[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 6761-6763]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: FROM ``PRE-GENOCIDE'' TO GENOCIDE?

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 2, 2014

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, a hearing that I held earlier 
this week addressed an extremely critical topic: the worsening crisis 
in the Central African Republic, where untold lives hang in the balance 
and the window for action is narrowing each day.
  It was not the first hearing we have held on the CAR. It follows up a 
hearing that we held last November when the situation already appeared 
dire, as well as numerous meetings and interventions with bishops, 
humanitarian NGOs, diplomats, and interested parties. At our November 
hearing, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert Jackson stated 
that the CAR was in a ``pre-genocide'' stage.

[[Page 6762]]

  Since the time Mr. Jackson last spoke to us, the situation appears to 
have gotten demonstrably worse. We will hear again today from Mr. 
Jackson, who will update us not only on the situation on the ground, 
but also on a change of policy that I believe reflects a course of 
action that we had recommended the administration undertake last 
November, namely, that United Nations peacekeepers be introduced into 
the country as the existing African Union force has been serving too 
many vested interests.
  Hopefully, such an intervention will not come too late, because as we 
are witnessing a country in rapid disintegration, apparently descending 
from a ``pre-genocide'' stage to one characterized by a word almost too 
painful to articulate: genocide.
  In a country that for decades had been characterized by brutal 
misrule and brazen corruption, we are seeing for the first time 
sectarian divisions such have never existed before. Economic tensions 
and rivalry over land used for grazing versus planting have always 
existed, but these have given way to butchery based on religious and 
ethnic affiliation.
  This is happening at a time when we mark the twentieth anniversary of 
the genocide in Rwanda. When that country was being turned into a 
massive killing field, the world stood idly by. Both President Clinton 
and then-U.N. Peacekeeping Chief Kofi Annan had actionable intelligence 
information that could have prevented or at least mitigated the Rwandan 
genocide but chose callous indifference that enabled slaughter of 
unprecedented proportions. When the blood stopped flowing, the world 
looked at the corpses piled high and was shocked, ``never again'' was 
the phrase that was on everyone's lips.
  It is happening again. The question before us is whether the phrase 
``never again'' is one that we simply use to pay lip service while 
doing nothing, or whether we are going to act.
  We had two witnesses from the U.S. Government at the hearing, as I 
mentioned, Acting Assistant Secretary Jackson, and also Anne Richard, 
Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration. While the 
State Department sending two people to testify is encouraging, as it 
shows a heightened commitment to the issue, the questions I asked them 
to answer were not only about ``what are we doing,'' but also whether 
or not ``we are doing enough?''
  In 2012, the Obama administration, to much fanfare, created an 
Atrocities Prevention Board, following a Presidential Study directive 
which stated that ``Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core 
national security interest and a core moral responsibility of the 
United States.'' The APB is supposed to provide early warning of mass 
atrocities, and mobilize interagency resources to stop such atrocities.
  But where has this Board been? Did we take our eyes off the ball in 
the CAR, perhaps because we are confronted by so many other crises?
  While we have taken some steps, including authorizing $170 million in 
humanitarian and peacekeeping aid--are such resources adequate given 
the magnitude of the problem?
  We have a situation where in a country with a population of roughly 
5.2 million people, 1.3 million are in risk of starvation, while 2.5 
million in total are estimated to need some form of humanitarian 
assistance. That is nearly half the country.
  We are seeing ethnic cleansing, whereby whole villages are being 
emptied and the countryside laid waste. There are more than 600,000 
internally displaced persons in the CAR, plus more than 320,000 others 
who are refugees in neighboring countries. Illustrative of how the 
situation has worsened, the total number of those displaced has doubled 
since the time we held our hearing last November.
  We are told that an estimated 2,000 people have been killed since 
December, but I believe that number is a conservative estimate.
  What reports we do receive, however, are bloodcurdling. Human Rights 
Watch reported on an attack on a Muslim neighborhood in the town of 
Guen in the early morning hours of February 1 by so-called anti-Balaka 
forces. A father recounted how as the family was fleeing he saw his 
ten-year-old boy shot in the leg and fall down. The child was set upon 
by men with machetes, who hacked at him until he was dead. Four days 
later, in what was reminiscent of the massacre in the former 
Yugoslavia, anti-Balaka forces came upon a group of Muslims who were 
hiding. They separated the men from the women and small children, and 
executed the men: 45 of them, using machetes and then shooting those 
who lay wounded.
  Though for decades the CAR has been beset by violence and misrule, 
such religious based violence is something that is a new phenomenon.
  But how did the country get to this point?
  What began as a political coup d'etat in March 2013 against former 
President Francois Bozize by Michel Djotodia quickly took on religious 
and ethnic overtones.
  As was detailed in our November hearing, Djotodia--who, thankfully, 
has now been replaced by interim President Catherine Samba-Panza--came 
to power with the military backing of Seleka, a militia of about 25,000 
men, up to 90 percent of which come from Chad and Sudan and therefore 
constituted a foreign invasion force in the eyes of many. They did not 
speak the local language, and are Muslim in a nation that is over 80 
percent Christian or otherwise non-Muslim. They destroyed churches, 
executed priests and stirred up sectarian hatreds where little to none 
had existed previously.
  What we began to see happening last November in response to Seleka 
was a reactionary backlash by anti-Balaka, self-defense gangs. Since 
then, retaliatory outrages committed by anti-Balaka forces have 
escalated, and Muslim civilians who had nothing to do with Seleka 
became targets. As in the case of Guen, whole neighborhoods in the 
capital city of Bangui, and whole villages, have been cleansed of their 
Muslim populations.
  As we heard from our witnesses, there are numerous causes 
contributing to grievances, including a fight for control over conflict 
minerals. Guen, for example, is in a mining area, and thus there are 
economic motives at work as well.
  Insofar as the conflict can be described as religious on one level, 
it is also true religious fervor and dedication that provides the 
greatest hope for peace in the Central African Republic.
  Some of you will recall how a few months ago three great religious 
leaders came to Washington and New York to meet with Congressional and 
U.S. Government leaders, as well as United Nations officials. One was a 
Muslim imam, another an evangelical Christian leader, and a third the 
Catholic Archbishop of Bangui--Imam Omar Kobine Layama, Archbishop 
Dieudonne Nzapalainga, and the Rev. Nicolas Guerekoyame-Gbangou. The 
three of them spoke with one voice about their efforts to preach 
reconciliation in their country and to end the violence. They also 
asked for our help before it became too late.
  Finally, I want to relate to you a story about another man of God, 
someone whom those of you who attended our November hearing, will 
remember. Two weeks ago was Holy Week, and on Holy Thursday, Bishop 
Desire Nongo of the Diocese of Bossangoa and one of the witnesses at 
our last hearing, was visiting an outlying parish along with three of 
his priests.
  The car he was traveling in was stopped on the road by Seleka gunmen 
whose leader had for a period occupied Bossangoa. He accused Bishop 
Nongo of having thwarted his plans and working with international 
peacekeepers. He then sentenced him and the other three priests to 
death. The gunmen removed his Episcopal ring and the large pectoral 
cross which you might remember Bishop Nongo wore. The four men were 
placed in a truck and were to be driven north to the border with Chad 
for the order to be carried out.
  On the way to the gallows, their truck was stopped yet again by 
Seleka gunmen, this time commanded by another warlord who also knew 
Bishop Nongo and his good work in Bossangoa, where the Bishop provides 
care for over 35,000 people displaced by the violence. He ordered the 
Bishop and his priests freed and, through the efforts of international 
aid organizations and the peacekeepers, they were helicoptered back to 
Bossangoa in time for Good Friday.
  This story really hit home with me. Here is someone who shared coffee 
with me in my office, who sat in that witness chair over there and gave 
a powerful defense of the weakest and most vulnerable, someone I 
especially know and deeply admire and respect, who just two weeks ago 
today was about to be killed until Providence intervened.
  But be it a bishop or a farmer, every precious life has value. Far 
too many have died, and, unless we act, far too many more will likely 
die.
  Recall the words of the Presidential Directive I cited earlier: 
``Preventing mass atrocities and genocide is a core national security 
interest and a core moral responsibility of the United States.'' I 
believe this is true, but such sentiments are empty if they are not 
backed up by action.

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