[House Hearing, 118 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
GREAT POWER COMPETITION IN AFRICA
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
September 11, 2024
__________
Serial No. 118-129
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov,
or http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
56-652 PDF WASHINGTON : 2026
=======================================================================
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
MICHAEL T. McCAUL, Texas, Chairman
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey GREGORY MEEKS, New York, Ranking
JOE WILSON, South Carolina Member
SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania BRAD SHERMAN, California
DARRELL ISSA, California GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia
ANN WAGNER, Missouri WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts
BRIAN MAST, Florida AMI BERA, California
TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas
MARK E. GREEN, Tennessee DINA TITUS, Nevada
ANDY BARR, Kentucky TED LIEU, California
RONNY JACKSON, Texas SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania
YOUNG KIM, California DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR, Florida COLIN ALLRED, Texas
BILL HUIZENGA, Michigan ANDY KIM, New Jersey
AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, SARA JACOBS, California
American Samoa KATHY MANNING, North Carolina
FRENCH HILL, Arkansas SHEILA CHERFILUS-McCORMICK,
WARREN DAVIDSON, Ohio Florida
JIM BAIRD, Indiana GREG STANTON, Arizona
MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania
THOMAS KEAN, JR., New Jersey JARED MOSKOWITZ, Florida
MICHAEL LAWLER, New York JONATHAN JACKSON, Illinois
CORY MILLS, Florida SYDNEY KAMLAGER-DOVE, California
RICH McCORMICK, Georgia JIM COSTA, California
NATHANIEL MORAN, Texas JASON CROW, Colorado
JOHN JAMES, Michigan KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
KEITH SELF, Texas BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois
RYAN K. ZINKE, Montana
JAMES C. MOYLAN, Guam
Brendan Shields, Majority Staff Director
Sophia Lafargue, Minority Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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REPRESENTATIVES
Page
Opening Statement of Subcommittee Chairman Michael McCaul........ 1
Opening Statement of Subcommittee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks... 3
WITNESSES
Statement of Hon. John Bass, Acting Under Secretary for Political
Affairs, U.S. Department of State.............................. 4
Prepared Statement............................................. 7
APPENDIX
Hearing Notice................................................... 50
Hearing Minutes.................................................. 51
Hearing Attendance............................................... 52
Material for the record
Prepared opening remarks submitted by Rep. Gregory Meeks......... 53
Statement for the record submitted by Rep. Gerald Connolly....... 56
Questions for the record
Questions submitted to Hon. John Bass from Rep. Amo.............. 58
Questions submitted to Hon. John Bass from Rep. James............ 61
Questions submitted to Hon. John Bass from Rep. Dove............. 69
Questions submitted to Hon. John Bass from Rep. Kean............. 73
Questions submitted to Hon. John Bass from Rep. McCaul........... 74
Questions submitted to Hon. John Bass from Rep. Smith............ 108
Questions submitted to Hon. John Bass from Rep. Wilson........... 112
GREAT POWER COMPETITION IN AFRICA
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Wednesday, September 11, 2024
House of Representatives,
Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in
room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Michael McCaul
(chairman of the committee) presiding.
Chairman McCaul. The full committee will come to order.
The purpose of this hearing is to discuss the great power
competition in Africa. How the Department of State is looking
to counter Russia, China, and Iran's growing influence in the
region. I recognize myself first though.
OPENING STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN MICHAEL McCAUL
As you may have heard, Joe Wilson was taken to the hospital
last night. We have been told that he's in a stable condition
and on the mend.
I'm lucky to call him my friend. He and I went to the Indo-
Pacific in August. I think I speak for everyone when I say
we're wishing him a speedy recovery and as anyone know, Joe
will attest he loves his job representing South Carolina's 2d
District.
I know he'll be eager to get back and to work. Cannot wait
to have him back in his seat and I pray for him and wish him
well.
Twenty-three years ago America was attacked without warning
or provocation. The pain we felt as a nation and the aftermath
was unspeakable but our resolve remains unbreakable.
In honor of the nearly 3,000 innocent people who perish
that day, please join me in a moment of silence to honor them.
[Moment of silence.]
Chairman McCaul. Two days ago I released my report on the
failed Afghanistan withdrawal. This report outlines the
systemic failures of the Biden-Harris administration's ill-
fated decisions leading to the deadly and chaotic NEO from
Afghanistan.
Under Secretary Bass, I want to say thank you for the role
you played during that and I appreciate you being here today.
You were critical to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan as the
Ambassador who took over Ambassador Wilson's position in
Afghanistan as the Ambassador until 2020, and I know that
wasn't easy what you were thrown into.
In fact, through the last Senate-confirmed Ambassador to
the country you were asked to return to Afghanistan for the NEO
with only 24 to 48 hours notice after the Biden-Harris
administration failed to order an evacuation until the Taliban
overran Kabul.
It's shameful to me that the NSC only spoke to you on
Afghanistan once before your return. That is a key reason why
I've asked National Security Advisor Sullivan to testify before
this committee and will compel that if necessary.
I've subpoenaed Secretary Blinken to come and testify next
week and we'll be moving for contempt should he fail to appear.
There was no actionable plan. As Benjamin Franklin said, if you
fail to prepare you prepare to fail.
Today, Afghanistan has returned to being a haven for
terrorists and extremists. Meanwhile, terrorism continues to
flourish around the globe, especially in Africa.
More than 20 African nations are actively suffering under
consistent attacks from groups like ISIS, Boko Haram, al-
Shabaab, and al-Qaeda.
In addition to the expansion of terrorism we find ourselves
amid a great power competition. The failure of leadership from
the Biden-Harris administration has led to a world in chaos and
a rise in adversaries around the globe, none more threatening
than China, and the African continent is ground zero for the
CCP with its manipulative Belt and Road Initiative, crippling
debt trap diplomacy.
Keep in mind many CCP-funded projects are dual use and can
be used by China's military including potential naval bases in
strategic locations such as their port in Djibouti.
Meanwhile, Putin continues to profit off their backs--off
the backs of Africans to finance his invasion of Ukraine and
expand military partnerships at the expense of America like in
Niger.
Putin has also used mercenaries throughout Africa,
fostering instability around the continent. In this global
power struggle a key component of our diplomatic efforts must
be to deepen and establish partnerships in African countries,
especially through the Development Finance Corporation.
I was pleased this committee could pass a bipartisan
reauthorization to strengthen the DFC and I hope our colleagues
in the Senate can do the same. It's absolutely critical.
This committee also ensured the extension of PEPFAR, a 20-
year success story. The president of Botswana personally told
me that PEPFAR saved a generation.
I was also pleased the committee passed my bipartisan
International Conservation Foundation Act which prioritizes
conservation efforts through public-private partnerships to
help China--to help us counter China and Russia, and also I'm
sure you would agree to ensure the success of these and related
efforts we need to have our embassies fully staffed and ensure
our FSOs are fully paid.
America's soft power is key to fostering freedom while also
preventing the spread of authoritarianism around the globe.
So with that, the chair now recognizes the ranking member,
the gentlemen from New York Mr. Meeks.
OPENING STATEMENT OF RANKING MEMBER GREGORY MEEKS
Mr. Meeks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I too want to join
in praying for our friend Joe Wilson, who I've known and talk
with on a frequent basis. In fact, my family comes from South
Carolina.
In fact, he represents many of my family in Rock Hill,
South Carolina. We talk about that all the time, and he's one
that I do work with very closely on this committee and wish him
a speedy, speedy recovery.
And I also want to acknowledge those that lost their lives
on this day some 23 years ago. Being a New Yorker and watching
those Twin Towers come down is still today as devastating to me
as it was on that day, and to see this morning as the bells
were rang and to see the grandchildren of many of those that
were killed who would not have ever the opportunity to see
their grandparents or their parents or their spouses or their
cousins or their uncles or their aunts because of the actions
of a terrorist group and their attack.
And the loss of lives of the men and women of the New York
Fire Department, the courage that they had in going in and
trying to get as many people out of that building as they
possibly could, the--they were heroes and sheroes trying to get
people out and save their lives.
Likewise, I know from the ceremony yesterday those men--
those 13 that lost their life trying to get people out and
those that were successful because we did get 120,000 people
out, we cherish them. They are heroes, they are sheroes, and we
worked together.
I'm little bit shocked that at this committee we are now
looking to subpoena Secretary Blinken who has testified here
many a times, and as I put out my response to the report of the
chairman that put out what clearly is political, I mean, I
don't think it's accidental that we're talking about it now,
especially on the heels of the debate.
The fact of the matter I think listening to the president
last night--the former president--maybe we should be
subpoenaing Mr. Abdul who he met with at Camp David. Maybe we'd
get some more information about what took place and why he gave
in to the Taliban and did not give the Afghan government and
didn't invite them and set deadlines.
But I think he answered that question for himself and I
would love to hear from Mr. Abdul, this guy. You know, maybe
that great democratic leader from Hungary, Orban, might be able
to say something about this too. I don't know.
But I would be glad to maybe talk to him too to see what he
thinks about all of this because he's a great democratic
leader, and I would love to do that.
But let me get back to you, Mr. Secretary.
Welcome, Mr. Secretary, and thank you for being here today
and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to discuss Africa in
a full committee hearing because many of the issues we deal
with in the United States and Africa relations are fundamental
to our foreign policy and our national security.
Today's hearing titled ``The Great Power Competition in
Africa'' sends the wrong message, in my opinion. Africa holds
tremendous promise. Engagement with the continent is an end of
itself.
The continent will experience the largest growth in working
age population in the world between now and 2050 and is
currently home to some of the fastest growing economies.
The United States and Africa mutually benefit when we work
together to increase the two-way trade and investment and to
address conflicts both on the continent and around the world.
We thrive when an African democracy thrives and look
forward to hearing from our witnesses about how we can deepen
our relationships with the African partners.
The President's strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa released
in 2022 lays important groundwork for this. None of this can
happen, however, if we don't show up--if we're not present.
To be the partner of choice for African countries we need
to demonstrate that we are committed to their success for the
long term and this means presence and investment and keeping
Africa on the front burner, and we don't--and when we don't
show up the People's Republic of China does.
The PRC has been playing the long game with respect to
Africa and they have been very strategic. Just last week during
the forum on China-African cooperation President Xi announced
billions of new projects in Africa over the next 3 years.
But we know that Beijing uses its presence, its diplomacy,
and the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa to extract natural
resources and harm the environment, lower labor standards, gain
a security foothold, and create influence for political
leverage.
Similarly, Russia has demonstrated a renewed interest in
Africa in recent years, most notably establishing a large
presence via private military contractors like the Wagner Group
and related groups like Africa Corps run by the Russian
government, and Moscow exploits insecurity in African countries
and stokes mistrust of democratic institutions through
sophisticated information influence operations. Russian
disinformation campaigns in Africa have quadrupled in the last
2 years alone.
And so I'm going to stop there. We can go on, but I just
want to thank you, Mr. Bass, for you as well as NSC, Mr.
Sullivan, Mr. Blinken, what you all have done and the
diplomacy, and I look forward to hearing your words and
concerns.
I left out Sudan. I want to talk about that and make sure
that comes up also. Very important.
Thank you, and I yield back.
Chairman McCaul. The gentleman yields.
Other members are reminded opening statements may be
submitted for the record.
We're pleased to have Honorable John Bass, acting under
secretary for political affairs at the United States Department
of State, before us. I think all of us know him very well.
Proud of your record, sir, and you now have 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JOHN BASS
Mr. Bass. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Meeks, members of the
committee, Mr. Chairman, let me first join you on behalf of all
my colleagues at the department in extending our best wishes to
Congressman Wilson for a speedy recovery. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him and his family.
Thank you very much for this opportunity to discuss great
power competition in Africa and other important issues on the
continent. As you noted, today marks 23 years since 3,000
innocent people were killed in attacks in the United States.
We honor their memory and the memory of over 7,000 service
members lost in the war on terror, along with a number of our
fellow diplomats and development professionals, and we also
remember today our four colleagues killed in the terrorist
attack that began on this day in 2012 in Benghazi, Libya.
Africa is at a pivotal moment, home to the fastest--the
world's fastest growing and youngest population. By 2050 one in
four people on the planet will be African. The continent hosts
diverse and irreplaceable natural resources and critical
minerals. African nations play an influential role as a
regional voting group in the U.N. and in advancing global
priorities to the benefit of Africans and Americans.
The region, as you've noted, is also of acute interest to
our strategic competitors who are coaxing or compelling African
countries into trajectories of debt, negative growth, and
exploitive security relationships.
China has established a one-way trade relationship with
Africa, dumping goods at below market prices while the United
States, in contrast, has for years promoted African exports to
the United States through the African Growth and Opportunity
Act.
And the PRC is also working to expand its military presence
and relationships in Africa. At the same time, Russia has
committed widespread human rights abuses while providing
``security,'' and I put security in quotes, to unelected
governments, sown disinformation about health programs that are
benefiting a wide number of Africans and exploited Africa's
natural resources.
In this environment the United States seeks to demonstrate
the value of our partnerships while promoting fairness and
transparency.
Terrorist activity, as you noted, Mr. Chairman, has grown
over the past decade on the continent with violent events
nearly tripling since 2014, and efforts to build capable,
professional, and accountable security forces which continue
must support and complement investments in good governance,
human rights, stabilization and economic opportunities.
The Biden-Harris administration laid out our priorities in
the U.S. strategy toward Sub-Saharan Africa in August 2022, a
strategy that is grounded in partnership and respect.
In December of that year President Biden hosted the U.S.
Africa Leaders Summit, bringing together leaders from 49
African countries in the African Union alongside members of
civil society and the private sector.
The summit catalyzed U.S. public and private investment and
partnership including the commitment of $55 billion in U.S.
Government investment and over $15 billion in private sector
investment on the continent.
We have bolstered our commercial diplomacy in order to
create a modern economic partnership on the continent and to
reduce African nations' dependency on aid.
A signature example is the Partnership for Global
Infrastructure and Investments development of the Lobito
Corridor from Angola through the DRC to Zambia.
We and our partners have created, we believe, a once in a
generation rail project to improve east-west connectivity,
integrate Africa with global markets, and under this initiative
expand opportunities in energy, digital, transportation, and
agriculture sectors that are going to boost trade and create
jobs both in Africa and here in the United States.
We are grateful to have had bipartisan congressional
support for several critical historic aspects to our policy.
Ranking Member Meeks, I'd like to thank you on behalf of the
department for putting forward a bill to institutionalize the
U.S. African Leaders Summit to ensure it is held on a regular
basis and I would ask that the committee continue to work
closely with your Senate colleagues to pass legislation as soon
as possible to reauthorize AGOA, PEPFAR, the Development
Finance Corporation, and to make some adjustments to how the
Millennium Challenge Corporation is able to operate on the
continent.
I can't emphasize enough how transformative these programs
have been to Africa's economic development and to advancing our
interests on the continent. These programs have and continue to
set us apart from our competitors.
I'd also like to request your support for the extension of
a critical authority for overseas comparability pay, or OCP, in
any Continuing Resolution or other funding legislation pursued
before the end of the fiscal year.
Currently, the last day that Federal employees in the
Foreign Service are authorized to receive OCP is the end of
this Fiscal Year on September 30th, and if it lapses all of our
dedicated professionals working on the continent will take an
immediate pay cut averaging tens of thousands of dollars.
So, obviously, that will undercut our ability to recruit
and maintain staff at all of our embassies on the continent but
equally in all of our missions around the world.
As my colleagues and I and as many of you have traveled
across the continent we have seen a thirst for more U.S.
engagement. The American model of development and investment is
highly valued.
We're appreciated for our efforts to uphold democracy and
human rights as well as our ongoing efforts to lead a number of
peace processes, addressing crises on the continents.
Our partners seek our support on security and there are
several critical steps we believe must be taken to sustain this
momentum and working together I am confident we can continue to
do so.
So thank you once again for your commitment to
strengthening the U.S. Africa partnership and I look forward to
your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bass follows:]
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman McCaul. Thank you, Mr. Bass.
Let me just say the ranking member and I on most days work
very well. GFC is a good example. We have reauthorized it I
think at a good pace. It should be on the national
authorization bill and it's being held up in the Senate for, in
my view, very petty reasons.
And so I would ask the ranking member to join me in
speaking with Mr. Cardin--Senator Cardin--and Senator Risch to
get through this logjam because it is so--it's so vitally
important to counter China but also to strengthen our economic
ties with Africa.
The Lobito Corridor is really the only success story I see.
It's about a $500 million loan. Can you discuss other projects
that are underway in Africa that we should be focused on?
Mr. Bass. Certainly. I think it's important, Mr. Chairman,
to look at the portfolios of both the Development Finance
Corporation and MCC in this larger context. Four of the 10
largest portfolios that DFC has are on the continent.
In some cases they dovetail very well with priority
countries under the Global Fragility Act. Mozambique is the
largest portfolio that DFC has on the continent and that's not
by accident.
That is part of using all of our tools to try to get at the
most compelling challenges and take advantage of the
opportunities to build out African-led African-owned growth and
development through the private sector. Similarly, most of the
largest MCC compacts are on the continent and that certainly is
not by accident.
Chairman McCaul. And I think the MCC will pass in the
National Defense Authorization. If our equity fix is
accomplished it will double the amount of financing and I think
it will be a big difference.
I'm also looking forward to seeing the implementation of
our conservation bill for which we're very excited to join our
philanthropists in a two private/one government match. It's
rare you see something like that in Congress, seeing the
private sector stepping up to the plate like that.
Mr. Meeks and I were in Africa--AFRICOM--in the summer and
one disturbing trend--excuse my voice. I came back from the
Indo-Pacific and I don't know what I caught but it's not fun.
But one disturbing trend I saw was the al-Shabaab and the
Houthi rebels forging an alliance, taking an Iranian proxy from
that region in the Middle East directly into the African
continent obviously in a terrorism alliance.
As we speak on 9/11 does that concern you?
Mr. Bass. The short answer is yes, very much so and it--you
know, it's one of the probably most compelling examples of why
we are so focused on trying to bring the conflict between
Israel and Hamas to an early conclusion because of all of the
unpredictable ripple effects we're seeing.
You know, if you contrast the Houthis a year ago, as
problematic as they were with their appetite and desire today
to be playing a much larger role in the region in a profoundly
destabilizing way it's very concerning to us.
We're really focused first and foremost on tracking
specific threats and be happy to update you in a classified
setting.
Second, very focused on working with our colleagues in the
European Union and with other governments on the post-ATMIS
transition in Somalia to ensure we can continue to provide key
support and enabling elements to allow the Somali security
forces to continue to hold their ground and not create
conditions that would allow al-Shabaab to resurge and take a
more commanding position throughout Somalia.
Chairman McCaul. Thank you.
Well, actually I just want to again say thank you for your
brave efforts in Afghanistan. As I read the report--and I know
some believe it's political--I see it as historic. A lot of
what's in that report is direct testimoneys from people like
yourself, sir, and I read your testimony.
Being put in the position you're in I know is very
difficult. One of the goals I want to achieve is not to engage
in a partisan blame exercise but, rather, try to fix problems,
many of which stemmed, in my judgment, from the NEO or lack
thereof of a plan to evacuate on a timely basis.
It was very clear when you came onto the scene with
Ambassador Wilson there was a lot of confusion as to who was in
charge, what the duties were, clearly defined responsibilities,
and it seems to me that Congress--and I look forward to
working--I know Mr. Meeks will engage with me in a bipartisan
measure and I even talked to the secretary as well, who is very
willing to work with us on fixing that whole process through
legislation.
And I know you being in such a critical role could play a
very strong role in that effort so that, God forbid, we have
something like that happen again we're not going to have so
much confusion and chaos on the ground that could lead to the
deaths of so many people, especially the 13 servicemen and
women who we bestowed the--posthumously the congressional Gold
Medal of Honor on, sir.
And so I look forward to working with you. It's not a
question for you to answer. It's just a--it's an invitation to
work with us on that. So thank you so much.
I now recognize the ranking member.
Mr. Meeks. Thank you. Thank you, Secretary Bass.
I just want to reemphasize that I think that it's important
that we understand it's the right thing to engage with Africa.
Whether China or Russia was there, it would be important for us
to be engaging with Africa, not there just because of Russia
and trying to compete against them.
So that is really important to do that so--and not forcing
as a result the African nations and think they got to make a
choice. I want them to know that we are the best partners to
deal with and I think that's essential.
And one of the ways of doing that is, as I said in my
opening, is making sure that we're showing up and making sure
that we're there and one of the things that I find that as far
as diplomacy is concerned, for example, China has brought in
more consulates on the continent than we have now and that's
interacting with the African people to let them know that we're
there sincerely.
Now, one of my concerns on my first question to you I'm
concerned because money makes a difference, too, and in the
last fiscal cycle we have cut the State Department's foreign
assistance, for example, 12 percent. Everyone else is
increasing. That's engagement, that 12 percent.
So my question to you is with the ranks of the Foreign and
Civil Service in recent years being cut short does the State
Department currently have the necessary resources in terms of
both funding and personnel to fully engage with African
countries in pursuit of American foreign policy and national--
and our national security interests, and how does proper
resourcing factor into our ability to position the United
States as the preferred partner for African countries?
Mr. Bass. Well, Congressman, thank you for that overview.
The immediate answer is no, we do not have sufficient resources
to capitalize on all of the opportunities we have across the
continent and to get the balance right between the essential
work we have to be doing to respond to and help address the
wide range of crises on the continent and also take advantage
of proactive opportunities to deepen relationships, to generate
new trade and investment opportunities to help Africans build
capacity of government and the private sector and to grow their
economies and create better employment in the future.
And when I speak to insufficient resources it's both on the
programmatic side in terms of foreign assistance and the ways
we can use that but also on the operational side where we're
digging out of a hole that we have experienced in the last
five, 10 years in particular in terms of our ability to fully
staff our missions overseas.
That hole disproportionately impacted our embassies in
Africa. We have come a long way in the last 3 years in hiring
above attrition but we still have a way to go and our ability
to do that is going to depend on continued strong support from
Congress.
Mr. Meeks. And let me--and, you know, in the little time we
have I've got to talk about Sudan, which is the largest
humanitarian crisis in the world now. As many as 150,000 people
have been killed in the brutal fighting between the Rapid
Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023.
More than 12 million people have been displaced and over
half of the country's population is facing a crisis level food
insecurity. People are starving and where--you know, folks are
asking me, where's the international attention? Where's the--
you know, the United States?
What--you know, where's the outrage that we see when it
happens in some other parts of the world? This is something
that's important to Africans also, where it is--where is it.
Now, I compliment Special Envoy Tom Periello for what he's
doing and he's organized last month, I believe, a conference
and trying to talk to people to try to figure out efforts to
resolve the conflict.
But tell me what is the State Department doing to address
some of the external support that the RSF and the SAF has been
receiving and what steps can you--have you taken so far?
What are you looking to do? What are the points of leverage
available to get outside actors to stop who are bringing in the
weapons, et cetera?
We have got to do something. This is something that should
be on the front pages so the people know what's taking place,
and not just because of the continent of Africa as many of them
come tell me that they're ignored and there is no human outrage
about the worst human catastrophe on the planet as we speak
today.
Mr. Bass. Congressman, completely agree that this crisis
and the impacts which, as you note, are the worst humanitarian
crisis in the world today, have not begun to get the attention
and focus they deserve from a wide range of countries.
The limited progress we have made in recent months in
securing renewed humanitarian access to parts of the country
where many people have been suffering that's a direct result of
U.S. leadership and our efforts to, notwithstanding everything
else going on in the world that is distracting from addressing
this conflict, begin to get the right focus on, first and
foremost, addressing the suffering; second, bringing the
violence to an end.
We're very focused in supporting Special Envoy Periello's
efforts. The Secretary has been personally engaged and we're
trying to do several things simultaneously. We're first looking
to ensure the current humanitarian access that was agreed last
month is sustained, that we're able to build off of that and
expand it both in space and time, that hopefully we can secure
some localized cease-fires, particularly in and around Al-
Fashir, to ensure that there is good, strong access for
humanitarians, but then, importantly, to your point continuing
to work with a range of countries, some of whom have been
supporting one or the other side in this conflict to shift
their focus from fueling the conflict and using their influence
to get these----
Chairman McCaul. I'm sorry--We're going well over time and
there are other members. I hate to do that to you.
Mr. Meeks. That's Okay. I just want to say----
Chairman McCaul. But they're all waiting.
Mr. Meeks. Mr. Chairman, just affirmatively I look forward
to working with you----
Chairman McCaul. Absolutely.
Mr. Meeks [continuing]. To going over to the Senate and
making sure we get this bill unstuck there----
Chairman McCaul. Absolutely.
Mr. Meeks [continuing]. And working with you in a
bipartisan manner for looking at and, from my viewpoint, the
entire 20 years of what took place in Afghanistan so that we
never make those same mistakes again.
Chairman McCaul. And we'll have your help as well.
The chair now recognizes Mr. Mast.
Mr. Mast. Thank you, Chairman.
Mr. Bass, let's talk about the peacekeeping mission in Mali
or the ended peacekeeping mission in Mali. I want to start with
just trying to understand a few points. I know that there was
over a period of time--I don't know what period, I'd love for
you to expand on it--somewhere to the range of a hundred tons
of weaponry moved into Mali to support this.
Was that a quick dump of ordnance and bullets? Was it
rifles? Was it armor? What was that and how soon--how recently
before that mission was ended did that take place?
Mr. Bass. Congressman, are you referring to support for the
U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali?
Mr. Mast. Yes. I think that's what I said.
Mr. Bass. I just wanted to clarify because there's--there
have been a couple of different missions.
I don't have the specifics on that particular provision of
equipment. My recollection is that we were intent on ensuring
that as the mission was phasing down and withdrawing they had
what they needed to be able to responsibly consolidate and
leave safely before the mission ended.
Mr. Mast. I don't know that that exactly makes sense. Maybe
you could expand on that. Before they were leaving you wanted
to make sure that we put more lethal items into there? And
let's layer one more thing on top of this.
I'm trying to make sure that's what you're saying. Before
we were leaving we wanted to make sure there was enough lethal
items in there but now you're requesting from us an additional
$141 million for the purposes of withdraw to help get this more
stuff that we put in there out of there?
Help me understand this because it's not adding up to me.
Mr. Bass. So, broadly speaking, my recollection is that
we----
Mr. Mast. How about specifically speaking?
Mr. Bass. So I'm afraid I don't have specifics on that
historical piece at this time.
Mr. Mast. You should. You're at the highest level of U.S.
Government. We expect specifics.
Mr. Bass. I'd be happy to come back to you with more
specifics, sir.
Mr. Mast. I'll let you expand right now, though. Let's go.
Mr. Bass. My recollection is that we sought to ensure,
along with other contributing nations and supporters of the
U.N. mission, that as the force consolidated it was deployed
well outside the capital in some remote locations, that it had
the capabilities it needed to be able to safely consolidate and
retrograde to the capital and depart the country.
Mr. Mast. Fair in theory. Fair in theory, safely conduct
that consolidation. To your expertise what do you think those
resources are that would be needed? What would you be
requesting?
Mr. Bass. So I'm not a military professional and wouldn't
suppose, in this context, to speak for force commanders.
I would imagine they would be looking for a set of
ammunition and related logistic supplies to make sure if they
needed to they were able to fight their way out of incidents
with the combatants in Mali.
Mr. Mast. Does Russia have those armaments now?
Mr. Bass. I believe to the best of my knowledge,
Congressman, that materiel that remained behind went into the
possession of the armed forces of the government--the regime in
Mali.
Mr. Mast. Okay. So let's move on to the request for $141
million for withdrawal purposes. What for?
Mr. Bass. Are you referring to withdrawal from Mali?
Mr. Mast. Yes, the--my understanding is specifically the
withdrawal for the peacekeeping mission. But if it goes beyond
that I would love to have the specifics because we don't have
the specifics.
Mr. Bass. Let me take that back and get you a better
answer.
Mr. Mast. What can you tell me on it now? And then I'd be
happy to hear the more that you can tell me on it but I'd love
to know what you know about it now.
Mr. Bass. So I'm not sure in this moment what aspect of
that $140 million request is specific to Mali or specific to
our support for the transition, for example, of the
peacekeeping mission in Somalia or----
Mr. Mast. I'll read it to you specifically as I see it.
The Fiscal Year 1924 CBJ requested $141 million for
withdrawal purposes from MINUSMA, or however you pronounce the
acronym correctly--obviously, which was established back in
2013 so we're at the tail end of it.
That's what was requested. So what can you say you know
about that $141 million requested in the 2024 request by CBJ?
Mr. Bass. I have to get back to you with more specifics. It
may be that this is part of balancing the books for the mission
as it----
Mr. Mast. What does that mean, balancing the books for the
mission?
Mr. Bass. That means as the U.N. winds down this mission
and closes it out formally that it's accounted for what the
mission actually cost as opposed to what it was projected to
cost.
Mr. Mast. Thank you, Chairman.
Mr. James [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Bass.
The chair now recognizes Mr. Sherman from California.
Mr. Sherman. I'd like to respond to the chairman's opening
statement on Afghanistan for just a minute. Obama accomplished
something in Afghanistan. We got Bin Laden. Biden accomplished
something in Afghanistan.
We accomplished the withdrawal that by then all Americans
wanted and the most impressive evacuation in terms of the
number of people evacuated that, perhaps, the world had ever
seen. We lost 13 of our bravest and most sacred lives.
But what did Trump accomplish? He surrendered to the
Taliban. Yes, there's a few--a little bit of gloss in the
documents about vague, unenforceable statements about working
with the Afghan government. He signed a surrender document.
Now, under that document the Taliban is obligated not to
serve as a base for terrorism. Well, every country has that
obligation anyway. So it was a pure surrender document and we
lost 61 of our soldiers there and 57 of those coffins came back
to America for a dignified transfer that President Trump chose
not to attend.
So we fought and died and spent tens of billions of dollars
and transferred equipment from 2017, 1918, 1919, and 1920 and
accomplished absolutely nothing.
Now, I want to thank the chair for holding this hearing on
Africa because though if you look at the media you would think
that the only things going on in the world are Ukraine and Gaza
when in fact the greatest humanitarian difficulties, the
greatest tragedies, are taking place in Africa.
First, in Ethiopia we saw 600,000 Tigrayans die, a million
and a half displaced. The humanitarian relief fund is only 4
percent funded.
Mr. Secretary, when Secretary Blinken was here last he
committed that of the $9 billion mostly unearmarked
humanitarian dollars that Congress provided in the April
supplemental that some would be spent in Ethiopia.
I'll ask you to respond for the record exactly or at least
with greater detail how that money or some of that money will
be spent and how much will be spent in Ethiopia.
In Sudan, as the ranking member pointed out, this is the
greatest humanitarian tragedy occurring right now. Perhaps
150,000 people have died, 15,000 in just one city in Darfur,
and I would hope that you would respond for the record as to
what our plans are to deal with that terrible war.
But I want to focus your attention now on Eritrea which the
dictator there, Afwerki, has carried on attacks in Tigray in
northern Ethiopia and has created a government that is properly
referred to as the North Korea of Africa.
I met recently with Mr. Baduri, the--one of the leaders of
the opposition, and I wonder whether the State Department will
work with those around the world who are working for democracy
in Eritrea and a government that can be a positive influence on
the world.
Mr. Bass. Thank you, Congressman.
With regard to Eritrea, as you note it has a long record of
repression, a monolithic government, largely, since
independence and has been, largely, impervious to our and other
allies' and partners' efforts to open up society and change the
character of that regime.
Mr. Sherman. I would hope that we would be meeting with the
opposition and funding the opposition because the people of
Eritrea will not have freedom and its neighbors will not have
peace until we see a democratic government there.
What are we doing to prevent Eritrea from collecting this
diaspora tax, particularly on those who aren't even citizens of
Eritrea but may have come from there?
Mr. Bass. I'd like to get back to you with a more specific
answer on that particular aspect of our policy. I can assure
you that we continue to actively engage the government.
To the best of our ability, it is limited in addressing a
number of our concerns including political repression and the
lack of space for political opposition.
Mr. Sherman. And, finally, this is 9/11 when we were hit
with Islamist terrorism. What can Congress do to support our
anti-terrorist efforts in Africa and particularly the Sahel?
Mr. Bass. So I would say continue to both strongly fund our
anti-terrorism account that enables us to help African nations
build their capacity but also to continue to invest in our
economic growth and opportunity programs and to fund our
exchange programs because we have to be addressing the root
causes that are driving so many young Africans, whether by
ideology or by a lack of an alternative, to take a paycheck
from whether it's al-Shabaab or Boko Haram or ISIS in the
Sahel.
Mr. Sherman. Thank you.
Mr. James. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The chairman now recognizes Mrs. Kim from California.
Mrs. Kim of California. Thank you, Chairman, and I want to
thank Ranking Member Meeks for holding today's hearing.
Before I begin I also want to convey my--you know, a speedy
recovery to our colleague, Congressman Joe Wilson, and we look
forward to having him back joining us, and thank you, Under
Secretary Bass, for joining us at our hearing today.
The People's Republic of China and PRC private sector
companies conduct destructive and oftentimes illegal mining,
drilling, logging, and fishing in Africa while disregarding
environmental and public health, as you know.
So I introduced the Stopping PRC Environmental Exploitation
and Degradation Act, or SPEED Act to hold the PRC accountable
for its deliberate environmental degradation and harm African
communities.
But despite these coercive and exploitative nature of these
investments, PRC investment in Africa is growing. So how is the
State Department working to inform African governments that the
PRC's approach to engagement on the continent is transactional
and unsustainable?
Mr. Bass. So thank you, Congresswoman for--completely agree
with you about the predatory nature of so much of the PRC's
activities on the continent.
We are approaching this in a range of ways and to Ranking
Member Meeks' observations earlier, right, we're trying to
ensure that we are not making the continent about this
competition between the United States and China.
Our policy is about Africa and it's about helping Africans
develop a better future for themselves in partnership with
support but informed and guided by choices they are making.
And so we in the process of trying to offer a better offer
point out the many ways in which----
Mrs. Kim of California. So what ways do you think we're
doing? Do you think we're doing enough currently to better
partner for, you know, like, African nations to counter PRC's
growing influence? How are we doing it? Can you give some
specific examples?
Mr. Bass. Sure. I don't think we're doing enough in that
we're dealing with an enormous flood of disinformation and
misinformation from the PRC and Russia.
So supporting our efforts through the Global Engagement
Center and other activities we have in the department and in
the executive branch to deal with misinformation is a critical
piece of this.
Second, ongoing support for our wider efforts to talk about
the nature of partnerships with the U.S. private sector based
on the rule of law, based on respect for contracts, and
informing, whether it's governments, whether it's chambers of
commerce, about the perils of some of these, quote/unquote,
``investments'' from the PRC I think is going to continue to be
a really important part of our efforts.
Mrs. Kim of California. Thank you.
You know, as you correctly pointed out, we were concerned
about China's model that promotes, like, propaganda,
disinformation, and censorship activities in Africa.
So glad to hear that you're addressing those issues because
CCP, as you know, has a very active campaign to export its
digital authoritarian model and very, very intrusive
surveillance technologies to Africa.
That really undermines our civil societies and human rights
issues. So we'd like to see more active engagement in that
regard so thank you for addressing that.
The CCP uses political training as a strategic tool to
export its authoritarian governance style throughout Africa.
The CCP funds political schools in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and
South Africa, among others, which emphasize Chinese governance
and economic models.
I believe they also host African military and political
leaders regularly to cement their influence. So how is the
State Department seeking to counter CCP's brazen attempts to
coerce the next generation of African leaders?
Mr. Bass. We continue to support a wide range of
educational opportunities. USAID invests heavily in basic
primary education, which is essential in so many countries on
the continent.
Our exchange programs that bring a large number of students
to the states for higher education or in some cases for
training as university professors, remains the gold standard on
the continent and we have constant demand, well exceeding our
supply based on the funding available to us, for our exchange
program.
So, you know, the best way we're trying to deal with this
is to target those places where we're seeing the greatest
pernicious effect but also to ensure that the CCP--the PRC--is
not getting traction in other countries to the same degree.
Mrs. Kim of California. Thank you. My time's up so I yield
back.
Mr. James. Thank you, Mrs. Kim.
The chairman now recognizes Mr. Bera from California.
Mr. Keating from Massachusetts. Welcome, Mr. Keating.
Mr. Keating. Thank you.
And I do want to convey my strong feelings of support in
the recovery of our colleague Joe Wilson who's demonstrated
enormous bipartisanship with me personally and other members of
this committee in general, particularly on his most recent
efforts to support Ukraine against Russia's illegal and
criminal war. Godspeed in your recovery, Joe.
We're also remembering 9/11 today and it brings me to the
point of as we remember those who've lost their lives, the
innocent civilians and the first responders that were there and
many that live with those injuries, we have to remain vigilant
against terrorism.
And the U.S. intelligence community, among others, has
labeled Africa as a center of gravity in the Sunni global
jihad, and particularly talking about the Sahel, not just with
al-Shabaab but also with Islamic State affiliates in Mozambique
and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and those threats and
the importance of working with our European partners on that
effort in Africa as well has been emphasized.
So I have a question. It seems that Hungary under Viktor
Orban is freelancing with its European effort, particularly in
Chad last November, deploying 200 of his own military there,
and also the mystery that surrounds Viktor Orban's son, Gaspar
Orban, and what's his activities there as Orban's own son is
involved in this.
Can you enlighten us on what heck Hungary is doing in this
area?
Mr. Bass. So we continue to have a wide range of concerns
about the behavior of President Orban's political party and its
efforts to----
Mr. Keating. Do you think his actions are really something
to be mirrored? The image of what the U.S. should be doing
right now?
Mr. Bass. No, I do not and, again, analogous to discussing
our challenges that the PRC presents on the continent, this is
about providing better offers and stronger support in ways that
are consistent with our values.
Mr. Keating. So what about the mystery man? What about
Gaspar?
Mr. Bass. I can't speak to his specific activities but
happy to come back to you with more details to the extent
they're known.
Mr. Keating. It's a concern because it's Orban's own son,
and given the fact that Hungary is so out of step with most
democratic actions in the West and particularly our European
partners it's a concern to me.
But if you could speak to the importance of working with
our European allies in this issue because this is something
that we can't do alone and we have found that out.
Mr. Bass. Completely agree with you. We have a wide range
of robust partnerships with a number of our European allies and
partners, sometimes on a bilateral basis, sometimes in
conjunction with a number of countries, depending on the
circumstances in the country or section of Africa where we're
trying to help improve conditions.
That partnership starts with ensuring that we have robust
information sharing about threats emanating from the continent
that may impact our homeland or those of our allies and
partners in Europe to make sure we're sharing that information,
we're dealing with those challenges, and hopefully to the best
of our ability preventing people from getting off the
continent.
Mr. Keating. Absolutely, because, you know, the Islamic
terrorists continue to try and reconfigure themselves and move
forward and that information is extremely important because we
saw the importance of information sharing and terrorist
activities with the Taylor Swift, you know, concert threat that
was there as well.
So we're seeing these things come closer to home. I don't
think perhaps we're at this stage yet but if this continues to
grow this could be a homeland threat, do you think?
Mr. Bass. We continue to see some of the groups operating
on the continent. By and large, they are focused on the
continent itself but we're very attuned to any indications of
aspirations or plans to conduct attacks beyond specific
geography on the continent, in the United States, or in Europe
and we work very closely with our counterparts in those
countries to ensure those attacks do not move forward.
Mr. Keating. Well, our alliances are important. Thank you
very much and I yield back.
Mr. James. Thank you. The gentleman's time has concluded. I
now recognize myself as much time as I may consume.
The short answer is the administration doesn't care. We see
it in the fact that there are more foreign commercial service
officers in Paris than there are in the entirety of Africa.
The Chinese commercial attaches outnumber U.S. 15 to one.
We see it in the fact that we--you said yourself you do not
have adequate funding to accomplish your mission.
You don't have the adequate bodies to accomplish your
mission, and just today on September 11th, the anniversary of
one of the most heinous--the most heinous terror attack in our
lifetimes, today as reported in the Wall Street Journal that
U.S. forces try to regroup as al-Qaeda and Islamic State to sow
terror in west Africa.
Hope is not a method. Hope is not a plan. It is not good
enough. Continuing to offer lip service to what's going on in
African continent is not good enough.
As chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa I've conducted
nine hearings and proposed multiple bills that aim to close the
growing gap between America's waning influence on the continent
and our adversaries, a gap that's widened even further under
the Biden-Harris administration, which promises to be all in on
Africa.
What a disappointment. Africa contains immense demographic
and economic potential that we are ceding in the great power
competition because this administration's dismissal of
realpolitik in favor of ideological colonialism.
Now, the Sahel is in a complete State of freefall and I
fear as the farther we get away from September 11th, the closer
we get to September 10th, we are making the same mistakes we
made decades ago with taking our eyes off the ball in Africa.
What's going on in the Sahel, particularly with how it
affects west Africa, there are many places in west Africa that
are closer to the United States of America than Europe.
We need to pull our heads out of our backsides and in this
administration really focus on what needs to happen to fix this
situation with ruling juntas and Islamic extremists, an ever
increasing amount of Russian mercenaries running unchecked from
the Red Sea to the Atlantic.
China continues to export its model of party over State
authoritarianism governance across the continent and continues
to pursue an Atlantic Ocean military base.
Last week in Beijing at the forum for China-Africa
Cooperation Summit, President Xi Jinping pledged $51 billion in
new financial commitments to the continent, the majority of
which will be loans that will enable Beijing to continue its
strategy of debt trap diplomacy to gain leverage of African
leaders and control over critical mineral supply chains.
It is these crucial mistakes over security and supply
chains, two things I know as a combat veteran and as
logistics--as a logistician--that are most danger to our
national security right here at home, not just on the African
continent.
The PRC continues to put export controls on critical
minerals, most recently antimony. Anybody know what antimony
is? Well, you should or you will. It's essential for our own
munitions as we're running short on our own supply.
This could starve our own industrial supply base of the
resources we need in the event that we come into direct
conflict with our adversaries.
Additionally, I led this committee in reviewing our
bilateral relationship with South Africa because the
administration's inaction in the face of the ANC's clear and
overt alignment with Russia, China, and Iran.
I thoroughly commend Ambassador Brigety for holding a firm
and principled line in Pretoria in the face of a leadership
void coming from Washington, DC.
Similarly, this committee led in declaring the current
actions of the RSF, the Rapid Support Force of Sudan, as a
genocide, a policy decision that the department has tied up in
its bureaucratic system hiding behind lawyers despite the
abundance of affirmative evidence.
H. Res. 1328--in Sudan 25 million people are experiencing
acute food insecurity with over 700,000 people on the verge of
famine. April 23d most estimate the actual figure of casualty
since this civil war began is closer to 150,000 people.
As the war continues to unfold an abundance of evidence
points to a genocide being committed by the RSF forces against
the Masalit and likely against other non-Arab ethnic
communities as well.
You know what that sounds like? Black people. My resolution
formally declares that the atrocities committed by the RSF and
allied militias are acts of genocide.
You see, the reason why people are so ticked off at America
around the world, particularly in Africa, is because they see
Ukraine getting billions, they see Gazans getting a pier, and
the Sudanese that are neither white nor have a vital diaspora
in the United States of America and they get crickets. They get
crickets from this administration who are doing nothing to fix
that problem.
And, yes, I'm saying nothing because trying our best isn't
going to bring back those lives. We must do better. We will do
better and when we take back control of the Congress we're
going to force this issue and hold all those accountable on
both sides of that war accountable.
We're going to bring this to the national and to the
international consciousness because it is a blight on all of
our morality to have this war continue and no one in the press
saying a damn thing about it.
Additionally, on the legislative front PEPFAR is the most
successful foreign policy tool since the Marshall Plan and we
have to have a long-term reauthorization.
AGOA is the base of the U.S.-Africa economic relationship
and anything other than early reauthorization this year will
send the clear signal to African leaders that they are not a
priority regardless of the accompanying empty rhetoric from
this Nation.
We must show our partners in Africa that they are enough in
themselves. We must show them that our words will be backed up
by actions.
I'm saddened to say this administration continuously failed
to stand by their words and we have to stand up in Congress to
make sure that we hold them and any other administration
accountable to their failures on the continent.
With that, I will acknowledge Mr. Bera from California.
Mr. Bera. Thank you. I appreciate my colleague from
Michigan's passion about Africa. I'm very willing to work with
the other side to get a long-term reauthorization of PEPFAR,
which really is--I don't think it's my side of the aisle that
has any issues with reauthorizing PEPFAR.
I also applaud the Biden administration for their renewed
focus on Africa. President Biden organized the first U.S.
Africa Leaders Summit since 2014, committing $55 billion
through 2025. So I do think the Biden administration
understands the importance of this and I just contrast that
with the prior administration.
I don't like using this language but President Trump talked
about African countries as shithole countries. That is not how
we talk about the importance of Africa. This is a vital region
and incredibly important.
And, again, I look forward to working with my colleague and
folks on the other side to get Africa, get Sudan, the necessary
resources to address this crisis. I don't think you'll find any
resistance on the Democratic side to try to address some of
these issues.
Secretary Bass, thank you for your service and thank you
for talking about the career Foreign Service officers and the
importance of what they do.
I'm very concerned that we are losing ground in Africa, not
because of lack of regard but, you know, when I look at surveys
of Africa China now is more popular than the United States, and
when I think about how China approaches the continent, you
know, I think the number I've heard is for every dollar that
they provide in investment they saddle many of these low and
middle income countries with $9 of debt.
You know, I was in Kenya last summer. Saw a beautiful train
from Nairobi to Mombasa. I had never actually saw any trains on
there and I don't think anyone's using that train but they're
now saddled with a real challenge.
I applaud you for emphasizing the importance of
reauthorizing the GFC and, you know, certainly plussing up that
budget.
You've touched on, you know, some of the challenges that--
you know, my colleague talked about Mali, you know, some of the
Russian disinformation that has led to, you know, the French
troops being kicked out of Mali.
You know, I worry about what we're seeing in Niger with
U.S. troops being kicked out. If you could just take a few
moments to talk about this and what we in Congress could do to
help support your efforts, you know, from public diplomacy to,
you know, investment and so forth--what you'd like to see.
Mr. Bass. So with regard to providing better offers on the
continent, one of the challenges with the Chinese model is that
it focuses on things, not people, and so they're--and they
deliver something relatively quickly.
So for leaders who are looking at reelection or trying to
demonstrate some positive impact they have something tangible
to point to.
However, after a not very long period of time, right, there
tends to be buyer's remorse with that model, and so what we are
seeking to do with help from this committee on a bipartisan
basis is to continue investing in and expanding those programs
that provide that better alternative through developing local
capacity, through improving Africans' ability to make their own
choices and set up their own businesses that grow their
economy.
We're going to need, I think, in the years to come to be
able to make substantial additional investments in helping
agriculture on the continent adapt to an evolving climate and,
you know, this year we have put $150 million against the VACS
initiative--the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soil.
That is resonating in an enormous way on the continent
because it is responsive to their immediate needs.
So programs like that that deal with the rural economy are
quite important.
Mr. Bera. You know, I would love to work with you on
getting educational resources, getting universities into
Africa.
We have had conversations, you know, with Ambassador
Whitman and thinking about how we--you know, we'd love to bring
those students to the United States but we could also work, you
know, on an education city type of model to build a campus in
East Africa and Kenya, potentially a west African campus, to
educate the young people to build capacity and to use that soft
power.
So I would love to work with you on that.
Mr. Bass. Be happy to explore that with you.
Mr. James. Well, thank you. I hope what about-ism about
some expletives from President Trump from 4 years ago helps my
colleagues sleep at night while there's a genocide going on a
Sudan.
But right now what this Presidential administration is
doing is failing to request in the budget for the Global
Fragility Act what Congress has already authorized. Actions
speak louder than words and we expect more in actions out of
this administration.
The chairman now recognizes Mr. Davidson from Ohio.
Mr. Davidson. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate this
hearing, and to our subcommittee chairman for the Africa
Subcommittee Congressman James from Michigan I really
appreciate the work in getting this hearing set up.
So it's an important area for American foreign policy and
we're at risk of being outmaneuvered, frankly, in particular by
China's Belt and Road Initiative but in part by the Biden
administration because they continue to put their own hyper
partisan agenda ahead of America's national interest.
And I tried to highlight this as we were reauthorizing the
Developmental Finance Corporation, which has laudable goals and
important things to accomplish in Africa, among other places.
But while we use EV mandates, IRA subsidies to push battery
technology at breakneck speed, it's becoming clearer by the day
that we risk national security by allowing all the critical
resources to come mostly from Africa and process through China
without any recourse to developing the supply chain at home.
And instead of addressing these things a lot of times the
Development Finance Corporation and, frankly, our own State
Department is more interested in about Pride Month agendas and
whether women can abort their babies in countries where we have
critical risks.
So, sir, I just wonder what your take is on the lack of
focus and how well we're doing in terms of focus on
accomplishing what we should be in Africa.
Mr. Bass. So, Congressman, I'd say we are quite focused on
the challenges, particularly in ensuring we are able to compete
effectively in gaining access to critical minerals for the new
high ground in our economy and in the global economy in the
coming years.
The administration has put enormous effort into developing
critical minerals partnerships with a wide range of countries
that allow them to develop----
Mr. Davidson. Okay. Specifically who are they developing
with? I mean, DRC, things don't seem to be going well there.
What are they doing there in particular and what are they doing
if that's not going well to supplement it with some others?
Mr. Bass. Well, with the Lobito Corridor we're creating
opportunities for the DRC to have a choice and there's an
enormous amount of interest in seeing development for those
critical minerals in the southern DRC be able to go out through
Angola to markets other than China and in partnerships that are
going to be longer term and to the benefit of the DRC as
opposed to primarily benefiting the People's Republic of China.
Mr. Davidson. All right.
Secretary Bass, what were the warning signs in the State
Department and the Department of Defense to the extent you know
about their take about force deployment in Niger?
You know, under this administration America has had to
evacuate 11 embassies so the last count I had. It might have
gone higher than that. We evacuated Burma, Chad, Afghanistan,
Ethiopia, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Nigeria, Sudan, Niger, and
Haiti.
Is that a comprehensive list? But let's talk about Niger.
What were the warning signs?
Mr. Bass. So in Niger we reduced the size of our mission
complement for a period of time after the coup that brought the
current junta to power when we saw indications that our
principled opposition to that coup was creating potentially
some friction with the junta and they might take action or
create broader instability in the capital.
We have since returned all of our diplomats and development
professionals that were temporarily taken out back to the
country. They're back on the job advocating and advancing the
Nation's interests there and that's been the case in most of
the other places where we temporarily reduced our footprint,
depending on the circumstances.
That's one of our principal tools for mitigating risk and
managing risk around the world, to enable us to continue to be
present in dangerous and dynamic environments.
Mr. Davidson. Well, I find two common themes under this
administration, and I thank you for your long career service.
You've served under Republican and Democrat administrations and
as a career State Department employee, you know, I don't expect
you to engage in necessarily the partisan behavior.
But what I see the agenda consistently left of center for
the State Department regardless of who becomes president or who
becomes secretary and I see weakness under this
administration--that's certainly a common theme--and it's
experienced all over the world and it's being exploited.
And I also see an administration that is focused on DEI
ideology, kind of far left political agendas, instead of our
own national security agenda.
So I hope you can help correct that. I yield back.
Mr. James. Thank you. The chairman now recognizes Ms.
Kamlager-Dove from California.
Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank you
for--Honorable Bass, for showing up today. This is a long time
coming. I think this is the first full hearing we have had on
Africa since Congress began. Woefully inadequate but here we
are.
I want to start by discussing the most urgent continent--
the most urgent crisis on the continent, which is the conflict
in Sudan, and the ability to be a force for peace and stability
in Africa makes the United States a more influential actor and
a desirable partner than strategic competitors like Russia who,
unfortunately, have been able to run the table on the continent
because the prior administration had a zero Africa party--I
mean zero Africa policy.
Unfortunately, we are failing in Sudan where it took over a
year to appoint a special envoy to manage the U.S. response to
the conflict, and the shortage of high level attention to the
largest humanitarian crisis in the world does not go unnoticed
by African partners that we are encouraging to turn away from
Russia and China and, in fact, they hosted not long ago a 3-day
forum on the continent, really trying to take advantage of the
space that we left because of the zero policy from the prior
administration.
So last month I led a letter with 50 of my colleagues
urging the administration to use the momentum from the U.S.-led
peace talks convened in July to prioritize the scaling up of
humanitarian aid into Sudan.
And, Mr. Chairman, I request unanimous consent to submit
that letter for the record.
[The information referred to has not been submitted:]
Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Thank you so much.
Acting Under Secretary Bass, how is the U.S. planning to
increase the cost to the two warring parties of waging this
conflict?
Mr. Bass. Congresswoman, thank you for again flagging the
enormous challenges in Sudan.
We are working on several fronts to try to bring the
conflict to a close including by increasing pressure on both
parties to the conflict.
We're partly working with some of their patron countries,
the countries that have been supporting one side or the other
with weapons, with materiel, et cetera.
In recent months, and I think you see this as an outflow of
the diplomacy last month in Switzerland--successful diplomacy--
some of those patrons are realizing that this conflict is
expanding and taking on unpredictable dimensions, attracting
even other countries such as Iran prospectively and realizing
that it is time to bring it to a close.
We're also developing additional potential sanctions
against leaders on both sides of the conflict should they
continue to resist our efforts to bring the parties to the
table and start talking through their differences instead of
fighting.
Ms. Kamlager-Dove. Well, that is a problem because the
parties are not coming to the table and sanctions only work if
they have teeth associated with them, and if we have had
embargoes in the past and they're still getting weapons into
the country I hope that you expand the discussions around
sanctions to include those parties that are actually continuing
to supply them the arms because the deaths are going to
continue as long as folks are able to obtain weaponry.
So how is the U.S. planning to leverage the upcoming U.N.
General Assembly to elevate this crisis?
Mr. Bass. So we--to your point about sanctions, we have
sanctioned a number of entities outside of Sudan, some of them
in the UAE, that have been involved in enabling the RSF in this
case to evade the embargo that's been in place and we continue
to actively develop additional cases along those lines.
With regard to the General Assembly, high level week coming
up in 2 weeks, we have a range of diplomacy underway now,
consulting in capitals with a number of neighboring countries
and countries that have influence over the parties, and we will
be holding a high level event during high level week to reflect
on the results of this latest round and to talk about how we
can generate additional momentum to build off of the success
last month--limited success--in Switzerland.
Ms. Kamlager-Dove. You can't build a momentum if you're not
talking about the issue and the special envoy needs more
support, needs more staff, needs more resources, and Blinken
needs to be talking about this issue more.
My time is up. I yield back.
Mr. James. I agree with my colleague from California 100
percent on that issue. We need more light. We need more support
to resolve the conflict, not continue to talk about it.
We're going to skip a little bit in the order right now and
the chairman now recognizes Mr. Self from Texas.
Mr. Self?
Mr. Self. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I hear a lot of talk about helping other people. I want to
talk about U.S. national interests.
I want to go back to something that Mr. Davidson opened the
door to here because when we look at China and critical
minerals, I don't have the charts here with me but when you
look at the production of critical minerals there's a diversity
of countries.
But when you get to the processing capability it's almost
exclusively China. Eighty-five percent of the processing
capability in the worldwide critical mineral area China
controls it, which makes us--our national interests are
directly tied to China's processing of critical minerals.
What is the State Department--first question is what is the
State Department's role when a U.S. company in, let's say, the
Congo--DRC--sells to a China company? What would be the State
Department role in that case? Have any role at all?
Mr. Bass. Our role would simply be to ensure that that
company is complying with U.S. law and providing information to
domestic agencies here if we received inquiries from them or if
things came to our attention that indicated they were outside
U.S. law.
Mr. Self. That's what I thought. How does Congress help you
strengthen our ability to hold on to the critical minerals that
we have?
Now, I understand. I would prefer to mine the critical
minerals in the U.S. but the Biden administration has pretty
much shut that down, bowing to the climate religion.
For instance, I think there are now 66 actions against a
mining interest in Alaska alone and Alaska has 49 of the 50
critical minerals and we need to understand that. Alaska alone
has 49 of the 50 critical minerals that we need.
So what can Congress do to help you to maintain our
control? What would you need to help our companies in Africa
who are already doing it from--stopping them from selling their
interests to China?
Mr. Bass. So, Congressman, the most important things to do
are to reauthorize the Development Finance Corporation and to
make sure it's appropriately capitalized to provide seed
capital for partnerships between U.S. companies and companies
in Africa to develop processing on the continent and that's a
that's a key piece of the Lobito Corridor concept that we're
developing.
The core of it's a rail line but the goal here is to help
use that rail line to build processing on the continent and I
can tell you all three governments are very interested in that
because they see the perils that you point to and the lack of
opportunity and job growth in their own countries as a result
of their minerals just walking out the door.
Mr. Self. I was hoping for something stronger than that
because I believe that this is a critical national interest
that we need to get a handle on.
I would recommend the State Department recommend to
Congress what we can do. What is this? What would you need to
strengthen our ability to determine where we get critical
minerals.
If we're not going to mine them and process them in the
United States how do we meet U.S. national interests around the
world?
I think this is one of the critical areas. Semiconductors
is another one. I think those two areas need more attention by
the State Department to advance U.S. national interest around
the world.
With that, I yield back.
Mr. James. Thank you, Mr. Self.
Those statements actually reminded me of something of a
statement of--that's very important but we'll get to that
later.
The chairman now recognizes Ms. Titus from Nevada.
Ms. Titus. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Before I ask you a question, Secretary Bass, I want to
mention that in your opening remarks you said something about
the overseas comparability pay authority and the fact that this
mission critical authorization, which has great national
security authorization, is about to expire.
I completely agree with you. We need to continue this. If
we let it lapse the State Department--the Foreign Service
officers are going to face up to a 22 percent cut and that will
certainly hinder our ability to recruit and retain these
professionals.
So I want you to know that I'm leading a letter to Speaker
Johnson about this issue and urging him to include it in the CR
so we can be sure that we continue to operate effectively.
And I want to invite any of my colleagues to sign on to
that letter who might be interested in protecting our national
interest.
Another--related to this, another thing that presents a
challenge for us in Africa is the diplomatic presence there on
the continent. There are currently six U.S. missions--I know
I'm not telling you anything--but in Africa that do not have a
Senate-confirmed Ambassador: Eswatini, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi,
Mauritania, and Sudan, and Sudan we have already heard about in
the throes of one of the worst humanitarian crisis out there.
Now, except for Sudan, which the position has just been
recently vacated, there are nominees for these positions, five
nominees, but Republican senators have put sweeping blocks on
these nominees for various political--I don't know what kind of
reasons.
So I wonder if you would address this and comment on how
our lack of Ambassadors in those countries affects our
diplomatic relations not only with those countries but with
surrounding parts of the continent--what it says to people that
we don't even care enough to send an ambassador or that our
level of involvement is inadequate or certainly not what we see
in other parts of the world.
Mr. Bass. Well, Congresswoman, thank you very much
particularly for your advocacy for sustaining OCP, which will
be an essential part of our ability to be effective on the
continent and in the immediate future.
With regard to confirmed Ambassadors, it undercuts our
ability to be as effective as we need to be when we do not have
confirmed Ambassadors in the field. Countries draw conclusions
from that.
We have a number of countries that think that we're
signaling to them that they're not important to the United
States. We have countries that are very protocol conscious that
won't see our charge to discuss critical issues and that
undercuts our ability to carry the effort forward.
And whenever we have an ambassador absent in most cases it
pulls everybody else in that embassy out of position because
you've got a series of people in acting roles to ladder up to
that principal role. And I can assure you, you know, when the
PRC changes Ambassadors there is not a lengthy gap.
The other area where this really concerns me as a career
professional is we're starting to see some of our really
talented, capable officers who should be competing to be
Ambassadors stepping away from it because they don't want to or
can't afford to put their lives in limbo for an indefinite
period of time, sometimes going up to 2 years or longer,
wondering if they're going to have that opportunity.
Ms. Titus. Wouldn't this be a first step? At least fill
these positions if we want to strengthen our hand against China
or Russia there on the continent?
Mr. Bass. It would certainly reduce the unforced errors, if
you will, if we could make sure all of our missions were led by
confirmed Ambassadors.
Ms. Titus. Thank you.
Just briefly, could you talk about how the Global Fragility
Act is playing out on the continent and how that's helping us
get at promoting democratic institutions against the face of
violence?
Mr. Bass. So happy to.
Briefly, it has enabled us to organize and think
differently about how we address some of these challenges that
transcend geographic or--you know, geographic boundaries
between countries.
Particularly effective in helping us think about a broader
strategy for coastal West Africa as we're dealing with the
instability that is emanating out of the Sahel right now, for
example.
Ms. Titus. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. James. Thank you, Ms. Titus.
The chairman now recognizes my good friend from west
Michigan Mr. Huizenga.
Mr. Huizenga. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And while we're on west Michigan I want to--here's the
connection then. I want to talk about Sudan. It might seem like
a disconnect but in my time in Congress I have a case worker
who has done a tremendous amount of work with Sudanese refugees
and the Sudan crisis and has brought a number of those refugees
into west Michigan, and that's why it's, I think, you are
hearing such broad consensus and disappointment in what has
been the response or lack thereof of what is going on in Sudan.
And, again, I just--I won't belabor points that have been
repeated here but just underscore again there is a perception
from many of us that this is a failed diplomatic resolution or
lack of prioritization of a diplomatic resolution, I should
say, and please go back and emphasize this to your superiors
and to the folks that you work with that we need answers up
here on the Hill.
I'm going to talk--transition to China and talk a little
bit about what's been happening there--obviously, China's roles
in destabilizing our foothold in places like Djibouti.
They are--they have a base six miles from Camp Lemonnier
and it's the only permanent base we have in Africa, I believe,
and PRC has a permanent naval presence and exclusive rights to
that territory.
And, certainly, we know that China has a core strategy
about gaining an Atlantic base as well. Gabon and Equatorial
Guinea and Angola are often raised as potential locations for
that.
I would like to know what is the diplomatic message that
the department has been giving to these Atlantic coast
countries to dissuade them from allowing a PRC base and are we
offering them anything instead?
I mean, there's reports of--we know, obviously, China has
put, I believe, somewhere around $50 billion as a target of
what they want to invest into Africa over the next 3 years
alone.
So tell me what the State Department is doing in
communication with those countries and discouraging them. What
are we offering them instead and, hopefully, I'll have a quick
question after that.
Mr. Bass. Sure. Thanks for the opportunity to talk about
this critical issue.
We're doing a range of things. First and foremost, we have
got active diplomatic engagement with all the countries along
the Atlantic coast to underscore to them the perils of either
affirmatively or, perhaps, passively slipping into an
arrangement where the PRC is able to establish a naval base,
and the PRC base in Djibouti is Exhibit A, B, and C of the
perils of doing that.
The Djiboutian government doesn't have any access to that
base, doesn't know what's going on in that----
Mr. Huizenga. Even though it's their sovereignty territory?
Mr. Bass. Exactly. And so that--I think part of the reason
you haven't seen a PRC success on the--in the Atlantic basin is
precisely because African countries are paying attention to
what is happening in Djibouti.
Mr. Huizenga. And are we specifically underscoring that?
Mr. Bass. Absolutely.
Mr. Huizenga. We know about their base in Peru in South
America and the footholds that they may be trying to get to hem
in on the Pacific side and seeing this happen on the Atlantic
side. I mean, that is just an expansionist action that has got
to raise red flags, I would hope.
Mr. Bass. Yes, absolutely, and we are warning them or
cautioning them. But we're also in dialogs with a number of
these governments to understand, Okay, what is it that you're
concerned about that would prompt you to think about this and
how can we try to address that and work in partnership with
you.
So we're improving a number of the basin countries' ability
to deal with their own maritime security so they can take care
of these issues themselves.
Mr. Huizenga. And real quickly in these last seconds, what
are they saying to you? What are their concerns that are even
allowing them to have these conversations?
Mr. Bass. They're--in many cases they're concerned about
their ability to understand what's happening in their
territorial waters, in their exclusive economic zones. They're
concerned, in some cases, about what their neighbors might be
doing about piracy.
So we have a range of capacity building programs underway
to address those and would be happy to followup with you and
get you more detail.
Mr. Huizenga. Appreciate it. My time is expired. I yield
back.
Mr. James. Thank you, Mr. Huizenga.
The chairman now recognizes Ms. Jacobs for--from
California.
Ms. Jacobs. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your
partnership in leading the Subcommittee on Africa for this
body.
Under Secretary Bass, thank you for testifying. It's been
really great to hear us spend so much of this time talking
about Africa, an issue that, you know, doesn't often get the
attention it deserves here in Congress.
I'm first going to talk about the Global Fragility Act. I
know you've had a few questions on that already and I just want
to build on what some of my colleagues have already asked.
You know, in particular it's been mentioned already that
the Sahel has seen an increase in violent extremism despite 20
years of U.S. investment and I think the Global Fragility Act
was really designed to apply lessons learned from previous
conflicts like the Sahel to make sure that we're learning what
didn't work so that we can do things differently.
And, you know, one of the things I think was the most
important lesson there is the need for an integrated response
with the State Department in the lead because, at the end of
the day, these conflicts require political solutions, not just
military or security solutions and, frankly, not just foreign
assistance programming, right. These are political problems
that require political solutions.
So as the manager of the regional bureaus, the folks who do
the day-to-day diplomacy, how are you and the department doing
diplomacy differently and pushing for political solutions
pursuant to the GFA?
Mr. Bass. Well, thank you, Congresswoman, for your
championing of GFA and effective implementation. We're
approaching it differently in terms of thinking more
holistically about these conflicts and ensuring that we have
the full range of expertise across the department at the table
on a regular basis to proactively be working through dealing
with these challenges and I think--and I'll be the first to
say, right, we're as equally dissatisfied with where we are in
Sudan as members of the committee.
But the progress we have made in recent months on securing
humanitarian access is a reflection of some of these new habits
of cooperation and effort to mutually reinforce between the
department, AID, working with our mission in New York, and the
wider humanitarian community to make sure we are not working at
cross purposes and strengthening that overall diplomatic
engagement.
Ms. Jacobs. That's great, and I'll continue making sure
we're doing everything we can to support you in that.
You mentioned Sudan. Obviously, it's been a topic of
conversation in this hearing, rightly so--the largest
displacement crisis in the world, the largest hunger crisis in
the world, and something that doesn't get enough attention.
I applaud Special Envoy Periello's work to open the
humanitarian corridors and protect civilians but,
unfortunately, we're not seeing either of the main parties
really have the political will to come to the table.
I know you've already mentioned a little bit about outside
actors here but I guess I want to ask you a little bit more
specifically, the UAE is the RSF's largest arms backer.
They are literally providing the way the RSF is able to
commit what many experts determine as genocide, and we have a
significant relationship with the UAE.
In fact, we are their biggest provider of weapons. So given
this, what are you and the department doing at the highest
levels to push the UAE specifically to utilize all of our
leverage with the UAE to get them to stop arming RSF and stop
enabling these war crimes and crimes against humanity?
Mr. Bass. So, Congresswoman, were engaged in intensive near
daily dialog with the government of the UAE and with a number
of the other countries that are fueling the conflict to
underscore the perils associated with continuing to prolong
this conflict through enabling the parties to continue to go at
it.
We, as I noted earlier, have already designated some
entities resident in the UAE. I think that got their attention
in a helpful way and we have seen them playing a quite
constructive role in recent months, particularly to get us as
far as we did last month.
Now, that was necessary but wildly insufficient and we're
going to stay at it and try to use the best of our--to the best
of our ability, the leverage we have--the influence we have--to
persuade them to get the RSF to the table for a constructive
set of political negotiations.
Ms. Jacobs. Well, thank you, and I urge you and the
department to do even more on this front because what we're
seeing in Sudan right now is truly horrific.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Mr. James. Mr. Chairman, what's today's date?
Mr. Bass. I'm sorry. Mr.----
Mr. James. What's today's date, Mr. Chairman?
Mr. Bass. September 11th.
Mr. James. Okay. On April 19th Chairman McCaul, Ranking
Member Meeks, Chairman Cardena, and Ranking Member Risch wrote
a letter requiring the administration to determine whether or
not to apply Global Magnitsky sanctions against the RSF and
specific individuals in the RSF.
This is a requirement of law, Mr. Chairman, to respond
within 120 days. One hundred and 20 days from April 19th is
August 17th. There's no response.
Those responsible are breaking the law and we'll do
everything we can to hold them accountable here so that we can
hold those who are funding the RSF and SAF accountable there.
The chair now recognizes Mr. Hill from Arkansas.
Mr. Hill. I thank the chairman.
Mr. Secretary, thank you for taking time to be with us
today. I'm just back a few weeks ago from a visit to west
Africa on behalf of the House Intelligence Committee to
Cameroon, Ghana, and Nigeria.
We also had an extensive visit with ECOWAS, and the
security situation in West Africa is severely deteriorating. I
know you've addressed that today. I just want to add my concern
that I'm not sure what American strategy is in Africa and so we
really appreciate you coming and helping members clarify that.
It's of deep concern in a great power conflict that a
continent as large and as important and significant as Africa
as Members of Congress say it's uncertain, you know, what
America's strategy there, and I would say the same for our
European colleagues. So thanks for your being with us today.
When I was in Nigeria we had excellent meetings in the Lake
Chad Basin area in Cameroon. We visited our forward operating
facilities and talked extensively about Lake Chad and, clearly,
the fact that we don't have ISR resources in the region is of
concern to our partner countries there.
But also when I was in Abuja I had the opportunity to go
out to Kujay Prison and visit with an American that has been
wrongfully detained by the Nigerian government, Tigran
Gambaryan.
Tigran was lured, in my view, to Nigeria in February under
false pretenses and then wrongfully arrested and detained by
the top officials in Nigeria because the Nigerians have a
conflict with the company Finance.
And, of course, America has had issues with Binance and we
have a deferred--essentially a deferred prosecution arrangement
with that company ourselves.
But Tigran was a compliance officer with them. He's not at
the top echelons of Binance, and when I visited him with my
colleague Chrissy Houlahan in Kujay Prison he was clearly in
distress. His physical condition is weakening.
We saw a video last week where he can barely walk as he's
being drug through a court process there and my colleague, Dr.
McCormick, I know will raise this with you. He's been deeply
concerned about it as well. We have his resolution before the
House on this matter.
And so while I appreciate the DAS Mike Heath--great
followup with me, your consular officers in Abuja are
excellent--I don't understand why we don't have more action by
the U.S. Government here.
Why has the State Department not designated Tigran
Gambaryan as wrongfully detained by the Nigerian government?
Mr. Bass. So, Congressman, thank you for your personal
interest in Mr. Gambaryan and your visit to him.
We remain deeply concerned about his continued
incarceration. We're working intensively, irrespective of
whether he's been designated or not, to secure his release. The
process under the Levinson Act requires constant evaluation.
Mr. Hill. Let me interrupt you and say thank you for that.
You need to press forward here because my concern is in this
administration we have seen a lot of action on Americans held
wrongfully detained abroad and they frequently get a
designation.
But suddenly here we have a country like Nigeria where we
didn't--we removed them from the list in the Biden
administration on religious freedom issues. We have signed a
commercial and investment partnership with that country in the
middle of this personal tragedy and I don't think the
leadership--the national security adviser, the president, the
cabinet leadership in Nigeria--gets they're putting our
relationship on the line because of the way they're handling
this situation.
What do you think the sticking point is for getting Tigran
Gambaryan home to his family in Dr. McCormick's district?
Mr. Bass. I think we're picking our way through some
complicated tangles within the Nigerian system but I'm hopeful
we're going to be able to resolve those in the near future, and
I can assure you that the Secretary and Deputy Secretary
Campbell, along with myself, are seized with this and we're
doing everything possible to----
Mr. Hill. I think the response of the government is
embarrassing in Nigeria and I think while our Ambassador is
doing their best on the ground there we need to press harder.
We need the President engaged here. This is wrong. This is a
dispute that is in no way involves Tigran Gambaryan and we're
watching him decline in his health and it's a horrifying
situation.
And this is one with a friend of the United States. We're
not talking about Iran or Russia here. We're talking about
Nigeria.
Will you give me your word you will do everything you can
in your power to get Tigran home to his family before
Christmas?
Mr. Bass. I will certainly do everything I can.
Mr. Hill. Yield back.
Mr. James. Our government's efforts in Africa are a
disgrace and the level of execution and attention we're getting
from this administration. We and the people of Africa demand
more.
But in the meantime, the chairman recognizes Ms. Manning
from North Carolina.
Ms. Manning. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I would like to
wish a full and speedy recovery to my good friend Joe Wilson.
We look forward to his return to Congress.
Under Secretary Bass, thank you for being here with us
today. Thank you for your testimony. I am deeply concerned
about the case South Africa brought to the IJC targeting Israel
for its operations in Gaza and accusing Israel of genocide,
which our own State Department has said is unfounded.
So what are you doing to make clear that we oppose South
Africa's move and that it undermines our relationship with
South Africa?
Mr. Bass. Well, Congresswoman, thank you for raising that
and I would just echo Secretary Blinken's observations that the
ICC prosecutors' request for arrest warrants are shameful.
This is not the proper focus of the ICC. As you know well
it was intended from the outset to focus on countries where
there is not an effective independent judiciary and that's
obviously not the case in Israel.
What we're focused on now is ways in which we can most
effectively influence the court's deliberations of this
request. We have submitted a brief in support of Israel
articulating and underscoring why we believe these--that this
request is unwarranted and we're continuing to pursue that with
intensity.
Ms. Manning. I understand and I appreciate that, but I am
concerned about how we are making sure that South Africa
understands our position on this issue, and we talked earlier
in this hearing about the humanitarian disaster taking place in
Sudan where 11 million people have been displaced, more than
25.6 million people are facing acute hunger with 700,000 on the
brink of famine, and we know that South Africa refused to
arrest Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir when he visited South
Africa after the International Court of Justice had issued
arrest awards for his crimes against humanity and genocide.
And this past January South Africa hosted Mohamed Hamdan
Dagalo, a Sudanese warlord accused of war crimes, crimes
against humanity.
So is South Africa doing anything to address the ongoing
disaster in Sudan?
Mr. Bass. So, Congresswoman, we have a vigorous ongoing
dialog with the new government in South Africa and we'll be
later this week sitting down with some of the senior officials
in their foreign ministry to discuss these and other issues on
the continent that are of such acute concern to us.
Ms. Manning. But, to your knowledge, they're not actually
engaging in trying to improve the situation in Sudan.
Do you have any idea why South Africa is ignoring a
disaster so close to them but is instead setting its sights on
Israel, including hosting Hamas leaders after October 7th? They
hosted Hamas leaders in December knowing full well that Hamas
had committed grotesque atrocities against Israelis on October
7th and took 240 hostages, including Americans.
Mr. Bass. Well, certainly have not agreed with South
Africa's position on the conflict at any point in time and we
have made that clear to them, and we continue to vigorously
engage them to try to change their views and position.
Ms. Manning. Thank you. When I was in South Africa earlier
this year we heard repeatedly about the level of government
corruption that has become normalized, and I was also surprised
by the daily electricity blackouts that are now expected and
accepted by the South African people.
Can you comment on these issues and how this is impacting
our relationship with South Africa?
Mr. Bass. Well, it's clear the electricity blackouts that
you're referring to are clearly a function of a long-standing
many year underinvestment in basic infrastructure in South
Africa, the impacts of which are now being felt.
I think we're seeing some indications from the new
government that they are recognizing the enormous dilemmas they
have with their ability to sustain economic development and
opportunity for their own citizens and we're seeing some
indications they are prepared to think differently about some
of these subjects.
Ms. Manning. Let me end by raising one last issue.
In July the State Department unveiled the Global Guidelines
for Countering Anti-Semitism, a major commitment by more than
40 countries and international organizations to act against
rising anti-Semitism, implement best practices to protect the
Jewish communities around the world.
I would like to note that no African country or
organization has yet endorsed these very noncontroversial
guidelines, and as acting under secretary for political affairs
will you commit to making sure that chiefs of mission across
the regional bureaus are aware of this and actively engage in
advancing these guidelines to our partner countries in Africa?
Mr. Bass. Yes, and we're continuing to work closely with
Ambassador Lipstadt in building off of the very strong
foundation of the initial commitments.
Ms. Manning. Thank you very much and I yield back.
Mr. Moran [presiding]. The gentlelady yields back.
The gentleman from Indiana Mr. Baird is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. Baird. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank my
colleague Mr. McCormick for allowing me to have this spot.
Appreciate you very much.
You know, agriculture and food products accounted for the
third largest nonenergy sector for AGOA, which is African
Growth and Opportunity Act, exports in 2023 and they were
valued at $732 million.
The Southern African market especially presents an
opportunity to augment and not directly compete with the
domestic agricultural produce because of the Southern
Hemisphere's different harvest times.
I have heard examples of AGOA-eligible agricultural
products being stymied because of long APHIS commodity import
approval process for agricultural products to enter the United
States.
So, Mr. Under Secretary, we appreciate you being here and I
want to know how does the department engage in various
interagency approval processes for these applications that deal
with foreign policy interests and how swiftly that we can take
care of those and make sure that they're not mired in
bureaucracy?
Mr. Bass. Congressman, thank you for bringing that to my
attention. We have an ongoing interagency process that looks at
a range of trade issues including agricultural trade.
I know we have got in many different instances over the
years challenges with different inspection regimes and we work
closely with APHIS and our colleagues at USDA to make sure
their notable desire to make sure any product coming into the
U.S. is safe for American consumers, that we're applying a
common sense standard to that approach.
Mr. Baird. Well, you know, I certainly agree with making
sure that it's safe because I understand some of the diseases
of someone that we have in foreign countries we don't want them
to come here.
But I've also been to Africa a couple of times in the last
year and I think trade is an extremely important part of
developing a good relationship. So I would just add my thoughts
there and appreciate any efforts you can do to enhance that
process.
Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Moran. The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from Texas Mr. Castro is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. Castro. Thank you.
Under Secretary Bass, the State Department's Minerals
Security Partnership, or MSP, is an important effort to
coordinate how critical minerals are extracted and used.
So far there's been significant interest in Latin America
to join MSP. While Latin America is certainly a significant
producer of these minerals countries in Africa by many accounts
hold some of the largest reserves in the world, mostly being
extracted and processed by PRC companies, as you know.
What is the State Department--what is the State Department
doing to work with African partners on critical minerals and
have any African nations join the MSP, and what is the
department doing to bring them on board?
Mr. Bass. So, Congressman, thank you for that continued
focus on critical minerals.
My colleague Under Secretary Fernandez has been engaged
intensively in developing the Minerals Security Partnership and
engaging individual governments to solicit their interest.
I know he's been on the continent a couple of times
recently and is making good progress in that regard. Related to
that, our efforts on the Lobito Corridor development is
demonstrating through the deals that are being developed under
that rubric the value to African countries of engaging in the
MSP and in those kinds of relationships which are going to
bring higher value processing, better quality jobs, and actual
investment onto the continent as opposed to simply seeing the
raw materials leave.
Mr. Castro. No. Well, thank you, and I hope that you all
will work as hard as you can to continue to develop those
partnerships and relationships.
And following up on the PRC's presence in Africa and the
growing Chinese influence in Africa, as you know China for
several years now has had a very aggressive Belt and Road
Initiative and it includes ambitious plans for different places
in the world including Africa, and by most public accounts I've
seen in recent years the PRC'd diplomatic presence and staffing
has exploded all over the world and Africa is at the forefront
of the PRC's diplomatic push.
And I'm pleased to hear that we have announced plans to
open new embassies in Comoros and potentially other countries
in Africa with U.S. diplomatic installations.
I'm sure you've heard the saying that half the battle is
showing up so I wanted to ask you what are we doing to show up
in Africa and how has the administration strengthened our
diplomatic presence on the ground on the African continent?
Mr. Bass. So, as you noted, Congressman, we have opened an
embassy in Comoros. We have supported, reinforced our presence
in the Seychelles as well and we're looking at other
opportunities on the continent.
We're also focused on ensuring to the best of our ability
with the workforce we have, with the resources we have
available to us, that our embassies in Africa are fully
staffed.
We got a ways to go there because we have a worldwide
shortage, if you will, in terms of people relative to the
positions we have. But, importantly, we're making sure that the
people we have on the ground to the best of our ability to have
the tools--to your point, showing up.
We want to make sure that through our exchange programs in
particular and through our support for Chambers of Commerce and
other parts of American society we have got a much wider range
of the United States present in these countries engaging them
on issues that are of interest to those people and those
societies.
Mr. Castro. Where are we opening this embassy and are there
additional countries where the United States is establishing a
new diplomatic presence?
Mr. Bass. So we're in the process of evaluating, again,
depending on what the budget looks like for Fiscal Year 1925,
where we can potentially open some additional small embassies
to make sure we have got a persistent presence.
Mr. Castro. Thank you. I yield back.
Mr. Moran. The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr. Perry is now recognized
for 5 minutes.
Mr. Perry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Secretary, thanks for being here. I'm going to turn our
attention or your attention to Somalia. As you know, we have
U.S. troops there and there are other actors--Turkey, UAE,
Egypt--playing a role right now.
Somalia just received lethal aid from Egypt and I'm
wondering now that al-Shabaab and the Houthis are coordinating
more closely, assuming that Iran has a stake in that as well
with what's happening in the Red Sea and commercial traffic
being rerouted.
What's your honest assessment, let's say, of the next 6
months in Somalia?
Mr. Bass. I think in the next 6 months we're going to
continue to see al-Shabaab putting pressure on government
forces. We haven't as yet seen a qualitative improvement in
their capabilities but, clearly, in----
Mr. Perry. In the government's capabilities or al-
Shabaab's?
Mr. Bass. In al-Shabaab's capabilities.
Mr. Perry. Okay.
Mr. Bass. So I think you're going to continue to see
tension. I think al-Shabaab is going to be looking for new
opportunities as we transition from the current AU-centric
ATMIS mission to the successor mission.
They're going to look to see if that creates new
opportunities for them and potentially we're going to have a
continued big distraction from Ethiopia's ongoing engagement
with regional leaders in the north about trying to open a port.
Mr. Perry. Does al-Shabaab become more capable because of
its and through its affiliation with the Houthis?
Mr. Bass. I think it depends on how that affiliation
develops, the extent to which the Houthis share technology,
provide weapons, improve their--al-Shabaab's TTPs.
My understanding is this is a nascent relationship and
we're watching it closely and going to try to do what we can to
prevent it from growing.
Mr. Perry. What should be--what do you recommend the
posture of the United States is toward that emerging, nascent,
but growing threat in coordination with the Houthis, Iran, et
cetera?
Mr. Bass. Well, our posture is to oppose it. Yes. But in
terms of what we can----
Mr. Perry. Well, Okay. But can you get granular about it?
Mr. Bass. What we can do about it we're looking at ways to
first understand the scope of it, A; B, try to prevent it from
getting larger and more intensive; and C, ensure that Somali
forces have the capacity and the capability to deal with an
improved capability from al-Shabaab should that develop.
Mr. Perry. Okay. We'll keep an eye on that.
Let's turn your attention to the DRC. More than 600 people
have died there regarding Mpox and I'm wondering do you know or
are there any level two labs there funded by the U.S., and
maybe as importantly as that funded by the World Health
Organization, and our concerns for the security of any such
labs?
Mr. Bass. I don't have specifics regarding that degree of
capacity within the DRC but happy to come back to you on that
one.
Mr. Perry. You don't have the information regarding the
labs or where they were funded or if they exist or what--can
you be specific about that?
Mr. Bass. Sure. I don't have with me the precise details
about the laboratories that exist in the DRC at what level and
who they're funded by.
Mr. Perry. Okay. Could you then make a commitment to inform
the committee----
Mr. Bass. Yes.
Mr. Perry [continuing]. Of that information?
And then just, you know, based on the pandemic that
originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the World
Health Organization's involvement and mishandling of that to
very grave effect around the world what is the department doing
in interacting with the World Health Organization regarding the
DRC and the Mpox outbreak?
Mr. Bass. So Dr. Nkengasong, the head of our global health
security and diplomacy bureau, is in active discussions with
the WHO, with the Africa, CDC, and with a range of other donors
and partners as well as the government of the DRC to understand
how the epidemic is evolving to make sure that we are providing
support to them to try to contain it and to help the
neighboring states prepare to deal with it if it spreads.
Mr. Perry. Does the United States have a posture that is
independent, shall we say, regarding the DRC and the Mpox
outbreak? Do we have a independent posture from the World
Health Organization or will we be following their lead, so to
speak, based on their past performance?
Mr. Bass. Congressman, to the best of my understanding we
are taking our lead, first and foremost, from the DRC
government officials in terms of what they need.
We are sharing information with the WHO and AF CDC in terms
of what they're hearing in part to ensure, along with other
donors, that we're not overlapping in terms of a response and
we're trying to be as effective as possible with our
contributions.
Mr. Perry. Thank you, sir. I yield.
Mr. Moran. The gentleman's time has expired.
The gentleman from Arizona Mr. Stanton is recognized for
five----
Mr. Stanton. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Like other members of this committee, first, let me say
that we are wishing all the best to our colleague Joe Wilson.
He has been a outstanding friend and leader on this committee
working in a bipartisan way, particularly for me on the issue
of supporting the people of Syria in their fight against Assad
and the fight for freedom in that country. I appreciate him
very much.
Let me begin by saying that I am gravely concerned about
the conflict and resulting humanitarian crisis in Sudan. The
people of Sudan are experiencing the largest hunger crisis in
the world--the first official famine declared since 2017, more
than 25 million people are displaced, the largest displacement
crisis in the world.
In the face of such incredible suffering the U.S. must take
extraordinary measures to support Sudanese civilians and I
continue to urge the State Department to prioritize
humanitarian aid during peace talks and to encourage a
worldwide surge of contributions to support the people of
Sudan.
My first question will focus on global trade, particularly
critical minerals. My home State of Arizona is benefiting from
generational investments in our semiconductor sector and other
21st century technologies like electric vehicle batteries,
solar panels, and other important items.
But to continue manufacturing these advanced technologies
to increase production as we intend the United States needs a
reliable and secure access to dozens of raw minerals from
around the globe including vast mineral deposits in the African
continent.
However, the world supply of raw minerals is increasingly
controlled by China. For example, more than 70 percent of the
Democratic Republic of Congo's cobalt and copper mines, one of
the largest deposits on Earth, are owned by the People's
Republic of China and PRC-linked firms with well documented
histories of awful labor and environmental practices.
Many African countries want to take advantage of the
growing global demand for their natural resources in ways that
drive prosperity for their people. But to build mutually
beneficial relationships with African nations we need to be
strategic about how we resource ourselves and compete with the
other world's players.
Under Secretary Bass, the U.S. has signed a memorandum of
understanding with the DRC and Zambia to jointly develop a
supply chain for electric vehicle batteries. This is important
to hit some of our goals for EVs.
How can the United States' involvement in the DRC's crucial
mineral sector help to raise standards and strengthen critical
minerals governance and how will this also benefit the
Congolese people?
Mr. Bass. Well, thank you, Congressman.
The whole underlying principle under the PGI initiative is
to provide highest quality--not just investment but highest
quality opportunities for the countries in which we are making
those investments and the--you know, in stark contrast to how,
as you noted, the PRC approaches these issues, and the Lobito
Corridor and the mineral developments you're talking about we
believe are providing a compelling alternative that is
resonating with the governments of all three countries and,
frankly, with a number of governments of countries in the
surrounding region who are seeing the alternative and want to
be a part of it in the future.
Mr. Stanton. Let me ask a question about PEPFAR. I know
that's been discussed by our leadership of the committee as
well as through questions. But it is a plan or a program worth
talking about, one of the most successful foreign policy
programs in American history led by President--former President
Bush.
It has saved the lives of more than 25 million people and
that--and PEPFAR--support for PEPFAR has always been and must
be bipartisan.
But right now the program is due to expire in the spring
and I want you to talk about that, Under Secretary Bass. What
do we stand to lose in terms of public health outcomes in
Africa if PEPFAR is not reauthorized on time?
Mr. Bass. So, Congressman, we will set back a generation of
efforts to continue improving the capacity of these societies
to deal with HIV/AIDS but also with a wider range of infectious
diseases.
A key piece of PEPFAR has been building out the capacity of
public health institutions, educational networks, and
nongovernmental organizations in many of these societies, and
in the absence of this organizing program inevitably we will
see reductions in capacity and effectiveness.
Mr. Stanton. The United States invests more in global
health in Africa at a magnitude unmatched by any other donor
country. I hope that continues. It needs to continue.
And I'll ask for a question but you can probably answer
offline because I'm running out of time. But how do our African
partner countries view these U.S. investments? We want to make
sure that we invest the right way and that our partners in
Africa understand the level of those investments and how
important it is. So we'll get a question offline.
Thank you for your answer offline. Thank you.
Mr. Moran. The gentleman's time has expired.
The gentleman from Georgia Mr. McCormick is recognized for
5 minutes.
Mr. McCormick. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
First of all, I'd like to recognize, just like everybody
else, our thoughts and prayers are with Joe Wilson, one of my
favorite Congressmen, one of the most gregarious people you'll
ever meet in your life.
Africa--near and dear to my heart. Spent a couple tours
over there. Spent a lot of time off the coast of Somalia, in
Kenya, Nigeria, in Tanzania, both as a Marine and also as a
civilian climbing Kilimanjaro.
It's an area of interest. It's got more strife, more
immigration problems, more terrorism, more starvation, more
migration, all kinds of things that are happening over there
that are of dire consequence.
General Langley, a Marine, who's the sixth commander of
that area, AFRICOM, is a personal friend and somebody I am in
regular contact with.
All that said, none of that matters when it comes to a
certain citizen that's already been brought up today, Tigran.
You said a couple things I want to kind of drill down on, and
just to refresh anybody who might be watching, Tigran is one of
my constituents who was lured into Nigeria as part of finance
just to be held hostage, essentially, by the government, which
I think everybody understands what's happening right now.
Very poor health. He didn't go there in poor health. He's
in poor health now. He has malaria. His health is
deteriorating. I think anybody who had him as a relative or a
friend would understand how dire his situation is.
And he's isolated. He doesn't have human contact that's
friendly except for when he's visited by French Hill and other
folks that have also taken an interest, thank God.
With all that said, you said a couple things and I want to
frame the conversation. First of all, Mr. Gambaryan is a former
law enforcement colleague who wrote attesting to his character
and integrity and I, along with several of my colleagues and
the chairman, sent a letter asking for his case to be
transferred to the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
Now, is this possible, by the way? Is it a possibility that
he could be transferred to the Special Envoy for Hostage
Affairs? Is it possible?
Mr. Bass. It's possible under the law if we conclude that
on evaluating that the evidence that he is designated as
wrongfully detained.
But I can assure you that even in the absence of that
designation we have been working intensively to secure his
release.
Mr. McCormick. Is it possible that the President cut a deal
like he's done for so many other unfairly and sometimes
questionably detained Americans? Is it possible?
Mr. Bass. I can't speak for the President. What I would
tell you is in the case of all Americans who are incarcerated
for the wrong reasons, for a lack of reason overseas, we work
intensively to find a way to get them home even if they're not
designated as wrongful detainees.
Mr. McCormick. Okay. What evidence are you lacking to make
that critical decision?
Mr. Bass. Let me circle back to you, if I may. I'm not--
today I don't have the details precisely on what our lawyers
have assessed might be lacking. I'm not sure that there is
something lacking.
Mr. McCormick. I think there's something lacking. I do
think there's something lacking. It's called backbone, because,
quite frankly, all the chips are on the table.
All the evidence has been presented and there is no case
against a citizen of the United States of America, which I've
seen the President go to bat for several people who have smoked
dope, people who are accused of spying.
None of this is true with Tigran. None of it. You
specifically said you're concerned. I get it, but I don't
believe when you say we have done everything that's possible. I
don't believe that. I'm sorry, I don't believe it.
Basically, anybody who's involved in this case does not
believe that everything that you can do has been done. It just
doesn't make sense when you lay it out there and that's why I
ask you the specific question what's possible and what's
holding it up.
It's not meeting in the middle. I expect more. When Paul
was accused of something by his elders he said, I appeal to
Caesar. We are not worse than the Roman government. We are
better.
I appeal to the President on behalf of his citizen that he
gets a fair treatment by the U.S. Government that has an
obligation to stand up for him, and I charge you with that,
sir.
Please get back to me with the details of what you're
missing to give him that special consideration to get him the
hell out of Nigeria.
Thank you.
Mr. Bass. Congressman, I commit to coming back to you
personally.
Mr. Moran. The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from California, Mr. Costa, is recognized for
5 minutes.
Mr. Castro. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and
appreciate the committee's efforts here to focus on as this
committee hearing is titled the great power competition in
Africa.
I am, I must say, disappointed that USAID is not included
in this hearing. They are a major donor of humanitarian aid in
Africa that includes food assistance, health care support for
refugees and internally displaced persons.
And when you talk about trying to utilize all the
diplomatic tools in our diplomatic toolbox it seems to me that
when we talk about America using its resources in this great
competition in Africa as well as with our allies that they
should have been a part of this hearing.
Having said that, let me--couple, with limited time, Sudan,
as Representative Meeks indicated, is a disaster at this point
in time.
I was there over a dozen years with a group of Members of
Congress. We were in Al-Fashir. We went down to Juba. Sadly,
things have gone from bad to worse.
What would you say in your opening comments in response to
our efforts with our allies? Are we trying to put together some
sort of a plan to deal with not only the humanitarian crisis
that's in Sudan but all the other facets that are part of the
horrific efforts or the challenges that are going on there?
Mr. Bass. So, Congressman, thank you.
First, we remain the largest humanitarian donor, as you may
know, to the response in Sudan. Our colleagues at USAID and
other parts of the government work closely with other donors
and with the U.N. to understand where the need is the greatest.
Mr. Castro. But do we have a plan to deal with not only the
triaging, to your point, but trying to figure out how we can
be--to end the civil war and to try to figure out how we can
move forward?
Mr. Bass. Yes. We're engaged in an intensive diplomatic
effort now to build off of the----
Mr. Castro. Working not only with our allies but with our
African partners who are responsible in that area?
Mr. Bass. Absolutely, including the African Union chair and
a number of the surrounding neighbors who have influence to
some degree over the combatants.
Mr. Castro. This is critical. I'd like to know more about
that but let me move on.
The Belt and Road Initiative that China has--and we know
China's policy toward Africa is dominated by minerals and
energy. But in your analysis these summit agreements that China
has reached with Africa how ironclad and what's--what do you
think the longer term influence is a part of those agreements?
I mean, I think a lot of these African nations are aware
and understanding that they come with incredible strings
attached and a lot of these Chinese companies are, obviously,
very corrupt.
Mr. Bass. So I don't think it's an accident that the top
line number out of this recent meeting in China is very similar
to our announced support at the African Leaders Summit of $55
billion. Obviously, a big difference between our support and
the way we invest as opposed to China making $50 billion in
predatory lending available on the continent.
I think what we're seeing as we get deeper into the Belt
and Road being implemented is many more tales of buyers'
remorse and a higher degree of caution on the part of
governments who may be offered a certain amount of lending from
China, given the examples under which China is deeply resistant
to changing loan terms or extending repayment terms as we saw
in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Castro. Do you sense an imbalance taking place? Of
course, France is one of our allies but with France's changing
participation and Russia's engagement, obviously, Russia is an
adversary of the United States and they certainly will provoke
as much havoc as they possibly can.
How do you see that playing into the current challenges we
face?
Mr. Bass. It's a substantial challenge on the continent to
the extent that Russia is opportunistic and predatory, and
they're seeking, largely, to distract us from key security
challenges elsewhere and strip mine revenue for--to underwrite
the regime back in Moscow.
But it's not taking us off the core elements that we focus
on on the continent and, increasingly, governments on the
continent see that we offer a better deal.
Mr. Castro. More to be discussed further.
Mr. Chairman, my time has expired. Thank you very much.
Mr. Moran. The gentleman yields back.
The gentleman from New Jersey Mr. Kean is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. Kean. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our
witness for being here today.
Under Secretary Bass, examples in northern Mozambique and
in Syria have shown that Russian mercenaries are, largely,
ineffective fighting forces as well as being exploitative and
having a complete disregard for human rights.
What message is the department communicating to our Afghan
partners who are considering deepening security ties with
Russia and how are we communicating the ineffectiveness of the
Russian mercenaries?
Mr. Bass. So, Congressman, thank you. You've said it much
better than I could have.
We, on a constant basis in countries that are particularly
stressed with internal conflict, with challenges from terrorist
organizations or violent extremists, are underscoring the peril
of what might look like a great deal at the front end because
it comes with no strings attached in terms of standards of
accountability, adherence to laws of armed conflict, but in
reality comes with a lot of strings down the road.
And, importantly, we're indicating to them, look, don't
just take our word for it. Talk to your colleagues, your fellow
partners on the continent, about their experiences.
Mr. Kean. Okay. And one of Russia's most effective
strategies to undercut U.S. influence is through carefully
constructed misinformation campaigns aimed at catalyzing anti-
U.S. and anti-Western sentiment throughout Africa.
These campaigns provide a cheap way for the Kremlin to
erode our interests and have proven especially successful in
west Africa and in South Africa. I am concerned that too often
the department is focused on countering misinformation rather
than engaging in a proactive information campaign to highlight
the value that the U.S. brings to the continent.
How is the department prioritizing not just countering
misinformation in a reactive way but also creating a clear,
proactive strategy to the information space?
Mr. Bass. So we--in addition to the work we do on
disinformation we charge each of our embassies on the continent
with having precisely that proactive, affirmative stance
tailored to their society to demonstrate, you know, is it
formal media, is it social media, is it in-person engagements
that is going to get the greatest impact, and we're trying to
use to the best of our ability all of the tools available to
us.
Mr. Kean. Public diplomacy's actions are often the most
understaffed in embassies around the continent. Recognizing the
importance of PD officers to create effective localized media
campaigns what is the department doing to incentivize and
attract qualified individuals to these roles?
Mr. Bass. So we're continuing to balance our global
responsibilities to staff our embassies with some of the acute
needs on the continent.
We've--this year, for example, to deal with our shortfall
in staffing we took some positions off the list of
opportunities in other regions in part to make sure that we had
more people filling the need in Africa.
I'd note in addition to the individual public diplomacy
sections we also have some pretty effective regional tools. We
have a media hub, for example, that covers the continent that
provides opportunities for U.S. Government officials to reach
wider audiences, brings journalists from a number of countries
together, and we find that's a pretty effective way to reach a
wider audience and get our message out there.
Mr. Kean. And then, finally, how can the U.S. development
agencies such as USAID, DFC, and MCC expand their role in
promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth in Africa,
particularly in contrast to Chinese and Russian investments
that often create long-term dependency and debt?
Mr. Bass. So the most important thing at the moment is to
reauthorize each of those programs. They are playing essential,
vital roles. They are the cornerstones of our ability to
provide a better offer that is clearly in the interest of
African societies, of African companies, and where we're seeing
an enormous amount of demand to take advantage of those
opportunities.
Mr. Kean. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
Mr. Moran. The gentleman yields back.
I now yield to myself 5 minutes for a period of questions.
Under Secretary Bass, thank you for your time today. I've
got two areas of concern I want to talk to you about. The first
is this.
The Central Bank of Central African Economic and Monetary
Community, also known as CAEMAC, has implemented an arbitrary
deadline of September 30th for international oil and gas
companies to agree to controversial foreign exchange
regulations that create double jeopardy risk.
I'm concerned that if this regulation progresses it is
going to have a negative impact for American oil and gas
companies that operate in the region and the countries within
CAEMAC.
By 2050 it's estimated that this regulation would reduce
capital investment for the region by $45 billion and reduce
government revenue for CAEMAC countries by $86 billion.
Under Secretary Bass, can you speak to the department's
engagement with Treasury and the interagency on this issue? Has
there been coordinated interagency advocacy to the IMF on the
importance of clarifying that these restoration funds are
ineligible to go toward the gross 4X reserves of these
countries?
Mr. Bass. Congressman, to the best of my knowledge we are
engaged and focused on this issue but with your permission
would circle back to you with a more detailed answer.
Mr. Moran. Thank you. I'd appreciate that.
The specifics of that interagency action is very important
to this committee and we'd like to know what you guys are doing
to push back against these regulations.
What happens--a second question on that--what happens when
existing Western countries' companies are run out of the region
due to these regulatory issues?
Who fills this vacuum? How does this undercut U.S.
interests in the region?
Mr. Bass. So I think it depends circumstantially on
individual countries. Sometimes there's a local actor who
thinks they're going to fill that space and there's often
buyer's remorse down the road.
Other times there might be other foreign investors who are
less principled, lower scruples. So just underscoring your
concerns about this taking legitimate companies with high
standards out of the market.
Mr. Moran. Yes. It's not a good thing if that happens. I
think you and I can agree that we want more Western oil and gas
companies in that region. Would you agree with me on that?
Mr. Bass. Yes.
Mr. Moran. Thanks.
All right. Now, on the second issue I want to talk to you
about illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing around
Africa. China operates the largest illegal, unreported, and
unregulated, also known as IUU, as you know, fishing fleet
throughout the world, notably in Africa.
IUU fishing off the coast of Africa costs the continent an
estimated $11.2 billion in annual revenue loss and is a direct
threat to the food and economic stability of coastal African
countries by robbing fishermen of their catch, and we know when
there's this instability from a food standpoint that just
drives folks to terrorist organizations or other organizations
that are contrary to our national interest.
It's been estimated that more than 60 percent of the global
catch of China's global distant water fishing fleet worth $5
billion takes place in West Africa.
The CCP directly encourages these illegal operations by
providing subsidies for its distant water fleets worth $1.75
billion in 2019 alone and China's highest court has published a
ruling stating that these distant water fleets are pursuing a
strategic national priority that benefits them, not us for
sure.
Under Secretary Bass, I've introduced legislation focused
on improving the capacity of African partner countries to
counter IUU fishing off the coast.
What's the department currently doing to help African
governments understand the intent and scale of the damage being
done by Chinese fishing fleets in their waters?
Mr. Bass. Well, Congressman, I want to thank you for your
personal interest in this issue. It is an acute concern of
coastal nations in Africa particularly, I think, on the
Atlantic Basin, and I think it's one of the reasons why, again,
you've seen some hesitation about allowing a permanent Chinese
naval presence in a country.
We're engaged in trying to address disinformation in
promoting the facts about how Chinese fishing fleets are strip
mining the oceans around the continent.
We are also engaging on a practical basis with a number of
countries on the coast to help them tell us what they need to
be more effective in addressing their maritime awareness and
being able to properly understand and regulate what's happening
in their exclusive economic zones off their coasts, and I'd
welcome the opportunity to work closely with you on your
legislation.
Mr. Moran. I would very much appreciate that as well. When
you get answers back from these countries about what support
they need I'm very confident that this is in our national
security interests.
It's in our economic interest to stop this illegal and
unregulated fishing by China in that region, and so I'd be glad
to work with you and the State Department to finish that up.
My time has expired. I thank Under Secretary Bass for his
valuable testimony and the members for their questions. The
members of the committee may have some additional questions for
the under secretary and we will ask you to respond to these in
writing.
Pursuant to committee rules, all members may have 5 days to
submit statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the
record subject to the length limitations.
Without objection, the committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 12:42 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]
APPENDIX
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