{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400726", "<span class =\"kicker\">***Slide Show of Hearing w State Dept, USAID, NGOs***</span>Smith Chairs Hearing on Political Crisis in Democratic Republic of the Congo", "2017-11-09", "2017", "2017-11", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is facing a crisis of widespread violence and political instability\u2013including delayed elections\u2013which, if not addressed, could spread to surrounding countries, witnesses testified today at a hearing held today by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), chair of the House subcommittee on Africa.\r\n          share:\r\n          f \r\n          t \r\n        \r\n      \r\n      The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is facing a crisis of widespread violence and political instability because of continually delayed elections, which, if not addressed, could spread to surrounding countries, witnesses testified today at a hearing held today by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), chair of the House Subcommittee on Africa.\r\nSmith said the DRC government has tried to legitimize current President Joseph Kabila remaining in power after his constitutionally-mandated two-term limit, by claiming that the constitution also states that the president cannot leave office before a successor has been elected. Polls have shown that a majority in the country want the current Kabila government to be replaced by a temporary, transitional government until the next election. With the postponement of elections has come political turmoil and violence in a country with already-existing conflicts. \u00a0The DRC borders nine other countries in the heart of Africa, and broadening conflicts could threaten to destabilize the region.  \r\n\r\n\u201cThe conflicts in Kasai and Tanganyika alone have caused the displacement of nearly two million people since mid-2016, giving DRC one of the highest rates of human displacement in the world,\u201d Rep. Smith said. \u201cPolitical unrest in urban centers, a string of large prison breaks, and violent attacks in Kinshasa by members of a religious sect that has declared itself in opposition to Kabila have further contributed to worsening insecurity.\u201d Click here to read Smith\u2019s opening statement. The event was covered live by CSPAN. Click here to watch the video of the hearing: https://www.c-span.org/video/?437055-1/hearing-focuses-political-crisis-congo  \r\n\r\nActing Assistant Secretary Donald Yamamoto of the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State was the lead-off witness to testify before Smith\u2019s subcommittee on Thursday.  \r\n\r\n\u201cA democratic transition of power, which can only come about through genuinely free and fair elections, is essential for the Congolese people, the African sub-region, and U.S. strategic interests across the continent,\u201d he said. Read Yamamoto\u2019s testimony here.  \r\n\r\n\u00a0Also testifying was U.S. Agency for International Development Acting Assistant Administrator Bureau for Africa, Cheryl L. Anderson.  \r\n\r\n\r\n\u201cUSAID has maintained a long-term relationship with the DRC and its people since the country became independent in 1960,\u201d Anderson told the panel. \u201cWith its vast mineral wealth, the country has tremendous opportunity for economic growth that could lift its citizens out of poverty and propel it into middle-income status. Instead, protracted political uncertainty is fueling violence and instability, and prevents the realization of the country\u2019s full potential.\u201d Click here to read Anderson\u2019s testimony.  \r\n\r\nIn November of 2016, the DRC was supposed to hold elections to begin the lawful transfer of political power. After years of postponing preparations, the government failed to hold the elections in 2016 even though constitutional provisions required them to be held on time.  \r\n\r\nAccording to the country\u2019s election commission, elections are now scheduled for December 23, 2018. Yet tensions within the country have risen even further due to mistrust of the government\u2019s promises on elections.  \r\n\r\n\u201cCongolese government and CENI (election commission) officials have blatantly disregarded previous election calendars, while Kabila and his ruling coalition have largely ignored the main terms of the Catholic Church-mediated power sharing arrangement signed on December 31, 2016, which called for elections by the end of 2017 and a number of measures to de-escalate tensions and open political space,\u201d said Ida Sawyer, the Central Africa Director at the non-governmental group (NGO) Human Rights Watch. \u201cKabila has instead sought to entrench his hold on power through corruption, large-scale violence, and brutal repression against the political opposition, activists, journalists, and peaceful protesters.\u201d Click here to read Sawyer\u2019s testimony.  \r\n\r\nMvemba Phezo Dizolele, from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, testified about Kabila\u2019s role in the instability.  \r\n\r\n\u201cThe responsibility for the suffering of the Congolese people rests with one man, Joseph Kabila, which he shares with a small and shrinking cadre of associates and family members. Over the last 16 years, this group has captured the State with total impunity at the expense of the people,\u201d Dizolele said. \u201cThe Kabila regime has been characterized by looting, plunder and deadly violence. We have tolerated this for too long. It is time for a new leadership. Kabila must go.\u201d Click here to read his testimony.  \r\n\r\nFred Bauma, a human rights activist for the Lucha (Lutte pour le Changement) Movement, shared how he was jailed for 17 months by the Kabila government for demonstrating in favor of a free election.  \r\n\r\n\u201cSince September 2016, almost 150 peaceful demonstrators have been killed while hundreds more were arrested or kidnaped by security forces and many of them remain in jail on trumped-up charges,\u201d Bauma told members of the subcommittee. Meanwhile, government officials have hired gangs to harass or even arrest members of the political opposition, he said. \u201cThese groups have been responsible for severe human rights violations in many places in DRC, and work tightly with the national police and the Congolese intelligence service. At the same time, journalists are harassed, media outlets are shut down,\u201d Bauma said. Click here to read Bauma\u2019s testimony.  \r\n\r\nThe crisis threatens to spread to surrounding countries. Yet S\u00e9verine Autesserre, a political science professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, told the subcommittee that the crisis in the DRC is much broader than delayed elections. Autesserre said that elections and legitimacy are important, but to concentrate exclusively on the political crisis in Kinshasa is to waste the opportunity to tackle other, more pressing issues.  \r\n\r\n\u201cThere are actions that Congress can take to help resolve the ongoing crisis in Congo. Congress should acknowledge that local conflicts are an essential cause of violence and that democracy and peace do not necessarily arrive together. I also recommend legislation that increases the United States\u2019 support to local and bottom-up peacebuilding and places local actors in the drivers\u2019 seat,\u201d Autesserre said. Click here to read her testimony.  \r\n\r\n\u201cNo solution will be easy or without cost, but non-action would have an even higher cost in human lives. That we must not tolerate,\u201d Smith said.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400726"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.988449901342392, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}