The United States House of Representatives
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights
Testimony by Mvemba Phezo Dizolele
Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Bass and Members of the Subcommittee on Africa:
Thank you for the invitation and honor to testify before your committee. I come before you as a Congolese and concerned U.S. citizen. The views expressed in this statement are mine, and mine alone.
This important hearing comes at yet another critical time for the Democratic Republic of Congo and I commend you for your interest in my home country.
Congo is too big to fail and the U.S. should care today for the same strategic and security reasons it did during the Cold War. With its mineral and other natural wealth, DRC is the equivalent of the world’s breadbasket of critical resources. At this time of Chinese scramble for resources, we cannot stand idle and let Uganda and Rwanda destabilize the heart of Africa. Measured in human lives, the cost of their military adventurism, which has indirectly killed over 6 million Congolese, now rivals King Leopold’s holocaust. Ironically, Rwandan President Paul Kagame blames King Leopold for the current crisis. Substantial U.S. military assistance to Rwanda and Uganda, and Washington’s reluctance to denounce and stop its support to these regimes, make the U.S. an accomplice to the tragedy.
Today the greatest challenge and obstacle to resolving the crisis in Congo is neither the confusing alphabet soup of militia names nor the lack of engagement of the international community. Rather it is the lack of understanding of the drivers and dynamics of the conflict that stands between policymakers and the right prescriptions.
For the past two decades, the policy discourse on DRC has been defined by a narrative that focuses on the ramifications of the problem, such as ethnic identity, citizenship, sexual violence and the looting of natural resources, but ignores the root causes of crisis. As we fail to define the Congo crisis correctly, it becomes nearly impossible to solve the problem. While the problem is often viewed as a humanitarian disaster, DRC is paralyzed by a political crisis, which requires political solutions. That is where you can have the greatest impact.
Congo has been muddling through a series of crises for nearly two decades. The causes are well-known: An inept government with a weak leadership, no articulated vision and no legitimacy after the botched 2011 election, lack of capacity to resist or contain predatory designs of neighbors (Rwanda, Uganda, and Angola), proliferation of armed groups, and an underachieving and over-politicized U.N. peacekeeping mission. This cocktail of problems is topped by an apathetic diplomatic community motivated by short-term interests of the countries it represents, rather than the long-term stabilization of Congo and Central Africa.
The M23 rebellion is to be understood through this optic. As the M23 crisis enters a new phase with the withdrawal of rebels from the battered city of Goma, the people of North Kivu and their fellow Congolese citizens everywhere wonder whether the storm has passed or the rebels’ retreat represents the quiet before a super storm. Either way, telltale signs and history indicate that the conflict will continue unless appropriate deterring measures are taken.