Congressional Hearing on Democratic Crisis in Congo
Posted by Enough Team on Dec 06, 2016
Sasha Lezhnev testifying before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
Note: This blog was written by Enough Project Intern Anuli Mefor
Click here to read Sasha Lezhnev's full testimony.
On Tuesday, November 29, Enough’s Associate Director of Policy for the
Great Lakes Region, Sasha Lezhnev, testified in Congress before the
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for a hearing on democracy and
human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The hearing was
presided over by Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA), the co-chair of
the Commission.
Other expert witnesses included Tom Perriello, the U.S. Special Envoy
to the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Tom Malinowski, Assistant
Secretary at the U.S. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Ida
Sawyer, a Senior Researcher at Human Rights Watch, Fred Bauma of
LUCHA, and Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, a professorial lecturer at the Johns
Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. The hearing brought
together an overflowing room of staff members from Republican and
Democratic Congressional offices, Congolese diaspora and activists,
professionals, and distinguished guests such as the Chief Diplomatic
Advisor to President Kabila, Barnabé Kikaya bin Karubi, and the DRC
Ambassador to the United States, François Balumuene.
The hearing focused on how to prevent widespread violence on December
19, 2016, the day that President Joseph Kabila is constitutionally
mandated to step down from office to hand over power to his successor.
With less than 3 weeks until December 19, Congressman McGovern asked
the witnesses what urgent steps the U.S. government should take to
prevent the turmoil that could very well take place if no preventative
actions are taken.
Lezhnev explained how the latest democracy crisis is the latest
manifestation of the core problem of violent kleptocracy in Congo, and
laid out a plan of action the United States, banks, and the European
Union should take in Congo to prevent crises in both the short and
long term. Lezhnev stated that the U.S. and key European states have
potent leverage over Congo’s leaders.
“President Kabila’s inner circle relies on financial transactions
denominated in U.S. dollars, many of which pass through the U.S.
financial system,” Lezhnev said. “This gives the United States the
ability to use certain tools that can create financial pressure in
order to prevent the escalation of violence and constitutional crisis
related to Kabila’s transition.”
In tandem with many of the policy recommendations from his recent
report, A Criminal State, Lezhnev provided a three part strategy the
U.S. government should utilize in Congo: 1) Financial pressure through
anti-money laundering measures (including calling for Congress to urge
the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
(FinCEN) to issue a public advisory concerning the patterns used to
launder the proceeds of corruption from Congo.), 2) Political and
financial pressure through enhanced targeted sanctions, and 3)
appointing a new U.S. Special Envoy to the great lakes.
The other distinguished witnesses had a number of recommendations.
Testifying to the effectiveness of targeted sanctions, Ida Sawyer
found that after the bipartisan house resolution of November 14 called
for targeted sanctions against three specific Congolese government
officials, other officials restrained from repressing protesters, out
of fear that their names could be added to the list. Fred Bauma, a
survivor of such repressions who spent seventeen months in jail, asked
for more investigations be made in the international financial system
to discover the international corporations and individuals that enable
the corruption that sustains Kabila’s regime. As a leader in the LUCHA
movement for democracy, Bauma alerted the audience to the fact that
over 100 of his fellow activists have endured arrests by the Congolese
government.
Finally, witnesses emphasized the importance of a multilateral
approach. Like many concerned Congolese, regional leaders fear how
Kabila’s actions may affect their countries. Outbursts of violence
post December 19 could mean more refugee flows to surrounding borders.
Malinowski said the U.S. government is currently working in
coordination with regional leaders and the European Union and will
seek for more ways to do so. Sawyer, however, warned against the U.S.
government waiting for the EU to come on board before taking any
actions. Due to the time at stake, she and Bauma strongly argued that
immediate actions be taken.
Recently, President Kabila asked the highly respected Conference of
Catholic Bishops (CENCO) to lead discussions in the pursuit of a more
inclusive transition agreement. Perriello emphasized the international
community’s need to support the process of this agreement and its
implementation when or if it does get passed. When Rep. McGovern
directly asked him what Congress can do to support the CENCO process,
Perriello replied with a strong statement: “The U.S. doesn’t want to
have a plan.” He explained that the resolution must arise from the
Congolese people, without U.S. interference. Lezhnev highlighted the
need to accompany support of the CENCO process with leverage through
financial pressure to help ensure a credible deal.
“No one should be President for life,” Malinowski reiterated, quoting
President Obama. He said this statement has been widely received in
Africa of recent, and it is the duty of the U.S. government to support
popular movements that are fighting for government abidance of
presidential term limits. In a dire tone, Malinowski alerted the
audience of how possible it is for the situation in Congo to play out
like the recent occurrences in Burundi if no preventive measures are
taken to pressure President Kabila to step down from office.
Rep. McGovern asked the witnesses what may be incentivizing Kabila’s
refusal to abide by the term limit, to which they conclusively
responded that like many leaders who wish to govern longer than their
legal terms, Kabila must be scared of what opposing forces may do to
him and his family if he leaves office. As a result, they all were in
agreement when Sawyer recommended that a safe exit strategy from power
be provided for President Kabila. Dizolele underlined the need to
address Kabila directly.
Periello and Malinowski were positive that it is not too late for
things to be turned around in Congo. “The door is still open to a
reasonable political compromise that enables the Congolese people, the
ruling party, the opposition, and President Kabila, to come out of
this winners”, Malinowski stated. Even though presidential elections
in Congo will no longer be held this year, they can be held in 2017 if
the U.S. government and the international community as a whole,
continues to stand in solidarity with the pro-democracy advocates in
Congo and heeds the recommendations that were offered in this hearing.
The Enough Project applauds Rep. McGovern and many other Members of
Congress for their strong work on peace and democracy in Congo, and
their efforts in making universal human rights a focus in U.S. foreign
policy.
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