Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) issued the following statement after an attack on U.N. peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Thursday killed 14 and injured dozens of others:
           
            “In what is being described as the worst attack on United Nations peacekeepers in recent history, at least 14 ‘blue helmets’ were killed and many more injured yesterday.  The attack occurred at the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) operating base at Semuliki in North Kivu when elements believed to be part of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan armed group that has adopted increasingly radical Islamist views, fired upon the UN base,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, stated. 

            "The DRC army has launched three major offensives against the ADF since 2005, but the group’s leadership reportedly remains intact, and it has continued to operate in at least two areas of eastern DRC – sometimes in association with DRC militia groups.

            "This new outbreak of violence threatens the peace hoped to be established in eastern DRC prior to scheduled elections next year.  Along with the recent violence in the DRC’s central Kasai region and potential violence from groups and individuals opposing the extension of DRC President Joseph Kabila’s term in office, the long-awaited national elections even now must be considered in danger of yet another postponement.  Those elections were originally supposed to be held in November 2016, and then by the end of this month before the DRC government announced it could not fulfill the agreement on the election date.

            "The Administration, in collaboration with the UN and others in the international community, must continue to support MONSUCO’s mission to protect civilians and help implement plans to conduct elections by the current December 23, 2018, target date.  To back up this effort, I intend to introduce a bill next week that, among other provisions, seeks to punish those individuals blocking democracy and good governance in the DRC.”