Official: DOD Aid to Congolese Army Bolsters U.S. Security

The Defense Department plays a critical role in building security capacity in the central African Democratic Republic of the Congo, officials from the departments of Defense and State told the House Armed Services Committee today.Aiding the armies of DRC and nearby nations such as Uganda can help to disrupt growing links between instability in central Africa and the global terrorist threat, the officials said, and push back against nonstate actors and regimes, such as those in Syria, Iran and North Korea, that directly threaten the United States and its allies.Derek Chollet, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, and Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of African Affairs, testified before the full committee.“The U.S. has many competing security priorities in Africa, from Somalia to Sudan to Libya to Nigeria to Mali,” Chollet said.“But the DRC also remains important because of the potential opportunity lasting stability would bring and because of the imperative to prevent mass atrocities, which is a priority for this administration,” he added.The DRC’s army, and the state military organization responsible for defending the nation, is called the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its acronym, FARDC, stands for the French version of the name — Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo.

[ed notes:aiding and funding the drc's miltary forces is imperitive to end atrocities?wtf! they and us gov are the ones responsible for atrocities!!! Britain and America target DR Congo - Pambazuka News Rwanda, Uganda and the Congo Genocide | Black Agenda Report  Complicit neighbours: Rwanda, Uganda and ... - Pambazuka News  Pambazuka - International dimensions of the conflict in Eastern Congo