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THE GREAT LAKES REGION:

CURRENT CONDITIONS AND U.S. POLICY

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA AND GLOBAL HEALTH

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

MAY 25, 2010

Serial No. 111–106

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOWARD L. BERMAN, California, Chairman 

GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York 

ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American 

Samoa 

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

MICHAEL E. MCMAHON, New York 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

LYNN WOOLSEY, California 

SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas 

BARBARA LEE, California 

SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada 

JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York 

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas 

BRAD MILLER, North Carolina 

DAVID SCOTT, Georgia 

JIM COSTA, California 

KEITH ELLISON, Minnesota 

GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona 

RON KLEIN, Florida 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

DAN BURTON, Indiana 

ELTON GALLEGLY, California 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California 

RON PAUL, Texas 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

MIKE PENCE, Indiana 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina 

CONNIE MACK, Florida 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

BOB INGLIS, South Carolina 

GUS BILIRAKIS, Florida 

RICHARD J. KESSLER, Staff Director 

YLEEM POBLETE, Republican Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA AND GLOBAL HEALTH

DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey, Chairman 

DIANE E. WATSON, California 

BARBARA LEE, California 

BRAD MILLER, North Carolina 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas 

LYNN WOOLSEY, California 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas 

JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

The Honorable Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of African Affairs, United States Department of State .......................................................... 8

Mr. Franklin Moore, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Africa, Office of the Assistant Administrator, United States Agency for International 

Development ......................................................................................................... 27

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

The Honorable Johnnie Carson: Prepared statement ........................................... 11

Mr. Franklin Moore: Prepared statement ............................................................. 29

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 60

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 61

The Honorable Donald M. Payne: Material submitted for the record ................. 62

(1)

THE GREAT LAKES REGION: CURRENT 

CONDITIONS AND U.S. POLICY 

TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2010

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA AND GLOBAL HEALTH, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. 

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:08 a.m. in room 

2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Donald M. Payne, 

(chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. PAYNE. The hearing will come to order. Good morning. 

Thank you for joining the Subcommittee on Africa and Global 

Health for this important hearing entitled ‘‘Great Lakes Region: 

Current Conditions and U.S. Policy.’’ The Great Lakes region of 

central Africa is perhaps the richest, most verdant area of the continent. It is the home to vast forests and wilderness areas, lush agricultural land, extensive mineral deposits, a wealth of diversity, 

and of course thousands of lakes. 

The richness is undoubtedly what attracted King Leopold of Belgium to Congo. In his attempt to transform Belgium into an empire 

in the late 1880s, he remotely created a living nightmare in Congo 

based on the grotesquely violent opposition of native Congolese for 

the purpose of exporting Congo’s rich natural resources to Europe. 

For decades, the region’s wealth washed ashore in ships at ports 

in Antwerp, and Congo’s loss became Leopold and Belgium’s gain. 

As destructive as their rape of the Congo was on the country’s 

natural resources, the impact on its people is immeasurable and 

still plays out today. Yet, its impact is still misunderstood and underestimated. As chairman of the subcommittee and a former 

teacher, I believe we much understand the history of any region or 

people. If we are not fully able to understand, we are not able to 

bring it up to its present situation. Many of the problems we see 

today can be traced back to history. The roots of the instability and 

destruction of the Great Lakes region are found in Leopold’s legacy. 

Now that we have that foundation, let me bring us up to date 

to more recent history. The Great Lakes region has been in crisis 

since the early 1990s. Although, conditions have improved in the 

past year. Shortly after Rwandan genocide in 1994, millions of civilians and ex-combatants fled to the Democratic Republic of 

Congo. The former Rwandan Armed Forces launched an insurgency 

in late 1994 targeting the survivors of the Rwanda Genocide. 

In May 1997, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo Zaire (AFDL) with the support of Rwanda and Uganda marched into Kinshasa and ousted long-time dictator Mobutu 

2

Sese Seko. Within 1 year however, tensions between President 

Laurent Kabila and his Rwandan and Ugandan allies begin to 

mount. In August 1998, open conflict erupted between Kabila and 

the Congolese forces supported by Rwanda. Angolans, Namibians 

and Zimbabwe joined the fighting in support of Kabila plunging the 

region once again into a major crisis. 

In July 1999 at a summit in Lusaka, Zambia, the leaders of 

Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Angola signed a 

peace agreement. The signing of the peace agreement however did 

not bring peace and stability in the Great Lakes region. Armed 

groups from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the DRC continued to 

target civilians and government forces in DRC and Rwanda. In 

2008, Rwanda and DRC launched a joint military operation against 

these forces. 

The military operation severely weakened these armed groups. 

Nevertheless, the DRC continues to face insurgency and major humanitarian crisis, especially in eastern Congo fueled by a resource 

grab. The humanitarian crisis in eastern Congo has captured the 

attention of thousands of Americans across the country. Rape and 

sexual violence are used as a weapon of war in numbers that are 

simply unimaginable. In addition, the large resistance army led by 

Joseph Kony continues to wreak havoc through the region and into 

Sudan. 

Beyond the security concerns, there are also issues of democracy 

and governance. Burundi and Rwanda face Presidential elections 

this summer. President Kabila has called for the withdrawal of the 

United Nations Mission MONUC by 2011. Meanwhile, the DRC 

needs strong engagement from the international community to 

build institutions, and Uganda has been at the center of a controversy over a draconian anti-homosexuality bill. The United 

States continues to play a key role in an effort to bring out peace, 

stability and development in the Great Lakes region. 

The purpose of today’s hearing is to receive an update on a variety of issues facing the region and how U.S. policy efforts are addressing the major challenges that remain. To provide an insight, 

we are joined here on this panel by two distinguished officials, Ambassador Johnnie Carson and Mr. Franklin Moore, whose bios will 

be read following the ranking member’s opening statement. We 

thank you both, Mr. Carson and Mr. Franklin, for participating in 

today’s hearing. 

We also planned a private panel, but due to traveling schedules 

of several of the witnesses, we have postponed that portion of the 

hearing to a later date. Before I recognize the ranking member, let 

me recognize members of the diplomatic corps. I know that in our 

front row we are joined by Ambassador Mitifu of the DRC. We are 

happy to have you with us and other diplomatic representatives, 

and maybe those representatives from the Great Lakes regions who 

are in the audience, if you would all stand, I would appreciate it. 

Great. Thank you. We have others in addition to the Great Lakes 

region who are also present with us. At this time, we will turn over 

to our ranking member, to Mr. Smith of New Jersey for his opening 

remarks. 

Mr. SMITH.. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for calling 

this very important hearing and providing this opportunity for the 

3

subcommittee to hear from Assistant Secretary Johnnie Carson 

and Deputy Assistant Administrator Franklin Moore about the critical issues related to the African Great Lakes region. 

We are fortunate to be able to hear directly from Assistant Secretary Carson about his just completed trip to Uganda. It will be 

useful to hear his assessment of the situation there leading up to 

the 2011 Presidential and Parliamentary elections and what reaction he received to Congress’ passage of the LRA Disarmament and 

Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which the President signed into 

law just last evening. It is my sincere hope that this legislation will 

achieve its goal of supporting civilian protection and development 

in northern Uganda. 

It also will be particularly timely to hear whether he received 

any indication as to how Uganda intends to vote on the Iran sanctions resolution being circulated in the U.N. Security Council. The 

international community is rightly concerned about whether Iran’s 

dangerous nuclear ambitions can be reined in through a coordinated and effective global response. Uganda’s vote as a non-permanent member of the council on this resolution is a key element to 

the answer to that question. 

I will also be interested in our witnesses’ assessment of the elections that are currently underway in Burundi. The outcome of 

these elections and whether they are conducted fairly and peacefully is considered by many as a precursor to what can be expected 

for the August 9th Presidential election in Rwanda. The stability 

of both countries as well as that of the Democratic Republic of the 

Congo is inter-related, not only because of the geographical proximity of the three countries, but also because of their related ethnic 

demographics and historic refugee flows. Democracy and peace for 

the entire region or oppression and violence are potentially at stake 

with the political outcome in each country. 

I appreciate that our distinguished witnesses will be addressing 

sexual- and gender-based violence and human trafficking in the region and in particular in the DRC. Assistant Secretary Carson will 

recall that when he was with us for a previous hearing just 2 

months ago, I referenced a visit that I had made to the DRC and 

my inquiry about MONUC 2 years ago. 

Not only were serious allegations being made against peacekeeping soldiers, but the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services, 

the OIOS, that is responsible for investigating those allegations 

was moving its personnel to Nairobi, Kenya, far from where it 

could effectively fulfill its mandate. Recently, I was informed that 

one OIOS investigator still is permanently based on Goma. Given 

the seriousness and the scope of this problem in the DRC, I will 

be interested to hear about what, if any, efforts have been successfully made by our Government to re-establish a sufficient number 

of permanent OIOS investigators in the country, and in particular 

Goma. 

A deeply troubling issue that is receiving increased attention 

both in the media and here in Congress concerns the President’s 

Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. U.S.-implementing partners for 

HIV/AIDS programs in Uganda have received a letter from the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stating that in FY 2010 

and FY 2011, each partner should expect to have a flatlined budget 

4

for antiretroviral procurement and that patients in need of 

antiretroviral therapy should be enrolled only if new patients can 

be supported without a future increase in funding. 

This policy, apparently implemented without advance warning to 

the implementing partners, is resulting in serious and perhaps unforeseen consequences. One disturbing scenario is that of family 

members on ARVs sharing with other family members later infected with HIV who cannot obtain treatment and both developing 

a drug-resistant strain as a result. Another scenario is that of a 

mother of several children returning her medication because one or 

more children are being denied treatment, and she cannot save her 

own life while watching them die. 

I have been further informed that this flatlined PEPFAR funding 

for treatment is expanding to other countries, and eventually will 

apply to our care and prevention programs as well. It is clear that 

the United States isn’t likely to fund universal treatment and other 

HIV programming for exponentially growing numbers of patients in 

Africa. However, it is extremely important that any major changes, 

such as denial of treatment to those currently in PEPFAR care programs whose CD–4 count falls below the level where ART becomes 

necessary, be pursued through a well-considered strategy. 

I will be interested to hear from the Deputy Assistant Administrator about whether and how such a strategy is being implemented and any information he may have on how our partners are 

reacting to this growing crisis. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, again, 

and I yield back the balance of my time. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. Ms. Woolsey, do you have an 

opening statement? 

Ms. WOOLSEY. No, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you. Mr. Royce? 

Mr. ROYCE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to mention that Ambassador Carson and I had a chance to participate in 

a bill-signing ceremony yesterday at the White House regarding 

legislation on the Lord’s Resistance Army. The President signed 

into law this particular act, the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, and that bill will task 

the administration with devising a strategy to put an end once and 

for all to Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army and their 

use of terror, recruitment of and indoctrination of child soldiers and 

the rape and mayhem they have spread across the continent of Africa. 

Of course, Ambassador Carson will be key in cobbling this strategy together, and I am appreciative of the strategy meeting afterwards at the Old Executive Office Building where in the meeting 

with the NSC that Ambassador Carson helped arrange. I know 

that members of this committee look forward to working with Ambassador Carson on this strategy. I think implementation is key, 

and it is going to take congressional engagement. This is a tragedy 

that has affected families throughout Uganda, the Congo, the Central African Republic and southern Sudan. 

People in the United States may not know the name Joseph 

Kony, but I guarantee you parents across Africa quiver when they 

hear that name. So I am appreciative of that legislation being 

signed. Congressman Payne, some years ago I had a resolution callVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:23 Aug 23, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\AGH\052510\56682 HFA PsN: SHIRL
5

ing for Mobutu to stand down, calling for his replacement in Congo 

because of the legacy of corruption, malfeasance and mismanagement, and we did pass that legislation. 

Shortly thereafter, Codel Islet was in Angola. We found that 

frankly Mobutu had fled that morning, so we took a small plane 

into Kinshasa and had a chance to meet. It turned out the drivers 

that jumped into our jeep were not Congolese forces but Rwandan 

and Ugandan forces that were there helping to install Laurent 

Kabila as the new leader of Congo. Since that time, Congo has had 

many challenges. To repair the damage done to civil society, which 

was never that strong, and certainly to the institutions, it is going 

to take increased engagement by the United States House of Representatives. 

I know Chairman Payne has made quite a commitment in that 

regard. I think that as we move forward the first step is to set an 

example by taking apart the Lord’s Resistance Army is to bring to 

the bar of justice or eliminate Joseph Kony. When we set up the 

institutions to help Africa accomplish that objective, we can move 

on to other problems such as the pillaging of minerals in eastern 

Congo both from Zimbabwe and from Rwanda. We need to lean in 

more heavily in terms of trying to force responsible behavior by the 

neighbors of the Congo. 

Again, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing, and 

I thank Ambassador Carson for all of his work on the African continent then and now in order to help guide that continent toward 

stability. Thank you very much. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you, Mr. Royce, and thank you for all your 

years of interest and many of the achievements you have helped in 

Africa. Ms. Lee? 

Ms. LEE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just wanted to welcome 

our witnesses and thank you so much for your service. I look forward to your testimony. 

Mr. PAYNE. Dr. Boozman? Let us see. Ms. Watson? 

Ms. WATSON. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for holding this timely hearing on U.S. policy and current conditions in the 

Great Lakes region. The international community has focused on 

this region, and yet there seems to e little improvement in the condition of the people. You have described much of it. The countries 

of the Great Lakes region are linked by a common history and culture. Boundaries have done little stymie the flow of people across 

the borders oftentimes fleeing to perceived safety in a neighboring 

region. 

Each nation has a unique political story, which nonetheless affects not only its own citizens, but people all around the Great 

Lakes regions. However, strikes are a common thread throughout. 

Human rights abuses are rampant, and though rape, as a tool of 

submission, remains prevalent throughout the Great Lakes region, 

the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo remains known for the 

high incidents of rape of women and of children. The mineral conflict too rages on in the DRC making it one of the longest and most 

violent wars in the history of mankind. 

There are even stories of child soldiers fighting in these battles 

already hyped and romanticized in popular films, and much of the 

youth in this region remain without jobs and susceptible to manipVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:23 Aug 23, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\AGH\052510\56682 HFA PsN: SHIRL
6

ulation leaving them easy prey for militant organizations. Democracy too is elusive. As we watch the preparation for elections in 

Rwanda and Burundi, I am unsure of how peaceful and fair the 

outcomes will be. Newspapers have been shut down. There are reports of violence occurring in Burundi already. 

With the constant instability, the condition of the people remains 

deplorable. Displaced by the Lord’s Resistance Army, thousands of 

people are in need of humanitarian assistance in the DRC. Food 

and water shortages often occur, and healthcare is intermittent at 

best, and education services are limited for many. The President’s 

initiatives are on food security, focused on food delivery at this 

time, PEPFAR and the President’s Malaria Initiative cannot do 

enough because the need is too great. 

Nonetheless, great strides have been made already. Rwanda’s 

MCC threshold program shows promise of increased stability in the 

region. The mineral conflict is beginning to be addressed effectively 

through the Kimberly Process though we still have a long way to 

go. The Great Lakes region is rich in terms of its people, its culture, its history and its natural resources, and I hope that we continue to help the people in the region reach stability, protect individual rights and maximize their potential, so I thank you, and I 

wait to hear from our distinguished witnesses, and I yield back the 

remainder of my time. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. Mr. Flake? 

Mr. FLAKE. Glad to be here and look forward to the witnesses. 

Mr. PAYNE. Mr. Miller? 

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Chairman Payne and Ranking Member 

Smith, for holding this hearing. Mr. Royce and I created the Africa 

Great Lakes caucus some time back to call more attention to the 

conflicts and challenges that this region faces. There has been a 

cycle of conflict and economic failure. Conflict begets extreme poverty. Extreme poverty begets conflict, and on and on. As a result 

of the recurring conflict, there are now grave humanitarian conditions. 

Several members before have mentioned the brutal insurgency 

by the LRA and northern Uganda has displaced more than 1.5 million people, resulted in the abduction of at least 20,000 children, 

and that has gone on for more than 20 years in the Great Lakes 

region of Africa. The group continues to commit atrocities and 

abduct children across the region often targeting schools and 

churches. The United Nations estimates that 90 percent of the 

LRA’s combatants are abducted children often as young as 10. 

When this horrific conflict finally ends, those children must 

somehow return to civilized society after learning as children to kill 

innocent human beings without hesitation or remorse. Whatever 

grievance may have originally motivated the LRA, that grievance 

has long since been forgotten, and the LRA’s atrocities are just barbarism for Barbarisms own sake. Unfortunately, in that response, 

the LRA’s insurgency is distressingly similar to other insurgencies 

in the region where brutal kleptocratic regimes create ample justification for conflict for rebellion. 

The rebels are frequently not motivated by the desire to free 

their country from brutality and conflict but by desire to replace 

the brutal kleptocrats in the regime so the rebels can be brutal 

7

kleptocrats themselves. It makes this very hard for us to pick a 

side in the conflicts of the region. The DRC has the deadliest conflict since World War II. It continues to terrorize communities 

throughout DRC and all the conflicts spill over from one country 

into the next. DRC after a generation or more of conflict now has 

the second lowest gross national income of the world. 

I visited DRC a couple of years ago on a congressional delegation 

to Kashasa, and Kashasa appeared to be a post-apocalyptic society. 

It appeared to be a road-warrior movie in an urban setting. Rwanda has made great progress since the 1994 genocide, but genocide 

sets the bar pretty low. There are increasing efforts apparently to 

stifle political descent. A New York Times article just last month 

described beggars, homeless people, petty thieves and dozen of children being rounded up and sent without any legal process at all 

to an island for rehabilitation. 

Refugees, rebel groups and resources flow across borders, and 

humanitarian crisis has increasingly become a regional challenge. 

Chairman Payne, again thank you for holding this hearing, and I 

look forward to the testimony of our witnesses today. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much all of the members who took 

time to come here this morning. Now, we will turn to our witnesses. First, we will hear from Ambassador Johnnie Carson. Ambassador Carson currently serves as Assistant Secretary of State 

for the Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of State. He 

has an established career in foreign service. He previously served 

as ambassador in Kenya, Zimbabwe and Uganda as well as the 

principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs from 1997 to 1999. 

In addition to several posts in sub-Saharan Africa, he served as 

desk officer in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research from 1971 

to ’74, staff officer for the Secretary of State from ’78 to ’82. Beyond 

the State Department, Ambassador Carson served as the staff director for the House Africa Subcommittee from 1979 to 1982 and 

was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania from 1965 to 1968. 

During his career, Ambassador Carson received several awards 

including the Department of State’s superior honors award and the 

Centers for Disease Control’s champion of prevention award. Ambassador Carson holds a bachelor of arts and history and political 

science from Drake University and a masters of arts in international relations from the School of Oriental and African Studies 

at the University of London. 

Secondly, we will hear from Mr. Franklin Moore, Deputy Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Africa at the United States 

International Development Agency, USAID. A career member of 

the Senior Executive Service, Franklin C. Moore was appointed as 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Africa Bureau in January 2008. Prior to his 

appointment, Mr. Moore served as Director of the Office of Environmental and Science policy within the Agency’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade, EGAT, since October 2002. 

Additionally, Mr. Moore has served as the acting Deputy Assistant Administrator and Director of the Agency’s Global Center for 

the Environment. He received a masters degree in agricultural economics as well as a certificate in African studies from the UniverVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:23 Aug 23, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\AGH\052510\56682 HFA PsN: SHIRL
8

sity of Wisconsin in Madison. Mr. Moore studies for his PhD in development studies at the University Wisconsin in Madison, has 

served and lived both in west and southern Africa, and has worked 

in approximately 40 countries overseas. We are very pleased to 

have two very distinguished persons. 

I would also like to recognize a former colleague of ours, former 

Congressman Howard Wolpe, and I had the privilege to serve with 

former member Wolpe, who served as chair of this subcommittee 

when I was a new member and is now a senior advisor on the 

Great Lakes region at the State Department. We are very pleased 

to still have your expertise, and I know you are a great asset to 

the Department of State. Thank you. Ambassador Carson? 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE JOHNNIE CARSON, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUREAU OF AFRICAN AFFAIRS, UNITED 

STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

Mr. CARSON. Chairman Payne, Ranking Member Smith, and 

members of the committee. I welcome the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the current conditions and U.S. Policy in 

the Great Lakes Region. I have a longer statement that I would 

like to submit for the record. 

Mr. PAYNE. Without objection. 

Mr. CARSON. The countries of the Great Lakes region are inextricably linked. Although each has its own unique challenges, 

events in one country invariably affect the others and often the 

wider region as well. We spend a great deal of diplomatic time and 

effort on the Great Lakes issues trying to help the countries of the 

region to resolve the many domestic and cross-border challenges 

that continue to put millions of civilians at risk. this has been a 

slow and daunting process, but the situation has improved as the 

countries in the region have strengthened ties amongst themselves. 

We have remained dedicated to doing what we can to keep that 

positive momentum going. Central to our efforts is improving the 

situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the 

Congo where the continuing presence of armed groups has been exacerbated by the lack of state authority. The Democratic Republic 

of the Congo’s military, commonly referred to as FARDC, is ineffective and frequently abusive. The judicial and penal systems in the 

DRC are broken, and impunity rather than accountability reigns. 

Illegal natural resource exploitation funds armed gangs. Sexualand gender-based violence is at crisis levels particularly in the 

eastern region. The Lord’s Resistance Army is perpetuating and 

perpetrating attacks against civilians in the northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and also in the Central African Republic. The U.N. mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 

MONUC, is stretched to the limit. 

I met with President Kabila on April 16 and expressed concern 

about the security vacuum that would result if MONUC left the 

DRC before the security situation in the east had dramatically improved and before local security services were sufficiently trained 

and able to protect civilians. He was receptive to the concerns that 

I raised as well as the concerns that have been raised by the international community. President Kabila has taken important steps to 

address insecurity, but they remain insufficient. 

9

Last year, he announced a zero-tolerance policy for sexual- and 

gender-based violence and also against corruption. Implementation 

has been lacking, but the recent arrest of a FARDC general for 

sexual- and gender-based violence-related crimes is an encouraging 

step forward. Both Secretary Clinton and Ambassador to the 

United Nations Susan Rice have pressed for action on this case 

during their visits to the Congo in 2009, and we welcome the action 

by President Kabila and his government to go after individuals of 

senior rank who have been involved in sexual- and gender-based violence. 

President Kabila has also voiced strong support for our program 

to train a light infantry battalion in Kisangani. The training there 

includes a strong focus on improving FARDC human rights practices. In late 2009 and early 2010, we deployed assessment teams 

to the DRC to investigate the five issue areas that Secretary Clinton and President Kabila identified for greater bilateral cooperation 

when they met in August 2009 in Goma. 

The five areas include security sector reform, sexual- and genderbased violence issues, anti-corruption, economic governance and agriculture and food security. We have received the recommendations 

of these teams and are now pursuing with the Democratic Republic 

of the Congo’s Government those recommendations that we believe 

can achieve the best short- and medium-term results. We also need 

to keep an eye on population movements. There are over 1 million 

internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the North Kivu Province 

alone and 2 million displaced persons nationwide. 

As these IDPs and DRC refugees in surrounding countries begin 

to return home, there is a potential for renewed conflict. There will 

also be increased demands for humanitarian assistance and also 

limited capacity by the Government of the Democratic Republic to 

provide it. Lastly, with regard to the DRC, we are looking ahead 

to national elections in September 2011 and local elections 1 year 

later. In my conversations with President Kabila last month, I 

stressed the importance of adhering to this democratic electoral calendar. The government has promised that the elections will be free, 

democratic and transparent. We hope that this will be the case. 

Let me turn briefly to Rwanda. In Rwanda, the August Presidential elections are expected to be peaceful and non-violent, but 

the security environment ahead of that vote is of ongoing concern. 

Recent grenade attacks in Kigali have caused numerous casualties 

as well as anxiety and unease in the civilian population. We 

strongly condemn those attacks. We also have concerns about recent acts by the Rwandan Government, which appear to be attempts to restrict freedom of expression. 

These actions, including suspending the licenses and activities of 

two newspapers, revoking the work permit of a Human Rights 

Watch researcher and arresting and later releasing on bail the opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire, who has ties to the FDLR. Two 

political parties, the green party and the FDU-Inkingi party have 

been unable to register. We have urged senior Rwandan Government officials to respect the freedoms of expression, press and association as well as assembly. 

We have stressed that the international and domestic NGOs and 

media should be allowed to operate and report freely in Rwanda. 

10

We have also called for due process and a fair and speedy trial for 

Mrs. Victoire Ingabire. Overall, longer-term stability in Rwanda is 

best promoted by democratic governance and a respect for human 

rights. Rwanda and its regional and international partners must 

work together to achieve the free, fair and peaceful elections that 

the people of Rwanda deserve. 

Now, turning to Burundi. Our hope is the same in Burundi, 

which has just held the first in a series of five elections for local 

and national-level institutions. We have undertaken numerous 

public and private efforts to reinforce the message that credible 

elections are necessary for long-term stability, economic growth and 

the growing partnership between the Government of Burundi and 

the United States. The political arena in Burundi is diverse. Twenty-three political parties competed in yesterday’s communal-level 

elections including the last of Burundi’s rebel groups, the FNL. 

The party seems satisfied with the neutrality of the National 

Independent Electoral Commission, CNIE. The media are relatively 

free and professional and have mobilized to pool resources and 

share their national electoral coverage. Burundian Civil Society has 

mobilized to observe the elections and to monitor outbreaks of violence, and all political parties, including the ruling party, have welcomed international observation. 

Unfortunately, Burundi also suffers from a large population of 

young, unemployed people who are frustrated with their economic 

position. Given that there are 200,000 weapons still in circulation 

throughout the country, the risk of violence continues to be high. 

In addition, ruling party officials have used government resources 

for political advantage, and some have intimidated opponents. 

There have already been violent clashes among the members of the 

five major parties. 

Most alarming, two members of the Movement for Solidarity and 

Democracy Party were killed in a rally on May 13. We have repeatedly cautioned all political party leaders about the need to avoid intimidation, provocation and violence. We have called on the government security forces and prosecutors to accelerate the investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for election-related incidents of violence and intimidation. 

The Government of Burundi’s decision to expel a Human Rights 

Watch researcher on the grounds that a recent Human Rights 

Watch report is biased against the ruling party appears to be an 

effort to clamp down on foreign and domestic NGOs that are critical of the government and its policies. We have conveyed our concerns to Burundian officials about this and have urged constructive 

dialogue with NGOs and civil society. 

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I want to thank you 

for this opportunity to appear before you today, and I will be happy 

to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Carson follows:]

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Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. Mr. Moore? 

STATEMENT OF MR. FRANKLIN MOORE, DEPUTY ASSISTANT 

ADMINISTRATOR, BUREAU FOR AFRICA, OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT ADMINISTRATOR, UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR 

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

Mr. MOORE. Good morning, Chairman Payne, Ranking Member 

Smith and members of the subcommittee. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss conditions in the Great 

Lakes region and USAID’s contribution to sustainable development 

in those countries. I have a longer written statement, which I 

would like to submit for the record. 

Mr. PAYNE. Without objection. 

Mr. MOORE. Thank you. My testimony today will add to that of 

Assistant Secretary Carson’s, who has provided the subcommittee 

with information on the U.S. Government policies in the region. 

Our work directly supports those policies and focuses on a number 

of sector, including economic growth, peace building, democratic development, health, education, food security and environmental protection. We also continue to respond to both man-made and natural 

humanitarian crises in many of these states. 

While significant progress has been made across the region, 

equally significant challenges persist: Corruption, poor infrastructure, cross-border conflicts, sexual- and gender-based violence and 

human rights abuses, poor health outcomes, high unemployment, 

humanitarian crises and food insecurity. National issues frequently 

spill across borders to become regional concerns or crises. I would 

like to briefly outline some of these key issues and USAID’s response. 

One of the most pressing issues that will affect development in 

the Great Lakes in the coming year is rapid population growth. 

This will strain the abilities of already stretched government to 

provide service delivery and sustainable economic growth. An increasingly young population present an increased risk for instability and conflict. USAID programs across the sectors target youth 

in order to boost civic participation, improve livelihoods and increase access to education to provide an alternative to confrontation and violence. The recruitment of child soldiers also remains a 

critical concern for youth population, particularly the lasting damage caused. 

Another issue for the region is the abhorrent use of sexual- and 

gender-based violence both as a tool of war and as part of the daily 

lives of women and children throughout the region. In addition to 

addressing the immediate care and needs of victims of sexual- and 

gender-based violence, USAID has actively supported the drafting 

of critical legislation and subsequent prosecutions in cases of 

sexual- and gender-based violence in the DRC, and we continue to 

seek opportunities to address this issue at all levels. Combating 

this issue is not solely about broadening access to legal, medical, 

psycho-social and economic services. It fervently tied to changing 

perceptions of gender and women’s empowerment. 

Food security is of paramount concern. In the DRC, 72 percent 

of the population is currently undernourished and surviving on less 

than the absolute minimum daily caloric requirement. This adminVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:23 Aug 23, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00031 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\AGH\052510\56682 HFA PsN: SHIRL
28

istration’s Feed the Future initiative will boost production to attempt to meet the food needs for the growing population of these 

states. 

Recognizing that higher production does not automatically translate directly into a better quality of life, activities to address nutrition and governance issues related to distribution and regulation 

are critical and included. Activities will focus on linkages to the regionally strong and very active common market for eastern and 

southern Africa and Economic Commission for Africa to ensure that 

there is a sustainable platform for trade. 

Land tenure issues also continue to be an underlying source of 

many of the region’s conflicts. With high population densities, internally displaced persons and the return of refugees in Rwanda, 

Burundi, eastern DRC and Uganda, the question of land distribution and access is critical to economic growth. USAID is working 

on programs in Burundi to inclusively develop new land policy in 

order to reduce the risk of conflict. 

There are mounting tensions over land tenure and property 

rights in eastern DRC. USAID is addressing these issues through 

peace building and community mediation programs as well as 

working with the Government of DRC to address the overall legal 

framework for land tenure. In Uganda, we have launched an interagency conflict assessment to look at the sensitive issues of decentralization, proposed relocation of pastoralist communities to urban 

centers and the discovery of oil. 

We believe that we are in a new era for development in Africa 

focused on aid effectiveness and host-country ownership that will 

translate into meaningful progress toward the Millennium Development Goals. We are aligning our work to more directly support harmonization of aid strategies, results-based programs and mutual 

accountability between donors and aid recipients. Our work in the 

Great Lakes is coordinated with both host-country action plans on 

a sectorial basis and with broad-reaching poverty reduction strategies. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Smith and members of the subcommittee for your continued support for USAID. I 

welcome your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Moore follows:]

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Mr. PAYNE.. Thank you very much. We certainly appreciate both 

of your testimonies, and I might just begin by asking, Ambassador 

Carson, you mentioned that you had a conversation with President 

Kabila in regard to his strategy to have the MONUC forces reduced. What was the rationale for his wanting initially to see them 

reduced, and where does it stand at the present time? 

Mr. CARSON. Mr. Chairman, thank you for that question. Indeed, 

I did have an opportunity to talk with President Kabila about the 

presence of the MONUC forces there. I think that we have to remember that this year is the 50th anniversary of the Congo’s independence, and I think that President Kabila wanted to demonstrate that after 50 years of independence in which there has 

been an almost continuous presence of U.N. peacekeepers there 

that the country could move ahead and begin to do without United 

Nations’ peace keeping forces. 

I think he was intent on making a statement at the anniversary 

that there would be a withdrawal of U.N. peace keeping forces, so 

I think it had a lot to do with domestic politics, the country’s political pride, the long-standing presence of U.N. peacekeepers there 

and the desire to show after 50 years that the Congo no longer 

needed to rely on peacekeepers. I must say that President Kabila 

demonstrated flexibility in the discussions about this and I think 

he is now increasingly aware of the continued need for U.N. peacekeepers in the eastern part of the Congo. 

I took the opportunity to stress to President Kabila that as long 

as there was wide-spread instability in the eastern Congo, the presence of rebel groups that had not been contained, and a high level 

of sexual- and gender-based violence, that there was a need for a 

presence of U.N. forces. But, as I said, President Kabila is showing 

increasing flexibility on this issue, and we hope that it will be resolved in the U.N. Security Council to the satisfaction of the council as well as to the satisfaction of the Government of the Congo. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. Mr. Moore, since the whole 

Congo basin region, the Great Lakes region is so fertile, are there 

any agriculture programs? I know you touched on it a little bit, but 

what are we doing to try to encourage Great Lakes countries to 

take a stronger look at agriculture in general? 

Mr. MOORE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In the President’s food 

security initiative, Feed the Future, two of the targeted countries 

or three of the targeted countries if one goes just a little beyond 

the Great Lakes includes Ethiopia and includes Uganda within the 

Great Lakes. It also includes Kenya. As Ambassador Carson pointed out, one of the five assessments that was made in DRC was a 

food security assessment, and so their food security and agricultural portfolio is also being heightened. 

That is looking particularly at the production side. On the other 

side, there is a desire to make sure that increasingly food and agricultural produce is able to move across borders more quickly and 

more efficiently, and for that work, as I said in my testimony, we 

are working primarily with COMESA, which is looking at the concept of one border stops so that two countries would adhere to the 

same standard. 

That would allow food to move across their borders much like 

food moves across the borders of our states here in the United 

41

States as well as looking at transportation corridors and working 

increasingly with the Millennium Challenge Corporation in those 

places where they have engaged in programs to provide them and 

the countries with some information that might help to mitigate 

transportation problems. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you. My last question since my time has expired, but, Ambassador Carson, I previously raised the question of 

Rwandan genocide suspects who are living in the United States of 

America. I could currently give you a list of five persons who are 

still here, but two in particular, Mr. Zahirim Berry, and one who 

is actually in my home state teaching at a university, Montclair 

State, Dr. Munyakazi, who then left the state after I raised some 

questions with the university there but came down to teach again 

at Tulsa State University. 

There is evidence he escaped from prison in Rwanda. There is a 

warrant out for his extradition, and he continues to be able to live 

here in the United States. I wonder if there is any information you 

have regarding at least the case from the professor who is still in 

education here in the U.S.? 

Mr. CARSON. Mr. Chairman, I don’t have any specifics about that 

particular case, but I would like to say that the United States remains committed to doing everything that it possibly can as a part 

of the international community to bring to justice those individuals 

who were most responsible for the perpetration of the genocide that 

occurred in Rwanda in 1994. The United States has had a Rewards 

for Justice program that has been effective in helping to track 

down genocidaires around the world, and some of our people in our 

embassies, our legates and others have helped to do so. 

You probably are aware with respect to individuals in this country that we do not have an extradition treaty with the Government 

of Rwanda, but that does not in fact inhibit us from looking at individuals who have come into the United States under false pretenses and violated our immigration laws. We also look at individuals whom we believe to be involved in crimes that are also against 

other statutes of the United States. 

We will look at these individuals. We will refer the names to our 

legal office and also to the Department of Justice, and we will continue to follow up on any individuals who we believe to be involved 

in the past genocide in Rwanda. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. We will certainly like I said 

give you all the information that we have. We are very particular 

as my colleague, Mr. Smith, has a different type of a case, but a 

young child whose parents were here in the United States and 

tried for years and years to finally have that child come back to 

this country, and we were criticizing the laws of Brazil for not allowing this to happen more quickly, and here in a situation where 

Rwanda is asking us to cooperate with them, we can’t have it both 

ways. 

We can’t ask other countries around the world to cooperate with 

us and then we don’t cooperate with other countries, and so I certainly will follow up with you on that, Mr. Assistant Secretary. Mr. 

Smith? 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Let me just 

ask. I think, Mr. Moore, you would be the one that might want to 

42

answer this. The CDC letter pointed out that in Uganda approximately 100,000 HIV-infected individuals received ARV interventions funded by the U.S. Government, and yet the letter said that 

the U.S. Government recognizes that in the coming years the number of patients in need of antiretroviral treatment will increase 

dramatically. 

Basically, the letter said there is a moratorium put on new patients being signed up and that the government is being encouraged to find additional funding to meet this great need. I am wondering what has been the impact of this new policy on people who 

are sick? Have people died as a result of this unmet need not being 

adequately met by either ourselves or in collaboration with our 

partners in Europe and elsewhere? To me, this is a banner issue, 

the fact that we have raised expectations, and it would appear we 

are not about to meet those expectations. 

Mr. MOORE. Thank you, Mr. Smith. Unfortunately, I will have to 

get back to you on that. Here is the reason: Last week, the U.S. 

Government—all of the U.S. Government including CDC, USAID, 

Peace Corps and all of those who are implementing PEPFAR—had 

their annual meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, and this was one of the 

major subjects that they took up. Unfortunately for us, our staff 

who participated in the meeting since they were on the continent, 

went off to visit some of the countries concerned and are just beginning to get back. I will pose this question to them, and we will get 

you something. 

[The information referred to follows:]

WRITTEN RESPONSE RECEIVED FROM MR. FRANKLIN MOORE TO QUESTION ASKED

DURING THE HEARING BY THE HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH


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Mr. SMITH. If you would. One of the things that all of us recognized when the original PEPFAR legislation was passed and then 

when it was reauthorized is that we need to keep faith with those 

who are sick and dying in Africa and anywhere else where the ARV 

can not only extend their life but give them a quality of life. There 

is a broad consensus in Congress that every dollar we spend in 

helping people with this dreaded disease is money well spent. 

I don’t know if the chairman was advised, but I certainly wasn’t 

advised except by some of the partners who got this infamous letter 

putting a moratorium on any new patients that might sign up. As 

I said in my opening, this could have very severe, negative consequences even within families themselves as decisions are made 

as to who gets what. If new enrollees are being blocked, it seems 

to me that individuals who are currently getting ARVs might take 

themselves off of it, so it is a very serious issue. Ask us if you need 

more money. 

Secondly, let me ask, and I have asked this several times, about 

the OIOS investigators for MONUC. I met with a member of the 

Royal Police from Canada who headed up the OIOS mission in 

Goma, and he was shocked beyond words that there would be a redeployment. This was a couple of years ago. That redeployment of 

those investigators has taken place. How do you monitor something 

from so many miles away? Yes, there are some people that could 

alert the OIOS folks, but it seems to me you need a very significant 

deployment rather than decreasing it. 

Let me also ask you if I could? You mentioned, Ambassador Carson, how did you put it? You are mildly encouraged that President 

Kabila had announced a zero-tolerance policy, which I think is a 

good thing obviously, regarding gender-based violence but also that 

they had arrested a general. Could you elaborate on who that general was, what he has been accused of and most importantly, because we have learned this, and I know the chairman knows this 

as well from all of our trafficking work, an arrest does not a prosecution make. What is being done with the prosecution and how far 

along is that? 

Finally, I do have many questions, but time is of the essence I 

guess. When you talk about drafting legislation, which sounds like 

a very good thing, could you provide the committee with exactly 

what it is we are drafting, what kind of legislation we are collaborating with in each of these countries? 

Also, I chaired a briefing a couple of weeks ago on the Bill and 

Melinda Gates Foundation’s blockbuster study on maternal mortality that was carried in the Lancet in early April. I have read the 

study. It is a very well-controlled study. The Gates Foundation 

found that the number of women dying, maternal mortality, is significantly less than what WHO and others had advertised, which 

is good news. It is great news. But they also said that the reasons 

why the mitigating factors for maternal mortality include such 

things as having a skilled birth attendant available so that if there 

is an obstructive delivery, a cesarian section could be performed so 

that both mother and baby are allowed to live rather than dying 

a terrible, terrible death. 

Nowhere in Lancet or in the article did it mention abortion as 

in any way a factor. I think it is one of the most misconceived ideas 

44

that somehow killing an unborn child averts or brings down maternal mortality, and it wasn’t in the study I am happy to say. But 

if you could speak to the issue of what are we doing to build up, 

train up skilled birth attendants, because that is the answer it 

would see to me. And it now has been further authenticated by the 

Gates Foundation and by the Lancet publication of that foundation 

study. 

Mr. CARSON. Congressman Smith, you addressed two questions 

that I think I should answer. The first one pertains to the OIOS, 

which is in fact the Office of Internal Oversight Services of the 

United Nations. This organization, as you and other members are 

probably aware, is set up to look over the conduct of U.N. peacekeepers in the field. The U.S. position with respect to OIOS is 

clear. We believe that U.N. peacekeepers should be held to the 

highest legal and humanitarian standards in carrying out their responsibilities and obligations overseas, and we think it is important 

that the OIOS in fact be present to do their work. 

There are currently three OIOS positions based in the eastern 

part of the Congo in Goma. Two of those individuals are investigators, and one is a senior support staff member. In addition, there 

are no less than 10 OIOS officers and staff based in Kinshasa, but 

there are indeed 22 OIOS investigators assigned to the regional 

hub in Nairobi, Kenya, and I think it is the deployment of those 

22 investigators that your question pertains to the reality is that 

the U.N. has moved those individuals to Nairobi as a part of a pilot 

effort in order to be able to save some money and resources. 

The other side of the reality is that it is actually easier to move 

from Nairobi to Goma on most days than it is to move from 

Kinshasa to Goma given the limited transportation arrangements. 

We have looked at this issue, are waiting for the U.N. to determine 

whether this pilot effort will work affectively, but our central concern remains, and that is that those individuals who are part of the 

U.N. peace keeping forces who do undertake illegal activities 

should be investigated and prosecuted and that the OIOS should 

do this wherever they are centrally based, whether it is Kinshasa 

or whether it is Nairobi or whether there are people on the ground 

in Goma. 

You also asked about the recent arrest of a senior Congolese general, and I am going to butcher the name because I think the name 

is General Kakwavu. Last year in 2009 when Secretary Clinton 

met with President Kabila in Goma, she reiterated a message that 

had been conveyed earlier by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice about 

five senior Congolese military officers who had been accused of 

sexual- and gender-based violence. These individuals have been 

known as the FARDC 5. The general who was arrested was the 

highest ranking of those individuals. 

Three of the FARDC 5 are now under government investigation. 

The general has been arrested. Two other individuals who are colonels have been relieved of their responsibilities and are under detention/house arrest in Kinshasa but not carrying out military activities at all, and two of the other individuals have fled and we 

believe have left the country, certainly at least one. We have continued to press President Kabila to take action at all levels against 

45

officers as well as enlisted individuals in the military who have 

been involved in sexual- and gender-based violence. 

We believe again that this is a step forward, but I want to underscore that given the high level of sexual- and gender-based violence, the high level of violence that exists in the eastern Congo, 

these are very, very small steps, and they need to be magnified not 

in terms of 5 or 10, but in terms of 100 and 1,000 times. There is 

in fact far too much gender-based violence in the east, and there 

should be no impunity for those who carry it out whatever their 

rank. This is a step forward. 

We encourage President Kabila to live up to all of his commitments in this area. It is not enough simply to say I support zero 

tolerance. It must be made to be fact, and that can only be demonstrated by arrests, by prosecutions and imprisonment. 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you. 

Mr. MOORE. Thank you, Mr. Smith. The two pieces that you 

asked for me, I spoke to critical legislation as it relates to sexualand gender-based violence in DRC, and we will get you a full list. 

But the legislation falls basically into two areas. The first area is 

the fact that there are still on the books many discriminatory laws 

that sanction the lower status for women in DRC. For example, 

women can’t open a bank account or file a case in court without 

their husband’s approval. 

[The information referred to follows:]

WRITTEN RESPONSE RECEIVED FROM MR. FRANKLIN MOORE TO QUESTION ASKED

DURING THE HEARING BY THE HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

Mr. MOORE. Also, in many cases, women are not permitted to actually own land in their name, so one of the areas is looking at getting some of these laws off of the books and creating some laws 

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ence. The other area that you asked about was maternal mortality 

and birth attendants. 

I believe that this is one of the justifications and reasons for the 

President’s Global Health Initiative, and that Global Health Initiative is intended so that many of the areas of health, like maternal 

health, which given our emergency look at HIV/AIDS or emergency 

look at malaria, in the short term suffered because many of the 

women who would be women as birth attendants moved into these 

areas of care. One of the ideas of the initiative is to help rebalance 

that care in the health field so that it covers such things as maternal mortality, birthing, et cetera, et cetera. Thank you. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. Ms. Watson? 

Ms. WATSON. I want to shift the questioning a bit to Mr. Ambassador Carson. In your testimony, you mentioned the political environment in Burundi and Rwanda, and both nations are quickly approaching elections that we hope will be fair and peaceful yet. 

There are 200,000 weapons in Burundi, and most of the over 25-

year-old population is unemployed and frustrated, and there have 

been violent clashes among the five ruling parties. 

The Government of Burundi’s decision to expel a Human Rights 

Watch researcher is also very disturbing, and Rwanda similarly 

has recently suspended two newspapers, prevented some political 

parties from registering for the election, also denied the visa to a 

Human Rights Researcher. The question is in the face of such adversity, what kind of elections can we really expect, and what can 

be done to reduce the violence before or after the elections, and will 

any election results hold legitimacy with the public? 

Mr. CARSON. I think that both of these countries have had very, 

very traumatic histories in which they have faced great adversity 

and civil unrest, and they are both coming out of long periods of 

adversity. I think that we have worked with and encouraged both 

governments to hold elections that are credible and fair, that they 

should in fact open up political space for the opposition, that they 

should allow civil society to participate, and we continue to encourage them to move in a positive direction. 

Despite the violence that we have seen in Burundi, progress is 

being made in that country and that it is coming back from a long 

period of greater instability. In Rwanda, we continue to encourage 

the government to build on the progress that it has made since the 

genocide of 1994 and not to begin to stall its political process or to 

allow it to move back. 

Ms. WATSON. Let me ask you if do we get the international election observation groups like the Carter Center involved prior to 

these elections? We know they will come in, these international organizations, during an election as observers. I have been part of 

that group from time to time. What are we doing prior to help 

them know how to run good and effective elections? 

Mr. CARSON. In Burundi we have been extremely active in helping the government improve the climate for multi-party activities. 

We have worked not only via the Carter Center but also the Woodrow Wilson Center. The National Democratic Institute also has 

been engaged and involved on the ground. 

Ms. WATSON. Is that ongoing? 

47

Mr. CARSON. These are ongoing. We also ourselves in the Department of State have a robust democracy and governance program 

that we fund to help support elections, and we have contributed a 

substantial amount to the government to help ensure that the elections are run and run freely and fairly, so we are engaged, and we 

are actively monitoring the situation in Burundi and also in Rwanda. 

Ms. WATSON. I was stunned. Which one of the countries has 23 

parties? 

Mr. CARSON. That is Burundi. 

Ms. WATSON. How does that work? 

Mr. CARSON. It is in fact democracy at its best. 

Ms. WATSON. I will have to look into that more. Let me move on 

to Ambassador Moore. 

Mr. CARSON. Lots of public participation. 

Ms. WATSON. Exactly. Everyone in the public is in a party in the 

legislature. Okay. Ambassador Moore, your testimony noted that 

Rwanda has made extraordinary progress to improve the economic 

health and social well-being of its people relative to its neighbors, 

and the MCC just recently signed a threshold program to improve 

its progress. Yet, in light of the coming elections, newspapers have 

been closed and political parties unable to register. 

Rwandans that fled during the genocide are said to be returning 

to the nation, especially as the situation in the DRC worsens, so 

what is the situation currently between the Hutu and the Tutsi, 

and are any of them returning and with what frequency, and will 

this return affect the relationship between the Hutu and the Tutsi? 

I am also glad to hear of the MCC’s threshold program in Rwanda, 

so can you expand on that, and what is USAID’s role in all of this? 

Mr. MOORE. Thank you, ma’am. Let me see if I can sort of systematically try to answer your question. 

Ms. WATSON. Yes. 

Mr. MOORE. I do believe that there is a continued return of displaced persons to Rwanda. Part of that is pushed from the places 

they currently are living as conditions deteriorate, but part of that 

is a pull from Rwanda from the economic success. 

Ms. WATSON. Right. 

Mr. MOORE. I think you contrasted some of the things that may 

be viewed as economic success with some of the things that may 

be viewed as political lack of success, but on the economic side, 

there has been a lot of success in Rwanda, and it has attracted returns. Does that create problems? Yes, it does create problems. 

Rwanda is an area that has a very high population density. As one 

attracts people back to the country, it creates issues of land tenure, 

land ownership, and who has rights to use what land. 

They have been, in some areas, very successful in integrating 

those populations. I would say from my visits there I certainly 

haven’t noticed that it contributes to an increased ethnic tension. 

It has in some ways caused them to do their economic business in 

some different ways. For example, they have moved from pastoralists, who are wandering pastoralists, toward a more settled form of 

both milk production and meat production and converted some of 

their farms into growing traditional grasses for cows so that they 

48

can produce dairy by holding the cow in a pen rather than allowing 

the cow to wander. Let me see. 

Ms. WATSON. That is all right. 

Mr. MOORE. I think I have covered the highlights. 

Ms. WATSON. Yes, you have given us an overview, and my time 

is up. If I may, Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to go back to Ambassador Carson, and you mentioned the funding that comes out of 

State Department for these election activities. Do we fund you adequately enough to do this tremendous job you are trying to do in 

that area of the world? 

Mr. CARSON. Democracy and governance in Africa is President 

Obama’s principal foreign policy objective and priority in and 

across the continent. He said as such in his speech in Cairo in June 

of last year when he spoke before the Parliament. Additional monies and resources to fund the number one priority are always useful. We can never spend enough on helping to strengthen the principles of good governance which are fundamental to both our 

human rights protection as well as the strength of economies. 

Ms. WATSON. Well, I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that I 

think our monies that we give and donate to these countries could 

be well used rather than our monies that we put into fighting wars 

that have no end to them, and the $15 billion we put in a month 

to Iraq to me was wasted money, and we lost lives, too. We have 

a difficult time with budgeting as you know with these deficits, but 

I can see these countries through the efforts through the State Department, your efforts, making progress. 

It might seem small, but it is, and they can use the money we 

give more effectively than we do, and the USAID is an example of 

finding ways and giving monies to NGOs because I think they do 

a better job, but anyway, I would hope that we can have some concentration on funding the activities in these countries because I 

think the continent of Africa is the resource we are going to be 

looking toward in the next 10 years right now in terms of supplying our needs in this country, too. 

Helping to settle and stabilize that continent would help us in 

other areas of the world, so thank you very much, and I am sorry 

to use so much time, but I think these are important statements 

with these very informed experts here. Thank you. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much, Congresswoman. Mr. Royce? 

Mr. ROYCE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I was going to ask a question of Ambassador Carson that relates to the referendum on independence of southern Sudan. That is looming, I think, in January 

of next year. The worry for a lot of people that have looked at this 

is that unless the LRA is permanently dealt with now that given 

the reported ties they have had in the past in terms of both munitions they have received and training and then especially recently 

sending some of their officers to Khartoum to be patched up, the 

worry is that Khartoum might put that killing squad to work if 

things went from bad to worse in south Sudan. I want to ask you 

about that. 

Mr. CARSON. Congressman Royce, thank you. Let me first of all 

say that we are committed to the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that was signed in Naivasha, Kenya, 

back in January 2005, and the key component of that agreement 

49

is the opportunity for the people of southern Sudan to participate 

in a referendum, which should be held in January 2011, to determine whether they want to remain as part of a united Sudan or 

a part of an independent souther Sudan. We think it is important 

that Comprehensive Peace Agreement be fully implemented and 

that the will of the southern Sudanese be allowed to take expression. 

With respect to the LRA, we are deeply concerned about the continued activities of Joseph Kony and the LRA. They have moved 

out of Uganda into the northeastern part of the Congo into the 

area around the Garamba Forest and have occasionally forged further north into the Central African Republic and also into parts of 

the southern Sudan. We have committed ourselves to being of assistance to the Ugandan Government as they have attempted to 

track down one of the most violent killers in Africa, and we remain 

supportive of Ugandan efforts consistent with the Ugandan Government securing the permission of neighboring states to have 

their troops operate across borders. 

Mr. ROYCE. Very good. Well, let me also ask you about two other 

issues, one Ethiopia and the other Rwanda, where I think we need 

to lean in. After the 2005 election where the opposition did too well 

for his liking President Meles began a process where political opponents and local journalists were often jailed. Foreign journalists 

were denied visas. The government there jams our VOA broadcasts 

despite the fact that they receive nearly $1 billion of aid. The State 

Department reports that the Ethiopian Security Services commit 

politically motivated killings, so the Meles government has the repression thing down pretty well. 

As I have said before, only brutal Eritrea next door makes Ethiopia look good. There was a piece in the New York Times with a 

comment by a dissident, but basically the government there is committed to revolutionary democracy, and that is a collectivism that 

tolerates no dissent. The New York Times quotes this prominent 

Ethiopian dissident saying they still have this leftist ideology that 

the Vanguard party is right for the people. Well, they always will, 

and we need to lean in hard. We have to speak out more about the 

human rights violations that occur there. Otherwise, these elections become a charade. 

On Rwanda, I thought you put it well in your paper. You said, 

‘‘In a period of months, the Government of Rwanda has suspended 

two newspapers, revoked the work permit and denied the visa of 

a Human Rights Watch researcher and arrested and subsequently 

released on bail an opposition leader.’’ Well, Paul Rusesabagina 

wrote in the Wall Street Journal the other day, ‘‘Warning signs are 

everywhere.’’ Then, we have the problem in the eastern Congo that 

Rwanda continues. 

As Human Rights Watch reported, ‘‘[T]he Rwandan Government 

has repeatedly backed Congolese rebel groups willing to fight the 

Hutu militias. Since 1996, Rwanda has backed three different Congolese rebel groups (and sometimes other splinter factions) who 

agreed to fight the Rwanda Hutu militias,’’ but here is the other 

part of that, the real difficulty of it is those same groups also see 

the overthrow of the government in Kinshasa. 

50

You mentioned that you are stepping up your engagement on 

conflict minerals. This is of course another problem with respect to 

the extraction the Rwandans are doing in the eastern Congo. It is 

a good place to start, but how do we bring additional pressure and 

muscle to bare on both Ethiopia and Rwanda so that in the future 

there are elections there in which people actually have an opportunity to bring about the rule of law, and you don’t have a continuance of problems? 

I see Mr. Wolpe here. We appreciate the special envoy’s engagement to try to solve these problems. If civil society really sees a 

hopeful future where everyone has a place, and there is freedom of 

speech, and there is the ability of upward mobility because you 

have a more open society, there is a better chance of resolving conflicts. Ambassador? 

Mr. CARSON. Congressman Royce, we do a number of things in 

both Rwanda and also Ethiopia, and across the continent with respect to issues of democracy and government. We engage with senior government officials encouraging them to strengthen their 

democratic institutions, to provide for freedom of the press, provide 

for greater opportunities for civil society, improvement of independent electoral commissions so that when elections are held, people will have confidence that they have credibility. 

We encourage groups like NDI, NED, IRI, and the Carter Center 

to become engaged in democracy-building programs. We encourage 

the growth of civil society at all levels so that they can become 

more active in terms of their participation as well as in their ability to audit and review government activities. We work with our 

diplomatic colleagues from other democracies and encourage them 

to engage with governments, and we do that, and we speak out aggressively. 

Mr. ROYCE. Well, we should shout from the rooftops if we are giving $1 billion to Ethiopia and they are simultaneously jamming our 

VOA broadcasts. I can’t even imagine what would be so objectionable that they have to jam the broadcasts. These corrupt elections 

in these countries receive so much largess and support from the 

United States. I agree on the engagement, and I know how much 

you are engaged. 

Sometimes we just have to bellow and shout. Otherwise how are 

we going to change the dynamics in Ethiopia to make sure once all 

of the newspapers, beyond that once all the reporters have been 

jailed, and the opposition are either jailed or intimidated that if 

you join the opposition you might be? Additionally VOA broadcasts 

can’t even come into the country. How are people going to get news 

and information? 

Mr. CARSON. Let me just speak to a couple of those points, and 

you talked about shouting very clearly. 

Mr. ROYCE. Yes. Right. 

Mr. CARSON. I will send you, Congressman Royce, the letter that 

was sent from the State Department to Prime Minister Meles 

about the issue of jamming VOA. It was in fact very strong. It was 

very clear, and it was very forceful. We note in the world that there 

are probably only four or five nations that attempt to jam VOA 

today, and I think that Ethiopia does not want to be included 

51

amongst them, and of course those are nations such as Cuba and 

North Korea. 

Mr. ROYCE. Yes. 

Mr. CARSON. We appreciate the level of collaboration that we receive from Ethiopia in a number of areas, but we also believe the 

Ethiopia must do better in strengthening its democratic institutions. Ethiopia went to the polls on Sunday, just a couple of days 

ago, and while the elections were calm and peaceful and largely 

without any kind of violence, we note with some degree of remorse 

that the elections there were not up to international standards. 

We note that over the last 11⁄2 years to 18 months that the government has taken clear and decisive steps that would ensure that 

it would garner an electoral victory, and that is indeed what has 

happened because of the level of opposition representation that appears to have won seats in the legislative branch of the Ethiopian 

Government has dropped quite significantly. It is important that 

Ethiopia move forward in strengthening its democratic institutions, 

and when elections are held that it level the playing field to give 

everyone a free opportunity to participate without fear or favor. 

Mr. ROYCE. I appreciate that, Ambassador. The international 

community has been speaking out about his election not being 

credible, and I also appreciate your words as well, and thank you 

very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you. Mr. Miller? 

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is apparent from conversations if not from public statements that some of the international community’s earlier enthusiasm for the Museveni government in Uganda has dimmed substantially and seems on a trajectory to dim much further. Both of you in your testimony apparently 

suggest that governments in this region should not be judged by 

how they compare to an ideal, but by whether they are getting better or getting worse, and it appears that on democratic governance 

issues at least, Uganda is getting worse. 

Mr. Moore, you said in your testimony that USAID is expanding 

programs directly related to the 2011 elections in the Ugandan 

elections to support electoral process, assistance to parties, civil society, and obviously no civil society or no election is going to work 

very well without an independent media. There is now legislation 

pending in the Ugandan Parliament to require annual licensing for 

all newspapers and will allow the license to be revoked if the newspaper publishes anything prejudicial to national security stability 

or unity amounts to economic sabotage or is injurious to Uganda’s 

relations with new neighbors or friendly countries. 

It is pretty hard to imagine that kind of threat of revocation of 

a license would square with anything we would regard as freedom 

of the press or that it would serve the Uganda people very well in 

preparing for an election to get the information that they need. Are 

both of you aware of this pending legislation? What are the implications for democratic governance in Uganda, and are there other 

signs of democratic decline in Uganda leading up to the February 

elections? 

Mr. CARSON. Congressman Miller, I am aware of the legislation. 

I think that it is not very thoughtful legislation. The Ugandan 

media has spoken out against it. even the government-owned New 

52

Vision newspaper, which is the most widely read and most widely 

circulated paper in the country has also editorialized against this 

media legislation as well. I am sure that our embassy has also 

weighed in and made their views known to members of the government there about what they think of this legislation, but let me 

just say in general terms about Uganda and the issue of democratization. 

It is important that Uganda not move backwards, that it not 

stall but continue to move forward in strengthening its democratic 

institutions. Last Thursday, I had an opportunity to make a very 

quick trip to Uganda, and I had an opportunity to speak with the 

President of the country as well as with several senior ministers 

in that country, and while the nature of my visit had to do with 

broader foreign policy issues, I specifically raised the issue of democratization and the strengthening of democratic institutions 

with the President. 

I can say this very clearly because if you had a copy of the New 

Vision, you would see that for the 2 days that I was in country, 

on both days there were widely-reported stories of why I was coming to Uganda and what the response was, but I spoke to the President and senior ministers among other things about making the 

election commission more broadly representative of society in general and making it more credible. 

I also spoke to him about the registration process and the need 

to ensure that all Ugandans had an opportunity to be registered 

and to be able to participate in next year’s vote. The discussions 

were wide ranging, and most instances when I am traveling around 

the continent, I will talk very clearly to leaders about the need to 

strengthen their democratic institutions. This is important for us, 

but it is even more important for African countries and the stability and growth of their democracies. As I said earlier, it is a 

major priority of the administration to continue to encourage democratic progress and to do so in a manner that benefits all the people and not just a few. 

Mr. MILLER. Okay. Mr. Moore, you have spoken in your testimony several times of land reform, tenure reform, tenure security, 

property rights. Obviously, it leads to conflict as you had said. It 

certainly can lead to great injustice, but it also makes economic development almost impossible for their to be no tenure security. No 

on is going to invest in improving land if the land may be taken 

from them arbitrarily and if their improvements make it more likely that it will be taken from them arbitrarily. 

I have introduced legislation that I hope becomes part of the foreign assistance reauthorization to focus more on rapid urbanization 

and tenure security, but could you describe for us, you have mentioned it, but in more detail what we are doing in DRC, in Rwanda, 

in Burundi, to encourage a land tenure property right reform? 

Mr. MOORE. Thank you, Congressman. It is an area that is an 

emerging area of concern for the Agency not just in the countries 

you have mentioned but pretty wide-ranging in Africa, including 

Liberia and a variety of other places. What are we doing? To date, 

we generally have had one full time land-tenure expert. That is 

moving to a land tenure team. We are as an Agency I think recruitVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:23 Aug 23, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00056 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 F:\WORK\AGH\052510\56682 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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ing an additional four other members for that team. The current 

person spends about 60 percent of his time in Africa. 

We, the Africa Bureau, are bringing on a full-time land tenure 

person who will work with the existing expert, and what we are 

doing is working both with agriculture ministries and land ministries, where they exist, to ascertain what really are the tenure 

rules of the country, and in particular where there are both traditional tenure rules and modern legal rules, trying to resolve the 

differences between those so that countries can move forward with 

one system of land tenure that provides secure tenure for its citizens. 

In particular, one of the things we are looking at is the role of 

women in land tenure. We know that women make up 70 percent 

of the agricultural force, and often they are reduced to agricultural 

labor because they don’t have control of that land. That is one of 

the things in particular we are looking at in land tenure. 

Mr. MILLER. Okay. Mr. Moore, I understand how important it is 

in agricultural areas. It is also important in urban settings, in the 

slums of the rapidly urbanizing cities of Africa. The absolute lack 

of any kind of tenure makes it almost impossible that housing will 

be anything more than a shack without water or sewer or electricity or anything else. Mr. Chairman, thank you. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. Ms. Woolsey? 

Ms. WOOLSEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for keeping this going 

long enough for me to leave and come back. I appreciate you. Mr. 

Moore, in your testimony, you said that gender and women’s empowerment is very important, and in your written testimony, you 

noted that the lifetime risk of maternal death ranges from one and 

13 in DRC and one in 25 in Uganda, so with resources that the 

United States and the international community have dedicated to 

reduce maternal mortality, why are these numbers so high? 

What about our current policies and practices or the region’s current policies and practices need to be changed to improve these 

numbers, and what are the biggest challenges to making real 

changes for women throughout the region? 

Mr. MOORE. Thank you, ma’am. I may have touched on this a bit 

while you were out. I think that one of the things quite honestly, 

as I said earlier, is that there were a variety of health issues that 

we looked at as emergencies, and as we looked as those as emergencies, we tended to move away from systematic care to deal with 

particular diseases or particular health concerns, and one of the focuses of the President’s health initiative is that we would more 

comprehensively focus on health systems. 

That comprehensive focus on health systems allows us, I think, 

to help to engage a broader range of technical experts, including 

birthing assistants, and to allow women, particularly pregnant 

women, to have a system that responds more broadly to their 

needs. I think if you look historically at maternal and child health, 

it sort of dipped and then went up I think as we looked more at 

individual diseases in emergency settings. The desire is to look 

more comprehensively so that begins to dip again. 

Ms. WOOLSEY. Well, I don’t want to take anything away from 

malaria and HIV/AIDS or any of those programs, but I would like 

maternal mortality to have that same level of support and interest. 

54

On another subject, both of you, it is so clear that it is the women 

and children who suffer at the hands of a bunch of dudes, not just 

in developing nations, but really all over the world, but the more 

educated area or a region or a country, the more civilized it usually 

is, and you have said that the youth population like in Burundi, 

50 percent of the population is under 25. 

How are we educating these youths so that they will then become 

adults who care about each other and not just about competing and 

ending up with women and children being the brunt of the whole 

program? So education, how are we educating? 

Mr. MOORE. Let me make a few remarks on that. As you are 

aware, the United States is one of the traditional leaders, particularly in basic education and increasingly in higher education. One 

of the things that we talk about and debate quite a bit is the missing aspects of vocational education, which should be targeted in 

particular at youth bulges. We have a number of countries that 

have huge youth bulges, and in those settings we have a number 

of employers who complain that they are not able to find people 

who have the particular skills that they need for employment. 

One of the big areas, for example, one would find is with hotel 

workers or the hospitality field where they feel that some targeted 

education might be useful in helping those youth to acquire the 

type of skills that are needed so that they can enter the hospitality 

area. We have just begun under our new administrator to look at 

some of the ways we might be able to respond to some of these 

needs and to look particularly at some new partners in the United 

States that may be useful in responding there. 

One of the things that comes to mind is for many of the areas 

where there has been an expressed desire by employers, and we 

might be able to have some public/private partnerships or training 

that in the United States is actually provided by what we would 

refer to as community colleges or junior colleges. That is one of the 

areas that I think increasingly as we look at the needs for youth 

bulge particularly as it relates to employment that we are going to 

have to get engaged in education. 

Ms. WOOLSEY. But what about the challenge that schools are 

‘free,‘ but it is the cost of the monthly fee that the parents can’t 

scrape up, so their kids don’t go to school half the time? I mean, 

these are little kids, and they can’t go into vocational education if 

they haven’t had any education. 

Mr. MOORE. That is an issue I am not sure I have an immediate 

answer for you on that. 

Ms. WOOLSEY. Well, I think it needs to be addressed. In something I read just this weekend, I can’t even remember what paper, 

I read so many of them, about families spending more money on 

tobacco and liquor that they do for their kids to go to school in a 

month or a week, so that is something I think that needs to be addressed and needs to be worked on because these children are our 

future, and we know it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you very much. We will have a very short second round, and we will limit the time, but I just have a couple of 

quick questions. The Government of Rwanda and DRC have sort of 

had contentions throughout the years, and I know that there was 

an agreement signed in November 2007 in Kenya that sort of startVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:23 Aug 23, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00058 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 F:\WORK\AGH\052510\56682 HFA PsN: SHIRL
55

ed to create a better work relationship. How is the work relationship going between the two countries? Have they established diplomatic ties? They were going to exchange ambassadors perhaps at 

one time at the lower level. How is that moving along, Mr. Carson, 

Ambassador? 

Mr. CARSON. Mr. Chairman, the relationship between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda has improved dramatically over the last 18 months and certainly is a marked improvement over where it was 5, 6, 7 or 8 years ago. The improvement 

can be seen in a number of areas. One, there has in fact been an 

exchange of diplomatic relations. Both countries have now opened 

up embassies in their respective capitals, and they have also exchanged ambassadors. 

The two Presidents, President Kagame of Rwanda and President 

Kabila of the DRC have met on several occasions, and we hear that 

they in fact do talk to one another telephonically on a periodic 

basis, but probably the most dramatic sign of the improvement between the two countries occurred approximately 15, 16 months ago 

when the government of President Kabila permitted the Rwandan 

Government to send troops across the border into the eastern 

Congo in order to help to flush out some of the rebel groups who 

were a part of the old Interahamwe. 

The Rwandan troops stayed for several months and then went 

back across the border. They have not been back again. That was 

done with the permission of the DRC Government and the permission of President Kabila, but relations have improved significantly. 

We hope that they will remain on an upward trajectory. It is absolutely essential that they work together at all levels and very collaboratively if the problems of that region are to be resolved. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you. I know that Rwanda has several battalions of peacekeepers in Darfur, and I just wonder how significant 

is that, and how their contribution in the peace keeping in Darfur 

is working? 

Mr. CARSON. The Rwandan Government is to be complimented 

on its commitment to peace keeping efforts not only in Darfur but 

in other parts of Africa. They have a very skilled and professional 

army, and their soldiers have turned out to be very able peacekeepers. They have performed extremely well according to reports 

that we have seen in their engagement in Darfur, and a senior 

Rwandan officer has also served as a senior commander in the 

U.N. peace keeping mission in that region so that in Darfur they 

get a very positive and high mark for their peace keeping commitment and performance. 

Mr. PAYNE. And finally, about Rwanda, with the tens of thousands of people who had taken part in the genocide and many that 

are still in detention, a large number through the Gacaca system 

have been released. How is that system working, and do you see 

their release of more of the people who are incarcerated speeding 

up? 

Mr. CARSON. The Gacaca system has worked extraordinarily well 

given the large number of individuals who were involved in the 

genocide in 1994 where there were clearly not just hundreds but 

thousands of individuals across the country who were complicitous 

in some of the enormous violence that went on from April to NoVerDate 0ct 09 2002 14:23 Aug 23, 2010 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6601 F:\WORK\AGH\052510\56682 HFA PsN: SHIRL
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vember of ’94. The Gacaca system, of course, is a uniquely Rwandan system. It has been effective. 

We continue to monitor its operations, and we certainly encourage the Rwandan Government to exercise with care the rights of 

all of those who were in Gacaca detention situations and that those 

who in fact are rehabilitated and should be released should be released, but the system has run fairly well. 

Mr. PAYNE. Thank you, and just finally, Mr. Moore, with the social issues going on in Uganda—the anti-gay legislation, homosexual legislation—has the USAID attempted to work with government officials in trying to sort of explain or work with them in 

their governance? I mean, some of the legislation was pretty extreme. How have we dealt with that from a USAID standpoint? 

Mr. MOORE. I don’t think we have dealt with it directly. What 

we have tended to do as we look at Uganda in the area of governance is to try to find those areas on a local level where civil society 

and NGOs and local governance can come together or around some 

things that are positive in terms of moving those communities forward, and then based upon that relationship at local areas see how 

that can be moved up to a national level so that there are those 

same alliances that are working to solve problems. We probably 

have worked more on the process of solving problems than we have 

on looking at any particular thing that one may or may not decide 

is problematic. 

Mr. PAYNE. Okay. Mr. Smith? 

Mr. SMITH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Could you tell us the total 

amount of direct and indirect U.S. funding for the Kenya Constitution reform processes, including money to the committee of experts 

and the civic education program that is now underway? And secondly, what has been the U.S. position on the extraordinarily controversial part of that, which would legalize abortion for health reasons? 

Mr. CARSON. Congressman Smith, I cannot tell you, but I certainly will find out how much we have spent in supporting the reform of the Constitution in Kenya, and so that number probably is 

available, and I will make a earnest effort to get it. 

Mr. SMITH. I would appreciate it, and could you provide us the 

information as to what role, if any, we played with regards to the 

extremely controversial piece of that? The abortion provision has 

been so named by even the chairman of the committee on experts, 

who said that it is one of the top most controversial aspects to it 

that Kenya will go from a country that protected its unborn children in almost every instance to being an abortion-on-demand 

country, if this were to be ratified. 

Mr. CARSON. We will find out, but again, we have not been involved in the internal deliberations of any particular clauses or 

amendments to the Constitution. What we have encouraged the 

Kenyan authorities to do is to produce a Constitution which incorporates all of the key elements of a strong democratic institution. 

Mr. SMITH. A little over 2 years ago, the U.N. Population Fund 

and China’s population control police invited the health ministers 

and other top officials in sub-Saharan African countries to Beijing 

to talk about child limitation policies. When that meeting was over, 

at least one very high official, Paul Kagame of Rwanda, said that 

57

he wanted to implement a three-child-per-couple policy. Now, as I 

think you know, Mr. Ambassador, China’s policy of one child per 

couple is among the cruelest violations of women’s rights in human 

history. 

There are at least 100 million girls missing due to feticide or 

gendercide, I should say, where children are targeted because of 

their gender, killed by abortions simply because they happen to be 

female. It is outrageous, and yet this has been enabled by the 

UNFPA since 1979. The international community has been largely 

silent, and now we see countries in Africa actively looking at 

whether or not they need that kind of child limitation. 

I would point out parenthetically that Margaret Sanger in her 

books, and she actually wrote a book called Child Limitation, which 

talked about the ‘‘cruelty of charity’’ of helping indigent women 

have children. She wrote in her book, ‘‘The Pivot of Civilization’’—

she is the founder of Planned Parenthood—and she made it very 

clear, that there are certain ethnicities, certain people who should 

not procreate, and Africans were among those that she singled out 

that should not have children. Absolutely racist in my opinion. She 

was a eugenicist, no doubt about it. She clearly stated that anyone 

who was handicapped, disabled, in any way shouldn’t be allowed to 

live. 

Having said that, Kagame’s statement about a three-child-percouple-policy is, in my opinion, and many others I would suggest, 

very dangerous to children. It shreds the welcome mate for a child. 

Mr. Moore, you talked about population pressures. You talked 

about the growth. I would hope that wouldn’t become a pretext for 

the U.S. Government supporting a child limitation policy whether 

it be three children per couple, or as we see in the PRC, the one 

child. It inevitably leads to coercion, and it makes children profoundly unwelcomed. Do we take a position on child limitation? 

Mr. CARSON. Congressman Smith, I am unaware of the conference that you just mentioned in which the Chinese Government 

invited healthcare officials from Africa to attend. We will certainly 

look at it and see what the history of this is, and this is actually 

the first time that I have heard anything about President Kagame 

or Rwanda having a three-child-per-family policy. I am totally unaware of that as well. 

Mr. SMITH. Mr. Moore, are you? If you could check into it? I actually raised it with Paul Kagame myself. He acknowledged that it 

is accurate. But again he had the false sense that economic growth 

like what is going on in China. Economists now are beginning to 

recognize that not only can men not find women to marry because 

they are missing, because they have been killed by sex selection 

abortions, but the economic problems that China will soon begin to 

see are potentially catastrophic. I hope there will be lessons 

learned from China that are not misapplied because he came back 

feeling that if you want economic growth, you need child-limitation 

policies. 

Please get back to me for the record. But do we, in drafting legislation, in any way encourage the legalization of abortion with countries like Uganda, with countries like Rwanda? Do you know? 

Mr. MOORE. I believe, sir, the answer to that is no. 

58

Mr. SMITH. Okay. Let me ask you, in terms of the moratorium 

on ARVs, if you could elaborate on the impact that it is having on 

the unmet need of men and women who are HIV positive, whether 

or not anyone else is picking up the slack, and given the fact that 

many people will die, will you be coming to Congress or looking to 

take monies from other accounts and make sure that perhaps we 

grow that number? I talked to a lot of the partners in the field, and 

they are very concerned that huge numbers of people will die because ARVs were not available to them. You are going to get back 

to us on that? 

Mr. MOORE. I will get back to you on that. 

Mr. SMITH. I appreciate that, Mr. Moore. Finally, if I could ask 

you about the light infantry battalion military training that we are 

providing. Years ago, when we trained up Kopassus in Indonesia, 

we heard reports of human rights abuses committed by those who 

we had trained. I actually convened a hearing and went to Indonesia as Habibie took over from the Suharto regime and people 

that we had trained, we believe—but we could never prove it—in 

urban gorilla warfare were actually killing people in the streets. 

My question to you is what kind of human rights training are we 

providing? Are we keeping track of the trainees to ensure that 

there is accountability? How many trainers are there? Where is 

this actually happening? Could you provide us the who, what, 

when, where? I know the why of it, but maybe that as well because 

obviously it is a good idea. We want to train professional military 

men and women with good components of anti-human trafficking 

and human rights concerns, but if you could give us the whole 

package on that, I would deeply appreciate it. 

Mr. CARSON. We certainly will. Just two quick sentence. We vet 

all of the individuals who participate in our military training programs according to the Leahy amendment, and with respect to the 

training that is going on in Kisangani right now, a portion of that 

training is devoted to human rights protection and respect for the 

civil liberties for civilians. it is an integral part of what our people 

on the ground are teaching to the unit that is being trained by the 

U.S. 

Mr. SMITH. And just one final thing. Will Uganda back the U.Slead effort for Iranian sanctions at the U.N. Security Council? 

Mr. CARSON. Let me say that I sincerely hope so. That was the 

purpose of my visit to Uganda last week. I hope that the Ugandans 

will in fact support us. It is absolutely essential that they do. 

Mr. PAYNE. Let me thank both of you for this excellent hearing. 

We are getting a lot information out. We really appreciate it. We 

will be following up on a few issues, but once again, thank you. I 

would also like to commend my members, nine members at a subcommittee hearing is very commendable, and so I appreciate their 

interest. With that, I ask unanimous consent to enter testimony 

from John Prendergast of the Enough Campaign into the record. 

Without objection, so ordered, and also I ask unanimous consent 

that members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. Without objection. So ordered. Thank you very much. The 

meeting stands adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12:21 p.m. the committee was adjourned.] 

(59)

A P P E N D I X 

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING RECORD

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56682n.eps
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56682m.eps
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56682c-3.eps
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