Chris Smith: “I want to thank my good friend and colleague, the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Royce…”

“I want to thank my good friend and colleague, the distinguished chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Royce; Ranking Member Eliot Engel; and Ms. Bass, who is the ranking member on the Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations Subcommittee, for their strong support for this legislation, H. Res. 780, which seeks to avoid a looming crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or DRC, by urging respect for the constitution of that country in a peaceful, democratic transition of power. Mr. Speaker, on November 19--just days from now--the DRC was supposed to hold elections for President and the Parliament. However, after stalling on election preparations for more than a year, the government of President Kabila has used a constitutional loophole to extend his rule despite the opposition of not only political opponents but also his country's citizens. In a recent poll done in partnership with the Congo Research Group at New York University, President Kabila had less than 8 percent support among his people. U.S. officials believe that he has lost even more support in the months since that poll was taken. Mr. Speaker, from 1996 to 2006, more than 3 million people died in the DRC, more than 4 million were internally displaced as a result of internal and regional wars, and significant violence persists in eastern Congo today--a place that I have visited.…”