allAfrica.com: Central Africa: Exploring the U.S. Role in Consolidating Peace and Democracy in the Great Lakes Region (Page 1 of 4)

Central Africa: Exploring the U.S. Role in Consolidating Peace and Democracy in the Great Lakes Region

The following is the testimony of Jendayi E. Frazer, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs on October 24, 2007:

I would like to thank you, Chairman Feingold and members of the Committee for inviting me to testify here today on the situation in the African Great Lakes. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the concern and interest you personally have shown by your travel to the region last August. I share your concern that the continuing instability and the recent spike in violence in parts of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has forced hundreds of thousands of Congolese from their homes and many of them to seek refuge in neighboring states. We are keenly aware of the urgency of the situation in eastern Congo, including the potential impact of that situation on Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. I would like to brief you on our efforts to resolve it, including intensive engagement with key regional leaders in the field, in New York during the recent General Debate of United National General Assembly and upcoming discussions here in Washington.

We have a good story to tell. Throughout this administration, we have been actively implementing a strategy for lasting peace in Central Africa. When we started our work, more than six national armies were engaged in a regional war waged on the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose population became its greatest victims. Ending that conflict required the direct and sustained effort of President Bush and Secretary Rice, including the President’s meeting in 2002 in New York with Presidents Kabila and Kagame, not to mention numerous calls by the Secretary to all of the regional leaders involved in or influential to ending the conflict. We still face many grave challenges in the region today, but I believe today challenges must be considered in the context of how far we have come in our efforts to promote lasting stability in Central Africa.

The United States is committed to end the conflict in Northern Uganda through the Juba peace process and to bring real demonstrable benefits of peace to the people of Uganda.

REGIONAL BACKGROUND

The road from the regional conflict of 1998-2002 to today is important when we look at the situation in Central Africa. The United States played a key role in the diplomacy that secured the withdrawal of foreign armies from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the current situation in Central Africa. The Lusaka Peace Process, culminating in the Global and Inclusive Agreement – the "Sun City Accord" – provided a framework for the Congo’s transition to democracy. Throughout this process, the United States played a hands-on role. We urged the parties to the peace table and coaxed them to stay there. Our political commitment and our prestige were critical factors in effecting the withdrawal of all foreign occupying armies from the Congo. We took the lead in the United Nations Security Council, and, of course, as one of the largest contributors to the United Nations Mission to the Congo (MONUC). We financed the Joint Verification Commission established under the Lusaka Accord and the Third-Party Verification Mechanism of the 2002 Pretoria Agreement. We provided the initial support to launch the Congolese Independent Election commission. I went to Kinshasa to observe both rounds of national elections and was a member of the Presidential Delegation led by Secretary Chao to President Kabila’s inauguration.

In launching the tripartite process, we initiated confidence-building measures among the former Great Lakes belligerents, and we pledged our lasting commitment to stability and good neighborly relations in the Great Lakes. Relations among the neighbors have come a long way since we organized the first meeting in 2004. Recent visits and meetings among regional leaders from Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, undertaken without the facilitation of the United States, are a testament to our success in initiating lasting dialogue among former enemies.

Ministers from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda met as the Tripartite Plus Joint Commission in Kampala, Uganda most recently on September 15-17. As usual, the United States Government served as the Facilitator.

The Ministers reaffirmed the core mission of the Tripartite Plus to end the threat to regional peace and security from Negative Forces, and agreed to redouble efforts to achieve that objective. They agreed on the importance of accelerating integration of Congolese armed forces in order that they may act against Negative Forces and assure the security of the local population. Member delegations appealed to the United Nations Mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) to intensify efforts to work with Congolese armed forces (FARDC) to eliminate the Negative Forces through full application of its mandate.

All delegations expressed concern about deteriorating security conditions in Eastern Congo, in particular the destabilizing roles of former General Laurent Nkunda and the ex-FAR/Interahamwe. All delegations committed to support the DRC in its efforts to end the violence and reduce the regional security threat of these and other Negative Forces in Eastern Congo.

We welcome the increasing number of high-level bilateral exchanges among Tripartite Plus member countries. These include the September 7-8 summit between DRC President Joseph Kabila and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, the September 3-4 visit by Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Dr. Charles Murigande to Kinshasa to meet with his counterpart, the DRC Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Antipas Mbusa Nyamwisi, and meetings of senior officials at many regional fora, including the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), the East African Community (EAC), and the Economic Community of Great Lakes Countries (CEPGL).

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