Washington - US lawmakers on Wednesday heard a
powerful plea to stop a brutal wave of rapes and killings by rebels in
the Democratic Republic of Congo amid claims six million people have
died in years of war.
"Congress, in your hands you have the
salvation of all Congolese people," Ntambo Nkulu Ntanda, bishop of the
United Methodist Church of North Katanga, told a House of
Representatives subcommittee.
"We came to seek your assistance
because we know who you are. You have power... you have all the means to
stop the war in Congo."
Vividly etching shocking images of daily
brutality against women and children, he said: "More than six million
have been killed, and they're still being killed."
But he accused the world of turning a blind eye saying "no-one is paying attention, even having compassion to us".
The
UN experts and the DRC government accuse neighbouring Rwanda of backing
the M23 rebels who launched an uprising in April. Rwanda has denied any
involvement and in turn accuses Kinshasa of backing a group of Hutu
rebels who also operate in eastern DR Congo.
The M23 is led by
Bosco Ntaganda, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war
crimes, and is formed by former fighters in an ethnic Tutsi rebel group
integrated into the Congolese military in a 2009 peace deal.
Nearly
half a million civilians have been displaced by the new conflict, and
there is growing pressure for progress to be made at a UN summit on the
crisis to be held in New York on September 27.
Immediate ceasefire
Expert
Mark Schneider, senior vice president of the International Crisis
Group, which studies conflict-torn states, said the US could take a lead
on bringing together humanitarian efforts to help the displaced.
Global
powers should also insist on an immediate ceasefire monitored by the UN
peacekeeping force in the region, along with tougher sanctions
targeting any people including Rwandan leaders found to be supporting
the rebels.
The ICC should also be asked to investigate the rapes and killings, and the M23 leader arrested and handed over for trial.
"If
the Western nations, including the US, want to move from crisis
management, to conflict resolution in the Great Lakes region, they have
to speak with a single clear voice and exert direct political pressure
on both Kinshasa and Kigali," Schneider said.
Jason Stearns,
Director of the Usalama Project at Rift Valley Institute, said the
crisis and rise of the M23 resulted from "the failure of the Congolese
peace process to deal with persistent causes of conflict in the region."
He
urged the United States to deepen its engagement saying the region had
only a low priority with the administration. But he stressed no solution
could be imposed by outsiders, saying a high-level African-led option
would have the best chance of success.
"The key problem the US
government has had is apathy. It's not that it's done the wrong things.
It's that they haven't done anything at all," he added.