Author: Database of Press Releases related to Africa

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Luanda, Angola

May 4, 2014

Well, Jay Ireland, thank you very much for a generous welcome here to General Electric in Luanda in the center of this extraordinary economic activity. I’m very excited to be here. I’m sorry that my wife is not here, because she was born in Mozambique and speaks – her first language is Portuguese. (Applause.) So I hear it around the house all the time – muito obrigadoand all that stuff. (Laughter.)

But it’s a privilege for me to be able to be here, and I want to thank Foreign Minister Chikoti for his welcome and for the opportunity to be able to meet the president tomorrow and have a good conversation about the bilateral relationship between the United States and Angola. I am particularly pleased to be here with other representatives of the oil and gas industry, a representative from Chevron, from ConocoPhilips, as well as from ExxonMobil – Esso, as you call it here. And I’m very grateful that the representative from the U.S.-Angola Chamber of Commerce is here, too.

As you’ve heard in the earlier introductions, I’m here with former United States Senator Russ Feingold, who is our – President Obama’s and my special envoy to the Great Lakes region and who is working to produce greater stability and peace in the region. President dos Santos and Angola have provided important leadership, and I want to thank you, Angola, for the leadership an the participation and the help to solve conflicts that have gone on for too long.

But as I mentioned a moment ago, we’re standing in a place of enormous economic activity with great promise for future economic growth and development. I am accompanied on this trip by the president and CEO of the EximBank[1], Elizabeth Littlefield, because the EximBank[2] is very much a partner with General Electric and very involved in helping to support economic development here in Angola and in other parts of Africa.

In fact, though EximBank[2] we have just provided a $600 million, just about a $600 million loan guarantee that will assist in the purchase of a Boeing 777 for Angola. This will grow the opportunity of, obviously, more ability to have business and more ability to have trade, and also for people to simply come to be able to engage in some of the exciting things that are happening in Angola. In addition, Exim[2] is providing another $300 million or so of additional economic investment here in Angola.

So let me just say quickly why being here is important today. Africa is changing. Eight of the ten fastest-growing economies in the world are here in Africa. There is enormous opportunity for the people of Africa, the people of Angola, to be able to gain in healthcare, in education, in jobs, in the quality of life. And I know the government is very focused on how to provide for increased standard of living for the people of the country. That comes from fair and reasonable trade agreements where everybody benefits, where there’s an ability to create jobs. When a Boeing airliner is bought from Boeing, it creates jobs in America, but it will also create jobs and opportunity here in Angola.

General Electric has recently sold four power turbines to Angola. This is for a project in Soyo. And this will help provide the power that then generates the ability for hospitals, for schools, for homes, for cities, for stores to be able to grow and prosper. So we believe there are great opportunities on which we can build where, most importantly, Angolans will benefit.

I just spoke with the representative for ConocoPhillips, who tells me and the representative for Chevron – who tell me about the several thousands of employees. ConocoPhilipps is newer here, but Chevron has about 3,500 workers employed. So more and more Angolans are being trained to take on more and more different kinds of important jobs.

The first lady of Angola was in Los Angeles a number of years ago, and she was talking with the executives there about a disease here in Angola. A lot of people thought you couldn’t do anything about it. But Chevron, which had been working here for many years, stepped up and they talked with the Texas Children’s Hospital and they got care to be able to come her to help cure this disease for children. More than 3,000 children’s lives have been saved

So this is not just about business. This is about building a relationship between two people, two countries, and building a future. And when I look out at the economic energy out here in the port in all these containers and these ships and the work that you’re doing, I am confident that Angola, working together as you are now, will be able to help contribute to an extraordinary journey in Africa as a whole, and we will provide greater opportunity to everybody.

Thank you for the privilege. Muito obrigado. (Applause.)

[1] Elizabeth Littlefield is the president and CEO of OPIC.

[2] OPIC

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

May 4, 2014

Your Excellency Bishop Edouard and to everybody here, it’s a great privilege for me to be able to visit this hospital, St. Joseph’s. And I am so impressed by what I have seen and moved by what I have seen. Sister Marie Joseph, thank you so much for your incredible directorship here which you are leading and doing.

And I had occasion to talk at length with this wonderful surgeon, Dr. Dolores Nembunzu. And se is saving lives and making an extraordinary difference and this hospital is for young women who are victimized by sexual violence or in some cases by young women who are simply giving birth to children way before the time that they should be doing that. And they suffer damage to their reproductive capacity as a result of that.

Fistula is a very debilitating, degrading, and unbelievably painful, horrible condition that seals the future of these young women. Many of these young women, unfortunately, are ostracized by their community, abandoned by their families and their husbands, and they are left to their own devices. And but for the extraordinary care that is provided in a place like St. Joseph’s, these women would be lost.

What is happening here is an act of defiance, really, to fight back against violence, against gender-based violence and gender-based discrimination, and decisions that are made about young women that simply don’t work for those young women. So there are some 4,000 cases a year in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some 200 get to be treated here every year, I believe, by surgery. This wonderful doctor performs amazing surgeries. She told me that the shortest surgery is a surgery of 17 minutes; the longest surgeries are six or seven hours because that’s how much repair has to be done to restore these women’s lives.

I just met two young girls, one 26, a young woman, and a 19-year-old, both of whom were having extraordinary difficulty giving birth as a result of the violence that they had (inaudible) and as well as a lack of care, and the result was that they needed an operation desperately. One of them came here so weak, lost weight, lost strength, that for four months she’s been here, and much of that time was simply to get her to eat, to get her to be able to get strong, so she could then be cured and have an operation.

I met a woman a few minutes ago who I talked to, Julienne Lusenge, who is an activist for women who is courageous working with an organization that she has helped put together with 56 different agents around the country who are working to fight for the rights of women to be able to be freed from this kind of exploitation and violence.

(In French.) (Laughter.)

I mentioned that there were 4,000 cases a year. Thanks to a program in the United States run by the USAID – and our director of USAID is here, you can see up here our 50th anniversary effort – but we have treated 7,000 women that we have helped have these procedures to be able to be cured from fistula.

So I want to thank everybody who is involved in this effort. I want to thank the church, merci beaucoup. This is what the church should be doing to reach people and help people and administer. And I think that we can all be very, very proud of what this hospital is doing.

I also want to thank all of the people in the hospital and the director, Sister Marie Joseph. President Obama is deeply committed, as I am and everybody in our State Department is, to work to prevent this extraordinary violence against women and young girls. We are working to help educate young men, boys, and girls. And the global community, I promise you, will continue to stay focused on trying to prevent this kind of violence and help to save the lives of young women who have been oppressed by it.

(In French.)

(Applause.)

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Special Briefing

Russell D. Feingold

Special Envoy for the Great Lakes and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

May 4, 2014

MR. FEINGOLD: Well, we are so pleased, all of us in the U.S. Government, State Department, that the Secretary made the important choice to come here and to also go to Angola later today. These are interconnected visits. Coming here is a statement about how pleased we are about the progress that the Democratic Republic of the Congo has made in particular in the last year. Their economic growth is one of the highest in the world. Yes, it’s on a low base, but it is positive growth.

QUESTION: What percentage growth annually?

MR. FEINGOLD: The latest quarter was 8 percent, they’ve had 10 percent. I want to check those figures, but they are positive growth figures, and Prime Minister Matata has been given credit for working with the president to move forward in that direction.

Their military performed admirably in this past year, a military that frankly in the past has not always received the highest reviews, but they performed admirably in going after one of the most important threats to the security of the country and going after the M23 in conjunction with MONUSCO and their intervention brigade. This was not expected that it would go that well and be that complete of a victory. So that was an important step for a country that needs to have a credible and competent military in order to govern the eastern part of the country in particular, that it’s been besieged by instability and violence.

At the same time, they demonstrated a strong diplomatic capacity where they sent a top-notch negotiating team to the Kampala talks, and we were deeply involved, including the Secretary himself on occasion, with phone calls and bringing that to a conclusion. It was very difficult, but it did lead to the Nairobi Declarations.

So this is a moment where the D.R.C., despite its many challenges, particularly in the eastern part of the country, can build on its successes. And the Secretary wants to congratulate them on this and discuss those aspects.

There are a couple of things that are particularly important in making that momentum continue. One is all the armed groups have to be pursued. The M23’s success was a prelude to what is the ongoing operations against the ADF, or ADF Nalu, a Ugandan-based group in Northern – North Kivu. And those are difficult operations that have been continuing, combining the FARDC’s efforts along with MONUSCO.

But the third major group that has to be pursued, frankly in my view, the top priority, is going after the FDLR. And the Secretary already discussed this with Foreign Minister Tshibanda, will discuss it with President Kabila today. The FDLR is the group that includes those who were involved, and are still around who are involved in the genocide, the genociders. They’re just a few hours from Rwanda, where this horrible crime was committed. They have been involved in very significant crimes and violence, including sexually based violence in eastern Congo.

And in addition, the whole idea of this intervention brigade and pursuing these groups was that the intervention brigade would go after all our groups. So that has to include those that Rwanda has a particular concern about as well as the others. And we pledged – MONUSCO, the United States, all of us, the UN – we pledged that this would include going after the FDLR. Those operations need to be taken seriously. The planning has been done. But President Kabila needs to give the green light to say it is time to take them on militarily, at the same time that we work to create the modalities so that if the FDLR is truly ready to surrender, we’re ready to do that. And we are working on that as well, but the two have to go hand in hand. Neither of them can operate on their own.

So that’s one priority. The other priority is the Secretary will be discussing with President Kabila, as he’s already done with Foreign Minister Tshibanda, the upcoming cycle of elections. Critical fact here is that the world was pleasantly surprised – I remember at the time being chairman of the Africa subcommittee in the United States Senate – we were pleasantly surprised by the success and credibility of the 2006 presidential elections. President Kabila came to power in a very difficult situation where people maybe did not expect that somebody who came into power that way would be able to pull that off, but they did.

Unfortunately, in 2011, it was a different story. The international community witnessed an election that lacked the indices of free, fair, and transparent elections, and was largely regarded as flawed, as some people in the country claim it was rigged.

So this is a critical thing that the presidential elections are coming up in 2016. There needs to be a series of elections held between now and 2016 that hopefully will include the first local elections in the history of this nation – they’ve never had election of local officials – the election of provincial leaders, including the governors, and then the presidential election, where a two-term limit is explicitly stated in the constitution. We believe that it is very important for the future of this country and its stability that that constitution be respected.

We also believe that everyone should work together – the Congolese Government, the opposition party members, the international donors – to make sure that a clear schedule for the elections is agreed to, a timeline that it is held to, and that the budgeting for it is transparent, and that those elections proceed and be finished, including the presidential election, in 2016 without any change in the constitution. That is our belief with regard to all of the countries in the region and all across the world, that it is better to adhere to such a constitutional provision and to not endeavor to change it for any individual – that that is a formula for instability, not stability.

QUESTION: Can I just —

MR. FEINGOLD: Yeah. That’s basically the two things I wanted to mention. Now you can ask.

QUESTION: So is that a polite way of saying the United States does not want Kabila to change the constitution and go for a third term?

MR. FEINGOLD: We don’t want – we believe that the constitution should stand, as in all the other countries in the region, in the Great Lakes. This is a message we have given consistently. The President of the United States, President Obama, when he was here last year, made a very important statement. What Africa needs is not strong men, but strong institutions. And one of those strong institutions is a credible method of executive succession, executive term limits. And in most cases, things have gone much better in those countries that have followed that, particularly in Africa, from my experience, having worked in this area more than other areas in the world.

QUESTION: But given that he’s been quite cooperative over the last year, is he looking for a pass from you guys?

MR. FEINGOLD: There certainly hasn’t been any comment to that effect, and when it comes to democracy, it’s about the people. The people of this country have a right to have their constitution respected. They have a right to choose their president in accordance with their constitution. The constitution here provides for two terms. As I’d like to say, it’s not as tough a provision as the one in the United States. Bill Clinton can’t run for president again. This provision actually is only two terms in a row. This is more like the – many other countries. We have a particularly tough provision. That provision should be respected.

QUESTION: What happened between the 2006 and the 2010 elections that you said —

MR. FEINGOLD: 2011.

QUESTION: Oh, 2011, right. You said that 2006 went well and 2011 was not seen as credible.

MR. FEINGOLD: There are a variety of analyses of this. Some suggest that the government here itself sought to handle these elections on their own and did not do all the things that were necessary. Others have suggested the international community was not adequately engaged early enough. So there’s plenty of blame to go around.

This time, the international community will be engaged. In fact, in particular, the United States, as the Secretary will announce today, is very serious about making sure we play our role, a significant role, in making sure that there are resources available. The Congolese Government has said that they will handle 80 percent of the cost of these elections, but another 20 percent needs to come from donors from around the world. I have taken the view and have gotten tremendous support from the Secretary that we should be upfront about our willingness to help to make sure the other donors also are upfront about their willingness to help.

QUESTION: So can – sorry.

MR. FEINGOLD: That – we have to avoid this chicken – this sort of chicken-and-egg thing where one side says, “Well, we want to know what you’re going to do, but first we got to know what – you tell us what you’re going to do and then we’ll tell you what we’re going to do.” I want and the Secretary wants the Congolese to know that if they create credible elections with proper timeframe, that – as long as that’s happening, that we will help, and I hope that we will – our help will be considered significant.

QUESTION: What kind of costs are we talking about here?

MR. FEINGOLD: I’m going to let the Secretary discuss that later today.

QUESTION: Okay. He plans to?

MR. FEINGOLD: He’ll be talking later today.

QUESTION: All right.

QUESTION: To what does President Kabila attribute his reluctance to give the green light to take on the FDLR militarily? As you say, they are the original genocider, they’ve been around 20 years.

MR. FEINGOLD: Well, he has consistently said he knows that it is not only his responsibility, but in the interest of his country to remove them from their presence in their country. It’s an illegal armed group. It’s harmful to the country. The D.R.C. is a signatory to the Peace, Security, Cooperation Framework that requires this. He will tell you and I’m sure will tell the Secretary that it’s difficult taking on all these different groups, that the operations against the ADF have been – consumed significant resources of his military. But he also has told me, as recently as a few weeks ago, that he intends to give the green light.

But that needs to happen, and so we hope to have a good conversation, that the Secretary will have a good conversation about exactly when and how that can happen. I’ll just repeat again, as Martin Kobler and I did yesterday and when we spoke to the Secretary, that MONUSCO is ready, the FIB is ready, it is time for it to happen.

QUESTION: Can you drill that into specifics about how many people would be needed to do that kind of operation, what kind of money the United States would be able to provide to really go after these —

MR. FEINGOLD: Well, we are already the largest supporter of MONUSCO, and I don’t have any particular information about how much that particular operation will be. I believe the resources are there for this operation to occur. That’s not the problem. The problem is making sure the green light is given. I’ve seen the plans. It’s ready to go.

QUESTION: What’s AFRICOM’s relevance?

MR. FEINGOLD: Nothing in particular.

QUESTION: They’re not training, they’re not providing intelligence, they’re not helping anyone?

MR. FEINGOLD: No, MONUSCO is handling their own operation. They have their overall force that’s been there for a while. The FIB is the force of 3,000 people particularly devoted to this kind of activity with a strong mandate, about a thousand troops each from Malawi, South Africa, and Tanzania. And they performed well with regard to the M23. Some of them have been helping, I believe, with regard to the ADF.

Yeah, they have, I believe, right? They’ve been helping with the ADF? They’ve been (inaudible)?

PARTICIPANT: Yeah.

MR. FEINGOLD: Yeah. And so this is a reasonably financed – they can’t do everything on their own, but there’s a lot of resources behind this, and I think they have the capacity combined with the FARDC. This is not some (inaudible) whole new commitment. This is just the next task that needs to be taken on.

QUESTION: What about finishing the M23? Rwanda and Uganda are going to have to give up some of the leaders of that group, it’s my understanding, to stand – to face some sort of Congolese judicial accountability. Do you believe that President Museveni and President Kagame will be willing to turn over those people?

MR. FEINGOLD: I’m reasonably optimistic about the follow-up on the so-called Nairobi Declarations. This has been a little slow, but we got a good update both from the ICGLR and from Foreign Minister Tshibanda. It appears that the modalities for most of the people involved, some 1,300 in Uganda and some 600 in Rwanda, are underway. Most of the individuals will be eligible for and apparently are already signing these amnesty declarations and they are being processed. This means that many of these individuals should, in the not-too-distant future, be able to start returning to the D.R.C. where appropriate and go into the demobilization programs and hopefully reintegration where appropriate.

Yes, there are individuals that would not fit in that category, and those individuals should face justice if they have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity. That’s the provision of the amnesty law. And I suspect that a reasonable number of those individuals will be returning to the D.R.C. for that process as well, although some possibly could be involved with other forms of justice too.

QUESTION: Mixed too?

MR. FEINGOLD: Mixed – yeah, well, that’s right. As a part of this, in addition to the fact that the amnesty law was passed – and this is another example of the good things that happened in the D.R.C. It’s not always easy dealing with congress or a parliament. But they did the job. The Nairobi Declarations were signed in – on December 12th. By the end of January, they had passed and promulgated this amnesty law. That was a critical first step to create – otherwise, none of this follow-up could be really occurring.

The next step is something where the United States has been really urging the D.R.C. to do something that it appears they’re very eager to do now as well, and that’s to create something called mixed chambers or mixed courts. These are Congolese courts. They’re not international courts. But they’re courts that would include international judges, typically African judges but people with background in international law, who would handle these kinds of cases. They would be a majority Congolese on the court at both the trial and the appellate level, but it would include the expertise of the international community to make sure that these prosecutions and all the convictions or whatever may come out of it is internationally recognized. We also believe it is beneficial to the future development of the Congolese judiciary.

So, we – our government has been very active in advising and working on this, and we think it’s outstanding that there’s a chance that this legislation providing for these mixed courts could pass in this current legislative session of the D.R.C. parliament. This is – would be important to making these examples where justice has to be done actually occur.

QUESTION: Is this session, this legislative session, is this this calendar year, or does it extend beyond the calendar –

MR. FEINGOLD: It, I think, goes till June.

PARTICIPANT: Yeah, it’s current.

QUESTION: Oh.

MR. FEINGOLD: Started in March.

PARTICIPANT: I think (inaudible).

MR. FEINGOLD: So I’m referring to just the session, as opposed to the whole.

QUESTION: Oh.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on something? The mixed courts, is that – is there any precedent for that? And also, when you talked about the issue of term limits before, I can’t recall – does the United States usually take a position on countries’ internal constitutional processes of term limits? I can’t remember if the United States comes out and says, “You don’t extend, don’t – “ I don’t remember that happening. Is that the common –

MR. FEINGOLD: Well, first of all, I believe a good precedent – and you could talk to Ambassador Stephen Rapp about this in more detail – a good precedent is Senegal for the mixed chambers, which – he often refers to how that was approached. It’s different than, for example, Sierra Leone, which was an international court that was officed, or set, in Sierra Leone. This is a Congolese court. And the same thing was done with regard to one major prosecution in Senegal.

The United States has consistently said throughout the world and, in particular, in Africa – and I was involved in this on many occasions as a member of the Senate – where we would suggest to leaders directly that it is our experience and our thought that it is far better for your country to maintain term limits for the executive if it is in your constitution, that it is as a destabilizing influence, and it’s reputationally damaging to a growing nation to change that. I personally delivered that message to many African leaders. It’s not the most fun thing to do. I remember once delivering this message to the president of Djibouti, and he said something to the effect of, “I hope I don’t have to continue doing this.” He seemed a little down that day.

But this is – and sometimes we’ve had a successful role in persuading people who may not have been excited about leaving that, really, it’s part of their legacy, and that there are great things that leaders of countries can do after they have been presidents of their country.

So we respect the sovereignty of countries, we understand they can create their own constitutional provision. We didn’t always have executive term limits. But it is our judgment that stability and democracy and growth of the governance, democratic governance of countries, is best served by following those provisions.

QUESTION: And just to clarify, these are term limits for two terms in a row. He could come back in a couple of years later and —

MR. FEINGOLD: That is my understanding of the Congolese constitution.

QUESTION: Okay. And then also, what is the U.S.’ position on – as I understand it, there is a move for indirect elections upcoming, versus direct elections?

MR. FEINGOLD: We have not taken a formal position on this. I can tell you that I spent nine days just listening to people all over this country, particularly in the east. There was almost unanimous opposition to the idea of indirect election of provincial governors.

As a personal matter, if somebody in the United States knows the history of our indirect election of United States senators, that was a terrific way to have horrible corruption that led to the direct election of United States senators. We had even an interesting moment in Illinois not too long ago that had to do with this issue.

So I think – I personally think it would be something they might want to avoid. I think it could be destabilizing as well, just as a personal viewpoint. But I’m not speaking here that this is our official U.S. Government view. But it seems to me the popular election of officials is better. But this is not of the same status, frankly, as the executive term limits.

QUESTION: Okay. And who is putting the idea forward of the direct elections, if it’s facing —

MR. FEINGOLD: It has been suggested by the head of the CENI, the C-E-N-I, the election commission, Abbe Malu Malu, who provided two choices to the national parliament. His first choice was direct local elections followed by – the second year by indirect provincial elections. In other words, the local officials elected and then presidential. His second alternative involved having the provincial elections in the same year as the presidential elections, and making them direct. And these matters are being considered, as I understand, by the Congolese parliament at this time.

QUESTION: Is it more difficult to make the argument for respecting executive term limits in Kinshasa, when this president’s main rival looks to Kigali and Kampala, and two guys that have been there way longer than two terms?

MR. FEINGOLD: It is a message that has to be consistently delivered throughout the region. It is fair for any of the presidents in the region to expect that we would take the position, same position, in all the countries in the region. I am special envoy to the region, and this is a message that we believe applies in all situations equally.

QUESTION: This is – I mean, you’ve been saying already to the president, this is not a new thing that’s going to happen today, the first time —

MR. FEINGOLD: I was asked about this in Kinshasa in January, and spoke very clearly that this was our position. I know the Secretary has already repeated this to the foreign minister yesterday. There are no surprises here. We respect the sovereignty of this nation, and certainly do not believe we should be directing the way they run their country, but we do not believe in, at the last minute, telling people our thoughts about this. We are up front as Americans, and we are up front in saying it is unwise for the future positive movement of this country to change this constitution.

This country has shown that it was capable of having a presidential election in 2006, which defied the expectations of the international community. It would be a terrific thing that it could show that it can follow its constitution and hold free, fair, and transparent elections with the opposition in advance, as we agree to these modalities for the election. It would be a major step forward for the role that I think the D.R.C. is destined to play in Africa and throughout the world.

QUESTION: You haven’t spoken about the LRA yet. Could you bring us up to speed on that?

MR. FEINGOLD: It’s not within my mandate.

QUESTION: Oh, okay.

MR. FEINGOLD: I wrote the legislation as a senator relating to this. My senior advisor worked on this issue in the past. I’m pleased that the United States is continuing its efforts in that regard, but I’m not the guy to be holding forth on that today.

QUESTION: Okay.

MS. PSAKI: All right.

MR. FEINGOLD: Okay. Thanks.

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Press Availability

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

May 4, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning, everybody. I’ve just come from a productive, good meeting with President Kabila and Foreign Minister Tshibanda. We spoke candidly about the enormous opportunities and the challenges that are faced by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and we spoke very candidly also about the ways in which we can make progress going forward. I congratulated the president on the accomplishments that he and his government have achieved, together with the work of MONUSCO, but we also talked about the steps that now need to be taken to provide further stability; increased, broader democracy; greater justice; and a greater amount of economic development for the Congolese people.

The president expressed his vision and his commitment to each of these efforts, and I think it’s fair to say that he leaned forward on his commitment to make sure that the accords – the Kampala accords as well as the peace and security agreement are well implemented over the course of the days ahead.

The suffering in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the crisis in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo really continues to trouble all of us. The eastern D.R.C. has been the scene of some of the most horrific crimes of violence against women and girls that are imaginable. And it’s a powerful reminder of the obligations that we all face, that we all share with respect to not only ending the killing and the fear, but in order to work for the birth of a new generation of stability and of hope.

Achieving a lasting peace in the D.R.C. is a priority of President Obama and a priority of mine. And that is why we appointed a close colleague of mine from the Senate for 18 years, Senator Russ Feingold, who is here with us today, as the United States Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes region and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Russ brings enormous intellect, passion, commitment to this issue. And already, he has been able to have an impact on the ground. He has been working with the UN Representative Mary Robinson, with the leaders in the region, and we are very pleased that the Nairobi Declarations were achieved, as well as a reduction in violence.

But he would be the first to say that we have further steps to take in order to complete this task, and we all understand what they are. The efforts to disarm, to demobilize, to reintegrate – these are the priorities of the moment. I want to commend the Congolese military and MONUSCO for defeating the M23 and for taking the fight to the Allied Democratic Forces – the ADF, as we know them – and many other Congolese armed groups. The United States welcomes the Kabila government’s commitment to focus on the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, and we discussed with President Kabila the steps that need to be taken with respect to that.

But I need to be clear: Military force alone will not deliver stability to the D.R.C. Lasting peace will not grow out of the barrel of a gun. It will come from restoring state authority and state services, and providing the capacity building that is necessary in those areas that have been recaptured from armed groups. It will also come from demobilizing the combatants and returning them to civilian life. I welcome the government’s initial efforts on this front, and we look forward to working with them as we continue programs that will advance that initiative.

The United States also strongly supports the Peace, Security, and Cooperation Framework peace process. Now I can’t emphasize enough how important that process is in identifying and resolving the root causes of the conflict in the D.R.C. as well as in the entire Great Lakes region. It’s imperative that all of the signatories fully implement their commitments and support the ongoing broader process of bringing peace to the region. Peace cannot be delayed or deferred or denied, and I think the people of Congo – of the Democratic Republic of Congo made that clear.

It is not enough just to focus on the military side of this equation, and it’s not enough to focus only on the political stability or economic development side of it. We need to work on all of these at the same time, and we need to keep the pressure on the FDLR and the other armed groups. We need to support the parties as they try to implement the framework agreement. So we must provide partnership and leadership as we urge all of the parties to come together to create a political solution.

And that means free, fair, timely, and transparent elections. I encouraged President Kabila to work with his government and the parliament in order to complete the election calendar and the budget. And they need to do so in accordance with the constitution. The United States is committed to supporting the Congolese people, the government, and other donors as they work towards decisions that are credible, timely, and consistent with the current constitution. And obviously, it is very clear that the dates and the process need to be set and fully defined, and the sooner, the better.

As a sign of our commitment, I am pleased to announce that $30 million will be immediately made available from the United States in additional funding in order to support transparent and credible elections as well as recovery and reconstruction programs in the eastern D.R.C. This contribution comes on top of already substantial U.S. assistance for economic development for the Congolese people. USAID plans to invest $1.2 billion over the next five years in the D.R.C., focusing on improving political and economic governance and on promoting social development. Our programs will strengthen Congolese institutions and improve their ability to respond to the peoples’ needs, and that includes the delivery of critical healthcare and education services.

I also spoke with President Kabila about another issue which has been a concern of late, and that is the question of adoption for families in the United States and friends of mine in the Senate who know that there is important, required attention to this question of international adoption. Here in the D.R.C. since 2009, the number of American families able to provide a house to children who have lost their parents has grown each year. And today, I urged President Kabila to move as rapidly as possible in the review of the situation that raised some concerns, and also to lift the new freeze on international adoption from the D.R.C. We want to enable Congolese children, who seek to, to be able to be matched with parents abroad who are eager to provide them with a secure and happy future. And as someone – I have seen this firsthand. My sister has adopted a young child from China. I know how positive and important this can be for everybody concerned, and I think it’s an issue that’s important to all of us as a matter of basic human decency.

And we have to admit, all of us, we can have no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead. But even as we look down a complicated road, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is a place of enormous potential. Its people provide enormous potential. And the people of Congo want a better future. The fact is that together, we have an ability to be able to work to support the people of the Congo, to build a more secure and prosperous future, which is a responsibility that belongs to all of us.

I can guarantee you that the United States, through the immediate efforts of our ambassador on the ground, our embassy, and particularly our special envoy, we will continue to work in every way that we know how to be a good partner in this effort, and we look forward to working with the people of Congo in that in furtherance of that objective.

So I’d be delighted to answer a couple of questions if there are a few.

MS. PSAKI: Great. The first question will be from Mimie Engumb from Radio Oakpi.

QUESTION: (In French.)

SECRETARY KERRY: (In French.)

QUESTION: (In French.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I think I just mentioned it, to be honest with you. There will be elections in many countries in Africa over the course of the next year or so. I think there are 15 presidential elections and some 37 elections in countries in Africa. And so every election is really critical and important, and it is important for the people to be able to know what the process is, to have confidence in that process.

And the United States position is very clear: We believe that the elections need to be free, fair, open, transparent, accountable; and the sooner the process is announced, the sooner that the date is set, the sooner people have an ability to be able to participate; and we believe that it ought to be done in keeping with the constitutional process of the country.

MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Nicolas Revise from AFP.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. You just announced your financial support for D.R.C. for its demobilization plan, but is there some conditions to this support? What are specifically these conditions? Did you ask specifically to President Kabila to give this green light to go after the FDLR still active in eastern Congo? And politically, is the U.S. support tied to the respect of the constitution? So did you ask specifically to President Kabila not to change the constitution and not to run for a third term? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me discuss all of that. But first of all, with respect to the conditions, obviously the demobilization is taking place in accordance with the agreement. And that agreement requires people to go back to their homes, where possible, where they sign, appropriately, an amnesty for those who qualify. And I think for those who don’t, it is clear that there remains – that is, people who may have been engaged in crimes against humanity, war crimes – those people remain liable for that. But others who sign the agreement and sign the amnesty are committed to and encouraged, obviously must return to their homes. That’s an important part of this demobilization effort.

With respect to the election process, the constitution, and the FDLR, we want to see the process of providing stability and completing the task of disarming the armed groups in the east completed. So that includes not just the completion of the efforts with the ADF, but also obviously, indeed making sure that the FDLR is held accountable and that the initiative with respect to them will commence.

The president – we did discuss it. The president made it clear that he intends to do that, and I think that there is a schedule. I don’t want to discuss it because I think it would be inappropriate to do so. But the answer is the president gave his word that that is not just on the agenda, but that he has a specific process in mind and timing.

And with respect to the constitutional process, we talked about the election. I believe the president’s legacy is a legacy that is very important for the country, and that he has an opportunity, which he understands, to be able to put the country on a continued path of democracy. And I believe it is clear to him that the United States of America feels very strongly, as do other people, that the constitutional process needs to be respected and adhered to. That’s how you strengthen a country.

I have no doubt that President Kabila’s legacy will be defined by the progress he has made in the – particularly the last year in addressing the security issues of the east, the economic issues of the country. And he’s a young man with an enormous amount of time to be able to continue to contribute to his country. And I’m quite confident that he will weigh all of those issues as he makes a decision about the future.

But clearly, the United States of America believes that a country is strengthened, that people have respect for their nation and their government, when a constitutional process is properly implemented and upheld by that government. And we obviously believe – we’re a country with term limits. We live by them. We had several hundred years of transformation under that process, and we encourage other countries to adhere to their constitution.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Ndjili International Airport

Kinshasa, Congo (Kinshasa)

May 3, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: I’m going to say, if I may – if I could have everybody’s attention just for a minute.

FOREIGN MINISTER TSHIBANDA: I’m going to speak in French.

(Via interpreter) Mr. Secretary of State, on behalf of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on behalf of the head of state and on my own personal behalf, I would like to welcome you to our country. We are very happy you have found time to come to meet us, and that is extra proof of the interest that you are showing towards the D.R.C. I do believe that during the brief time that you will spend here with us, we’ll have time to update on the various issues of interest to us both bilaterally and regionally.

SECRETARY KERRY: (In French.)

And I’m going to speak in English because I want to make a few comments regarding some other issues. But let me say what a pleasure it is for me to be in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have wanted to be here for some period of time. As many people know, our special envoy, Senator Russ Feingold, has been here nine visits now working very hard to advance the peace process and the stability of the region. We’re very proud of the work that he has been doing and we’re very, very pleased with the leadership of President Kabila, of the accords that have been reached, and of the progress towards disarmament and reintegration and demobilization. These are critical, critical issues.

We’ll talk about those more and I will have a chance to meet with the press here so I can answer a few questions and talk about the issues here. But I would like to comment on another issue of great importance to all of us, which is what is happening in Ukraine.

Obviously, we were very pleased that the seven OSCE inspectors were released today. It’s a step. But there are many other steps that have to be taken in order to be able to de-escalate the situation. And I talked this afternoon on my way here with Foreign Minister Lavrov. We discussed those additional steps that need to be taken. And in addition to that, we also talked about the meeting between President Obama and Chancellor Merkel. And I reiterated to him their conclusion that it is important for Russia to withdraw support from the separatists and to assist in removing people from the buildings and beginning to de-escalate the situation.

The President has made clear and the chancellor has made clear that if those supported by Russia continue to interfere with the election, regrettably, there will have to be additional sanctions, including the possibility of – or the reality of sector sanctions. But Foreign Minister Lavrov and I did talk about how to proceed and perhaps how to find a way forward here. We both will be in touch with President Burkhalter of Switzerland and talk about the ability of the OSCE to play a larger role in perhaps facilitating the de-escalation. We will both advance ideas about how to do that, without any promises of what those possibilities may produce.

In the end, we reaffirmed our support for the OSCE. I made clear that it is important to implement the constitutional process and that we need to have some kind of dialogue that is taking place between the Government of Ukraine, people in the east, and those interested stakeholders in the region.

We also discussed the ongoing removal of chemical weapons from Syria. And in that regard, I press that we must see the last removal of the 8 percent remaining in a site near Damascus. We agreed that we would work on certain things to try to see if it is possible to accelerate that process with an understanding that the Government of Syria cannot delay. The regime must move immediately to prepare those remaining chemical weapons for removal, and that we need to meet that removal as fast as possible.

So that is where we stand with respect to both Syria and Ukraine, and we’ll keep you up to date as any developments occur.

QUESTION: So the release of the monitors (inaudible) Ukrainian side?

SECRETARY KERRY: No.

Thank you all very much.

Oh, I forgot, the other issue, and that is the level of violence. The United States condemns the violence that has been taking place by any side, and that includes the violence of anyone who lit a fire and caused the death of those 38 people or more in the building in Odessa. All of this violence is absolutely unacceptable, and Russia, the United States, Ukrainians, Europeans, the OSCE – all of us bear responsibility to do everything in our power to reduce the capacity of militants and extremists who are armed to be carrying out these terrorist and violent activities. They must end, and everybody with any influence on any party has an obligation to try to bring an end to this violence.

Thank you all.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, strongly condemns the terrorist and cowardly attack that took place yesterday, 2 May 2014, …

OTTAWA, Canada, May 5, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development, delivers remarks at a meeting with African Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Ottawa. The meeting focused on Canada’s continued commitments to advance economic growth in Africa, including the development of the agriculture sector.

Minister Paradis announces support that will increase African farmers’ access to local, regional and international markets

May 3, 2014 – Ottawa, Ontario – Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada

The Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, announced Canada’s contribution to a project entitled Enhancing Farmers’ Access to Markets in East and West Africa ($10.3 million over five years), implemented by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The announcement was made during a meeting with Ambassadors and High Commissioners of African countries, and highlights Canada’s continued commitment to advancing economic growth in Africa.

The project aims to improve the livelihoods of small-scale African farmers by increasing their access to local, regional and international markets. Farmers will receive support with adopting and meeting international trade standards, thus improving their agricultural practices and the quality of their produce. Also, farmers will be integrated in key activities along the producer-to-buyer supply chain, in partnership with the private sector, using techniques such as contract farming.

“Canada is a leader in advancing economic growth in Africa, including the development of the agriculture sector,” said Minister Paradis. “By gaining better access to more markets and improving their agricultural practices, farmers have better chances to become more competitive and productive, and to see their incomes increase. We are helping them—by engaging the private sector—to turn agriculture from a subsistence or low-yield activity into a viable business proposition. Ultimately, the livelihoods of farmers and their families will improve, and their communities will benefit.”

“This Canada and IFC partnership in Africa’s agribusiness sector will enhance farmers’ ability to bring their goods to market,” said Jean-Philippe Propser, IFC Vice-President for sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. “This new partnership is one of many we are creating in Africa to strengthen IFC’s impact on inclusive private sector development and further Canada’s involvement in the region’s development priorities.”

Quick Facts

• There are an estimated 33 million smallholder farms in sub-Saharan Africa, which contribute up to 90 percent of food production in some countries. Most farmers, the vast majority of them women, either practice subsistence farming or operate mainly in local markets.

• DFATD’s Food Security Strategy places a special emphasis on women and smallholder farmers, since a large proportion of agricultural production is attributable to women in developing countries, thereby making them important agents of economic development and food security.

• By supporting the development of the agricultural sector, Canada is contributing to reduce hunger, poverty, and malnutrition. Reducing malnutrition is a foundation to healthy lives for mothers and children in developing countries. Prime Minister Harper is hosting the high-level Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Summit on May 28–30, 2014.

OTTAWA, Canada, May 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Today, on behalf of the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, the Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, Minister of National Revenue and Member of Parliament for Delta—Richmond East, British Columbia, joined by Nina Grewal, Member of Parliament for Fleetwood—Port Kells, British Columbia, announced $20 million toward the Birth Registration project with UNICEF that aims to make every child count in sub-Saharan Africa by ensuring they are registered.

Improving the health of mothers, newborns and children and reducing the number of preventable deaths are Canada’s top development priority. In 2010, as part of its G-8 presidency, Canada launched a global effort—the Muskoka Initiative—to mobilize global action to reduce maternal, infant mortality and improve the health of mothers and children in the world’s poorest countries. Through the Muskoka Initiative, global leaders committed $7.3 billion toward reaching this common goal. This was followed up in September 2010 by the United Nations Every Women, Every Child initiative, of which Canada is a leading supporter.

“Thanks to global action, kick-started by Canada’s Muskoka Initiative in 2010, and to be reignited at this month’s Saving Every Woman, Every Child summit in Toronto, maternal mortality rates are declining and millions more children are celebrating their fifth birthday,” said Minister Findlay. “UNICEF is an important partner in Canada’s continuing efforts to save lives and improve the health of mothers and children in the developing world.”

Registering children ensures they can access government services that can protect their safety and security. Canada is supporting efforts to enable countries to develop child protection systems to ensure the safety and security of every girl and boy. The Birth Registration project with UNICEF announced today will increase the number of registrations of children under the age of five in sub-Saharan Africa by strengthening health information systems. This will mean that more children will have greater access to essential services such as health, education and social assistance.

Significant progress has been made, and our common goal is within arm’s reach. That is why Prime Minister Harper is once again taking action to mobilize the world. Canada will host Saving Every Women, Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach, an international summit that will shape the future of global action on maternal and child health issues. The summit, to be held in Toronto on May 28–30, 2014, will build on Canada’s leadership and chart the way forward for the next phase of global efforts. Improving civil registration and vital statistics systems across the developing world is critical to ensuring the health of newborns and children, and is an important component of the Muskoka Initiative. Further discussions in this important area will figure prominently at the May summit, with key partners such as UNICEF at the table.

“This commitment from the Government of Canada will ensure some of the most vulnerable children in sub-Saharan Africa have a legal identity and are no longer invisible—an essential first step in ensuring children can access lifesaving health, education and other vital social services,” said David Morley, UNICEF Canada’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Birth registration is also essential because it improves a country’s ability to gather statistics that guide decisions on health care programs that can save children’s lives.”

“Canada is at the forefront of the global effort to improve maternal and child health. Our focus reflects the values of millions of Canadians who believe that we cannot stand idly by while the poorest and most vulnerable suffer deaths that are easily and inexpensively prevented,” said Ms. Grewal. “Together, with partners such as UNICEF, we are working to ensure that all children around the world have access to health care and to build a strong international framework to safeguard children’s rights and protection.”

Together with UNICEF, Canada is leading the effort in strengthening civil registration and vital statistics systems and ensuring that all children around the world have access to health care and other essential services so that they may live healthy and safe lives.

Quick Facts

• In developing countries, around half of the children under the age of five do not have their births registered. A large portion of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Birth registration is the first step toward legal existence, and the benefits include citizenship and access to essential services, such as health, education and social assistance.

• The causes of maternal and under-five child mortality in developing countries are largely preventable with increased access to affordable and cost-effective solutions that most Canadians take for granted.

• Women and children in developing countries are significantly more likely to die from simple, preventable causes due to a lack of proven, affordable and cost-effective solutions that most Canadians take for granted.

• Progress is being made: the number of women who die each year during pregnancy or childbirth has dropped by 47 percent, from 543,000 deaths in 1990 to 287,000 in 2010.

• The global number of deaths of children under the age of five has also dropped by 45 percent, from nearly 12 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012.

• Canada is providing $2.85 billion in funding between 2010 and 2015 under the Muskoka Initiative to save the lives of women and children in developing countries.

• Canada is on track to meeting its Muskoka commitment: 80 percent of the funding is already disbursed.

• The Saving Every Woman Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach summit will bring together Canadian and international leaders and experts, Canadian charities, businesses, scientists, developed and developing countries, international organizations and global foundations to ensure that maternal, newborn and child health remains a priority of the global development agenda.

WASHINGTON, May 3, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Embassy Juba

Juba, South Sudan

May 2, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon. I just completed an in-depth, very frank, and thorough discussion with President Kiir. And throughout the meeting, I think it’s fair to say that both of us spoke very candidly, very directly, and we got to the issues that I came here to discuss. Throughout the meeting, I made it clear to him that he needs to do everything in his power to end the violence, and also to begin a process of national dialogue, a process by which there is the beginning of discussions – real discussions – about a transition government that can bring peace to the country.

It’s fair to say that President Kiir was very open and very thoughtful and had thought even before this meeting about these issues, because we have talked about them on the phone in recent days, and because our special envoy and others have had conversations with him about it. So he committed very clearly his intention to do exactly that: take forceful steps in order to begin to move to end the violence and implement the cessation of hostilities agreement, and to begin to engage on a discussion with respect to a transition government.

I just spoke a few minutes ago to Prime Minister Hailemariam of Ethiopia to convey to him President Kiir’s willingness to travel to Addis Ababa in the near term, sometime early next week hopefully, in order to engage in a discussion with Prime Minister Hailemariam, and hopefully with Riek Machar, who had previously indicated to the prime minister a willingness to do so. And I hope to talk to him sometime later in the course of today to encourage him to do so.

This meeting of Riek Machar and President Kiir is critical to the ability to be able to really engage in a serious way as to how the cessation of hostilities agreement will now once and for all really be implemented, and how that can be augmented by the discussions regarding a transition government and meeting the needs of the people of Sudan. President Kiir and I have spoken about this many times over the course of the last months. We particularly spoke almost every day during the period from December 15th through the Christmas period. In fact, I even talked to him on Christmas Day, and was particularly pleased today to be able to return to Juba in order to sit down and discuss these issues face to face.

I’ve told President Kiir that the choices that both he and the opposition face are stark and clear, and that the unspeakable human costs that we have seen over the course of the last months, and which could even grow if they fail to sit down, are unacceptable to the global community. Before the promise of South Sudan’s future is soaked in more blood, President Kiir and the opposition must work immediately for a cessation of hostilities, and to move towards an understanding about future governance of the country.

I might also say that we do not put any kind of equivalency into the relationship between the sitting president, constitutionally elected and duly elected by the people of the country, and a rebel force that is engaged in use of arms in order to seek political power or to provide a transition. Already, thousands of innocent people have been killed and more than a million people have been displaced. And it is possible – as we’ve seen the warnings, because people have not been able to plant their crops – that there could be major famine in the course of the months ahead if things don’t change.

Both sides are now reportedly recruiting child soldiers and there are appalling accounts of sexual violence in the conflict. The reports of Radio Bentiu broadcasting hate speech and encouraging ethnic killings are a deep concern to all of us. The United States could not be any clearer in its condemnation of the murder of the civilians in Bentiu or in Bor and all acts of violence, including those that use ethnicity or nationality as justification are simply abhorrent and unacceptable.

If both sides do not take steps in order to reduce or end the violence, they literally put their entire country in danger. And they will completely destroy what they are fighting to inherit.

The people of South Sudan – and I’m talking about all the people of South Sudan – all of them have suffered and sacrificed far too much to travel down this dangerous road that the country is on today. That is why both sides must take steps immediately to put an end to the violence and the cycle of brutal attacks against innocent people.

Both sides have to do more to facilitate the work of those people who are providing humanitarian assistance, whether from the UN or from the UN mission or any organization that is responding to increasingly dire needs of citizens. Both sides need to facilitate access for humanitarian workers, for goods, for cash in order to pay salaries, and they need to provide this access to South Sudan’s roads, to its waterways, including to opposition-held areas. And we talked about this very directly this morning with President Kiir and his cabinet members.

It is important that both sides also act to ensure the safety and the security of the humanitarian workers themselves, and both sides must stop dangerous verbal attacks on people who are bravely providing relief to the South Sudanese people. It’s unconscionable that people who have come here not with weapons but with assistance are being attacked by both sides, and nothing will do more to deter the international community and ultimately to wind up in an even worse confrontation in the country itself.

Both President Kiir and Riek Machar must honor the agreement that they made with one another to cease hostilities, and they need to remember as leaders their responsibilities to the people of the country. The fate of this nation, the future of its children must not be held the hostage of personal rivalry.

Yesterday in Addis I spoke with representatives from the African Union and South Sudan’s neighbors about how we can coordinate and restore peace and accountability. We support the AU’s Commission of Inquiry in South Sudan, and I met this morning with the leader of that commission and listened to their early reports of their work. And we support the IGAD’s monitoring and verification mechanisms. The United States is also prepared in short order to put sanctions in place against those who target innocent people, who wage a campaign of ethnic violence, or who disrupt the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Even as we come here in this moment of conflict in an effort to try to find the road that has been obscured, I can’t help but remember – as I drove to meet with the president and as I came back here to our Embassy, having traveled here and been here a number of times – but particularly at the moment of self-determination for this country, it is important to remember what the people of South Sudan achieved for themselves recently. Through their efforts, through their commitment, through their patience, they helped to move this country to independence, to the creation of a nation, through peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future, and the opportunity to be able to try to achieve that. And they came together to create a new nation in that effort.

I remember walking in one community and watching people vote and talking to somebody who was standing out in the hot sun and who’d been there for hours. And I walked up to them and said, “Look, I hope you’re not going to get impatient. Don’t leave. You need to wait to vote.” And that person to me said, “Don’t worry” – I was then a senator – “Don’t worry, Senator, I’ve waited 50 years for this moment. I’m not going anywhere until I’ve voted.” The dedication that I saw, the commitment of people to try to create this nation deserves to be fully supported and the aspirations of those people deserve to be met by our efforts, all of us, to try to bring peace, and mostly by the leaders to fulfill the promise that made them leaders in the first place.

It is absolutely critical that to prevent that moment of historic promise from becoming a modern-day catastrophe, we all need to work harder to support the hopes of the people and to restore those hopes. We have to be steady in our commitment to the people of South Sudan. And I was encouraged yesterday in Addis Ababa by the unanimous commitment of the neighbors, of IGAD, of the foreign ministers I met with from Kenya, from Uganda, from Ethiopia, all of whom are committed and dedicated to helping to pull South Sudan back from this precipice and help to implement the cessation of hostilities agreement, and most importantly, help South Sudan to negotiate its way through this transition government that can restore the voice of the people in a way that can give confidence to the South Sudanese people, that their future is indeed being spoken for and that the best efforts are being made to meet it.

So with that, I’d be delighted to take any questions.

MS. PSAKI: The first question will be from Michael Gordon of The New York Times.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) you’ve described some of the political and military steps that you would like to see unfold – expect to see unfold in the next weeks. If neither side honors their commitments, how specifically do you plan to hold them accountable? And how long do you plan to wait before holding them accountable? There’s been some concern in the Congress and by groups like Oxfam that the United States has moved too slowly on this. And are you prepared to sanction the president and Riek Machar themselves?

And lastly, yesterday, you spoke publicly about your interest in deploying African troops to create a more robust peacekeeping force here. How many troops do you think should – will be deployed? When do you think this will happen? Will there be – will it be necessary to secure a new UN Security Council mandate to make this happen? Basically, how real is this? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, it’s real. Each of the countries I just listed are all committed. And I met yesterday with the foreign ministers who say they are absolutely prepared to move with troops from those countries almost immediately. But yes, we do need to secure an additional United Nations Security Council mandate. I believe that can be done quickly. I hope it can be done quickly. And it’s very, very important to begin to deploy those troops as rapidly as possible.

How rapidly? Hopefully within the next weeks, and we’re talking about an initial deployment of somewhere in the vicinity of 2,500 troops. Well, I think 5,500 have been talked about, and it may be that there are even – it may be that, depending on the situation, more may have to be contemplated. But for the moment, that’s the limit, that’s what’s being talked about.

With respect to the hopes on the – what was the first part? The —

QUESTION: How long do you plan to wait before (inaudible)?

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, okay. Let me just say – you asked about the – sort of what might follow if people don’t implement these steps. And the answer, very, very directly, is the global community will then make moves in order to have accountability. There is a commission of inquiry already underway. I met this morning with the head of the commission of inquiry and listened to former Nigerian President Obasanjo’s observations about his initial start of that effort. We support that effort; the global community supports that effort. That will obviously be ongoing.

I think the single best way for leaders and people in positions of responsibility to avoid the worst consequences is to take steps now, the kind of steps that we heard promised this morning. We are not going to wait. However, there will be accountability in the days ahead where it is appropriate. And the United States is doing its due diligence with respect to the power the President already has with respect to the implementation of sanctions, and I think that could come very quickly in certain quarters where there is accountability and responsibility that is clear and delineated.

MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Memoska Lesoba from Eye Radio.

QUESTION: You said that President —

SECRETARY KERRY: Can you hold it up real close?

QUESTION: You said President Salva Kiir has agreed to transitional government. What kind of a transitional government? Can you delve more into that? And I would want to know what kind of sanctions would be imposed if (inaudible) way of (inaudible) resolve the crisis, and what impact will it have.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, with respect to the transition government, ultimately it is up to the people of South Sudan. And it is up to an inclusive process which brings the civil society to the table and reaches out to political opposition and to all of the different stakeholders in South Sudan to shape that. What is important is that President Kiir is prepared to engage in that process in a formal way, to reach out, to work with IGAD, to work with the community, in order to make certain that that process is real, it’s transparent, it’s accountable.

Now, how that unfolds will be part of the discussions that we hope will take place between Prime Minister Hailemariam as the mediator and two of the principle antagonists in this conflict, President Kiir representing government and Riek Machar. But there are other players, lots of them. As you know, 11 detainees have now been released. And each of those detainees has – have had voices and roles to play in the politics of South Sudan.

So it’s really up for the process itself to take shape as the stakeholders and as the people of South Sudan speak up and speak out and demand a certain kind of participation. What’s important is that that participation is promised and it is available.

With respect to sanctions, we are – there are different kinds of sanctions, obviously – sanctions on assets, sanctions on visas, sanctions on wealth and travel and so forth. All of those options are available, among others. But in addition to that, with the commission of inquiry and other standards that are applied. There have been atrocities committed and people need to be held accountable for those kinds of atrocities. And there are methods by which the international committee undertakes to do that. So I think the real test is what happens in these next days, what kind of bona fide legitimate steps are taken by people to prove they want to move in a different direction. And that will be a significant guide as to what may or may not be pursued by members of the international community in the days ahead.

MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Lara Jakes of AP.

QUESTION: Thank you. Just to clarify, in this transitional government, do you see a place for either President Kiir or Riek Machar to be holding office in the future for this country? And then also, as you head to Congo tomorrow, what are you looking to hear regarding the prosecution of troops who were given amnesty and then returned to M23? And is the United States satisfied with the deep mobilization plan for all armed troops in eastern Congo, including Hutu troops – I’m sorry, groups? And then one last one. Could you comment on the new charges against Gerry Adams? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: I don’t have any comment on the charges issue. I’ve heard about it, I’m not familiar with all of the details of it. And he’s presented himself. He maintains his innocence. And we need to let the process in Northern Ireland work its way.

With respect to the Central African Republic – excuse me, the D.R.C. – we are hopeful that the terms that have been put in place, the Kampala Accords, are going to be implemented properly. But I’m going to wait to comment more fully on that until I meet up with Special Envoy Feingold, who will meet us there when we arrive there. And I think I would rather get the latest briefing up to date before I summarize it, because I may be outdated and I just would rather do that.

On the first part of your question —

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Whether or not they can be part of in the future – that’s not a decision for the United States of America to make or to comment on. That’s for South Sudanese to decide. It’s for the process to decide. I think that certainly people will judge carefully, I think, what happens in these next days, which could have a great deal to do with respect to future legitimacy of any player engaged in this, not just President Kiir or Riek Machar, but anybody who is engaged. If there is a legitimate, open, transparent, accountable, and real process by which people are listened to and people come together, then the people of South Sudan will have an opportunity to make that kind of decision and it won’t be necessary for us to comment on it.

If it doesn’t go in that direction, it may be that the United States and other interested parties who have helped so significantly to assist South Sudan in this journey to independence and nationhood, it may be that they will be then more inclined to speak out about what’s happened with leadership here or not, but at the moment I don’t think it’s appropriate to do that.

MS. PSAKI: The final question will be from Gabriel Shada from Radio Miraya.

QUESTION: Thank you. The background to the conflict in South Sudan refers to a disagreements, disgruntlements inside the SPLM ruling party on the modalities of election and selection of leaders. So reaching an agreement that does not resolve the SPLM leadership issues is like suspending the real issues, which means they will rise again in the nearest future. So how can the U.S. Administration help the SPLM sort out its problems.

Second question is about the U.S.A. promising a lot to help South Sudan in the past, and even now. But one of the promises was building the – an institutional capacity for South Sudan, and observers can see that institutional capacity in South Sudan is still very, very weak. What are the reasons for this failure, especially when building the capacity of the army and other institutions? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Very good questions. Very, very good questions. With respect to the first question, you’re absolutely correct: There are internal issues within the SPLM that need to be resolved. But it’s not up to the United States to resolve them. It’s up to the leaders and the members of the SPLM to do so, recognizing that their validity and credibility as a leading party to be the governing party of the country is at stake in how they do that.

And so it is – there’s already a process in place where they’re doing some meetings and evaluations, and will do that. What is important is that they recognize that the negotiations over a transitional government ultimately, in terms of what role they play or how that plays out, will depend to some measure on how they resolve those kinds of internal issues. And the credibility of the civil society, the credibility of the people of South Sudan, with respect to their leadership will depend, obviously, on their ability to do that.

So that’s part of the road ahead. And they know that work is in front of them. They understand that. They discussed it with us here today, and I’m confident that that’s very much in their minds as they think about the future structure of any kind of transition and future.

But it’s also related, I may say, to the second part of your question. Yes, the United States committed to do certain kinds of things, as did the international community. And for a certain period of time, many of those things were attempted to be done, but the truth is that there’s been a difficulty, as I think most people understand, in the governing process that gave people pause and made people stand back a little bit. And that’s been part of the problem. And that’s why this transitional government’s effort is so important, because it is the key to being able to open up the kind of direct help and input that would be then meaningful and not wasted and not lost. And it’s very important that there be a process in place where people have confidence that the way forward is clear and that assistance can be put to the use that it’s meant to be put to.

So I would say to you that that’s part of the reason why this transitioning effort is so critical, because it really is what can restore the legitimacy so that going forward all those people who care, and there are many who do – in Africa, in Europe, in America, elsewhere – would be able to hopefully help in the capacity building for the country. That’s really where all of South Sudan’s energy ought to be going, not into killing each other but into building a government that can serve the needs of the people. And our hope is that that is what can get restored out of this terrible conflict that has interrupted that path.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all. Appreciate it.

GENEVA, Switzerland, May 2, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ — Though the situation is complex and varies from area to area and from town to town, many thousands of people remain trapped in places of worship and in neighbourhoods under siege, especially in Bangui and Boda. Others have fled to different parts of the country or across the border into neighbouring nations.

“When you witness atrocities, when you receive threats, when violence and fear are such a big part of your daily life, sometimes you feel you have no choice but to flee,” explained Jürg Eglin, head of the ICRC delegation in the Central African Republic, “either to another part of the country or across the border. But whether they leave or go, these people are civilians. Their lives must be spared and their property left alone.”

A community leader in one of Bangui’s encircled neighbourhoods observed that, for him and his neighbours, flight was no longer an option. “We’ve been trapped in here for months – no food, no medicine, nothing. And we’re in constant fear of being killed.” Entirely families are living in fear, struggling to find food and medical care, and wondering what has happened to missing loved ones.

Even where hospitals are still functioning, people are often too frightened to risk the trip there, no matter how sick they are. It was, Eglin said, essential that all injured and sick people had access to the care they required. “It’s a matter of life or death. We call on all parties to the conflict to guarantee access to medical care for everyone in need of it and to spare all patients and medical staff in all circumstances.” The ICRC has accompanied dozens of desperately ill people to medical facilities located in other neighbourhoods. Security is very poor throughout the country. Thousands continue to live at sites set aside for people forced to flee their homes. To make matters even worse, the rainy season has now begun and will last for another six months or so. The ICRC is working closely with the Central African Red Cross Society to improve conditions for the people living at these sites. At the Mpoko site in Bangui, for example, it is making daily deliveries of food and drinking water, organizing the collection of refuse and building latrines.

The armed conflict raging in the Central African Republic has caused large numbers of people to lose contact with their relatives, who have often fled to other parts of the country or into neighbouring countries. Many families have been split up and don’t know whether their loved ones are alive or dead. This emotional burden is then added to the sheer struggle to survive.

The ICRC and the Central African Red Cross, as well as the National Societies of Chad, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville and Congo Kinshasa are continuing their efforts to help relatives separated by the fighting to get back in touch. In the Central African Republic, over 80 people have been put in contact with members of their family and three children returned to their families since the end of March.

The ICRC is in contact with the various parties to the conflict and the international forces in the country, and reminds all parties that people not or no longer involved in the fighting – in particular civilians and wounded fighters – must be protected and treated humanely at all times. Their property must also be left alone.

Facts and Figures

From 25 March to 27 April 2014, the ICRC worked closely with the Central African Red Cross to:

– carry out 380 operations in Bangui Community Hospital on people wounded in the fighting (gun-shot wounds, stabbings, shrapnel), and distribute food for two weeks to 250 patients;

– take over 100 injured to hospital and carried out nearly 4,200 medical consultations in Bangui and, using mobile clinics, in the Kaga-Bandoro area;

– deliver 300,000 litres of water every day to meet the needs of over 50,000 displaced people taking refuge at Bangui airport;

– distribute over 315,000 daily food rations to displaced people in Bangui;

– repair and maintain over 140 latrines for displaced people at Bangui airport and Boy-Rabe monastery;

– supply 240,000 litres of water a day to Ndélé and, on average, 26,000 litres a week to Ndélé hospital, using the country’s distribution network;

– distribute food and other essential items to over 4,300 displaced and local people in Ndélé.

The ICRC also visited over 300 detainees in Bangui to make sure that treatment and prison conditions met international standards, and distributed food daily where there were severe shortages.