statement.
    Thank you.
    Ms. Muyangwa. Thank you, Chairman Meeks, for that question. 
We have had several thousand positions, I think, that have been 
approved for the agency, and we are in the process of 
recruiting for those positions. That is going to take a while, 
but those efforts are definitely underway. We are also looking 
at ensuring that, as we recruit, issues of diversity, equity, 
and inclusion are well reflected because that strengthens the 
outcomes of the work that we are doing.
    And as the assistant secretary mentioned, and as you have 
all mentioned in your remarks, the question of democracy and 
democratic backsliding on the continent is critical. And so we 
are looking at ways of how we can bring more resources, energy 
to really attacking those issues, to arrest democratic 
backsliding.
    And so we are going to continue to look for your continued 
advocacy on those issues and as we work through how best to 
arrest this democratic backsliding on the continent.
    Chairman Meeks. So one of the things that has always--you 
know, that has interested me, because there are, you know, 
different things that are taking place on different parts of 
the continent. But private sector, it seems to me, when you 
look at the future, you know, as we talked about it--I talked 
about it in my opening statements and Secretary Phee also--it 
is there. And sometimes the risk factors--and I think that it 
has been somewhat outdated, some of the risk factors.
    So can you tell us what roles that State and USAID should 
and/or could play in educating the private sector on the 
opportunities that exist on the continent and as far as also 
the perception of risk as we get ready to get into the summit?
    All the African leaders I talked to say they want 
investment, they need private sector investment to help them 
grow their economies, to make a difference. And we see others 
who are in there, other governments, like China, who is not 
doing the right thing in that regards, but because of the 
vacuum, they are able to--can you give us a response to that?
    Ms. Phee. Sure. I think it is clear that through the 
discussions that have taken place at the G7, that there is a 
general recognition that we all need to do more, our like-
minded partners, on trade and investment in Africa. And there 
will be a day devoted, an Africa Business Forum, during the 
leaders summit, where we hope to create real opportunities for 
American companies to engage African leaders.
    And we also need to continue to remind African leaders that 
they need to take steps to create, what the jargon is, an 
enabling environment to attract that private investment.
    I think the area where we see a lot of engagement now that 
is new is the climate area. As you just learned when you were 
in Sharm el-Sheikh, and as the ranking member and I discussed, 
there is a lot of interest in our private sector, also in our 
philanthropic community, to try and match U.S. Government 
investment in that space. So I think that is a growth area for 
us moving forward in the future.
    And last, I would mention the Africa Free--the Continental 
Free Trade Area. As we look toward AGOA expiration or renewal 
in 2025, I think there might be some opportunities to link our 
engagement on trade preferences with the building of that free 
trade area that benefits both Africans and Americans.
    Thank you.
    Chairman Meeks. Thank you. My time is expired.
    I now yield to Mr. McCaul.
    Mr. McCaul. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Let me first, Secretary, just ask you about the Ethiopia 
peace agreement that was signed. Can you give us an update as 
to whether that is effective and how is it being implemented?
    And as I understand it, we still cannot get the 
humanitarian aid into Tigray at the scale necessary.
    Ms. Phee. We are very pleased with the outcome of the AU-
led efforts first on November 2 in Pretoria, where a cessation 
of hostilities agreement was agreed, and we have seen that take 
effect, and then of followup discussions in Nairobi on the 
implementation of the agreement on November 12.
    We are very lucky to have the leadership of Kenya and South 
Africa and the African Union to help the parties. As you know, 
we also contributed to this positive outcome.
    Aid stopped going into Tigray on August 24 when hostilities 
began. It is urgent that it be resumed and be unhindered and 
that there also be restoration of services.
    Those were key elements of the discussion in Nairobi on 
November 12, and we already are seeing movement of aid into 
Mekelle and other towns in Tigray, and we expect that to 
increase in the days and weeks ahead. That is part of the 
agreement.
    Mr. McCaul. Well, that is certainly encouraging. If I can 
move to, you know, kind of followup on what the chairman was 
talking about. You know, I passed the Championing American 
Business Through Diplomacy Act and the Prosper Africa Act. I 
have already expressed to you my somewhat disappointment with 
the Development Finance Corporation's inability to do this. But 
these are two other pieces of legislation to get more private 
investment which will stabilize, you know, Africa.
    And can you tell us--and I think this will be for both of 
you. And I know you mentioned that in maybe 20 different 
countries that the Prosper Africa Act was being effective. But 
can you maybe give us a progress report on those two?
    Ms. Muyangwa. Thank you for that question, Representative 
McCaul. So Prosper Africa is our primary engagement tool on the 
economic front with Africa, and we are really looking to boost 
those efforts in terms of its engagement and contributions to 
two-way trade with the continent.
    In that regard, we are focusing on three priorities. The 
first is mobilizing U.S. institutional investments to the 
continent in three key sectors--climate, health, and 
sustainable infrastructure. The second is really looking for 
ways to fostering U.S. investments toward African innovation 
and entrepreneurship, particularly in the digital space, which 
we think is going to drive Africa's digital revolution. And 
then third is boosting African exports to the United States by 
connecting the supply chain a little bit more tightly there.
    So those are three areas that we are looking at, and we 
feel that if we do that, we are also going to bring in AGOA, as 
well as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, they are 
having a much more cohesive approach.
    Mr. McCaul. Secretary?
    Ms. Phee. I would just add that at the upcoming leaders 
summit, Ambassador Tai will host a meeting with her African 
counterparts to talk about how we can do more in the trade 
space, and just to affirm for you my commitment and the 
commitment of the Administration to do better in engaging the 
private sector so that we achieve our shared goals.
    Mr. McCaul. Thank you. I know the chairman mentioned this 
as well, that when we meet with the Ambassadors, they all echo 
that, and, you know, it is Central America too. I mean, it is a 
common theme, but I do think in areas where stability is key, 
it would help stabilize the continent and some of these 
countries where if they become destabilized--and many are--you 
are just going to breed, you know, crime, terrorism, no 
governance, and create problems for the world.
    So, anyway, with that, I just want to say thanks to the two 
of you. And I will yield back.
    Chairman Meeks. The gentleman yields back.
    I now recognize Representative Brad Sherman from California 
for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Sherman. It is, of course, natural that the Congress 
bemoan that Karen Bass is leaving us, but she is coming to us 
in Los Angeles. Many of you would like to have a mayor as good 
as Karen Bass.
    There are many issues in Africa, but I am going to devote 
my 5 minutes to the conflict in Ethiopia and Tigray, which is 
the bloodiest conflict in the world this decade.
    We have seen some food get in, and I hope that we also 
focus on the medicine getting in as well.
    I want to focus on Eritrea. Our embassy in Asmara has 
verified that Eritrean forces have been in northern Ethiopia, 
that they have blocked humanitarian assistance, that they 
committed human rights abuses, including rape and the killing 
of children.
    There is no legitimate reason for Eritrean troops to be in 
any part of Ethiopia. I am, of course, hopeful that they will 
withdraw their troops, but they are not a party to the 
agreements that the assistant secretary has cited.
    Assistant Secretary Phee , will--we support--and will you 
support--additional sanctions on Eritrea if they fail to 
withdraw their troops, including sanctions on President Afwerki 
himself and on mining in Eritrea?
    Ms. Phee. Thank you, Congressman. Absolutely, we concur 
with your assessment of the negative role of Eritrea in 
Ethiopia. It is, I think, a positive development that as part 
of these discussions the issue of foreign forces is part of the 
agreement and the withdrawal of foreign forces, but----
    Mr. Sherman. But if Eritrea does not withdraw----
    Ms. Phee. Yes, yes. Yes.
    Mr. Sherman [continuing]. You would--we would do those 
sanctions?
    I would point out that we could look at U.N. Security 
Council efforts. Of course, Russia would veto because Eritrea 
is one of the five countries in the world to actually vote 
against the Ukraine resolution.
    We could include not only that, but we could look at an 
anti-shipping campaign, not aimed at ships bringing food or 
medicine but those bringing luxury goods to Asmara.
    For 2 years, the Ethiopian Government has used hunger as a 
weapon. We have to have a contingency plan should the Ethiopian 
Government fail to meet its conditions under these agreements.
    Assistant Secretary Phee , will you commit to not restoring 
AGOA and not supporting IMF, World Bank, et cetera, loans to 
Ethiopia until the Ethiopian Government fulfills its 
obligations under the agreement, including humanitarian aid, 
protection for civilians, human rights monitoring, and a 
restoration of services, including the internet.
    Ms. Phee. Yes. We have made clear to leaders of the 
Ethiopian Government that implementation--full implementation 
of the agreement reached in Pretoria and elaborated in Nairobi 
is essential to restoring the partnership that we previously 
enjoyed.
    Mr. Sherman. We have got tens of thousands of Tigrayans, 
ethnic Tigrayans, in other parts of Ethiopia that have been put 
in detention centers. The U.N. International Commission for 
Human Rights on Ethiopia in September of this year said that 
the detentions are ongoing and that reliable information 
indicates that torture is occurring at these facilities.
    Will you commit to not supporting lifting AGOA and not 
supporting international lending until these ethnic Tigrayans 
are released?
    Ms. Phee. Yes. This is part of our dialog with the 
Ethiopian Government and with all parties who committed abuses 
during this terrible conflict.
    Mr. Sherman. And then there is the disputed area of Western 
Tigray. We saw ethnic cleansing there in November 2020. The 
agreement calls for a constitutional resolution as to which 
regional government should control Western Tigray. That could 
very well mean a referendum.
    Wouldn't any such referendum have to include only those 
people who lived there before the ethnic cleansing, rather than 
excluding those who have been driven from their homes and 
including those who moved in after November 2020?
    Ms. Phee. Congressman, I know that issue is going to be 
discussed by the parties, as you said, under their 
constitution, and I do not believe the details about how they 
would conduct any referendum or address resolution of that 
dispute have yet been determined. So I am not in a position to 
address specifically----
    Mr. Sherman. And--and----
    Ms. Phee [continuing]. A hypothetical scenario at this 
point.
    Chairman Meeks. The gentleman's time is expired.
    I now recognize Representative Chris Smith from New Jersey, 
who is the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global 
Health, and Global Human Rights, for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Smith. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
    As I mentioned earlier, cobalt is heavily concentrated in 
DRC. Most cobalt is processed in the People's Republic of China 
by the Chinese Communist Party. They are succeeding in creating 
a monopoly. EVs became the largest end users of cobalt last 
year, 34 percent, followed by smartphones 15 percent, and 
laptops and desktop computers by 9 percent.
    At our hearing, one of our witnesses from the The Sentry 
said, imagine you are a second grader being forced to spend all 
day tunneling in a dangerous mine with little to no safety 
equipment in an area that has many known collapses, with 
soldiers illegally intimidating and abusing minors and other 
civilians.
    My question is, what are we doing to stop it? Is President 
Tshisekedi complicit in any way, shape, or form with this 
outrageous exploitation of children and adults in the cobalt 
mines in DRC?
    Ms. Phee. Thank you, Congressman Smith, for raising this 
critical and tragic issue. The U.S. Department of Labor is 
engaged with the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo 
to try and improve standards, working standards in these mines. 
We recognize that this is unacceptable practice, and we are 
working with the government to try----
    Mr. Smith. And we have had serious reports that Tshisekedi 
is involved with this, he is corrupt, and my question is, what 
is your findings on that? If you have a President who allows 
the Chinese to abuse your own children, that is unconscionable.
    Ms. Phee. I know that President Tshisekedi has reached out 
to the United States, told us that we would be a preferred 
partner in investment in these mines, which I understand to be 
an implicit recognition of the challenges and poor practices of 
Chinese investment. So we are working hard to try and take him 
up on that offer.
    Mr. Smith. But, again, how do you assess the President's 
role?
    Ms. Phee. I am not aware of direct Presidential 
involvement, but let me look at that specifically and come back 
to you.
    Mr. Smith. Could you? It is extraordinarily important.
    Ms. Phee. Yes.
    Mr. Smith. You know, with the elections coming up in 
December 2023 in DR Congo, I know the Catholic and the 
Protestant churches have combined. Are we going to work with 
them to make sure that that is a free, fair, and inclusive 
election?
    Ms. Phee. That is why we asked Secretary Blinken to travel 
to Kinshasa in August, to make clear our expectations that the 
upcoming election be free and fair and peaceful.
    We continue to engage with the government, and Dr. Monde 
could talk a little bit about USAID's support for the Electoral 
Commission. But absolutely we share those goals and are working 
I think diligently to try and achieve them.
    Ms. Muyangwa. And we recognize the importance and some of 
the challenges of the upcoming elections, so we are working to 
strengthen the electoral management body in the DRC to ensure 
that they have the capacity to hold free, fair, and transparent 
elections.
    We also continue to engage with officials from the DRC on 
reinforcing the same----
    Mr. Smith. Again, probably the most credible entity in DRC 
are the churches, the faith community, and they have done, 
against all odds, yeomen's work in the past. Will they be 
included, both the Catholic and the Protestant churches, and 
most importantly, will they get the funding to make it possible 
for them to do their work in a free and fair way?
    Ms. Muyangwa. We engage with civil society. I cannot speak 
directly to what the breakdown is in terms of faith 
organizations' participation in that engagement. But we could 
definitely followup and provide you with that response.
    Mr. Smith. Chairman, I am hoping to lead a delegation there 
next year, because we have got to get this right. I mean, after 
that hearing--I knew what was going on in those mines, I raised 
it a number of times--but until I heard from two DR Congolese 
leaders, including a Jesuit priest, it just--how could this 
President be complicit in this? And I believe he is, and I 
think that we have got to follow that up very aggressively, 
this abuse of children.
    Ms. Phee. Congressman, I just want to add, to inform you 
that I had the honor to meet with a delegation of religious 
leaders from Congo to talk about these very issues, and I want 
to reassure you that we here in Washington, as well as our 
mission in Kinshasa, are actively engaged and respect very much 
the leadership role they play and----
    Mr. Smith. Thank you. I am almost out of time. Just a 
couple of other questions, and I have many, but the strategy, 
again, did not include religious persecution, which is on the 
rise on the subcontinent.
    Was Rashad Hussain, our, your, your designee, but he is the 
Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, was he 
involved with that process? Because surely he would have 
wanted, I think, a major section of this to be devoted to 
religious freedom.
    And, last--again, out of time--do you support--and do this 
in written form--a criminal tribunal for Liberia? I have had 
hearings in the past. We have had Allan White testify. Yes, 
there was one in Sierra Leone, but Liberia still has a number 
of people who committed genocide that have not been held to 
account.
    Charles Taylor, of course, is at the Hague, you know, was 
convicted, but that was Sierra Leone's Tribunal.
    There was a call in 2009 to establish a war crimes tribunal 
there. Will you support that?
    Ms. Phee. On the last issue, I would like to come back to 
you. I am not well versed on that issue, so if I could take 
that for the record, I will come back to you.
    On the issue of religious freedom, again, I always want to 
thank you. It is so important that you raise this issue 
vocally. It really amplifies U.S. voice and impact.
    We very much consider the law to be a guiding principle of 
how we conduct ourselves, the embassy and all of us here in 
Washington, including Ambassador Hussain. So I do not want you 
to think that because there is not a specific section, that it 
isn't embedded in every way in which we engage. I just want to 
affirm that for you.
    Ms. Muyangwa. I would just echo the assistant secretary's 
work that the issue of religious freedom is one that is 
reflected in the work that USAID does, and so we will continue 
to engage on that issue in all of our partnerships and work 
with our African partners.
    Chairman Meeks. I now recognize Representative and the next 
mayor--or the mayor-elect from Los Angeles, California, Karen 
Bass, currently still the chair of the House Africa 
Subcommittee, for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Bass. For as long as I can be. Thank you. Thank you, 
Mr. Chairman, again, and thank you, Ambassador----
    Chairman Meeks. Unmute yourself.
    Ms. Bass. Oh, I am. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? No?
    Chairman Meeks. We cannot hear you.
    Ms. Bass. Oh, I am not muted. How about now?
    Chairman Meeks. Can we check that here? I cannot hear.
    Ms. Bass. Yes, I am not muted. No?
    Mr. Schneider. I can hear her on Zoom.
    Chairman Meeks. Hold on 1 second.
    Ms. Bass. OK.
    How about now? Any luck?
    Chairman Meeks. As we deal with the technical difficulties, 
and I do not know whether it is just Representative Bass, but 
while we try to work to see--let me try and yield 5 minutes to 
Representative Bill Keating of Massachusetts, the chair of the 
Europe Subcommittee.
    Is he on? Let's see if his audio works.
    Mr. Keating. I am here.
    Ms. Bass. Hello? Can you guys hear me?
    Mr. Keating. I can hear.
    Ms. Bass. You can hear me, Bill?
    Mr. Keating. I can hear you, yes.
    Chairman Meeks. We do not see Representative Keating. I am 
also just trying to check to see the depth of the technical 
problems.
    Let me recognize Representative Dina Titus of Nevada for 5 
minutes, if she is on.
    Mr. Keating. We are on.
    Ms. Titus. Mr. Chairman, can you hear me? Can you hear me, 
Mr. Chairman?
    Chairman Meeks. So I am told that Webex is having issues 
for those that are on virtually. So while we fix those 
technical difficulties, I will yield 5 minutes to 
Representative Tom Malinowski from New Jersey, who is the vice 
chair of the full committee.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to our 
witnesses.
    I wanted to focus on Ethiopia as well. And I would start by 
saying, I think this agreement is a potentially huge step 
forward, and thank you to both of you and Ambassador Hammer and 
Secretary Blinken and everybody who has been working very hard 
to try to bring an end to the fighting and the killing and the 
suffering of the people of Ethiopia.
    We already went over one of the potential weaknesses, and 
thank you for the very clear and definitive answers on 
Eritrea's role in the conflict. I wanted to ask as well about 
the humanitarian access challenges. Obviously, part of the 
agreement includes a commitment by the Government of Ethiopia 
to expedite humanitarian assistance and the restoration of 
services.
    What we have seen thus far is still very, very limited 
though, as I am sure you would acknowledge, basically two 
trucks to Mekelle, which is nothing. And I wanted to started 
with just a broad question.
    What do you think the problem is, why is the government 
still apparently holding up aid shipments, and what are we 
doing to overcome them?
    Ms. Phee. I think we are in a much better position than we 
were in the summer where aid--we worked very hard, as you know, 
to get aid rolling, but it only went through a far province. 
What the government is now willing to do and what we have 
already seen is trucks moving from Amhara Region. The roads are 
better, and that will open up multiple lines. So my expectation 
is that we will begin to see the kind of aid deliveries that we 
need.
    Part of the challenge bureaucratically or logistically is 
that the international humanitarian agencies needed to do a 
security survey before they began moving. Those surveys should 
be completed within the next few days, and that will 
facilitate.
    I also wanted to call your attention to an ICRC delivery of 
medical supplies, which is in addition to the truck movements. 
So I believe we are cautiously optimistic that we will see the 
results that need to happen.
    Mr. Malinowski. OK. Well, there is a comment by the lead 
government negotiator, Reda, who is saying--that struck me as 
concerning. He said, quote, ``Once the government controls the 
airports, the navigation system, and the airspace fully, then 
we will allow aid to flow both on the ground and in the air.''
    What is going on there? Does that strike you as an 
appropriate condition to place on the free flow of food and 
medicine?
    Ms. Phee. I also saw those comments. What is important is 
that the agreement--the elaboration of the agreement that was 
negotiated in Nairobi has no such reservations. And that is our 
expectation that they will--the government will comply with 
those--with that agreement.
    Mr. Malinowski. OK. And, finally, I want to ask you about 
an aspect of this that we do not talk about often enough, and 
that is the role that some of our leading American companies 
have played in creating this environment in Ethiopia and in 
many other countries around the world in which people who live 
together now hate each other with a passion that has, in this 
case, led to horrific acts of violence.
    I am talking, obviously, about Facebook and Google that 
created these platforms, which they try to moderate in the 
United States but moderate far less in countries where people 
speak languages that Silicon Valley does not speak.
    I am just wondering--I am sure you share my assessment on 
this--to what extent is the department, the Administration 
engaging with leadership of these companies to pressure them to 
dedicate the vastly greater resources that are needed to ensure 
that incitement of violence, incitement of genocide by armed 
actors and just by regular people in countries like Ethiopia is 
actually dealt with?
    Ms. Phee. I appreciate you raising this concern. I do not 
think I have a good answer. We have had episodic engagement 
with the leadership of those companies. We haven't achieved the 
results we would like to see. I would observe that that in the 
more specific case of Ethiopia we have separately attempted to 
engage with the diaspora, which itself has played a role in 
accelerating this rhetoric, so sort of having diplomatic 
engagement to compensate for the deficiencies in the social 
media space.
    I would also observe that I think this is a problem across 
the continent. We have a lot of fragile societies that coexist 
uneasily, and social media, as well Russian propaganda, for 
example, by the Wagner Group, can be very disruptive and 
divisive.And I do not know--it is a problem, frankly, in our 
own society as you know well, and I think it is an area where 
we can work together.
    We are lucky to have Nate Fick now at the State Department 
who is looking at cyber and digital policy, and I think there 
is hope that we can try and do more in this space.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
    My time is up.
    Chairman Meeks. The gentleman's time has expired.
    I think we are trying to do a mike check on the virtual, so 
let's see what we have there.
    Staff. Mike check, five, four, three, two, one.
    Chairman Meeks. Can we do the mike check?
    Staff. Trying again. Five, four, three, two, one.
    Chairman Meeks. I can hear it very faintly, five, four, 
three, two, one, but we cannot hear you clearly or loudly.
    Staff. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, 
two, one.
    Chairman Meeks. I can now hear you.
    So I would move forward to our next member, and that is 
Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. You are recognized 
for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Perry. Thank you very much.
    I would like to start out by acknowledging the service of 
my colleague on the other side of the aisle from New Jersey, 
Mr. Malinowski. I have found him to be an engaged, informed, 
and thoughtful and worthy adversary. We haven't agreed on a 
lot, but he has been here to serve. And I just wanted to say 
that that should be acknowledged and appreciated.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you so much, seriously.
    Mr. Perry. Ladies, Director, Secretary, thanks for being 
here.
    Would you acknowledge, both of you, that Congolese child 
labor in the cobalt mines is occurring? Is that something that 
we can agree on?
    Ms. Phee. Yes.
    Mr. Perry. Sounds like that is a yes.
    Would you characterize--I do not know where you are on 
this, but would you characterize yourself as generally for 
colonialism or generally against colonialism? And I would 
describe it as the exploitation of one nation's resources by 
another nation's.
    Ms. Phee. I think I can speak for my colleague that we 
would both be opposed.
    Thank you.
    Mr. Perry. OK. So it wouldn't be--Director, I think you 
mentioned disinformation. It wouldn't be disinformation to say 
that the Chinese are practicing colonialist activities in 
Africa, particularly in the Congo in the cobalt mines and in 
particular with the child labor practices that are occurring 
there? That wouldn't be disinformation, would it?
    Ms. Phee. No, sir.
    Mr. Perry. No, I did not think so.
    Would you also acknowledge that there is slave labor 
incorporated--and I know this is out of your sphere of direct 
work, but in East Turkestan, Xinjiang Province in China--
regarding the construction of batteries and related items to 
electric vehicles and electronics and essentially the net zero 
agenda, slave labor?
    Ms. Phee. As you mentioned, I wouldn't feel comfortable 
speaking outside of Africa. I do not have the data or the 
knowledge.
    Mr. Perry. Director?
    Ms. Muyangwa. Nor do I.
    Mr. Perry. OK. So neither one of you have ever heard about 
these claims or are unaware? Are you aware and just not sure 
or----
    Ms. Phee. Obviously, sir, we are aware as hopefully 
informed foreign affairs professionals.
    Mr. Perry. I just wanted to get that from you.
    Ms. Phee. Thank you.
    Mr. Perry. So what autonomy do you believe that Africa 
should have in deciding how it produces and distributes energy? 
And where does the United States tax dollar play a factor in 
that? What autonomy should African nations have in choosing?
    Ms. Phee. As the central tenet of the strategy is to treat 
Africans as partners, we believe they should have autonomy and 
that they do have autonomy.
    Of course, as the United States seeking to advance our 
interests, we will use all of the tools available to us to 
promote our views and interests in our engagement with African 
nations.
    Mr. Perry. So do you think that the United States should 
promote its views on religion on the people of Africa?
    Ms. Phee. It is U.S. law, sir, for us to promote religious 
freedom.
    Mr. Perry. OK. But what about religious dogma? I understand 
religious freedom, and we can get into a long discussion about 
promoting religious freedom as it is juxtaposed to what 
actually happens in the law. But, generally speaking, do you 
think that the United States should promote the--the U.S. 
Government, through United States tax dollars, should promote 
the belief in Christianity, so to speak, or Judaism, or 
anything else?
    Ms. Phee. Congressman, my conduct and the conduct of our 
team is guided by our Constitution and by our law.
    Mr. Perry. What does that mean? Do you believe in the 
promotion of that or not?
    Ms. Phee. I believe in the promotion of religious freedom 
but not as to any particular dogma.
    Mr. Perry. OK. Yes, not in any particular dogma, which I 
would agree with you.
    So why then do you think it is appropriate for the United 
States to impose on Africa the zero carbon or the net zero 
agenda on a population that is striving and struggling to get 
out of poverty knowing, knowing, that it is also the imposition 
of Chinese colonialism, tied to child labor, slave labor, at a 
minimum, and also at an increased cost to some of the people--
to people who can least afford it on the planet? Why is that 
appropriate?
    Ms. Phee. The verb ``impose'' is perhaps not an accurate 
reflection of policy. I understand our policy to be to 
encourage zero carbon results, but to also recognize the 
challenges that Africa is facing right now, just as you have 
identified, and to support adaptation and to support 
transition.
    So I think we recognize the complexity of the situation, 
and we also recognize that the Russian war in Ukraine has 
created additional complications on the global energy agenda, 
and we need to work through those complications.
    Chairman Meeks. The gentleman's time has expired.
    Mr. Perry. Thank you, Chair.
    Chairman Meeks. I now recognize Representative Dina Titus 
from Nevada for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Titus. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    I would like to followup on some of the points that were 
made earlier about the Ethiopian conflict and ask this to 
Assistant Secretary Phee.
    Now that the conflict has ended--and we hope that 
continues--I wonder what actions the Administration has taken 
to support unfettered access to the Tigray Region so that they 
can conduct, oh, investigations into potential war crimes, 
human rights violations, crimes against humanity? We have heard 
that access has been hindered from a number of different 
sources. I wonder if you could enlighten us more on that.
    Ms. Phee. Representative Titus, thank you for raising that 
important issue.
    In conversations that the Secretary, Ambassador Hammer, and 
I have had with Ethiopian government and TPLF representatives 
about resolving this conflict, we have raised the importance of 
addressing accountability, the grave human rights violations 
that have occurred during this conflict, and the importance of 
having independent monitors, chiefly those from the United 
Nations, be able to enter Tigray and other areas of Ethiopia 
where we understand abuses have taken place.
    So I want to reassure you that in recent days, in every 
conversation we have had about addressing this conflict, we 
have explained the importance to the United States of 
significant action to address the human rights violations that 
took place.
    Ms. Titus. Well, good. I am glad to hear that, and I know 
some of my constituents who have been very concerned about that 
will also. Maybe you could keep us kind of posted on some of 
the findings that you all have as you pursue this.
    Now I would like to ask the director, we are talking about 
Prosper Africa and how that is going to be a key player as we 
enhance our economic relations between the U.S. and Africa. I 
wonder if you could explain how Prosper Africa is working to 
connect building on public-private relationships in order to 
provide more opportunities for women-owned businesses or micro 
industries.
    Ms. Muyangwa. Thank you for that question, Congresswoman.
    So Prosper Africa, through a number of initiatives focuses 
on women, there is an actual standalone on an initiative that 
we have that focuses on women businesses and trying to 
encourage them in the trade sphere. So we will continue to push 
on that end, to expand that program, and have it take hold both 
within Prosper Africa itself but also in our support for AGOA 
and African continental free trade area work that we are doing.
    Ms. Titus. How do you get the word out that this is 
available for people to take advantage of or to use to startup 
businesses for women or promote their products so that we 
become a better market for those companies in Africa?
    Ms. Muyangwa. Prosper Africa has actually established a 
digital platform--its name escapes me now--where businesses on 
both ends can tap into this digital platform to get all of the 
information that they need about doing business with each 
other. And we have seen tremendous access to that platform 
trying to find out what the opportunities are, trying to find 
out how the U.S. Government can support those who would like to 
engage in Africa.
    I can definitely followup on that and get you the 
information that you need.
    Ms. Titus. Well, thank you.
    And thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
    Chairman Meeks. The gentlewoman yields back.
    I now recognize Representative Darrell Issa of California 
for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Issa. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And I want to continue on on the Prosper Africa initiative.
    You know, Secretary Pompeo put a lot of time and effort 
into getting it started, but today now, 2 additional years past 
the changing of the Administration, one of my questions is what 
can you point to as specifics of accomplishment? In other 
words, usually there is at least anecdotal stories, and I 
haven't heard any of them today.
    Ms. Muyangwa. Thank you for that question, Representative 
Issa.
    Let me just go to some of the accomplishments that we have 
had in the Prosper Africa, if you will just give me a second. 
Sorry.
    Mr. Issa. While you are doing that, I am going to ask a 
followup question, realizing we are dealing primarily with 
Africa. Is this, in fact, a program that is equally portable 
and should be equally distributed throughout similar countries 
beyond Sub-Saharan Africa?
    Maybe that is a good question while we are waiting for 
specific accomplishments.
    Ms. Muyangwa. So let me just very quickly speak to some of 
the accomplishments.
    Since its establishment, we have mobilized $1.5 billion of 
investment in climate health and sustainable infrastructure and 
also established teams of investment advisors at both USAID and 
DFC who work with embassy drill teams to advance trade and 
investment transactions.
    We are working with dedicated Prosper Africa funding to 
mobilize exports into the trade space by expanding our 
resourcing operations. And so for every $1 of U.S. Government 
funding, we are leveraging at least $15 in private sector 
investment.
    We recently took a group of U.S. pension funds from 
Chicago, Hartford, and Philadelphia to Africa to break down the 
perceptions of risks; therefore, bridging this perception of 
the risk in Africa being too high. Often what we find is that 
when people actually get on the ground, they get to see that 
that risk perception is not uniform across the continent and 
that there are areas where they could actually invest.
    And as a result, they invested $85 million in a Pan African 
fund along with a South African pension fund, and this is going 
to provide financing to entrepreneurs and small businesses 
across West Africa.
    So those are just some of the accomplishments that we have 
had that we are looking to build on.
    Mr. Issa. So the $85 million fund has not been distributed 
yet, but it is in process? Is that your statement?
    Ms. Muyangwa. I understand, sir, but I can confirm that and 
get back to your office.
    Mr. Issa. OK. And I appreciate your answer, and I know you 
were attempting to be fully responsive. What I was looking for 
were those examples where an implementation has led to a change 
in a community or individual entrepreneurs, and so on.
    What I heard is what we usually have--do in government. We 
talk about how many people we employed and how much money we 
spent. So if you do not mind, for the record, if you would 
followup with examples of implementation that have led to 
economic differences; in other words, the effect of the money 
we spent rather than the effort we made to spend it and to 
educate.
    Mr. Chairman, I am going to use my remaining time to just 
make a comment.
    I know this is an important hearing. And with my colleague 
and longtime friend, Karen Bass, moving on to another large job 
in her career, I wanted to take a moment to thank her for the 
hard work and the many years that she has been a leader on this 
committee. I know she'll be missed by all of us, on both sides 
of the aisle. So, you know, we often get--we often talk about 
what we do not agree on, and I could certainly bring up a few 
here today. But it would be inappropriate when, in fact, Karen, 
you have worked so hard on what we do agree on. And I want to 
thank you for your service.
    And with that, Mr. Chairman, I will yield back my last 12 
seconds.
    Mr. Malinowski [presiding]. Thank you.
    The chair now recognizes Representative Castro for 5 
minutes.
    Mr. Castro. Thank you, Chairman.
    And also thank you, Karen, for all your work on the African 
Subcommittee over the years, incredible work.
    I will jump right in. In 1 month the United States is 
hosting the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit here in Washington. 
This, of course, is an important opportunity to demonstrate 
U.S. leadership in the region. But I believe there should be 
more visibility on what we hope to substantively accomplish at 
this summit.
    And so my question for Assistant Secretary Phee is what 
concrete deliverables can we expect from this summit?
    Ms. Phee. Thank you very much for the question.
    I view this summit as an opportunity to consolidate the 
great work that is already underway. You know, thanks to 
Congress, we have doubled our normal food security investment 
of about $400 million to about $800 million this year to help 
Africans deal with the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
    Likewise, under the President and the Secretary's 
leadership, we have also massively increased our investment in 
health to help Africans not only deal with the COVID pandemic 
and the economic impact but to help develop health security to 
deal with the next pandemic that is coming. And you see a lot 
of news coming out of Sharm El Sheikh where we have increased 
our engagement to help with managing climate change.
    So a lot of what we will be doing in the summit is sort of 
consolidating what great work and partnership is already 
underway, having a conversation about what else is needed, and 
using the summit to catapult the relationship forward.
    I expect there to be serious discussion about increasing 
the African role in the multilateral system, whether the G20, 
the Security Council, or reforms to multilateral banking 
institutions so that they have the financing and investment 
that we have talked about.
    And it will be important for leaders to meet not only 
President Biden but the rest of the Cabinet.
    And I mentioned earlier the Africa Business Forum, as well 
as related side events, where we are really making an effort to 
expose African leaders to American companies.
    So those are the types of activities that we expect to come 
out of the summit.
    Mr. Castro. Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for your 
great work.
    And, you know, Congress has played a leading role in 
deepening our engagement with Africa such as through the 
African Growth and Opportunity Act and the Electrify Africa Act 
of 2015. What legislative efforts will support the anticipated 
summit outcomes?
    And then also if I heard that African countries have not 
received their formal invitations to the summit, what is the 
timeline for sending those invitations or getting them out?
    Ms. Phee. The latter question first, I think that is an 
erroneous report. We have formally invited the delegations, and 
we are looking forward to receiving confirmation this week of 
who is coming. They also have received a draft program with 
speaking roles, and we are engaged with both our embassies in 
Africa and here in Washington with the diplomatic corps.
    Ambassador Tai will be hosting a meeting of her 
counterparts to discuss the future of AGOA. It is my belief 
that there is a win-win scenario for us with AGOA and for 
Africans through the continental free trade area, and I am 
hopeful that in that discussion we can talk about how we can 
help both populations do better with trade and investment and 
jobs.
    So those are some of the types of activities that will also 
be part of this multiday extravaganza.
    Mr. Castro. Great. Well, you know, I am glad that the 
formal invitations have been extended and that you are going to 
hear back soon on who is attending because I have seen and 
others have seen these summits coming together at the last 
minute and we end up not getting out of the summit everything 
that we potentially could. So I am very glad that the State 
Department is on top of it.
    It is also good to see including African companies in 
multilateral forums. I have been disappointed they have not 
been as vested at the U.N. on Ukraine issues, for instance. And 
we have to be more inclusive. We should be more inclusive of 
the people of Africa, the people of Latin America, and places 
in the world that the U.S. Congress, for example, does not 
often pay as much attention to as Europe or other places.
    So thank you for all of your work, and I look forward to 
being helpful, you know, in helping to deliver legislatively 
whatever we agree to at the summit.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
    The chair now recognizes Representative Burchett of 
Tennessee for 5 minutes,
    Mr. Burchett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciative your 
friendship. You are an excellent legislator and an excellent 
receiver I will say on the congressional football team.
    Ms. Phee, could you talk to me a little bit about China's 
growing influence in Africa and how, in fact, that is 
undermining our relationship across the continent? I am always 
concerned about the Belt and Road Initiative and the way that 
they just mistreat folks. And I am wondering if you could 
elaborate on some of that please, ma'am.
    Ms. Phee. Thank you for the question.
    It is a challenge that we are alert to and trying to 
address. Even though are some areas where we can cooperate with 
China, particularly in the environment, but there are many more 
areas where we need to compete and in some instances contest. 
We have a different model than the Chinese, as you know. We 
invest in human capital and development and in systems and in 
institutions. Sometimes some of that investment is less 
obviously visible. The Chinese tend to do bright and shiny 
objects. Some of the investment in infrastructure has been 
helpful. Other practices have resulted in substandard 
infrastructure and substandard labor practices.
    So we are working to develop alternatives for our African 
partners so that they are able to choose U.S. engagement, and 
we are also working with the G7 and the EU to expand the 
opportunities for Africans to move away from the Chinese model.
    Mr. Burchett. Thank you.
    I would hope at some point we would look into creating 
entrepreneurs in Africa, not just creating sweatshops. And I 
kind of weird out on bamboo all the time. I make bamboo 
skateboards at home. It is cheaper than a psychiatrist, so it 
kind of gets my mind off things. But I notice in some areas 
they use what is called iron bamboo and make bicycles, and then 
they export them to America and they sell them for thousands of 
dollars, things like that. I would hope we would kind of look 
outside of the--you know, they are not going to create a 
computer out in middle of the desert somewhere. But, dadgummit, 
they could do some things I think that would help, and I would 
hope that we would look to some of those.
    I have an another question, though. You brought up 
environment. It is not in my notes, but I've been studying this 
for quite some time, is the reclaiming of some of these deserts 
that are really just ravaging these countries due to they do 
not have education. They do not have fuel. They have to burn 
the trees. There is not anything left, nothing to hold the top 
soil down. The U.N. a few years ago listed not--they listed 
several things that were of great concern. Their No. 1 concern 
at one time to humanity was the depletion of top soil, oddly 
enough.
    And I am wondering, are you all doing anything to work with 
them? I know the Chinese are, and that scares the daylights out 
of me because the Chinese aren't doing it because they love the 
people of Africa. They want to control more and get more rare 
metals.
    I wonder, are you all doing anything in that realm of 
reclaiming deserts in some of those really deprived areas?
    Ms. Phee. That is such an important issue, but it is very 
specific. So I would like to look into the blizzard of 
environmental project finance that has just been announced as 
part of Sharm El Sheikh and come back to you. I would offer 
that both important issues you have highlighted, entrepreneur 
and helping Africans deal with the terrible impacts of climate 
change, I think are united, and we are trying to see how we can 
support entrepreneurs in this space. But if it is OK, I will 
come back to you on the specific issue of the soil in the 
Sahara.
    Mr. Burchett. I wish you really would. I do not--do not 
just check a box. Unless the Lord or somebody else takes me 
out, I am going to be here for 2 more years, so I would expect 
to hear from you all hopefully in the new year.
    Ma'am, did you want to add to that, please?
    Ms. Muyangwa. Sure. We at USAID have some work going on in 
that area, particularly in the Sahara. I am not sure as to the 
scale and scope, but I would say that given developments in 
that region it is probably work that we would appreciate some 
advocacy in terms of scaling up that work.
    Mr. Burchett. OK. And I would also--I like USAID. Sometimes 
I do not like some of the stuff USAID does. I think you all 
have a PR problem. And with just like the desert changing 
sands, there are changing sands in Washington. And if you all 
could work some on your PR and letting us know exactly the good 
things you all are doing, I would really appreciate that, 
ma'am, because I would like to be in your corner on a lot of 
issues.
    Thank you all.
    And I yield back the remainder of my 2 seconds, Mr. 
Chairman.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
    And I have been wondering whether dadgummit is an allowable 
word in the Foreign Affairs----
    Mr. Burchett. Dadgummit, D-a-d-g-u-m-m-i-t.
    Mr. Malinowski. I am going to allow it.
    Mr. Burchett. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Malinowski. It is just a thought that I had.
    Mr. Burchett. If you did not, it would knock out about half 
of my vocabulary.
    Thank you, Brother.
    Mr. Malinowski. And with that, we are going to recess the 
committee for just a short period of time so that we can 
observe interesting events on the floor of the House and 
hopefully come back as soon as possible.
    So if I could ask the witnesses to hang out for a bit, that 
would be great.
    Thank you so much.
    [Recess.]
    [1 p.m.]
    Mr. Malinowski. Let's call the committee back in session.
    And we will begin or resume with Representative Sara Jacobs 
of California for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Jacobs. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you so much 
to our witnesses. And I will echo the comments of my 
colleagues. We are going to miss the leadership of 
Congresswoman Bass. And I know that Los Angeles is very lucky, 
and I am very lucky that we are only 2 hours away in San Diego.
    So my first question is for you, Assistant Secretary Phee. 
I was so glad to see in the Administration's Africa strategy a 
recognition that our counterterrorism approach over the past 3 
decades has come up short and that there are strong linkages 
between exclusionary governance, human rights abuses, and 
corruption with insecurity.
    Just the other day Assistant Administrator Jenkins from 
USAID CPS Bureau noted that 71 percent of violent extremists 
escalated to violence because they or a close family member 
experienced violence personally from the State.
    So my question is how will this acknowledgment of the needs 
to change our counterterrorism approach actually change our 
approach? In other words, as the lead on U.S. diplomacy in 
Africa, how will you use your position to incentivize needed 
reform and governance in human rights so that governments hear 
this signal loud and clear that our priority is actually those 
things and not if they just help us a little a long time on 
counterterrorism, we will turn a blind eye on everything else?
    Ms. Phee. Thank you very much for your leadership on this 
issue and for your focus on the linkages between good 
governance and bad security.
    I think we all agree, for example, what we are seeing in 
the Sahel is problems in governance that lead to 
vulnerabilities that the terrorists exploit.
    We have two big tools at our disposal. One is our voice, 
how we engage with leaders. And I want to reassure you that we 
are emphasizing the importance of these issues in our 
discussions with governments, as well as other aspects of a 
society, to help increase their understanding that it is a 
priority for our funding and our engagement.
    We are also looking at our resourcing, and the Global 
Fragility Act I think will be the best tool that is available 
to us.
    And we are also--a third leg, which I would like to take 
the time to brief you on later if I can, is that we have done a 
lot of review and research of programs, particularly the Trans-
Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership, what worked, what hasn't 
so that we can guide our interventions in the future.
    And, last, I would say one of the exciting aspects to me of 
the GFA is the focus on metrics and constant evaluation so that 
we hold ourselves accountable to doing better and changing the 
way we do things.
    Ms. Jacobs. Thank you. And I will look forward to that 
briefing.
    On the same topic I think nowhere is more clear that our 
military first approach has failed than Somalia, and while 
there have been recent tactical gains in central and southern 
Somalia against Al-Shabaab, the absence of effective governance 
has prevented long-term progress, deep divisions among Federal 
leaders, et cetera.
    So given that reconciliation among these entities is vital 
to moving forward, what concrete actions is the Biden 
Administration taking to support efforts on reconciliation 
which the president, President Hassan Sheikh, has identified as 
a priority? And does the State Department have a plan to help 
the Federal Government of Somalia seek reconciliation through a 
long-term effort?
    Ms. Phee. Absolutely. We are working in support of the 
president's leadership for the Federal Government to engage in 
a sustained and systemic growth with the member States so that 
they can achieve the kind of political reforms you have 
identified.
    You will recall that Under Secretary Nuland traveled to 
Somalia this summer. President Hassan Sheikh came to Washington 
in September and met, among others, with Secretary Blinken, and 
a key message in those engagements is the need for him to 
sustain and expand that political reconciliation.
    Ms. Jacobs. Thank you.
    Assistant Administrator Muyangwa, my next question is for 
you.
    I was pleased by Administrator Power's prioritization of 
locally led development at USAID. I think it is particularly 
relevant for Africa where the international communities' 
approach has historically not been locally led. Unfortunately, 
most development in Africa has too often been led by U.S.-based 
contract developers.
    So I wanted to ask about the recently announced Africa 
Localization Initiative to direct more funding to local 
organizations. Can you speak to any details about the planned 
implementation of this announcement and how we can work 
together to ensure its success?
    Ms. Muyangwa. Thank you very much for that question.
    We agree fully with you about the importance of 
localization to sustainable development, particularly on the 
continent. Fortunately, we do have a solid foundation on which 
to build on with our localization efforts since a number of 
previous Administrations of USAID have focused on that. So we 
are continuing to build on that foundation.
    Right now the Africa Bureau is designing an African 
Localization Initiative to fit within the border of USAID 
localization effort. And we are looking at a handful of 
countries where we are going to look at how we can enhance our 
localization efforts there and then come back and scale up our 
two other missions.
    And we anticipate that we will be able to announce 
additional details about this initiative before the end of the 
year. So we will be happy to reengage at that point.
    Ms. Jacobs. I will look forward to those details.
    Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
    The chair now recognizes Representative Tenney of New York 
for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Tenney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I just want to say 
thank you to the witnesses.
    And my first question is going to be for Assistant 
Secretary Phee.
    On October 18, the State Department publicly acknowledged 
that Iran transferred Mohajer-6 unmanned aerial vehicles to 
Ethiopia last summer. This is a direct violation of U.N. 
Security Council Resolution 2231. I wanted to know if you could 
tell me if the Administration has used access or the 
authorities provided under its Executive Order 13949 in Iran--
relating to Iran or related entities or people for its role in 
providing these drones to Ethiopia which permits the broad 
application of sanctions against individuals who have engaged 
or attempted to engage in manufacture, acquisition, possession, 
development, transport, transfer, or use of any of these 
military items to and from Iran.
    Has the Administration used these authorities against these 
entities or people for all of those above--any of those all or 
above reasons in their role in procuring those drones from 
Iran?
    Ms. Phee. Thank you for highlighting that troublesome 
action.
    My understanding is that we have taken direct action, 
sanctions. I would want to check on the particular authorities 
that were used and get back to you.
    Ms. Tenney. So you believe there has been some sanctions 
done?
    Ms. Phee. Yes.
    Ms. Tenney. Can we--I just want to be sure for the record 
we can get those under the chairman's rule.
    Ms. Phee. Yes.
    Ms. Tenney. Thank you.
    And so let me just followup with this. We have been very 
clear about the fact that these drones are--or these Mohajer 
drones to Russia--in violation of U.N. Security Council 2231. 
Is there reason why we haven't taken a similar public stance 
against actions by Ethiopia which presumably are also a 
violation under the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231?
    Ms. Phee. To ensure that I am perfectly correct, I would 
like to followup on that question.
    Ms. Tenney. OK. Thank you.
    So I would just ask, are we--does not limiting our 
criticism of the Iranian Mohajer transfer to Europe in context 
undermine the legitimacy of our position when it comes to these 
UAVs and under the U.N. Resolution 2231 were inconsistent in 
dealing with these two different entities?
    Ms. Phee. We have spoken repeatedly and directly about the 
danger and acceleration of the conflict that has been caused by 
external parties providing weapons. So it has been part of our 
public diplomacy, and I will followup on the specifics.
    Ms. Tenney. Thank you.
    What kind of sanctions really do you envision would happen? 
Under the Biden Administration, what are we going to be doing? 
What do you think would be appropriate in this situation here?
    Ms. Phee. With regard to actions by Iran?
    Ms. Tenney. Taking action on the transfer of these unmanned 
aerial vehicles of this nature from Iran to Ethiopia and also 
in the case of Russia.
    Ms. Phee. I do not mean to dodge the question, but I would 
prefer to consult with our authorities on the sanctions. I 
think they would have the best answer for that, and I will 
followup.
    Ms. Tenney. Are you aware of any of this happening, though, 
of these actually happening, or you are just not sure of the 
exact nature of them happening?
    Ms. Phee. Their reaction or the conduct?
    Ms. Tenney. The conduct.
    Ms. Phee. No, absolutely we are aware of the conduct.
    Ms. Tenney. Is it that you do not have the specifics on 
what the sanctions would be, or you know the conduct occurred; 
you just do not know what the Administration has done? Is that 
what you are explaining?
    Ms. Phee. It is the authorities I'm not sure which were 
used so that I would prefer to be accurate in my response.
    Ms. Tenney. OK. But the authorities--they have done 
something. Sanctions have been implicated. You just do not know 
the exact nature of them?
    Ms. Phee. I would like to take that back and confirm that I 
am giving you the best answer.
    Ms. Tenney. OK. So basically you do not--you are not sure 
if any sanctions have been taken?
    Ms. Phee. I know that there have been sanctions taken 
against Iranian actions with regard to transfers, weapons 
transfers, but I do not know the specifics.
    Ms. Tenney. OK. But you know that it was done?
    Ms. Phee. I really am not in a good position to answer. I 
need to come back to you.
    Ms. Tenney. OK. I guess my question, so you did confirm? 
You know that the transfers were done. Sanctions were initiated 
using the authorities. We just need to get the specifics on 
that. Can I just clarify that?
    Ms. Phee. I really am not confident in the arrangement, so 
I will come back to you, if that is OK.
    Ms. Tenney. OK. Can we get that within the 5 days as 
required by the----
    Ms. Phee. Absolutely.
    Ms. Tenney. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
    The chair now recognizes Representative Allred of Texas for 
5 minutes.
    Mr. Allred. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    And I am glad to see our witnesses here. I will say this. 
At the encouragement of Chairman Meeks, I was lucky enough to 
be part of the Presidential delegation to the inauguration of 
the new Kenyan president with our two distinguished guests this 
afternoon. And, you know, it was inspiring to see a country 
that had experienced difficult and violent transitions or lack 
thereof or challenges to election results have and go through 
an election in which the results were accepted.
    We met people who I think we can all agree proudly 
understood what happened in the election. They allowed 
transparency around it. They had, I think, an inspiring 
inauguration in which their handing over of the instruments of 
power are very literal.
    And I think it was also important that there were a lot of 
other African leaders there who could learn from Kenya's 
example. And, you know, obviously as an American and someone 
who was into voting rights before I game to Congress, I found 
that to be inspiring, but also even an example for us given 
that we did not have a peaceful transfer of power for the first 
time in our history after our last Presidential election.
    And, you know, Africa, as you have said in your 
testimoneys, is a continent of opportunity, of young folks, of 
entrepreneurs, of, you know, women taking on enormous 
leadership roles, of emerging countries that we need to support 
and encourage the positive trends and help them combat some of 
the things that are challenging them.
    And so, you know, Dr. Muyangwa, I will say, Ms. Phee, what 
do you see Kenya's role in terms of being the anchor of our 
regional strategy? What impact do you think we have already 
seen from the change in Administration there? And how has that 
impacted the Biden Administration's approach here in terms of 
your Sub-Saharan Africa overall strategy?
    Ms. Phee. Thanks, Congressman.
    And let me say it was terrific to have you on that trip for 
many reasons but including to demonstrate congressional 
interest in and support for Africa.
    President Ruto, as you recall in his inaugural speech, 
asked President Kenyatta whom he succeeded to take on regional 
leadership roles, which he has done very effectively. He played 
a critical role in helping the Ethiopians reach a cessation of 
hostilities and begin to take additional steps that are 
required to resolve that conflict. He has also been actively 
involved in the eastern DRC, trying to stop the conflict that 
is disrupting so many lives there. And they are working 
together well. President Ruto, himself, when he was in Sharm El 
Sheikh, hosted a meeting of leaders to try and address the 
conflict in eastern DRC. So we see good coordination between 
the incumbent and his predecessor.
    And we continue to work closely with Kenya in the fight 
against Al-Shabaab, and we are also working--and I will let Dr. 
Monde speak about this more--to help Kenya and other countries 
in the Horn deal with this historic 4-year drought.
    Ambassador Whitman is mobilizing U.S. trade and investment, 
trying to help the Kenyan economy continue to flourish, and we 
are working very closely on food security matters because 
Kenya, like many African countries, is suffering from the 
consequences of the Russian war.
    So all in all, we have a robust, productive partnership, 
and we are immensely appreciative of Kenya's leadership in the 
region.
    Thank you.
    Mr. Allred. Dr. Monde, anything to add?
    Ms. Muyangwa. No. Thank you very much.
    It was a pleasure to travel with you to Kenya, and just 
echoing the assistant secretary's words about how important 
your presence there was to show support for the Kenyan people 
as they made this very, very important transition.
    So we are working with Kenya in a number of ways to add on 
to what the assistant secretary said. Part of it is continuing 
to work with Kenya on strengthening governance, strengthening 
devolution, strengthening citizen participation in the economy. 
We are working--and governance. Working with Kenya on food 
security issues. We know there is a looming drought in the Horn 
of Africa, and Kenya has about 4.5 million people who are under 
threat for severe food insecurity in 2023 if the long rains do 
not come.
    So we are working with Kenya on a number of fronts, and 
they will continue to be an important partner for us.
    Mr. Allred. Well, thank you both for your services. My 
pleasure to travel with you, and it was an honor to be there on 
behalf of the United States, and it was an inspiring trip. And 
I am glad that our cooperation is continuing.
    And I will yield back, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
    The chair now recognizes Representative Mast of Florida for 
5 minutes.
    Mr. Mast. Thank you, Chairman.
    Ms. Phee, everybody, thank you for your testimoneys today. 
Appreciate that.
    I want to speak to you a little bit about our funding, 
United Nations, if we are getting our money's worth, how you 
see leveraging the support that we give to Africa. As a whole, 
I want to say it is between 25 and 30 percent of the United 
Nation's delegation is made up of African countries. We provide 
somewhere $8 billion plus a year to African nations. Do you 
think that we are leveraging that appropriately in terms of 
getting them to support United States' priorities within the 
United Nations, or where do you think that is lacking?
    Ms. Phee. As in all things, the record is a bit mixed. 
Generally speaking, in the Security Council, the current 
African members have voted in support of the United States. You 
know, there are many ways in which we engage in the United 
Nation's system. African leaders overwhelmingly supported the 
U.S. candidate for that obscure U.N. agency, the International 
Telecommunications Union, which will have an outside impact on 
internet governance globally. So that was a very positive 
outcome.
    We work very hard to have African support in the U.N. Human 
Rights Council. And, in fact, African support was critical to 
getting a commission for the atrocities that have taken place 
in Ethiopia during the recent conflicts.
    We do not always succeed in getting the high numbers that 
we would like in terms of our policy goals, whether they 
particularly regard to Russia or China. However, on many of the 
resolutions related to Ukraine, Africans provided majority 
support.
    So we also, as you know, contribute very much to Africa 
through the international humanitarian organizations, such as 
the World Health Organization, the FAO, WFP. And we are also a 
big supporter for peacekeeping missions on the continent.
    So we are engaged both externally providing support to the 
U.N. system to Africa and encouraging the African voice to 
support U.S. priorities at different voting bodies in the 
system.
    Mr. Mast. Where would you put the total number of USAID to 
Africa at when you add up all of those items?
    Ms. Phee. I would have to come back to that to make sure 
that I give you a reasonable range, but it is significant if 
that is your point. If you consider, for example, as you said, 
that we give about 28 percent in support of each peacekeeping 
mission as well as each political mission in Africa, our 
contribution is significant.
    Mr. Mast. Where do you think that has paid off the most? 
And where do you think--I will let you cough on a minute. Take 
a drink if you need.
    Where do you think that is paying off the most, where we 
are getting our money's worth? And where do you think they are 
lagging behind? Who do you think is in jeopardy of saying, yes, 
we do not think you are a good use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to 
support?
    Ms. Phee. I do not view it in strictly transactional terms. 
I think it is an art----
    Mr. Mast. Why not.
    Ms. Phee. Because I believe the United States' role as a 
leader and as a model is more complex, and I find it is often 
effective if we work in partnership. So there are some 
instances where being transactional is appropriate, but not in 
all instances.
    Mr. Mast. OK. Who would you say is not pulling their 
weight?
    Ms. Phee. You mean in Africa?
    Mr. Mast. Yes.
    Ms. Phee. I would say Eritrea is a good example. Eritrea 
votes universally with Russia.
    Mr. Mast. That you would like us to, you know, look at in a 
more pinpointed way as members of the Foreign Affairs 
Committee, what would be helpful that we looked at in a more 
pinpointed way with Eritrea?
    Ms. Phee. With regard to the U.N. system?
    Mr. Mast. Correct.
    Ms. Phee. I think we are collectively facing a challenge in 
certain peacekeeping missions in Africa. I would site the 
Central African Republic and Mali are good examples where the 
Wagner Group is present. So you have a member of the P5 
actively undermining a Security Council authorized peacekeeping 
mission.
    The President, as you saw in September, highlighted the 
importance of revitalizing the U.N. charter principles of 
territorial integrity and sovereignty. The actions of the 
Wagner Group undermine those and other principles. So that is a 
challenge we are facing collectively.
    Mr. Mast. Let me ask you very quickly. Because the idea of 
transactional is very important, and while I have a few more 
seconds just to ask you, where do you think Russia and China 
are doing it successfully? Where do they have an advantage with 
some of those nations that they are getting a better 
transaction than the United States of America?
    Ms. Phee. I do not think they universally succeed. They 
certainly try, and they do not succeed in part because they 
present on long-term transactional terms.
    Mr. Mast. Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate it.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you so much.
    And I would just maybe add briefly that, remember, the aid 
that we provide is mostly for people, not for governments. And 
so to the extent we are going to be transactional, it would be 
the aid to the governments, not the vast majority of the aid 
that USAID provides, which is to help save lives.
    I will now recognize Representative Meuser of Pennsylvania 
for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Meuser. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much to 
our witnesses, Secretary, Director.
    So economic growth and maximizing of a country's natural 
resources usually leads to improved economies and quality of 
life. 13 percent of the world's natural gas is in the continent 
of Africa; 7 percent of the oil reserves, with Nigeria being 
the largest of all. Africa, for instance, has 620 trillion 
cubic feet of natural gas. Marcellus Shale, which is primarily 
in Pennsylvania, has 410, so quite a quit less, almost 50 
percent less. 43 percent of the--meanwhile, 43 percent of the 
African population lacks access to electricity, and most of 
that, nearly--most of that is in the Sub-Saharan Africa which 
we are discussing.
    So now at the same time African nations argue that they 
need investment to develop their energy resources, and they 
very often strongly mention oil and natural gas.Senegal 
president, almost a year ago, Macky Sall, stated plans by some 
countries to end the financing of natural gas exploration will 
prove a fatal blow to several emerging African economies.
    Recently African Development Bank president Adesina stated 
that Africa must have natural gas to complement its renewable 
energies.
    Just a few days ago I had a conversation in a hearing with 
one of the heads of the Development Finance Corporation, DFC, 
and they were very strongly stating how their investments were 
for all of the above, and they meant that very technically, not 
interested really in natural gas and oil.
    So there is some real problems here because--and then you 
have John Kerry who recently stated he is willing to admit that 
natural gas is an acceptable transitory transitional energy 
which, OK, transitions, but there is timeframes on transitions. 
My timeframe is a lot longer than John Kerry's. They are 
looking at a 7-year transition, as you well know, to 2030. That 
requires the heavy hand of government, not so much the 
innovation of the private sector. And the heavy hand of 
government, let's face it, very rarely works throughout 
history.
    So, you know, I do realize this is why the Administration 
refuses to issue 97 percent of the infrastructure permits here 
in the United States, but it is a losing plan because, A, it's 
very harmful to those people who make up the African nations, 
but it is also losing plan because the EU and China are, in 
fact, making these investments. And in the meanwhile, African 
nations are turning to coal in mass quantities because of our 
ideological narrowness and sense of urgency on all of the above 
and not considering any of the below.
    So, you know, from the USAID standpoint, how are you 
looking at this? And, Director, you were mentioning earlier 
about energies and how important that is. So if you wouldn't 
mind commenting on what I just stated, Director, please.
    Ms. Muyangwa. No. Thank you so much for that question, 
Representative Meuser.
    So from a USAID perspective, what we do is take a country-
by-country, project-by-project approach when we are evaluating 
energy projects. So we look at whether--how we move forward to 
advance global and national climate goals. But at the same time 
within our systems, we work to ensure that while we are taking 
back renewable energy first approach, that we also are able to 
consider carbon intensive projects where the less carbon 
intensive ones would not make sense for development goals.
    I do not know if that speaks directly to your question. So 
we do have the ability to assess on a country by country. It is 
not a one-size-approach-fits-all approach.
    Mr. Meuser. I appreciate that.
    Do you know that the Belt and Road, the China investments, 
are overtaking our investments in the--particularly when it 
comes to natural gas in African nations? Is that something, 
Secretary or Director, you can comment on? And I am just about 
out of time.
    Maybe you can get back to me. I would appreciate that.
    And, please, this is very important, so I hope we can have 
more of an open mind, as well as a more logical approach to 
energy resources.
    I yield back, Mr. Chairman.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
    The chair now recognizes Representative Omar of Minnesota 
for 5 minutes.
    Ms. Omar. Thank you, Chair.
    Assistant Secretary Phee, it is good to see you again. I 
wanted to talk to you a little bit about Ethiopia.
    How confident are you that the recent agreement is going to 
hold? If you can talk a little bit about Eritrea's role. We 
notice that the peace deal does not mention them. And what do 
you think the assessment is in obtaining that peace or 
sustaining that peace?
    Ms. Phee. Hi. Thank you.
    I think identifying Eritrea as the weakness of the 
challenge in front of us is absolutely correct. The agreement 
refers to foreign forces, and last week in Nairobi where there 
was further elaboration of the mechanisms of implementing the 
agreed cessation of hostilities withdrawal of foreign forces 
and restoration of humanitarian assistance and services, there 
were--the modalities were beginning to be discussed. The AU is 
also charged with setting up a border monitoring mechanism that 
would also facilitate the withdrawal and the monitoring of the 
withdrawal of Eritrean troops.
    I am confident that the people of Ethiopia, all of the 
people, all of the different communities do not want this 
destruction and death that they have been suffering from for 
more than 2 years. And I am hopeful that with the support of 
the African Union, Kenya, South Africa, and the leaders of the 
government, and the TPLF who have made courageous decisions to 
move forward on the negotiated path, with support from the 
United States and other members of the international community, 
that we can be successful in that and implementing the 
agreement.
    Ms. Omar. And how do you see the United States' role in 
justice and accountability?
    Ms. Phee. As you know, it is most important to come from 
the people themselves. They have told us that they are 
interested in pursuing accountability. The Minister of Justice 
from the Government of Ethiopia has briefed the diplomatic 
corps that that is something the government intends to pursue.
    In the conversations that the Secretary has had, that 
Ambassador Hammer has had, that I have had, with the parties, 
we have made clear, in order to restore the full partnership 
that we previously enjoyed with Ethiopia, we would need to see 
action on accountability, not only because of our values but 
because Ethiopia won't be able to progress if they do not 
resolve the deep divisions that have been created by these 
acts.
    Ms. Omar. And if you can go back a little bit to Eritrea. I 
previously talked to you about the possibility of Somali troops 
being trained there. I know when we previously spoke, you said 
you couldn't confirm. It has now been confirmed that there are 
5,000 Somali soldiers that have been trained. The President of 
Somalia says he does not have the resources to bring them back.
    Is there a role for the United States to assist? I know 
that the ask was made.
    Ms. Phee. That subject is under discussion and also 
discussion with other regional and international partners, such 
as the Emiratis and the Qataris and the Turks, who you know are 
also engaged in providing security assistance to Somalia.
    I think one question that we do not know the answer to is 
were any of those troops involved in the recent conflict, which 
would, of course, not be an encouraging sign for their 
engagement in Somalia. So that remains an open question that we 
need to resolve before we would move forward.
    Ms. Omar. Is there an assessment being done on whether they 
participated in any of the atrocities that you speak of?
    Ms. Phee. There are efforts underway to determine that, but 
as you know, we have very limited visibility or opportunity to 
understand exactly what is happening in Eritrea.
    Ms. Omar. Assistant Administrator Muyangwa, I wanted to 
talk to you a little bit about the famine in Somalia. As you 
know, there is looming famine taking place in Somalia at the 
moment.
    How much money is still needed at the international level 
in order to prevent famine in Somalia in 2023?
    Ms. Muyangwa. Thank you very much for that question. Based 
on our assessment and the international community's assessment 
that money to Ethiopia for humanitarian assistance in that 
space will run out in early 2023. I think it is May, April----
    Ms. Omar. You mean Somalia?
    Ms. Muyangwa. Somalia, sorry.
    Ms. Omar. OK.
    Ms. Muyangwa. It is early April or May 2023. And so there 
is absolutely a need to marshal the international community as 
well as other partners.
    Ms. Omar. Is the Administration making a specific ask as we 
do our last budget?
    Ms. Muyangwa. I am not sure what the numbers are, but we 
can check on that and provide that figure to you. But I believe 
there has been an ask, but I would have to confirm that.
    Ms. Omar. Oh, wonderful. I know I am out of time, but I 
would love to know what that number is so that we can push it 
here in Congress as well. Thank you both.
    I yield back.
    Mr. Malinowski [presiding]. Thank you so much.
    We are just about at the end. We are going to do two more 
members, just so you can calibrate, beginning with 
Representative Meijer of Michigan for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Meijer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our 
witnesses. And, Assistant Secretary McPhee, it is good to--
Phee, not McPhee--I want to--yes, it is wonderful to see you 
again.
    You were starting to mention the Wagner Group earlier, and 
I think for some Americans, the recent sledgehammer execution 
video of a former Wagner Group mercenary in Ukraine by his 
colleagues who accused him of betraying them was a stark 
reminder of some of the violence this group has perpetrated, 
you know, in Ukraine since 2014, and most, you know, 
dramatically since the February invasion, but also throughout 
Africa that I think slides a little bit more under the radar.
    And with that sledgehammer execution video, I think Yevgeny 
Prigozhin said, you know, a dog receives a dog's death, so not 
exactly backing away from the brutality that we saw witnessed, 
but contrasting that with the, you know, dozens confirmed, but 
more likely hundreds, of civilian fatalities that the Wagner 
Group is responsible for, fighting alongside Malian forces, 
some of their work in the Central African Republic, a bit less 
of a clear line on their work in Libya and Mozambique as well.
    Can you speak to the current status of this 
Administration's views on the Wagner Group? I know there has 
been some discussion on the possibility of them being listed as 
a foreign terrorist organization, you know, by the State 
Department, getting on that FTO list. Can you speak to where 
that stands right now and what impact a potential FTO inclusion 
might have?
    Ms. Phee. Thanks for raising this issue because it is such 
a concern for Africans and, therefore, for us. Ambassador 
O'Brien would probably be the better source of information 
about what would be next in terms of FTO.
    You know, we have sanctioned Prigozhin and that we are 
working in tandem with the EU, for example, on other parallel 
sanctions.
    Under Secretary Nuland recently traveled with an 
interagency group to the Sahel. She made very clear to the 
authorities in Mali that they would have no prospect of ever 
resuming a relationship with us if they did not cut that 
relationship with Wagner. She also engaged the transition 
authorities in Burkina Faso, to urge them not to respond to 
Wagner overtures.
    And in the Central African Republic as well we continue to 
press firmly and to mobilize our partners active there. But we 
will come back to you on the FTO thing. That is in the 
sanctions world.
    Mr. Meijer. Fair enough. And I guess one thing that has 
also been a little striking to me, I mean, Wagner Group has 
been going around Russian prisons, at least according to open 
source reporting, going around to Russian prisons, trying to 
recruit convicts, you know, promising them a get-out-of-jail-
free card. Not the best deal in the world because that get-out-
of-jail-free card goes through, you know, a meat grinder in 
Ukraine. But at the same time, they seem to be very hard up for 
personnel to support the Russian invasion and occupying forces 
there. They do not seem to be reducing, at least from what I 
have seen, their operations throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Can 
you speak to how that has maybe--square that circle a little 
bit.
    Ms. Phee. It is one of the reasons why they are so 
dangerous in Africa, because they are extracting resources from 
African countries and funneling them back to Moscow. So that is 
why it is so bad for Africa, right? Then they do not control 
their own resources and develop their own country.
    So that is our assessment, that that line of resourcing is 
one of the reasons that they have kept the footholds that they 
have maintained so far on the continent.
    Mr. Meijer. And, you know, I have returned from a 
congressional delegation with Chairman Meeks to the South 
Pacific, and obviously a very different competitive landscape 
there. And I know this is important to the chairman, I think it 
is important to many of us on this committee, is making sure we 
are not leaving any territory up for grabs, that there aren't 
countries who have one offer on the table and it is not from 
the U.S.
    We are already going to be hamstrung because we actually 
abide by the rule of law, because we believe in international 
institutions, because we are not in the business of bribing or 
threatening or cajoling the leaders of these countries in ways 
that the Russians have no issue doing, the Chinese have no 
issue doing.
    A lot of the mal actors in the world are able to take 
advantage, you know, of that position. And I am proud of how 
the U.S. acts and how the U.S. operates, but making sure that, 
as the chairman mentioned in his opening remarks earlier, that 
we are, as a committee, doing everything we can to support 
engagement and a presence and making sure that we are not 
leaving any territory or any country feeling like there is only 
one offer on the table and it is coming from countries that 
they would prefer not to work with, because they know that what 
will be demanded of them in that transactional relationship 
will be required to be extracted from their country, is simply 
too high a price to say.
    So, with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you.
    And finally, we will turn to Representative Young Kim of 
California for 5 minutes.
    Mrs. Kim of California. Thank you, Chairman. And I want to 
thank our Assistant Secretary Phee and Assistant Administrator 
Muyangwa.
    Huawei is very active in Sub-Saharan Africa and presents 
the United States with a significant obstacle to overcoming our 
efforts to promote secure global telecommunications and to 
compete with the CCP's malign influence on the continent. 
Huawei has built around 70 percent of Africa's 4G networks, and 
they intend to complete control over 5G networks in Africa. So 
I want to ask you what the State Department and USAID's 
strategy for promoting secure global telecommunications 
infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa is.
    Ms. Phee. Thank you for highlighting that challenge that 
the Chinese face and we face in terms of our partnership with 
Africa.
    The State Department has recently established a new Bureau 
of Cyber Digital Policy, in part, to help us attack this 
challenge. We are also looking at mobilizing additional funds, 
which Dr. Monde can also speak about, in terms of a digital 
Africa program that we would discuss at the upcoming leaders 
summit.
    We really want to work on making sure that the software, if 
you will, is secure and that governing rules are important. I 
mentioned earlier that we had mounted a successful campaign to 
have an American lead the U.N. body that sets internet rules, 
and we want to help build the capacity of African governments 
and societies, ensure that they have an internet that helps 
them develop their economies and is secure.
    Ms. Muyangwa. Thank you so much for that question. Adding 
on to what Assistant Secretary Phee mentioned, so the Digital 
Africa initiative really speaks to the key concerns that you 
have raised here today, and we expect to unveil that at the 
upcoming African Leaders Summit.
    In addition to that, USAID is also working on very specific 
digital governance issues that speak to both misinformation and 
disinformation that tends to hollow out governance institutions 
but also hampers social cohesion in communities. We are also 
working to ensure that there is adequate legislation, to 
promote not just internet freedom but also protect rights on 
and offline.
    So there is quite a lot that we are doing in that space, 
and we will be happy to provide you with more details.
    Mrs. Kim of California. Sure. Can you talk about the 
challenges the United States faces in promoting private U.S. 
investment in securing the telecommunications infrastructure, 
and what is the Administration's plan for addressing those 
challenges and bringing the U.S. private sector investment into 
Sub-Saharan Africa?
    Ms. Phee. We have talked in this hearing about the 
importance of increasing private sector investment in Africa, 
and that is a twofold process. We can do more to help identify 
opportunities for American companies, but--and particularly in 
our role engaging with governments.
    We also need to press African governments to take steps 
that ensure that they have a more predictable, transparent 
operating environment so our business feels confident that they 
can repatriate their earnings, if there are disagreements, they 
can be resolved through a reliable judicial process, and other 
such elements of a good operating environment.
    So it is a bit of push and pull. We need to do more, and 
they need to do better to attract investment.
    Mrs. Kim of California. Thank you. I do want to get to 
getting your readout on Secretary Blinken's recent trip to 
Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. That was in response 
to rising violation--I mean, yes, violence in eastern DRC 
between government forces and M23 forces. So can you give us a 
readout on that?
    Ms. Phee. Definitely one of the main reasons he visited 
both Kinshasa and Kigali was to try and offer our good offices 
to help reduce the tensions between the two governments and 
stop the M23 activity.
    We also wanted to encourage really dynamic African 
diplomacy. So the east African community, under the leadership 
of President Kenyatta, is working on a two-track process, 
bringing in troops to try and stop M23's advance, and 
sponsoring a negotiation track with the armed groups in eastern 
Congo, including M23.
    The Angolans are also actively engaged trying to help 
support. They previously ran a process known as the Great Lakes 
process. And the Southern Africans, as part of the South 
African Development Community are also engaged. The U.N. is 
engaged.
    So the situation is not good. Hundreds of thousands of 
Congolese have been displaced by M23's unacceptable offensive, 
but I am encouraged by regional efforts which we are attempting 
to support.
    Mrs. Kim of California. Thank you very much. My time is up.
    Mr. Malinowski. Thank you so much.
    Member questions are now concluded. So, in closing, I 
wanted to thank both of you, Assistant Administrator Muyangwa 
and, of course, Assistant Secretary Phee, for your work on 
behalf of our country, your patience with us today, for 
answering all of the questions and committing to answer the 
ones that you couldn't today in the coming days.
    We ask a lot of you. We ask you to resolve these conflicts 
and advance human rights and promote American investment and to 
compete with our adversaries that are also looking to exercise 
malign influence in Africa.
    We actually owe you something, which is to continue to 
provide the resources that you need to actually do those 
things, and I hope all of us, on a bipartisan basis. I think 
what we see from this hearing is a great interest in 
maintaining and enhancing American leadership in Africa. I hope 
we will all continue to work together to ensure that you have 
the resources to do that effectively.
    With that, the hearing is adjourned.
    [Whereupon, at 1:43 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]

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