[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 165 (Tuesday, November 19, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1702]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CRISIS IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 19, 2013

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, today I held a subcommittee 
hearing that was not called an ``emergency'' hearing, but it very well 
could have been. Since we first decided to hold a hearing to spotlight 
the human rights situation in the Central African Republic, the 
situation has deteriorated even further so that today the country is on 
the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.
  Coups and dictatorships have characterized the Central African 
Republic since its independence in 1960, but the current crisis is far 
more dangerous than what has come before.
  Consider this: in a country of approximately 5 million people, 
roughly 1.1 million citizens face serious food insecurity. Some 460,000 
CAR nationals are displaced, including 64,000 who have fled to 
neighboring countries as refugees and nearly 400,000 who are internally 
displaced.
  This is because there has been a complete breakdown of law and order 
in the country following the ouster of former President Francois Bozize 
in March of this year. After riding to power on the back of an 
insurrection known as Seleka, the current dictator, Michel Djotodia, 
has found it difficult to disengage. Seleka, originally a political 
alliance, has transformed into a militia of about 25,000 men, up to 90 
percent of which come from Chad and Sudan and therefore constitute in 
the eyes of many a foreign invasion force. They do not speak the local 
language, and are Muslim in a nation that is roughly 80 percent 
Christian. They have targeted churches for destruction and stirred up 
sectarian hatreds where none had existed previously. Indeed, the 
Sudanese contingent in particular are said to be members of the 
notorious janjaweed, who have spread slavery and destruction in the 
Darfur region of Sudan and now are doing the same in the Central 
African Republic.
  And if that is not bad enough, elsewhere, the Lord's Resistance Army, 
or LRA, under the psychotic leader Joseph Kony is also loose in the 
Central African Republic. Both the LRA and Seleka are said to kidnap 
children to serve as soldiers, and UNICEF estimates that there are now 
as many as 3,500 child soldiers affiliated with armed groups in the 
country.
  Djotodia has formally disbanded Seleka, but Seleka continues to wreak 
destruction in the countryside, and they have seized mines and other 
resources in the country. Djotodia's writ does not extend much beyond 
the capital city of Bangui.
  Even in Bangui, the situation is chaotic. One of our witnesses, Mike 
Jobbins, related how ``There have been nearly a dozen successful or 
attempted carjackings of humanitarian vehicles over the past two weeks 
and at least three aid workers have lost their lives since the crisis 
began.''
  In response to the depredations of Seleka, their victims have begun 
to form self-defense units referred to as anti-balaka, or anti-machete, 
gangs, which have begun to commit retaliatory outrages of their own. 
Rather than confront the Seleka rebels who are responsible for starting 
the cycle of violence, however, they often target Muslim civilians, who 
are deemed ``soft targets.'' Thus, violence begets violence.
  The situation is so bad that just this past week, John Ging, director 
of the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned, ``We 
are very, very concerned that the seeds of a genocide are being sown.''
  All this is happening in a state which is, by any definition, 
dysfunctional.
  In the words of PM Nicolas Tiangaye, who is the closest thing to a 
legitimate figure in the government of the Central African Republic and 
whom my staff and I met with this summer when he visited Washington, 
the Central African Republic is ``anarchy, a non-state.''
  This descent into chaos has compounded the misery of the people of 
the Central African Republic suffered greatly and lagged substantially 
in terms of development. Prior to this year, the Central African 
Republic ranked 180 of 186 countries per the UN Human Development 
Index.
  One area where the Central African Republic did lead bespeaks an 
irony: National Geographic ranked the Central African Republic as the 
nation least affected by light pollution. This is, of course, 
indicative of its low level of development, and the neglect and 
affirmative harm which generations of political leaders have subjected 
the country and its people.
  Amid this darkness, however, there are bright spots. It is the 
leadership of churches and faith based organizations, as well as 
traditional Muslim leaders long resident in the Central African 
Republic who have sought to defuse communal tensions. These indigenous 
Muslim leaders who speak for peace need to be recognized and 
distinguished from foreign fighters from countries such as Sudan--the 
same janjaweed who harrowed Darfur--who kill and sow destruction in the 
name of jihad.
  We had the opportunity to hear from one such courageous faith leader, 
Bishop Nongo. I had the privilege of hosting Bishop Nongo in my office 
when he came to visit Washington this summer, and I was moved nearly to 
tears as he described the suffering of the people in his country. It is 
leaders such as Bishop Nongo, who provide assistance to all regardless 
of their affiliation, and who strive for peace, who provide the 
greatest hope for the Central African Republic.

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