mr. prendergast's leadership. it would cement and guarantee rwanda's already extensive influence over military for medical economic and other aspects of life. and i think that is underappreciated, almost in the extreme. as to why, we know the mineral wealth is a great invitation to looters and thieves, you come to do what they do. but this idea that this is part of a government overall strategy, perhaps you might want to elaborate on that, as was our other very distinguished witnesses. >> thank you, mr. chairman. on the question of the rwanda strategy for creating, or spawning an autonomous state in eastern congo, a few things that i'd like to mention as well in terms of timing. my colleagues have mentioned that the cyclical nature and the numbers of wars that have taken place in eastern congo. it appears that the rwandan backers of m23, the real masterminds that orchestrate the creation of the rebellion, or looking towards the post electoral period, precisely for the reasons that mvemba dizolele describe. the pre

mr. hege worked with organizations. really here with john prendergast, cofounder of the enough project, initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity. these are the quick administration and the state department congress. he's worked with unicef, human rights, international crisis group and episode five and help launch the sentinel project pictures clingy. mr. prendergast to search for peace in africa for well over a quarter century. then we would hear from mvemba dizolele, who is a visiting fellow at hanford university server is petitioned the professor, lecturing africans to visit john's heart and university school of events international studies. mr. dizolele has testified before this congress. his work is appeared frequently in these publications and is a frequent commentator on the face on television and radio. he served as election monitor in 20 about the and has been embedded with the united nations peacekeepers. he's a veteran of the united states marine corps. thank you for your service and i'd like to now go to steve hege. >> chairman

mr. prendergast, we have been longtime colleagues and friends. he has a great deal of knowledge and expertise on the, on the region. but i would submit that the actions that we have taken reflect a high degree of interest in this situation. >> would troops recently placed by the south african development community comprise a credible force to protect the drc/rwanda border? >> last week the sadac countries met in daughter salam, and there they agreed to send in some 4,000 troops into the eastern drc to serve as a international -- or i should say a neutral international force. one thousand troops were pledged by tanzania, the other 3,000 were going to be drawn from a southern african standby force. i do not know the capacity or the ability of the countries in the region to pull those troops together, but what i would say is that the u.n. currently has the largest peacekeeping force in the world in the drc. and if there is an interjection of a new force, it should be done very carefully in cooperation and collaboration with the united nations. it sh

mr. thomas prendergast is the president of the metropolitan transit authority. the mta sa offered extensive flooding damaged during the storm. i'm glad he's here to help us read our minds around what this challenges are. patrick is the executive authority of the port authority of new york and new jersey. we are happy the station is open again, but we know there are significant challenges still. i would like to ask each of you, starting with mr. weinstein, to give us about five minutes of oral testimony. you are full statements will be included in the record. then we can have the discussion. >> good morning, mr. chairman. thank you for your leadership in helping our state through this difficult time, and thank you to the members of this committee for providing this opportunity. new jersey transit is the second largest transit agency in the nation. asante had a particularly hard. while we took extraordinary steps to -- sandy hit us particularly hard. the system suffered damage to track and signal systems, terminals, and others. under governor christie's leadership

mr tom prendergast is the president of new york city transit, the separate extensive flooding damaged during the storm and i am glad he is here to help us read our minds around with those challenges are. patrick foye is with the port authority of new york and new jersey, we are happy the station is open again and there are significant challenges still. i would like to ask each of you, i would like james weinstein to give five minutes of oral testimony. your full statements will be included in record and then we can have a discussion. >> good morning, mr. chairman, thank you for your leadership in helping us take our state through this difficult time and thank you and members of this committee for providing this opportunity to address you today. the jersey transit is the second-largest transit agency in the nation. sandy hit us particularly hard. we took extraordinary steps to mitigate potential harm. nonetheless the transit system suffered extraordinary damage to critical bridges, a local substations, track and signal systems, rolling stock and key terminals. in addition under governo