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“THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: FROM ``PRE-GENOCIDE'' TO GENOCIDE?” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E668-E669 on May 2, 2014.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: FROM ``PRE-GENOCIDE'' TO GENOCIDE?
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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.
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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