[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 127 (Wednesday, September 19, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1569-E1570]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           EXAMINING THE ROLE OF RWANDA IN THE DRC INSURGENCY

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 19, 2012

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I held a hearing that examined 
U.S. policy toward Rwanda following the release on June 26th of a 
United Nations report confirming Rwanda's support of rebels who have 
ravaged the provinces of North and South Kivu in neighboring Democratic 
Republic of the Congo, or DRC. In the aftermath of the 1994 genocide 
until the issuance of this report, the international community declined 
to comment on Rwanda's interventions in the DRC. We need to better 
understand the devastation caused by these interventions and gauge how 
the United States can play a helpful role in bringing this crisis to an 
end.
  Unfortunately, our previously scheduled Administration witnesses--
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson and 
USAID Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Africa Earl Gast--are 
unable to testify this morning due to events in the world involving 
heightened security for U.S. embassies and aid missions. This would 
have been an opportunity to present a full statement of the 
Administration position on what has happened in the DRC and what needs 
to be done to more effectively address the root causes of the ongoing 
conflict there. We expect that they will be available to speak publicly 
on these matters at a later date.
  We had a distinguished private panel that was more than able to shed 
light on the crisis in the DRC, as well as Rwanda's involvement in the 
ongoing rebellion in eastern DRC. The crisis in the DRC is both tragic 
and complex, and the ethnic cleavages have developed over more than a 
century, although they have been heightened in recent decades. The 
first significant recorded influx into the DRC of Rwandan Tutsis and 
Hutus dates back to the 1880s.
  Other ethnic groups in DRC (then known as Zaire) began to fear the 
influence of the Rwandans, especially in the East. The Hutu-Tutsi 
conflict in Rwanda led to the 1994 genocide there, but Hutu-Tutsi 
animosity also spilled over into the DRC. Hutu militiamen, who fled 
Rwanda after the genocide, have repeatedly attacked Rwanda, and 
fighting involving Tutsis and Hutus inside the DRC have terrorized the 
inhabitants of the eastern part of the country.
  As one of our witnesses today, Congolese Bishop Ntambo Ntanda, told 
us, six million people have lost their lives in the DRC as a result of 
recurring conflict. Far from resolving ethnic disputes, the 
interventions by Rwanda in the DRC have exacerbated tensions among the 
ethnic groups who live there.
  In the wake of activity by Rwandan troops or militias that they 
create or support, Tutsi and Hutu people living in the DRC have become 
targets as a result. Rwanda has been engaged in armed intervention in 
the DRC for at least 17 years. If this is the most successful method to 
halt cross-border attacks into Rwanda by Hutu rebels operating from DRC 
territory, why is there continued devastation in the region? Why do 
Tutsis and Hutus living in the DRC seem more hated today than they have 
been previously?
  During the summer of 2008, the National Congress for the Defense of 
the People (CNDP), a Congolese rebel group, reportedly was backed 
secretly by Rwanda. It was initially led by Tutsi General Laurent 
Nkunda, an indicted war criminal. A March 23, 2009, agreement between 
the DRC and Rwanda led to the arrest of Nkunda, but replaced him with 
Bosco Ntaganda, even then a suspected war criminal for whom the 
International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued an arrest warrant in 
2006. When the CNDP judged that DRC President Joseph Kabila had broken 
the 2009 accord, Ntaganda led a mutiny that named itself M23 for date 
of the broken agreement and began a reign of terror in eastern DRC.
  In June of this year, a United Nations Group of Experts report 
confirmed that Rwandan Defense Minister James Kabarebe and other top 
Rwandan military officers played a central role in organizing, funding 
and arming the mutineers in eastern DRC. The report also stated that 
Rwandan military officers engaged in efforts to convince Congolese 
businessmen, politicians and former rebels that had joined the 
Congolese army to join the M23 mutiny in order to wage ``a new war to 
obtain a secession of both Kivus.'' The report further charged that 
Rwanda was protecting Ntaganda from arrest. Meanwhile, Nkunda remains 
in Rwanda--immune from prosecution for his crimes.
  Aside from ethnic divisions and allegations of breach of faith in 
agreements, another source of conflict has been the abundant mineral 
wealth in DRC, including 70% of the world's coltan (used to make vital 
components of cell phones and other electronic equipment), 30% of the 
world's diamond reserves and vast deposits of cobalt, copper and 
bauxite. The UN report stated that rebels in the East export precious 
minerals for profit to fund their continuing mayhem and that Rwandan 
officials also were benefiting from DRC's mineral wealth.
  We have held this hearing to begin the process of finding a way to 
address the factors that have caused Rwanda's armed intervention in 
hopes that the U.S. Government can offer a lasting solution to the long 
crisis in the DRC.

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