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Obama urged to cut aid to Rwanda as DR Congo conflict gets renewed attention in Congress
President Obama should immediately cut all military aid to Rwanda and appoint a presidential envoy to respond to the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 15 human-rights organizations urged in a letter to the president Monday.
“As the situation once again dramatically deteriorates in eastern Congo, the U.S. response to the crisis has patently failed and is out of step with other Western nations,” the letter states. “The United States must take immediate steps to address meaningfully one of the greatest ongoing humanitarian crises of our generation.”
The letter comes ahead of Tuesday's hearing on the situation by the House Foreign Affairs panel on Africa. John Prendergast of the Enough Project, one of the groups that signed the letter, is slated to testify.
The administration has come under intensifying criticism for trying to shield its ally Rwanda from U.N. investigations linking the country to a rebel group, known as M23, that has taken over eastern parts of the country. The administration has already cut about $200,000 in military funding for the group in response to the reports, but the groups want to see all military and other non-humanitarian aid suspended.
The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo carries added political significance on Capitol Hill because Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations whose potential nomination to be secretary of State has come under attack by Republicans, is seen as a close ally of Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Rice's role during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, when she was the top Africa expert at the State Department during former President Clinton's administration and opted not to intervene, has also come under fire.
