U.S. Redoubling Efforts For Peace In The DRC

Talks continue between the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the mutinous M23 rebel group, aimed at resolving an ongoing conflict in the nation’s North Kivu province.

The insurgency has displaced over 300,000 people and aggravated an already dire humanitarian situation in the region. Discussions began in December, but stalled as the M23 made demands well beyond its original complaint that the government failed to adequately implement commitments under a March 2009 peace agreement. The DRC government is committed to the negotiations, but under strict terms.

U.S. Redoubling Efforts For Peace In The DRC

The United States has worked with Congolese leaders and our international partners to help resolve the crisis and respond to the immense humanitarian needs, and is committed to helping to find a path to a lasting peace and a permanent cessation of hostilities. We have called for the M23’s disarmament and demobilization, accountability for human rights abuses and unimpeded access for humanitarian groups to civilians in need.

To further these goals, Secretary of State John Kerry recently appointed former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold as Special Envoy for the Great Lakes and the DRC. His background in and expertise on Africa, including serving on the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs for 18 years, make him an ideal choice to help advance U.S. goals for the region.

During his time in the Senate, Mr. Feingold sponsored and won enactment of measures to aid the victims of human rights abuses by the Lord’s Resistance Army and to address the problem of Africa’s so-called “conflict minerals,” those mined illegally or acquired by violence to fund rebel groups.

As Special Envoy, Feingold will work closely to help implement the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework Agreement, which includes commitments by the DRC to undertake certain governance and security reforms, as well as commitments by other countries in the region to not support armed groups or provide safe haven to war criminals.

The stakes in this part of the world are high. Mr. Feingold’s appointment, as with the appointment of Mary Robinson as the UN Special Envoy to the Great Lakes, and the signing of the February 2013 Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework, has created an historic opportunity to end the cycle of violence in the Great Lakes region.

It is vital that we do everything possible to support the full and prompt implementation of the Framework and the DRC government’s undertaking of key governance and security reforms.