“It is essential that we translate the news of the advance of General Nkunda’s rebels and the flight of government forces from Goma into its horrifying human reality. Tens of thousands of people are fleeing in mass panic, some converging on Goma, others trying to follow the government forces southward, others have crossed over into Uganda. Some Gomans are even turning on MONUC [UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo] for not defending them.”

“As the UN pulls MONUC back closer in to Goma, our government has to make clear that Goma must not become another chapter in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, or another Srebrenica, where in 1995 UN forces stood by while Serb forces committed genocide on unarmed Bosniaks. If necessary, MONUC will have to defend the people from Nkunda’s rebels. We will also have to work with MONUC to forestall all the dangers that the rebel advance presents: including genocide, sexual violence, and human trafficking.”

Rep. Smith visited Goma in the DR Congo in the first week of January 2008, and met with representatives of MONUC, the ICRC, local churches, and NGOs providing humanitarian medical care, such as HEAL-Africa, as well as members of the Congolese Senate and National Assembly.

Since 1998 more than 5 million people have died in civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, most of them in eastern Congo, where Goma is located.