“Congress makes the following findings:“(1) The National Security Strategy of the United States, dated September 17, 2002, concludes that ‘[i]n Africa, promise and opportunity sit side-by-side with disease, war, and desperate poverty. This threatens both a core value of the United States preserving human dignity and our strategic priority combating global terror. American interests and American principles, therefore, lead in the same direction: we will work with others for an African continent that lives in liberty, peace, and growing prosperity.’.
“(2) On February 16, 2005, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency testified, ‘In Africa, chronic instability will continue to hamper counterterrorism efforts and pose heavy humanitarian and peacekeeping burdens.’.
“(3) According to the United States Agency for International Development, ‘Given its size, population, and resources, the Congo is an important player in Africa and of long-term interest to the United States.’.
“(4) The Democratic Republic of the Congo is 2,345,410 square miles (approximately ¼ the size of the United States), lies at the heart of Africa, and touches every major region of sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, a secure, peaceful, and prosperous Democratic Republic of the Congo would have a profound impact on progress throughout Africa.
“(5) The most recent war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which erupted in 1998, spawned some of the world’s worst human rights atrocities and drew in six neighboring countries.
“(6) Despite the conclusion of a peace agreement and subsequent withdrawal of foreign forces in 2003, both the real and perceived presence of armed groups hostile to the Governments of Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi continue to serve as a major source of regional instability and an apparent pretext for continued interference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by its neighbors.
“(7) A mortality study completed in December 2004 by the International Rescue Committee found that 31,000 people were dying monthly and 3,800,000 people had died in the previous six years because of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and resulting disintegration of the social service infrastructure, making this one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II.
“(8) In 2004, Amnesty International estimated that at least 40,000 women and girls were systematically raped and tortured in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 1998, and nearly two-thirds of ongoing abuses against women and girls are perpetrated by members of the security forces, particularly the Forces Armes de la Republique Democratique du Congo (FARDC) and the Police Nationale Congolaise (PNC).
“(9) According to the Department of State, ‘returning one of Africa’s largest countries [the Democratic Republic of the Congo] to full peace and stability will require significant United States investments in support of national elections, the reintegration of former combatants, the return and reintegration of refugees and [internally displaced persons], establishment of central government control over vast territories, and promotion of national reconciliation and good governance’.