Tag: New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith

With regard to foreign conflict, Ajamu Baraka has said: “You have to ask yourself when has the U.S. intervened on the side of the people. And the answer is: Never.” That’s my own rule of thumb regarding U.S. “interventions” and no doubt that of most Bay View readers. However, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) poses a consequent dilemma: What if the U.S. is supporting the candidate, Martin Fayulu, who most likely won the Dec. 30, 2018, election in DRC?

The Canadian Globe and Mail reports that the United States has warned former Rwandan military officer Robert Higiro that his life is in danger because of evidence he gave to The Globe and Mail, to the BBC and to a U.S. House Subcommittee about the Rwandan government’s alleged efforts to assassinate dissidents who had fled abroad. KPFA’s Ann Garrison has the story.

Earlier this week, California Congresswoman Karen Bass and New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith heard testimony and queried witnesses in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on U.S. relations with Rwanda. The central question under consideration was whether or not the U.S. should be supporting the Rwandan government with foreign aid and military assistance despite allegations of egregious human rights violations.

On May 21, 2015, David Himbara told a U.S. Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on U.S. relations with Rwanda that “the smallest administrative unit is 10 houses, and every 10 houses is watched by one individual, and as you move on, the whole state machinery driving fear is very well established.” KPFA’s Ann Garrison spoke to David Himbara, a Rwandan exile in Canada, who addressed the House subcommittee about how this climate of fear is created.