displaced. accurate figures for the number killed are hard to come by. we hope our witnesses will be able to find or shed some light on that. we are told an estimated 2000 people have been killed since december alone. i believe that number is probably a conservative estimate. the reports we receive are bloodcurdling. human rights watch reported on an attack of a muslim neighborhood in the early morning hours of february 1

hatred where little to none had previously existed. what we begin to see happening last november in response was a reactionary backlash by self-defense gangs. since then retaliatory outreaches contributed by anti-balaka has escalated and muslim civilians what nothing to do with balaka became targets. as in the case, whole neighborhoods in the capital city and whole villages have been cleansed of the muslim populations. as we'll hear from our witnesses there are numerous causes could shoot to grievances including a fight to control conflict minerals. in mining area and thus there are economic motives at work there as well. insofar as conflict can be described as religion on one level it's also true religious fervor and dedication that provides the greatest hope of

peace and reconciliation in the central african republic. some of you will recall how a few months ago three great religious leaders came to washington as well us to new york, the united nations, meeting with people both sides of the aisle, both chambers, the white house. one was a muslim islam, another evangelical christian leader and a third catholic bishop. the imam, archbishop, and nicholas longo, the three spoke and i met with them at its only others and was absolutely impressed, in all of their fervor to bring peace and by consolation to the country and to give just like the christians and muslims are trying to do against the boko haram what we saw a recent outrage. greg simpkins and i were the recently last september and met with imam as was the catholic archbishop who have joined arms and linked hand to hand their community to say no to the

extremism on either side, in that case is boko haram. we are seeing the same positive interreligious dialogue and cooperation occurring again here in c.a.r. finally, i want to relate a story about another man of god, someone who those of you who attended our november hearing will remember and remember well. two weeks ago was holy week. holy thursday, but they should be testified at our hearing was visiting a parish with three of his priests. the c.a.r. he was traveling in the stop by gunmen whose leader had appeared occupied his city, his parish. the accused bishop, working with international peacekeepers. they been since him and the other priests to execution and death. the gunman removed his episcopal ring and a large cross he had around his neck, and yo you migt

remember where he sat where you said, secretary jackson, he wore the cross around his neck. the four men were placed in a truck and within driven north to the border with chad to be ordered to to do. on the way to the gallows the truck was stopped again by gunmen. this time commanded by another warlord, who actually knew the bishop and knew that he was a true humanitarian and a man of peace and knew that the bishop provided for over 35,000 displaced people in his parish. whether they were parishioners or not, he just cared for them to give order to bishop and the priests, and through those efforts and the peacekeepers, they were helicoptered act to his home parish in time for good friday. the story hit home with me and i'm sure it will with others who know him. here is someone who i and others shared coffee with, we prayed with them and then we heard him give powerful testimony. his call was to the

internationalist community to get those peacekeepers besides all of the humanitarian aid and other names, he said we need peacekeepers who will stop the carnage and will do it immediately. so i am grateful he survived, continucontinued to his great life-saving and life enhancing work but it just underscores the nature and how everyone come muslims, christians, are at risk, clergy, imams, bishops, they're all at risk in the c.a.r. and we need to redouble our efforts and again i think our witnesses for being. i yield to my friend and colleague for any comments you might have. >> thank you chairman smith. as always thank you for your leadership of this committee and also convening this hearing on the central african republic and the prospects that the ongoing conflicts there might intensify into genocide. i would also like to thank our distinguished witnesses, including ambassador jackson and anne richard from the u.s.

department of state as well as a range of experts from prominent nongovernmental development and advocacy organizations. i look forward to hearing your perspective on the ongoing crisis in the central african republic including getting an update on humanitarian situation and the u.s. and international efforts to address the challenges. including the collaboration with the african union and what ultimate at stake efforts to quell the conflict are not implement with sufficient resources and all deliberate speed. in april i had the honor of traveling to rwanda, burundi and the central african republic is part of the presidential delegation to attend the 20th anniversary of the rwandan genocide, and while on the central african republic leg of the journey, i witnessed firsthand much of the poverty, the chaos and a lack of economic opportunity which in many ways we know a price too much of the

current conflict. in addition to attending the rwandan genocide memorial, when we went to the c.a.r. it's my understanding and traveling with ambassador power that it was the first time a cabinet level official had ever traveled to the nation. we met with a group of muslims and christians, and it was really just tragic to hear their testimonies and other stories. there was one woman who spoke with the and talked about how she lost most -- both of her children her son left that afternoon to go to the market and never came home. her daughter was found later murdered. she was a muslim woman who is now afraid to leave her house. mr. chairman, you on many occasions, and human rights portfolio part of the committee talked about the persecution of christians and here we have a situation where there's christian led militia that are

attacking the muslim population and, in fact, is reported over 90% of the population has been driven out of the country, which is a situation that will sort would have to be looking at how would bring them back in. when we met with the president of the c.a.r., even she talked about how her own security was not stable. she was frightened to you remember that because there were many of you here view the contest with a core part of the delegation and listening to her talk about her own situation was quite frightening. but we do know that while much has been made of the religious leaders of the conflict, the differences in religious ideology were not the origin of the crisis that complex complex tensions over access to resources, control of trade and land and issues of natural identity. you certainly we had a hearing at the that the religious leaders that were here, is an example of how we know that

people there and leadership there really do want to resolve this situation in a peaceful way. so as we prepare to hear from today's witnesses i hope we can learn critical lessons from the vast experience and use them to increase support for the most effective measures to bring it into the complex and the central african republic, and when we do listen to the witnesses i'm hoping you will provide guidance for us in terms of if there's anything else we can do in congress. so as always i'm committed to working towards this and working for to work with my colleagues in washington and on the continent to find a peaceful resolution. resolution. >> i thank my good friend for eloquent statement and to underscore as i tried to do my opening statement, what we've tried to do, and i've shared this since 94, was out of it for a little while but when i did another chairmanship, let me say clear and unambiguously, any sectarian violence is to be condemned, ficus, struggled

against and what i try to do is to emphasize and i hope all hearings, as that was happening immediately thereafter, when muslims were targeted simply because they were muslims, and trying to make very clear today that both sides of extremism that are slaughtering people because of their religious faith or ethnicity are to be condemned and held to account. just parenthetically i would say to my colleagues, yesterday this committee approved resolution i've been pushing since september to create a war crimes tribunal that would mirror the great work done by david crane in the sierra leone war crimes tribunal. go after both sides. christians and muslims and everyone else was doing the slaughtering in city but i would like to you to my friend and colleague mr. weber. >> thank you, mr. chairman. appreciate you only distribute

i'm anxious to our witnesses. >> okay. i like to introduce artists in which witnesses. thank them for being here. beginning with first ambassador robert jackson, principal deputy assistant secretary of bureau of african affairs, served as ambassador, deputy chief of mayors at the u.s. embassies in morocco and senegal. is work in baroody, sam bob litt, portugal and canada. is worked in commercial, and as an officer training, oversight, after 9/11. without objection is full testimony but also his full resume will be made a part of the record. a very distinguished one of that as well as this anne richard who is the assistant secretary and state departments bureau of population, refugees and migration. no, a position she held since 2012. ms. richard previous government service lets time in the state

department, peace corps and the office of management and budget. she is worked as council on foreign relations, international rescue committee and was part of the team that founded the international crisis group, a group we hear from often on this committee as well. mr. ambassador, if you could begin. >> thank you very much, chairman smith, ranking member bass, other members of this subcommittee. for this opportunity to testify again about the central african republic. since i last appeared before you we have grown more concerned with the interreligious violence that continues between anti-balaka and of the militia throughout the central african republic. united states remains committed to working with the c.a.r. transitional authority and the international community to end the violence and build a transitional process leading to the establishment of the legitimate elected government in c.a.r. in the process of forcibly taking political power from

former c.a.r. president, seleka destroyed the relationship between c.a.r. christians and muslims. seleka fighters were little more than mercenaries, bandits and criminals who sustain themselves by looting, killing, kidnapping and pillaging the country which is 85-90% christian. while the seleka rebellion did not begin as religiously-based movement intent on turning christians the disproportionate impact of the extreme violence on the population led to the establishment of christian self-defense militias, the anti-balaka. they begin to engage in revenge killings first against seleka rebels within against presumed seleka supporters and then indiscriminately against muslims and their religious sites.

interim president president djotodia resignation occurred only after his role had bankrupted the government and left a path of destruction and lawlessness that pervades the entire country today. u.n. agencies and human rights organizations have estimated over 600,000 have been displaced since the beginning of the rebellion in late 2012. since december 2013, we agree that at least 2000 people have been killed and another 100,000 have fled the country just since december. and we are particularly concerned that the imminent threat against muslim civilians has forced me to abandon their homes and communities and to seek help from u.n. humanitarian agencies, the african union and the french peacekeeping forces to relocate within the central african republic or to neighboring countries there just

last weekend at the urgent request of muslim civilians in the pk 12 neighborhood, peacekeeping forces transported over 1200 people to towns in the northern part of the country. as soon as those folks departed, the remaining local population attacked and destroyed a mosque and looted the homes of those who have left. this forced relocation of muslims from their homes and communities is deeply disturbing, and fundamentally alters the religious composition and character of the towns and regions. of violence unleashed by seleka and then compounded by the anti-balaka militias may have permanently changed c.a.r.'s historic tradition of religious tolerance and coexistence. an estimated five to 7000 muslims remain out of an estimated previous population of

approximate 100,000, and only five of the 37 mosques are still standing. my colleague, anne richard, says assistant section state for population refugee and migration traveled on april 7 but i will defer to her for additional comment about the humanitarian conditions she witnessed and our humanitarian response. if you allow me i would like to explain just what the u.s. government has done over the past month since her visit to address and ste and of the comml violence that on april 8 you a special envoy to the organization of the islamic conference rashid hussein and the department of state senior advisor on c.a.r., david brown who is here today, let an interfaith delegation of religious leaders from the united states to demonstrate solidarity among religious

community and promote reconciliation. in a show support for this reconciliation, interfaith participants from the c.a.r. as well as representatives from the government, civil society and armed groups signed a communiqée renouncing violence and encouraging intra- community in interreligious dialogue to mitigate tension and lay the foundation for renewed peaceful coexistence. on april 9, ambassador to united nations a man to power made their second visit to the c.a.r. in a span of four months. ranking member bass participated in the delegation's visit and witnessed firsthand the dire conditions in the country. during their visit, ambassador power, thomas greenfield and represented vast met with transitional president -- president samba-panza, and french peacekeeping forces and

members of civil society to express our continued and unwavering determination to end the violence and support the reestablishment of legitimate government. we pledged to work with the government and the international community to help her administration. in response to a request we will specific work to restore the local log enforcement, transitional justice and accountability capability to and in purity which has contributed to continued violence against civilians. we are pleased that several countries in the region, the world bank, the european union, and other development partners have come forward to help finance basic government services, and support alternative work programs that would help a c.a.r.'s citizens back to work. while we commend the leadership of the african union and the efforts of the african union force with support from the french, we also agree with u.n.

secretary-general ban ki-moon assessment that a u.n. peacekeeping force with both military and civilian components is needed to address the crisis in a comprehensive way. on april 10, the united states joined the other members of the u.n. security council in adopting resolution 2149 which establishes the u.n. peacekeeping operation in the central african republic with up to 10,000 military personnel, 1800 police, and 20 corrections officers. minustah will build on the strong work and sacrifice made as well as the european troops that are in the process of joining them in the c.a.r. minustah will have a responsibility that only to protect civilians but also to support the reestablishment of governance, election preparations, disarmament and demobilization of combatants,

protection of human rights and accountability for human rights abuses. the united states will continue to reinforce minustah mission, to maintain and increase minute says ability to protect the civilian population. we have committed up to $100 million to support minustah including by providing airlift for over 1700 peacekeepers to date, nonlethal equipment and 200 additional vehicles, 37 vehicles having already been delivered to increase the mobility of troops on the ground. on april 10, the united states also announced additional humanitarian assistance to c.a.r. bringing our humanitarian assistance since october 1, 2013, the $67 million. to support the essential work of reconciliation peace building we

have committed an additional $7.5 million the nongovernmental organizations to support their courageous work with c.a.r.'s religious leaders who are promoting conflict resolution initiatives to encourage peace, forgiveness and nonviolence in flashpoint areas of the country. we strongly believe that this is important to hold accountable all individuals responsible for atrocities being committed and we are actively working with the united nations security council to implement targeted sanctions against political spoilers and individual perpetrating the violence. as secretary of state kerry stated, the united states is prepared to implement targeted sanctions against those who further destabilize the situation or who pursue their own selfish ends by betting for encouraging violence. finally i am pleased to announce that the department of state has appointed ambassador simonton as

her special representative for the central african republic. he will begin his work later this month. he will play a leading role in shaping and coordinating u.s. strategy towards the c.a.r. to end the violence address community needs, establish legitimate governance, create judicial mechanisms for ensuring accountability for the suspected or perpetrating human rights abuses and help the c.a.r. move through an inclusive transition process leading to democratic elections. chairman smith, ranking member bass, other members of the subcommittee we are determined and committed to ending the human suffering of the c.a.r. and support a peaceful and durable resolution to the crisis. we remain engaged with our international partners and we look forward to keeping you and the committee engaged and informed of our efforts. i would be pleased to answer your questions. thank you very much. >> thank you very much for your testimony and for your work.

i'd like an ideal to assistant secretary anne richard for her testimony. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, ranking member bass, other members of the subcommittee. and thank you throughout the year for your dedication to human rights and humanitarian conflict. we greatly appreciate that. i appreciate the opportunity to do a review on imaging crisis in the central african republic. it's unusual to of two witnesses from the state department but because i was just there at the beginning of april we thought it might make sense to come along and provide some eyewitness testimony from what i saw on that trip. principal deputy assistant secretary jackson is provide you with a conference of overview of the situation so i want to focus my remarks on the travel that i had in committees both in chad and to benke, central african republic. i want to highlight the work that the bureau of population, refugees and migration is doing and also we're doing it together

with international development to address humanitarian aid. nearly 1 million central africans have been forced to flee their homes, two-thirds are displaced within the central african republic and one-third have fled to neighboring countries and thus are now refugees and many of them have fled since last december. each and every one of these separate people have stories of personal tragedy and loss including family members killed, wives and women raped. i traveled to the south, near the border and also toward a transit center. i spoke with one muslim man who showed me photos of the mutilated body of his father. the parents of five children, including a newborn baby he told me they had lost everything. people have brought very little with him and some are using what little they had, very rudimentary shelters to house their families. i travel a lot to refugee situations to displaced persons camps of people were in very

difficult shelter situations. it was, they were in places that have been thrown together very quickly and they were safe for the moment but it was certainly what i felt was nothing for people to live in for any length of time. i spoke to several women, all christians and all of the extreme difficult conditions with her children at the airport internally displaced persons, and as you may have seen, ranking member bass, the idp site is right there on the edge of the airport so we didn't have to travel far to meet with them. while their homes were in a nearby neighborhood they also protection at the idp camp because they were afraid if they were back to their homes they could be hurt in the crossfire and the violence and the gunfire. in all my meetings saturday was the number one topic of concern from cabinet ministers to human leaders to the refugees and internally displaced persons

themselves all spoke of the need to restore security and a sense of law and order in the country. this is the number one message i want to bring today is because we heard it unanimously from everyone, is they were concerned about the violence. when asked refugees why they fled the unmentioned fear of attack and concern for the families. in bangui, the minister said get a program to the student peace to the farmers with the program would be worthless if farmers did not feel safe enough to plant their fields. i cannot reiterate strongly enough support --'s the restoration of security is essential to grading conditions that will one day permit these 1 million uprooted people to return home. meanwhile, the u.s. government has committed to working with the international community to provide life-saving assistance inside the c.a.r. and other countries. during my visit to chad i was particularly struck by the incredible hospitality of the

people and the governor. they had not only opened the doors to 92000 central african refugees but were also welcoming the return of an equal number of migrants have been living in central african republic for decades but were no longer safe in the country. i know the same degree of hospitality has been asked in by the democratic republic of congo, the republic of congo and especially cameroon which now hosts the largest number of refugees from central africa republic at 184,000. the other point about chad as you all know is they have for over a decade hosted refugees from darfur. they already have many refugees living in the country. i was tremendous impressed by the dedication and commitment. ..

usually if people have reached the refugee camp they are safe and they are cared for. in this particular case i talked to the food program about it and they said they knew that the food was under the recommended levels and they did not land the united states. they said the united states have been generous but the other countries had not come through with their shares. in car conditions at the bangui airport were horrible and international nongovernment organizations in partnership with local authorities were doing their best to address gaps. it was clear to me that nearly $67 million u.s. government through the prm bureau and u.s.

a.i.d. have provided so far this year is money well invested. our work is certainly not over. since my return to the office of u.n. high commissioner for refugees found it necessary to take a step of evacuating the last muslim population from bossangoa and taking into chad helping them to become refugees. we are not normally in the business of turning people into refugees. we normally try to prevent that situation from occurring. others and bangui have been evacuated inside car and these are extraordinary steps and they were not taken lightly. it was done to avoid massacres frankly and so very much as a last resort measure. on april 16 united nation released its 2014 central african republic regional response plan which calls for $274 million to address the crisis.

we will review both appeals and provide additional funding in the near future. thanks to congress and this is a very important point ,-com,-com ma thanks to congress we have appropriations to do more this year but as you know we are contending with too many emergencies. unrest in the central african republic is happening at the same time as a people and violence in the south sudan. secretary kerry is in meetings in south sudan and widespread conflict in syria. while humanitarian funding both help people -- keep people alive. above all else i wanted to return to security and stability in central african republic and wanted conditions that would permit them to return home rebuild their lives and rebuild their homes and go back to work in their places of business. this should be our highest priority as well. represented smith ranking member bass and members of the subcommittee i thank you for your support and for giving me the opportunity to address you today and i'm happy to answer your questions. >> thank you so very much. ms. richard.

in questioning let me ask a number of questions beginning with mr. ambassador. with regards to peacekeeping when can we realistically expect these peacekeepers to be on the ground displacing those who are being augmented out because of those conflicts that we all know and vested interests that have compromised our mission? are we talking the fall and is there any way to accelerate that process because you know delay is denial for those who are being hurt or killed. let me ask you as well and maybe this would be to you ms. richard. my understanding is that our humanitarian assistance numbers are approximately $67 million and the question would arise why are faith-based organizations only getting $7.5 million and the outsized role they are playing in the central african republic. as we know when the bishop was

here he was concerned that he is sheltering 35,000 people and how much assistance are we giving to those ngos or faith-based entities that could have high impact because they know and are understood and respected by the people that they deal with. it seems that ratio is very much skewed towards not helping faith-based entities and i would wonder if you would give me some insight into that. kasper said three makes the point in his testimony that politicians businessmen and diplomats are getting hit with the same excuses and reasons for the crisis in the country lack of leadership and exclusion of citizens. he also makes the point and i thought this was very interesting that one of the key drivers of violence is the

violence of poaching and if you could speak to that issue and there is a need for sustained regional u.s. diplomatic arrangement that looks at that aspect of it. how do we dry up those nefarious enterprises? let me also ask you as well madeline rose in her testimony points out we fail to address car's crisis quickly and correctly mercy corps is concerned that the situation could metastasize into a new decades long conflict transcending from the sawtelle to south sudan and makes the point that even with the anticipated e.u. reinforcements normally the challenge for peacekeepers outstrips capacities. is this design potentially to fail and i'm not assuming any ill will here but is it being driven by insufficient resources and you just mention other countries have not come through with their commitments.

how much of an unmet need do we have with regards to peacekeeping? what kind of forces needed ideally i should say to really end this violence and is what is configured enough? is the money enough? how much are we giving to peacekeeping and what are the others giving and maybe this could be for the record. when you say other countries are not coming through if there could be a listing of those countries, commitments made and commitments unmet and there are large numbers of countries that do a lot more that could and that are not doing it. finally and we will have other questions but maybe if you could start with those. >> thank you mr. chairman. as for the u.n. peacekeeping force we anticipate their arrival in mid-september however i want to note that the u.n. has

already had senior officials on the ground planning and coordinating with the african union and french forces and european union troops are beginning to arrive. they have started to train 480 police from central african republic created we are also today having assistant secretary thomas greenfield who is with secretary kerry meet with the african union to discuss the deployment of additional african troops for burundi and rwanda and we hope that will take place very soon. we are positioned to move those troops quickly. these troops have replaced the chadians who withdrew at the end of march. >> about how many are we talking about? what would either force that would make a difference and are we getting close to that number? >> mr. chairman i honestly don't know what the force needed is.

we will be going from 7000 to about 8200 with the arrival of these additional troops. assuming that the african union approves those rwanda and amber rennie contributions, and the e.u. presence will go from about 100 at present to 500 presence so that will bring us up close to 9000. >> military planners at the pentagon and that the u.n. say that is a sufficient force with a robust mandate to bring some peace to these people who are suffering? >> well let me answer your question a bit differently mr. chairman. in terms of displaced people in bangui we have seen the number declined from 500,000 to 2002000 which is not to suggest that the situation is not atrocious and the removal of the muslims and

the fight of the muslims contributes to those numbers so i don't want to be misleading but the fact that the number of internally displaced people in bangui is declining i think shows that misca and the french forces are having some impact and as we get these police trained we are hopeful that those numbers will be sufficient to restore security. i think we are going to have to look at this on a regular basis and see what progress is being made but to date the progress is not adequate. we acknowledge that. as for peacekeeping more broadl. missions in mali and south sudan are both under subscribed. we are in conversations with partners about posting up those missions as well as contributing to the mission and the central

african republic but it has been a difficult process to identify capable peacekeepers. finally you spoke about diamonds and poaching. central african diamond exports are currently suspended under the kimberly process but we are hopeful that as is the government can restore authority in combination with the peacekeepers that legal diamond exports can once again start and this would provide the government with revenue that is needed to pay salaries and provide other basic services. as for poaching, because of the conflict it's difficult to know how much poaching has taken place but it's clear the problem in central africa is one of the countries that still has a significant population of elephants to poach. >> thank you. >> on the question of the funding distribution it is true

the u.s. is providing nearly $7.5 million in funding to support conflict mitigation reconciliation and peacebuilding including interreligious peacebuilding efforts created i would expect that these efforts would not require as much funding as the type of large-scale humanitarian operations that are being carried out for so many people in the central african republic and in the region, all of the neighboring countries are affected. in addition some of the nongovernmental organizations that are responding to the humanitarian work are indeed faith-based groups and that includes catholic relief services that is speaking today and it gets funding from the usaid office of foreign disaster assistance. they are on the list of one of the groups that is providing logistic support and relief commodities in the region.

and then in addition we have several high-level delegations as you heard in one of those was interfaith group from the u.s.. so that is additional costs that are not reflected in the $7.5 million. i think we are doing a lot and i think that some of it is reflected in the funding and some of it is perhaps diplomatic efforts within the state department's base budget so we have the $100 million you have heard to support the current peacekeeping. we will support the u.n. peacekeepers as we do here in and year out thanks to congressional appropriations. the $67 million in humanitarian assistance working with nongovernmental organizations that are across the country and i think this network of nongovernmental organizations that are our normal partners but that are present in really sort of far-flung locations, hard to reach places across central

african republic is very important for us. working in the neighboring countries the u.n. is moving people away from from threats is you have heard. the high-level visits samantha power going twice but also other groups. art diplomats have participated in all the conferences along the central african republic that have taken place in new york and new brussels, in africa. we have now stu simonton named as a special representative. we are looking into having, restoring the diplomatic residence in bangui and that was also going on during this early april said of visits and then in addition to that we have this money for conflict mitigation and peacebuilding. >> could you provide us the list of groups that are getting the money in humanitarian assistance and what white -- what might we anticipate particularly with faith-based. i was moved and i'm sure the subcommittee was that the bishop was dealing so much on an

absolute shoestring and he was not going to let a single person go on helped even if he didn't have the money. it seems to me we need to be backstopping people that are on the ground have the credibility and have a record as he and so many others do. so i just hope we are not bypassing them unwittingly or for any other reason. so if you could provide that for us that would be very helpful. >> absolutely. on the issue of other countries not providing funding the world food program resources are stretched thin notches in the central african republic but the entire region and it's a very difficult situation. they are doing so much good work there and also in the middle east with the syrian crisis too so i regularly meet with the world food program's colleagues. america runs the world food program. one of their issues is that the european union's humanitarians apco had a cash flow problem so

they will have funding later this year and they will provide it but you can go back in time and take that funding to

>> i know there's going to be a call for a vote soon. we know we will be interrupted at any way i will get started. i'm real concerned about as i mentioned in my opening comments about displacement of the muslim population and essentially the stage that sets especially for extremists to kind of enter that population and i believe ambassador jackson you were talking about the movement of the population toward the north so i'm wondering if -- i'm sure

you share those concerns but if there's any evidence of that becoming problematic in terms of outside forces coming in and trying to take advantage of the fact that the revenge killings that have happened. >> congresswoman we have certainly been looking at the question of outside forces coming in just as the lord's resistance army has come in. to date we have not seen that happening but this separation of religious communities and de facto partitioning the country into christian muslim areas is very troubling and i believe that the sooner we can restore basic security so that people feel safer returning to their homes the sooner that we will be able to address this problem and avoid long-term partitioning consequences that would come from that. >> you no, one of the things about rwanda that was so just

hard to imagine that i know it's one of the reasons why the country has been successful in its development since the genocide but their whole reconciliation process, the fact that people really live down the street and their neighbors or folks that might have slaughtered members of their family and i'm just wondering -- you know i was just there for such a brief time but if the rwandans are involved in terms of helping the car leadership toward the future of how to have a reconciliation process. >> i don't know if there have been informal discussions but one of the reasons we have been so pleased to have rwanda and bruhany contribute peacekeepers is because of their own history of genocide in both countries and we believe the troops can talk with people and engage with people and encourage them to avoid the conflict that we are seeing.

we did go to burundi and certainly had concerns about what we saw there and what looms there in terms of the election next year. you mentioned the food supply is being below is needed and i believe ambassador richard you said that's the u.s. have been generous but other countries have been lacking and i believe the chairman asked the same question in terms of which countries and dollar amount and whether you can answer it now or not. is that pretty much what you are asking? i would like to know that information as well because you know i am wondering if there are ways that we can step up the pressure on those other countries so that they do carry their fair share. >> well we can work with usaid to get you the breakdown of who is contributing to the world food program specifically in the central african republic and the region but i want to repeat that

one missing partner who is normally there with us are the europeans and it's an unusual thing this year that they are having cash flow problems. normally the u.s. and europe together lead the world in humanitarian response. other countries that year in and year out step forward including the europeans and the european union are the canadiens australia japan korea more and more turkey. turkey is stepping forward to play larger role as a donor internationally and then with syria we see gulf states stepping forward. we would like to see more countries who haven't been traditional donors join us especially in the year like this one where we have with the united nations call level 3 emergencies, syria south sudan in the central african republic. and i am proud that our country is doing so much. i'm proud when i meet with my counterparts from other countries that i can speak up

about how much americans are doing but i also think this system only works when other countries to join us in these kinds of enterprises. >> you know france is certainly playing a leading role. what are they doing in terms of pushing other e. u. countries? >> france is playing a leading role in the situation. this particular country and also in terms of the peacekeeping piece of it but they are not leaders necessarily on the humanitarian funding piece. in brussels they do get credit for contributing to the overall european contributions but also the department for international development in london is the leading partner in europe and the u.k. is the top donor i think with us on the

international stage. >> so last question. i'm wondering about the diaspora that is here and if you feel there might be a role that the diaspora of that is here can play? there is a young man an audience who often comes to the hearings. he is from the central african republic and has an ngo and i often work in the breakfasts and other programs that we do here on the hill, work a lot with the diaspora and i'm wondering if you have any thoughts about how the diaspora here might be helpful there? >> is a great question. i haven't met with members of the diaspora for the central african republic. i'm regularly meet with diasporas. i visits -- because we run the program to resettle refugees in the united states i'm regularly meeting with somalis around the united states and iraqis around the united states so they would

not come as a surprise to any of you that we love working with diasporas and meeting with diasporas and figure out ways to bring their talents and connections and ability to message especially in the case here of messages of peace, reconciliation stability, tolerance. i think that's the key thing that they can play. >> you maybe you have just described a role that we could play which is to facilitate that introduction for you because i hear all the time of people wanting to play very specific roles exactly like that but also in development. i will have another group of diasporas for you to meet with. >> happy. >> thank you mr. chairman and i guess this question is for you mr. jackson or for you ms. richard either one. the chad soldiers that came in and killed a number and injured so many. any identification or any idea who they are? any accountability they are?

>> congressman weber we don't really know who they are but we will be looking at the units in terms of setting for future training and we need to look very carefully in the participation of chadians in future peacekeeping operations based on their conduct in the central african republic. >> i think long term we need to be sending a signal that won't be tolerated. somehow there has to be some accountability and the perpetrators brought to justice so there is no reoccurring incidents of that nature. any way to put pressure on their government to do that, to aid in that? >> i understand that the chadian government is doing an investigation and we will look to ensure that they are held to

account for their actions. >> i guess unlike the other mall shootings there is no video an absolutely no evidence to this? >> i am not aware of any video. the only thing i'm aware of our testimonies by some of the victims. >> which one of our agencies coordinates with the chadian government to say you have to do more to bring these perpetrators to justice? >> the department of state does doesn't specifically our ambassador at large for war crimes issues. he has been in the region. >> okay. i was doing a little research on that event and even al-jazeera news organization quoted this as an underreported occurrence. i looked at some of the other news agencies and i saw they didn't deal with the same coverage so i think it's an imperative for us to keep it on

the forefront to keep that pressure on so that those kinds of people know that we won't allow this going forward. i think -- yes maam. >> may have been under ported in the united states but there was a lot of coverage of that in a reasoned and the reason i know that it was still unfolding during our visit. when i was in chad they decided to bring their peacekeepers home and at the same time there was a u.n. report on the incident that came out. there has been a lot of attention and you know these situations are complicated because you don't want peacekeepers abusing people in any way, shape or form. they are there to protect people. at the same time we had chad doing so much to try to restore stability overall and we needed more peacekeepers, not less. so you are absolutely right that we cannot support sending people to a country where they abuse

the local people. that's not the purpose that also be have to be vigilant in keeping that from happening in the first place and holding people accountable when it does happen. i do think there is attention being paid to it and i'm sorry we don't have specific answers for you today and i think we have to stay on top of it. >> thank you. i remember our colleague over here the ranking member bass she said religious differences were not the origin of the conflict. would you elaborate on what you think is the origin of the conflict? >> congressman this is a country that has had a long tradition of conflict. you will remember the emperor was famous for his cannibalism. this is a country that has had conflicts between grazers and agriculturalists. we have seen coup after coup. this is the third time that we have evacuated our embassy

because of unrest in the central african republic. there is a long and sad history here. i hope this time that we can do better to get it right so that we don't have another repetition of the unrest. >> some of my research said former president bankrupted the country and they have a lot of corruption and the sickly was gone. whatever happened to him? was there an attempt to hold him accountable? >> we have actually spoken with former president bozizé and encouraged him to issue public statements calling for calm. we are looking at his role in the current violence and again as my colleague said we want to hold those accountable for the violence responsible.

.. >> i think it is important to note why the un peacekeeper are not in place, some of the troops

there will transition to the un force but the political mission is in place and the deputy of the central ambassador of

>> how many of un troops will be there and when did these murders start to show up on state's radar in the u.n. and that goes into the question of why is that taking so long. are the muslim and christian word leaders, are they standing up and saying to their religious followers knock this off? do they have any role in visiting or representatives of visiting over there telling the religious followers this wouldn't be tolerated from a religious standpoint? since 1996 it has been embroiled

in violence and 5.4 million people have been killed. that is something that just doesn't take place over a year. it is taking place over years and my question is why not long before this and with that i yield back. >> so i will try to respond very quickly. we have become very aware of the murd murders since november-december and that is when the bulk of the violence has taken place. in terms of the movement of the u.n. peacekeeper the recruitment is what takes so long. one reason the state department and the u.s. government supported the arrival and put in place the african union force was because they could deploy faster than the u.n. since we are seeing a six month timetable for u.n. deployment i

think the conclusion of getting the african troops in place was the right one. but it is important to make the transs transition from a force from 8,000 up to 12,000 assuming we can find additional piece keea e peacekeepers. and the religious leaders are taking a central role. the former new guinea leader was there talking to religious leaders. the former islamic guard was there from senegal. we believe the religious leaders are working well with counter parks in central africa republic

and doing what they can to appease the situation. >> don't you think it would be better if the leaders came out on an international level and made these statements? >> i think so. just like we broadcasted the president's message to africa in december, i think messages from world leaders could be useful and it is something we are discussing as we bring the leaders to visit central africa republic. >> we are out of time on this vote. but what role, if any, has the atrocities board played? you have been raising this, you know, have they been awol or part of the event to prevent and resolve this? >> mr. chairman, the atrocities prevention board met and looked at nigeria but there has been

regular meetings >> they met on c.a.r? >> i can get back to you on that. >> we have not heard outcomes or recommendations from them. i am wondering what role they played because it was stood up with fanfare and there is a great deal of promise. is the promise being met? >> my colleague advised there has been at least one meeting on central africa. >> do you think the recommendations? >> i do not, but i will get back to you. >> it seems like important people like yourself should know what this group is recommending. we stand in brief recess. i have a number of other questions but the vote precludes that. brief recess and we will come back to the second panel and

thank you so very much. [inaudible conversations] >> i want to apologize for our witnesses for that delay. we did have a series of vote and there was no way we could cut that shorter. i would like to start with the second panel and start with scott campbell who is the catholic leader in africa. joining crs he has correspondor

food aid and oversaw the tsunami and served in haiti and the philippines. i would note that myself along with a few other members were in achay and applaud the work done by the tsunami and it is great to have you there doing what you do because it would have been far worse. i would like to introduce mary rose. she provides assistance to countries suffering in economic collapse or policy war. and she works with youth,

fragile states and countering violent extremism. she has also worked for the friends committee on national legislation in congress at the united nations and for the silicone valley company net alt. >> we will hear from the uganda face field worker who is working dedicated to ending genocide and his work focuses on the lord's resistant army and including on the ground research in areas that have been most affected by

the forces. he aims to reach solutions and wo worked for the u.n.environmental program. and we will hear from robin sender who is the ceo of food initiation and owns 3ds which con constructs food for africa. she focus on self-help programs for small enterprises. she served as the ambus basder

to nigeria and served during the clinton whitehouse. we have a distinguished panel. i will turn to the our guest. >> thank you for the chance to testify on behalf of catholic services. i am scott campbell the region director covering the seven african countries. we are present in about 100 countries around the world and providing assistance and development programming. we have been in c.a.r. and our work is funded by the use

government and sierra's private fund. i was in cer for three weeks in march and before that in january. i met my colleague rose during the second visit. i would like to share a few ideas about what has transpired in the country and how we are prioritizeing the work. crs is present from the whole breath of the country from the southeast and in the lar affected areas. and we have a very important u.s. aid funded program there working communities affected by the lord's resistance army. we are present in the capital with our partners in the south provinces and in the northwest

as well. during my most recent trip i was in the northwest part and saw the refugees you explained in the testimony earlier. during that visit, i was involved with the distribution of non-food items who companies that were attacked why the rebels. this was an area call cookie. it was burned down or torn down and people had little left and as you can imagine they had little before the crisis. the situation is desperate for tens of thousands of people. they also reached to 37, 500

people. we have done that in that region and we will do the same in the coming months in that area asual well as the south. we have a plan to provide shelter kids for households that are destroyed in may. they include wood for windows and doors and tarps for roofing. the pillaging and destruction has rendered much of the country extremly food insecure. this is the second consecutive planting season that has been hampered by the crisis. seeds, tools, farm, animals are scarce in much of the region. so we are distributing seeds for crops and farming tools for

10,000 households to respond. and other economic activities have been disrupted making life more difficult. trading and importation of goods have been hendered because muslim traders have failed or truckers fear to enter because of attacks and looting. when i was in these areas i saw heaps of cotton that had not been sold. it had been harvested from last year. so the much-needed cash income hasn't been flowing because of the crisis and generally half of the country needs humanitarian support as a result. much of what i am describing is the exterior.

a more compelling story is what is happening inside people's hearts and minds because of these problems. it is critically important to understand this isn't a religious war. no head of any faith of any group has led a fight against another faith group. i talked to leaders myself in cities with mayor and heard from them they didn't want to see their muslim neighbors leaving the country. we talked to the people of at the camp called liberty school but it was more like a prison. they also described a desire to stay. there is a willingness to return to the pre-crisis reality where people lived and worked together

in peace. to that end, we are working with the religious platform led by the archbishop and the evangelical alliance. we brought together faith leaders in communities to participate in 2-3 day workshops on social cohesion and reconcilation. this has sense included parliamenta parliamentarians and other communities leaders. and we are working the new interim government. in fact we will be sending her to rwanda to see how it worked in that country. crs was part of that process and one of of our rwandian staff is

working in c.a.r. this whole -- the workshops we have done have been truly transformitive. one of the leaders expressed how before the workshop he had every intention of buying a gun and shooting at one person from the other faith community. at the end of the workshop, he explained i don't have those feelings anymore. i am ready for reconcilation so the hate and fear that is pent up as individuals in those country, people need and feel that desire for release to prepare themselves to reconcile with others in the community. the workshops have included

muslim faith leaders in some of the most difficult neighbors where much of the finding is evident. they were considered the hardliners. they attended and as a result at that time decided not to leave the country as planned and this was just some weeks agree. if given the opportunity, the space and support, people in the country want to rebuild the social fab ric of society. i saw truckloads of muslims leaving in my visit in december. across the street from our office is the ambassador to cameroon and his resident and they were leaving every single day. we have seen directly people pouring out of the country.

this is the first step. the workshops prepare the hearts and mind of lead ers in the communities for peace and rec reconcile. it has an immediate effect of releasing people from the burden but always to heal the wounds caused by the conflict which is the most effective bull work against manipalamanipulation an against the radicalism that could happen as the communities move across borders. more funding is required to cascade that through the country. this isn't something that can

only be pinpointed in some areas. it should be cascade throughout the country. i see there is real hope for c.a.r. to build back communities as before to be productive and harmonized. with this in mind, we make the following recommendations to the u.s. government: first, adequately fund and support u.n. peacekeeping efforts. security is paramount. we need the right conditions to operate. second, provide ongoing leadership and robust funding. the u.s. government should help galv galvanize other donors to assist.

all efforts must help the displaced and hosting them so their immediate needs are met. and their return when conditions allow so they can continue livelihood and plant farm and support their families. support the return of refugee so the country can restore their rich diversity. we have plans of doing cross border work as well. along the lines of the workshops. the workshops are paid for by the u.s. government. the usaid people involved were quick in releasing funding to allow us to do that in those two regions. also integrate peace building and conflict resolution activities to rebuild social

cohesion torn apart by the recent fighting and to prevent future outbreaks of violence. third, afirm a commitment to c.a.r. over the long term. we appoint a special representative for c.a.r. and the government's plan to reopen the embassy. we call upon the usg to develop plans for the longer term needs and this should be reapplying ex-militia with a focus on youth. young men need to be enrolled in practical applications that lead to job. reconstruction of people's assets, keeping conflict sensitivity in mind. and recognize elections

shouldn't be rushed but the process fully incorporates all citizens especially those muslims who fled and wish to return. any election held should be well-organized free and fair to end the cycle of leaders who have neglected the needs of the central african people. so mr. chairman and the members of the subcommittee thank you for your time. >> thank you for your solid recommendations and the good work that you and so many others have done. his most recent visit was galvanizing and underscoring the point you said and that is this isn't about members of religious faith conducting a jihad -- this isn't a religious war.

but people are exploiting that idea to kill and rape and maim. i would like to recognize ms. rose. >> thank you, chairman. i would like to submit my record. >> without objection. >> my name is madeleine rose and i am a policy ad visor. the response to litigation and right now is the time to give long term support. the window is closing and we have to make smart investment now. in march i visited the

protection programs and the most heart breaks was the one i thought would be the easy one. i met a judge on survivors of gender base violence and iicide what he was facing and what he needed. he asked for replacement pencils and papers so he could get back to prosecuting rape races. i could see the civscivilians ad him leaving but he was worried about the pencils. we are dealing with a multi faceted conflict and a humaneitarian conflict in the poorest, undeveloped place in

the world. and this means it will take longer and require long-term sustained agreement. three weeks ago there was an attack that started killing between christians and muslims that continues to this day. the cycle of violence is so far out of control that it has detearated into ethnic clensing. we have seen this before in the sedan and other contracts that become entrenched in violence. citizens are growing impatient with services from the

government, loosing faith in the prosspect of civilian rule, armed actors targeted and recruiting youth and poplar support for de facto ethnic religious partition of the country that would divide the country along north and south and along major resource belts. mercy core is concerned the situation could be a new decade long conflict transcending sudan. the conflict is horrific but it isn't helpless. humanitarian development and commitment has the capacity to scale up operations if additional funding is made available. we see five priorities that must be met. the first is to restore security

and enforce protection. we request full peacekeeping funding and would like to add thad congress consult with the agencies to provide full support and see what creative no non-financial tools we can leverage that haven't been pulled out yet. and second to underscore election. we strongly oppose elections being on the february 25th deadline if they would increase the risk of damage to civilians or undermine the process of peace. the deployment of military alone will not succeed c.a.r. we must disarm the hearts and

minds of central africans. the degree of human suffering is staggering yet the 2014 appeal was only 28% funded. the first priority of congress would be the backing up the immigration resources and unfortunately ida is cut by 28% and mra by 33%. if this happens, we will have a hard time getting what we need. from january-march 90% of the rapes have been gang rapes committed by armed actors. this is a significant increase that mercy core has ever seen in the african republic. and women are being marginalized

and risk that in the recovery process as well. fifth, a sixth year commitment to the fund. we have sending mixed signals to central africans, partners and the communities about the u.s. effort to engage in the help. congress could be helpful to enga enga engage the push for the finance. 20 years later as stated in the opening remarks the united states has stated this is a core, moral and national security priority. if the u.s. takes commitment to secure this, now is the moment. atrocity prevention can't be understood as mobilizing

resources. it must be seen as investing in the infrastructure to mitigate them long before they start. there is a long road ahead for recovery in c.a.r. but it is possible and critical. thank you for the opportunity to testify and the continued support for the people of central africa. >> thank you for your work. >> chairman smith, ranking member bass, members of the subcommittee, thank you very much for this opportunity to testify at this critical moment for the central african republic. i have been working at a field researcher and travelled to the country over the past two years. last time in february where i spent three weeks in the capital looking at the drivers of the violence, the actors and the role of natural resources and the prospects for sustainable peace. i interviewed fighters, members

of the government, aid workers, and journalist. and talked to ivry poachers in the country. the people i interviewed told me what has been described as religion goes much deeper. it stems from a lack of leadership and exclusion of the people from the decision making process. with large groups of fighters isn't religious but social, political and economic grievance from decades of being marginalized. many promised by economic gains rather than religion. they are part of a broader re l regional and general in fluence for resources in central africa.

i learned the diamonds and elephant ivory are funding the militia from sudan that sell the diamond and ivory to fund the resources. interventions by these governments have influenced security dynamics in the country. the interest of chet and sudan has conflicted to the issue. the international community as whole can take a few critical steps but we must act as quickly as possible. first, deploy meadators for bottom of process and we must support efforts to rebuilt the

state institutions. we must elicit ivory trading and stop it and held those accountable that commit such atrocity. sustained diplomatic engagement in the community that recognizes the access involved and targeted the resources that con tributte to sustainable peace. if the government prevents now we could prevent mass atrocities in the long-run. americans have provided vital financial and diplomatic support for the peace guiding efforts. and the appoint of the special representative for c.a.r. will add momentum to this efforts.

as the united states charts its critical engagement, i urge congress to target the most acute critical needs and pursue sustain engagement that address the root cause of conflict otherwise i understand we will not be able to bring freedom to the country. first, the u.s. should continue to support misca and provide strong support for the un pea peacekeeping mission. and to create a bottom up peace process from the country and decentralize the conflict and the lack of central command for many of the armed groups all-american -- all mean they need an approach from the bottom up. i would like to enforce the

rec reconcile should be broad based and not between religious groups. many people take up arms in pursue of economic interest. civil society, women leaders, youth groupss and a broad range of actions. and we should work with partners to cut off financing to violence groups. we should investigate the smuggling of conflict diamonds from the country. the u.s. should adopt a regional approach to diplomatic

engagement. there are those that exploit people for profits. the border between the spryly african republic, chet and south sudan is not guided and america should work along side to address the violence there. the people deserve nothing less. thank you very much. >> thank you for your testimony and recommendations. >> thank you mr. chairman, ranking member and members of the committee. i want to thank you for include me in this panel to talk about this difficult situation. what my group does is work with groups around the country, particularly on strategic r

recommendations on conflict. i have lived in and worked on issue when i was director at the african counsel and u.s. ambassador of congo. the question the committee is seeking views on today is whether or not the central african republican is in the throes of a pregenocide atmosphere or already embroiled in a genocide. my speech will address these issues as we work toward helping the community and stem the tide of violence we see today. i first want to say something that is very similar to what my colleagues on the panel have said about the severe devastation of the crisis. i have been up on the border

many times and the remains there re refugees from other conflicts even. there is internal issues that have never been resolved, social issues and poclitical and ethnic issues keep the country unstable and the people at the c.a.r. at the mercy of the next wave of violence. because of the continued instability and not being on the international community raid for a decade, the events have set in motion two things: revenge killing which is now sectarian violence. and now we are hearing unconfirmed reports of what i

call reverse revenge killings from the muslim enclades in the north such as attacking hospital workers and killing people with medicine to give aid. muslims have been forced to run from the violence forces on them as well as groups are preventing christians who want to live in peace with their muslim neighbors from doing so. we have revenge killling that is sectarian violence, a seg gregad country, people evacuating from religious groups, looming spread of disease and famine as

planting season isn't taking place. and you have impunity as well. these could lead down the road to something we have not seen before. a two-way genocide as each group, muslims and christians, impose revenge and reverse killings. this will be a new challenge for the country and international community on top of the critical crisis and thousands of enternally displaced people at the airport as that is the only place they feel remotely comfortable. what can be suggested moving forward? i recognize the administration is working on the crisis and there are many donors that haven't stepped up to the plate

to provide assistance both humanitarian wide and pea peacekeepers. the 150 troops from the eu should be commended but we need to double down on ensuring they don't support one religious group over the other. i recognize the timeline needed to get the 12,000 peacekeeping mission in by september of 2014 and every effort is being made to advance this. but there chairman and ranking member bass, this might get ahead of the arrival particularly if what we here about the reverse killing taking place with the muslim militia coming in and kyleing other

villagers -- killing -- we may need to jump now to work with the transitional government to set-up peace groups or peace commissions in rural area but particularly in the enclaves because without a release valve to vent fear and hatred the stem from desire to have revenge killings or atrocities done to them or their family or to address the impunity issue we will see it moving too something worse such as a two-way genocide. the potential is there, mr. chairman. we cannot move to help people rebuild lives and restart economic activity without

addressing these issues. and people we have seen in africa and rwanda started after peace and fragile stability is restored. we ask these happen at the same time because you need a way for the release valve to cap currently or you will not get to the level of security. i am not sure we can wait for that phase. looking at traditional methods like in rwanda to address conflict. we need to bring those to the floor and a lot of groups here today have that information for you and have those good ideas. i wanted to add something else and i think this isn't directly related to the questions of the committee but i think it is very

much a tendon issue. and i would be remissed not mentioning this. events like we see in c.a.r. , although we think it might not be able to get worse, it can. they can spiral more out of control quickly and fast. we need to be mindful there is the potential for groups to come in and take advantage of the environment especially the segregated groups between the christians and muslims. i am thinking about fundamentalist groups that could come in to provide al qaeda training to help end the enc

enclaves. i want to ensure my group working with others is worried about this issue and bring it to your attention. i would like to submit this to the record. >> without objection your reports will be introduced into the record. i will yield to ms. bass. >> i wanted to ask if you could expand a little more. you mentioned expanding now and

several countries and looking at the process now. are you suggesting reaching out to the various countries and teams are put together to come into the country now? do you know if the ae or anybody else is attempting to do that? >> as far as i know, congresswoman bass, no one is attempting to detho that. what we are talking about is something different than that because going into the enclave and having the discussions in the segregatt communities like rwanda did. sometimes the ways of abtration are different from ethnic group

to ethnic group. we need to work in country and outside countries and bring them in. i heard rwanda mentioned and siera leon is a good example. >> i know you are going to be leaving soon, but when you come back, i would like to continue conversations about this and maybe look at how we make that concre concre concrete. thank you for your testimony. >> thank you congresswoman bass. >> thank you and just a few questions. i am concerned there seems to be, maybe we have it now, but a lack of urgency. last july many of us were raising these issues in earnest.

i know when the bishop testified he was fresh from coming to the united states -- united nations and -- talked to security council members and had a sense of urgency the killing field were bad then and could quickly become another rwanda. and then the u.n.punt for months and now they are sending up a force. i did ask ambassador jackson about when the deployment occur and we are months away from that even though there is augmenitation of troops. and we are not sure about the c c

c c configure of the force and what is necessary to do the job and do it as effectively as possible. the pentagon and others were involved in this. it would seem to mean we have planners that know what it takes. we have seen this over and own again despite the good hill of the blue helmets. but without the mandate and people it doesn't happen. i nexted earlier about the save haven cities. a force that had a horrible rule of engagement. just parenthetically i had a transmaker who met with dutch peacekeeper after the muslim men were slaughtered and he said the peacekeepers were handing over the men to slaughter. and we have seen that replicated

all over the world. you, ms. rose, pointed out the importance of robust security and talk about the humanitarian part saying it is only 28% funded. three quarters not funded. you point out that the first priority for congress and thank you for underscoring that should be protecting appropation funding to international assistance and refugee assistance accounts so needs can meet throughout 2014-2015. then you point out the budget request to congress in 2015 cuts the international disaster funds by 28%.

mra by 3%. you also as has been said throughout the hearing other donors and countries need to be stepping up to the plate as well and meeting their obligations. madam ambassador, you might want to speak to this as well. how do we get the administration and then by extension congress to realize this crisis is being under funded. we take queues from the administration. when the administration lays out an amount for disaster assistance it becomes an important number taken seriously and upping it take as lot of data and information that you in the ngo community as experts can help us. i think your admonishment to us

is a very serious shortfall on the part of the administration so if you might want to speak to that as well. and finally, i would like to ask -- i have a lot of questions -- the sense from the testimony was there was a heightened sense of expectation and hopefulness that might have been dimenished and is that true? and when it comes to kids issues. what are the kids doing? you talked about the individual who didn't know the route of the gun because your workshop inspired him. but there are a lot of young

youth and the most vulnerable and under five part of the population and women who are not getting the kind of work they need and child mortality and you mention about famine and further spread of the diseases. and you mention the whole slew of diseases that could break out. if you could speak to that. she's -- these -- issues help us respont with the resources. madam ambassador, i understand you have to leave so i would ask for you to answer first. >> let me take the right sizing issue first because i think that

is really important lesson we should learned from rwanda we should be held high but maybe in addition to the policing mechan mechanism as well and you have to have the space for security and the policing so you can maintain and keep the security you gain because every time the pie pie pea peacekeepers move you have fall back. we should have learned from

rwanda to make sure we have the size right and more planning from the peacekeepers need to be done so we can get the numbers right. we might need more police than pie peacekeeping and such. in terms of the interim president, let me take my hat off to her. she is trying to manage a difficult situation and needs all of the support the international community can provide. some of the examples provided by colleagues here including the idea of possibly having peace groups or commissions and we need to work with her and the transitional government to make it happen. they have to have buy-in and we are not able to do them without

the transitional government as well. we have to get her buy-in so we are working in lock step and not counter step with each other. in term of famine and disease. you harder what they are able to provide -- heard -- but you are missing the other point in terms of normally you have a planting and harvest season and that is not taking place because of the violence. so the normal food stocks that are there are demenished so you have reduced amount of normal food and stocks. so i am worried about the potential for famine for both reasons and that is something the administration need to look down the line 3-4 months because

we could have the same conversation in august-september because of the famine. >> would the cut that was mentioned to the international disaster relief cut be disasterous? >> she is right. that is going to impact everybody's availability to do their job. we cannot diminish any of these things. we have a triplex of issues we have not have before and all of these are converging and we are helping to address the potential famine issue down the line as well. >> thank you, chairman. i will go down the line if that is okay. on the mandate, i think from mercy core's prospective no position on the numbers but happy about the mandate.

it is strong, and well thought out and has a clear intent to protect and then goes to the state and institution building. we are happy with language that requires them to work had humanitarian and human rights people to develop a protection strategy from the get-go which is new language. the u.n.is going to have to have analysis of the country and plan a strategic response which is really good. what is below that and more important is we have to support this initiative which is stated and you know. the fluidity of the crisis is so constant. it changes every day and new threats emerging in different

parts of country and we have recommendations i said in my testimony. but that is the priority. ... these crises are expensive. they get more and more expensive the longer that they unraveled. yet in our budget we had very few mechanisms available for proactive convention. the fund is