Advocacy Groups, Congo Experts Applaud Appointment of Special Envoy Feingold
Posted by Garrett Moore on Jun 20, 2013
U.S. Special Envoy Russ Feingold
You did it. Senator Feingold is the new U.S. Special Envoy for Congo
On June 18, Secretary of State John Kerry announced the appointment of
former Senator Russ Feingold as the new U.S. special envoy to the
Great Lakes Region of Africa. This is a huge development, especially
since Enough Project activists have been calling on President Obama
and Secretary Kerry to appoint a high-level envoy for several months.
108,000 petitioners, led by Congolese women’s activist Neema Namadamu,
called for this through a Change.org petition, which was delivered to
the White House by Robin Wright in February.
John Prendergast and Sasha Lezhnev of the Enough Project joined
Anthony W. Gambino, Stephen Weissman, and 17 other regional experts
and prominent advocacy groups in congratulating Special Envoy Feingold
on his new position.
In an open letter , the organizations and experts called on Sen.
Feingold to use U.S. leverage and incentives to act on two major
causes of instability and violence – the failure of democratic
elections and institutions in Congo, and the lack of a comprehensive
peace process for the Great Lakes Region.
The letter states:
There are so many terrible symptoms of the crisis afflicting the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and its Great Lakes neighbors – and
so many international efforts to deal with them – that policy makers
can lose sight of the fundamental roots of these problems. In our
view, the U.S. and the international community have failed to give
sufficient priority to two root causes: (1) the failure of DRC’s
democratic elections and institutions and (2) the absence of a
comprehensive regional peace process. Unless these central issues are
addressed, ongoing international programs to strengthen Congolese
security forces, improve governance, promote human rights, and foster
sustainable economic development will founder.
The U.S. Special Representative will need to work closely with U.N.
Special Envoy Mary Robinson to help achieve democratic reform and
peace in the region. Sen. Feingold can help create benchmarks to
ensure the government of Congo is fulfilling its commitments to
political reform and the inclusion of civil society leaders,
particularly women’s groups, in any sort of national dialogue on these
issues. It is particularly important that the U.S. condemn the
continuation of past support to armed groups, namely M23, in the
region by the governments of Rwanda and Uganda.
The letter also recommends support for MONUSCO, the U.N. peacekeeping
mission in Congo, and its disarmament, demobilization, reintegration,
repatriation, and resettlement, or DDR/RR, programs for armed groups.
Additionally, by tackling the conflict minerals trade, further
progress can be made in weakening armed groups. The U.S., World Bank,
and other international partners can help by condemning and
sanctioning those that support illicit trade and offering incentives
for conflict-free, transparent sourcing and investments that support
development in national and regional infrastructure.
The signatories are hopeful that the appointment of Senator Feingold
will be a turning point for Congo. Feingold has a strong record in
human rights work and should work closely with Mary Robinson. The
Congo experts urge the U.S. to concentrate its efforts on democratic
reform and a holistic peace process to bring peace and stability to
Congo and the war-torn region.
The signatories include: Anthony W. Gambino, former USAID Mission
Director to the DRC; Stephen R. Weissman, Former Staff Director; House
of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa; John Prendergast and Sasha
Lezhnev of the Enough Project; Mark Schneider of the International
Crisis Group; David Abramowitz of Humanity United; Sarah Pray of the
Open Society Policy Center; Jason K. Stearns of the Rift Valley
Institute; Wynnette LaBrosse of Open Square; Jolly Okot and Lisa
Dougan of Invisible Children; Dr. Denis Mukwege of Panzi Hospital;
Michael Poffenberger of The Resolve; Michel Gabaudan of Refugees
International; Jacques Bahati of the Africa Faith and Justice Network;
Vukasin Petrovic of Freedom House; Sean D. Carasso and Monique Beadle
of Falling Whistles; Alysha Atma of the Atma Foundation;Timi Gerson of
American Jewish World Service; and Naama Haviv of Jewish World Watch.
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