Joseph kabila. The government has been accused of halting preparations for elections for over a year to replace him. The hearing will come to order. Im very, i think the committee is privileged to see our distinguished chairman, and roys joins, and i thank him for his leadershiphi on africa, havg once served as chairman of this subcommittee. So great to see you and thank you for your ongoing leadership and for yesterday important briefing with nikki haley, our ambassador to United Nations and a major portion of that important briefing late in the afternoon was on the dr congo so iq, chairman royce. The democratic republic of congo was supposed to conduct election one year ago this month. In order to achieve the required transition of political powers y december 19. 19th. However after years of stalling on making preparations for elections, the government of the drcc failed told elections last year and provide on a constitutional provision that president Joseph Kabila could not step down until the election was held to select a replacement. Both chairman royce and i and others and karen bass are Ranking Member have had ongoing beings with drc officials fisheg highlevel people that floated washington and time and time again admonished them to stick to the schedule and hold these elections and assure they are free and fair. The t interpretation by presidet Joseph Kabila of the constitution is an apparent contradiction to other constitutional provisions requiring elections to be held on time and limiting president kabila to two terms. The election commissions Just Announced election cannot be held until sometime in late 2018. We were told by ambassador nikki about december of 2018 at how often have we seen those timelines slip and then we will be in 2015 at a think she very clear in yesterdays briefing that the art and abundance of sanctions, almost like a sort of damocles that were held over the heads of those again were pushed to delay and i think thats very real and hope its very compelling pressureho to ensure to do exacy what they say they would do because this is what the people of the dr congo want to it when a free election at the what to choose the next leader. Paul sevigny get the majority of congolese what the government to intervene replaced by a Transitional Government until a new one can be elected. We dontt take sides would you want free and fair will to make sure the peoples will prevails. During conflict hotspots in eastern drc have seen recent flips and i would note parenthetically back in 2000 i traveled with my good friend and chieff of staff great simkins ad we saw on the ground and met many of the people who had been raped, many ofri the women had been so horrifically sexually abused but we also like with africa, compassion and that did wonderful work with helping to heal and to mitigate the damages ofon such abuse. Saw that there were people on the ground, indigenous congolese who cared so much that they were going the extra mile to make sure that the fighting stopped and also that they would be a way forward for those who were abuse. In two other regions, the conflicts had caused a displacement of nearly 2 Million People since mid2016. This is in the country where they were the seem to never end took the lives of some 4 Million People get to we all focus as a shirt on darfur at the loss of life there. A number of people lost their lives in congo historically eclipses that which is a terrible, terrible legacy. The drc is one of the highest rates of human displacement in the world. Little unrest in urban centers large prison break so by the attacks by members of a religious sect that has declared itself in opposition to kabila have further contribute to the worsening of the street of the conflict. It has become a catastrophic american crisis featuring severe atrocities in a widespreadt recruitment and abuse of children. Meanwhile they ongoing conflict in eastern drc at one time someone activity by 2 million militia groups and an outofcontrol National Army resulting in a systematic rate of about 50 women and girls per hour. His hearing is intent to look at possible solutions to a political stalemate they could very well lead to. Further violence and a a people in a lae african country bordering on nine neighbors. It follows a successful resolution on drc that introduced the past by the house last year and new legislation Ranking Member bass and i are introducing very soon. We understand that theres no easy solutions to the Current Crisis in drc. Negotiate transition likely to be achieved that president kabila were convinced that neither he nor his family would be prosecuted for Human Rights Violations or corruption. However that would reap, plundering the countries resources and that is even as members of his government were not covered. A palace coup might take place. This is not a note in the drc. His father was assassinated an office in 2001. The elder kabila had overthrown, had overthrown, had himself overthrown in 1965. He was chased from powell and fled into exile in 1997. However, up to would not support International Efforts to instill democratic practices to drc and deadly to protractedld infightig and chaos piqua. When it orderly and peaceful transition and thats what were asking and really demanding the status quo as detailed earlier is leading the growing violence and will not lead to a peaceful solution. The longer the transition is delayed. In fact, it is more likely violence could spill over into every country as did conflict and 67. 96 i should say to 97, and 98 2003. Over the. Over the past year wees have hed many, many promises by the government of the drc about when elections would be held. There have been several dates given when Voter Registration wouldny be completed during this past year. Government timetable calls for Voter Registration to extend to the point which elections could not be held in the drc until late 2018. When inauguration in early 2019. That would mean Joseph Kabila would have an extra half term in office when the constitution precluded him from going past december 2016. Consequently we will today hear from the state department on our governments diplomat effort to resolve the transition stalemate and u. S. Agency for International Development on our governments programs on the ground to promote democracy and free and Fair Elections. Le our second panel consists off scholars and activists will give us their informed insights as to how we can break this political stalemate and prevent more bloodshed in the drc. Again no solution will be easy or without cost, but nonaction and even have a higher cost in terms of human life. And that we must not tolerate. I like to yield to my distinguish friend no . F okay, go to travis. I will defer to the Ranking Member. I thank you, mr. Chairman, and mr. Chairman. Appreciate that. Thank you for your leadership for holding this hearing today and i to thank and welcome our distinguished witnesses today. You know what is so tragic is that we all know that drc is potentially one of the richest countries on earth. We know that it has an abundance of deposit of copper, gold, diamonds, kovar and many other minerals. We know the congo river is the secondlargest river in the world and the most powerful river in africa which means the country has enormous potential to generate hydroelectric power and some Scientists Say he could provide enough power for all of subsaharan electricity needs. Now on the other side of this we know the stark reality of living in drc today get we know its one of the poorest countries in the world ranking 176 out of 187 onno the latest u. N. Human development index. More than half of the country live in extreme poverty and we know theres 3. 8 million internally displaced, displaced persons, and we also know that there are parts of the drc that are on the brink of hunger and famine. We shouldnt forget in march of this year all of the humanitarian efforts, we had to u. N. Investigators of american and swedish y nationality and hr congolese interpreter were found adead. They were there to investigate alleged largescale violence and alleged Human Rights Violations by the Congolese Army and local militia groups. So we know with the worlds most complex humanitarian crisis, the drc has 7. 3 Million People indeed of humanitarian assistance. But aid workers are fighting an increase or difficult to address the deteriorating situation in the drc emily face the risk of attacks and are unable to access areas in most native humanitarian assistance the signs come out of the drc are not encouraging. The congolese government estimate Opposition Coalition reached a political agreement organized about by the end of 2013, and kabila commit to not run for a third term. However, yesterday we met as the chairman mentioned, we met with our u. N. Ambassador nikki haley who said that the drc has announced that they will hold president ial elections in december 2018. That seems that seems like a ridiculously long time to wait, considering the elections were supposed to be held long ago. I think as you mention in your comments, thats just the way of really extending it to another term. But my concern is that even if it is genuine that will be elections held in december of 2018, im not convinced that doesnt mean that kabila wont be on the ballot. Until we hear definitively a public announcement that he will not seek a third term and will not change the constitution. And i believe if i heard the ambassador right, mr. Chair, she did say that he said he wouldnt change the constitution, correct . But i do not believe he has made the Public Statement that he will not be on the ballot. Which obviously is on the ballot thats a violation of the constitution. However, we all know that sometimes people find ways of saying you are not violated the constitution like in burundi. It was just a differentha interpretation. The world will not tolerate that. I was encouraged by the ambassador yesterday making very strong statements that the United States will not be there in support ofra the country and less we do see a commitment for a peaceful transition. With that ideal to the other chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Look, i want to thank you and i want to thank Ranking Member bass for the focus of both of you kept on the drc and for the trips that both of you taken to the drc. The resolutions that the two of you have passed, the effort to sort of galvanized our attentio on this tragedy, tragedy like the other as you mention when you talk about the millions and millions who lost their lives. A lot of it is a governance issue with respect to a lack of rule of law, that emanate,ac unfortunately, from laurent and then Joseph Kabila. I also want to thank greg, greg simpkins, four back in 1997 we were, tom sheehy and i and a delegation from this committee were in neighboring angola meeting a with them with our ambassador trying to piece there. That night the government was overthrown and we, when we were there and greg was our interpreter, luckily, we were able to take a plane into the airport, and we met with the new government that was one day new, and he was able to also communicate with the person being pushed aside if we didnt find out all until a little later we were able to track and follow lowrent kabila, met with him in order to discuss this issue. The rule of law. The constitution. The importance of elections. And we have struggled under did. I think we made three trips. I have with mr. Sheehy and we met numerous times here or new york. I have to give Ambassador Haley credit for not just the commitment she got in terms of the december 23 election exit but the benchmarks that are to be put in place and the announcement on the part of Joseph Kabila, that there will be that election. Nappy falls on us and the International Community, so this is really good news. We finally have an election calendar and i think we have to look not only the announcement but the sense among the people in congo when you see them in Civil Society asserting their rights to have come to be part of this process. Because they have felt the consequences more than anyone. And so i think that the state department, the administration and us on the committee, weve got to monitor this progress. And if deemed insufficient, we must use every tool we have to pressure the government in congo. Now is the time. If we do not address the political instability, thene. E violence and the unrest across that country which is cost over 4 million lives so far will only escalate. And as we watch people flee and recently we have seen another 1 billion try to escape the violence, when we see the 2 million that are displaced on our trips there living in camps, we know that thank you making situation is dire and warrants our immediate attention and the worlds immediate attention, i would really encourage the ngo communities, some of who are here today. Because too many congolese are suffering. So we look forward to the witnesses testimony today, and again, chairman smith, i thank you for this hearing. Thank you very much again for your longstanding decadelong leadership. Really appreciate it. The gentleman from staten island. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Since im not a chairman, or Ranking Member, and ive learned so much more by listening and speaking i just learned how long break has been here. By listening to chairman im going to yield my time so that secretary yamamoto and administrator anderson could have more time to testify. Thank you, sir. Id like to network reduce our first panel, out you very distinguished Public Service in leaders, ambassador Donald Yamamoto asserts as acting assistant secretary to the bureau of africanli affairs in u. S. Department of state. He asserts as Deputy Assistant secretary of state in the bureau of African Affairs from 03 to 064 he was responsible for coordinating u. S. Policy towards 20 countries in east and central africa. He was also our ambassador to republic of djibouti from 2000 20002003 as well as the ethiopic as Deputy Director ofro the stuffing affairs from 98 to 2000. And without objection your full resume and thatas of our distinguished other witness part ofnderson made a the record. Ms. Anderson is working as the acting assistant administrator for the bureau of African Affairs for usaid, the agency for International Development. Ms. Anderson is more the 20th development expressed mostly in africa since joining usaid as a Foreign Service officer shows worked in the democratic republic of congo, uganda, sudan and east africa. Prior to joining usaid she worked as a Program Manager at health link worldwide and also served as a peace corps volunteer in ghana. Shes also testify before a subcommittee, so both of you will come back and we look forward to your insights and recommendations. The floor is yours, ambassador yamamoto. Thank you very much, mr. Cha. And ask for the longer version to be submitted for the record. Without objections order. Thank you very much chairman smith and Ranking Member bass and chairman royce. Thank you very much for this very important hitting today. Todays hearing comes at a critical juncture for the drc, and the country faces two starkly different possible trajectories over the next 12 months. When we have president ial december 2018 and the drc verse peaceful democratic transfer of power . Or alternatively we see the absence of genuinely free and Fair Elections and a continuation of the current political impasse . We could see the drc return to widespread violence and instability. We have an opportunity to support the congolese people, however this will require political will on behalf of the government, organize critical elections and encouragement to dissipate in democratic processes and engagement and support from the International Community including the United States. Master haleys visit sent a clear andth powerful message to the president and his government that further delays would be unacceptable. He also told Opposition Party leaders that the United States does not support calls and instruct them to work within the framework of the constitution and in decemberee 2016 agreement. Theyre building on the momentum provided by a master haleys visit had they would like to push all parties to advance electoral process. There is much at risk due to the strategic location including Nine International borders. Continued delays by the government and Holding Election has increased tension and undermine week or nonexistent state authority and increase violence, unrest and instability. Lee administrations focus is on ensuring that they implement the calendar and do take any action that postpone the election. We believe theres an effort, a democratic transition of power which can only come throughli Fair Election is essential for the congolese people. Including preventing widescale instability which have been precursors to multistate war an