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Mike Hammer, the US ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is a rarity.
He is an outspoken commentator on the country’s problems, an unusual trait among diplomats. And, in a continent where the influence of the United States has been losing ground, it is also very influential.
In a gesture to local culture and issues, Hammer this week added the word “Amani” to her Twitter profile, where her tweets are widely followed in Kinshasa.
It means “peace” in Swahili, the language spoken in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a vast mineral-rich country vital to the United States.
The 56-year-old envoy was touring the North and South Kivu provinces, where armed groups abound; Over the past year, hundreds of civilians have been massacred by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militias in the Beni region.
“By listening to local communities, it is clear that more needs to be done” to end the insecurity, Hammer told AFP.
He was equally blunt about the Congolese army, known as the FARDC, saying that it “lacks capacity” in Beni and that it should “get rid of corrupt officers.”
Hammer ended his tour in Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, where he held talks with President Felix Tshisekedi.
Tshisekedi “has called on the United States and the international community to help bring peace and security to the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo after decades of constant conflict,” Hammer said.
Hammer has been a constant supporter of Tshisekedi.
He was appointed ambassador just before the December 2018 presidential elections that put the former opposition figure in power, but also left him locked in a fragile coalition with his predecessor Joseph Kabila.
– ‘Interference’ –
On a trip last month to Mbandaka, in the northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a new Ebola epidemic broke out, Hammer was equally outspoken.
He attacked the “Ebola business,” claiming that foreign aid to combat the disease, largely from the United States, was being diverted.
Tshisekedi and his government had asked for help in fighting corruption, he said.
The ambassador says that the Congolese army, known as FARDC, “lacks the capacity” to fight armed groups and should “get rid of corrupt officers.” By ALAIN WANDIMOYI (AFP / Archive) Hammer cheered loudly when Tshisekedi dropped a senior army officer, General John Numbi, in an army shakeup last July.
Numbi was already under US sanctions, suspected of ordering the killing of a human rights activist in 2010 when he was Inspector General of Police in Kinshasa.
Spokesmen for the two houses of parliament, each close to Kabila, protested last month “meddling” and “activism” by certain diplomats accredited to the DRC, but without naming names.
“When I travel across the country, the Congolese (people) constantly ask for the support of the United States and express their appreciation for our contributions,” Hammer told AFP.
“But it seems that some members of the old political establishment are determined to cling to power for personal financial gain and try to hide behind arguments of nationalism or make accusations of foreign interference.”
Hammer’s outspokenness “is brave but it leaves him exposed” apparently linking him to Tshisekedi, observed a diplomat in Kinshasa. Kabila’s friends hope to see the former president return to power in 2023.
Africa may have lost importance to the Washington of President Donald Trump, who in January 2018 sparked widespread ire by making a crude depiction of African nations.
But Hammer said the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country the size of continental Western Europe, “remains an important and strategic country,” highlighting its potential in agriculture and hydroelectric power.
Floyd death ‘anger’
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is Hammer’s first Africa assignment, after posts in Latin America and Scandinavia.
Of Spanish mother, he is bilingual and served as ambassador to Chile between 2014 and 2016. Previously, he served in the White House during the first term of Barack Obama, as special assistant to the president and spokesman for the National Security Council.
Hammer said he shared “the pain, the anger, the indignation” of the Congolese people in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement that is spreading around the world. By Sebastien Kitsa Musayi (AFP / Archive) When Hammer was 17 years old, his father was killed in El Salvador, where he was working as a humanitarian worker.
“My father was working to promote agrarian reform and a more equitable Salvadoran society, but the interests of the right that wanted to hold on to their wealth and power shortened his life,” Hammer said.
When black American George Floyd died in Minneapolis, Minnesota in May after a white policeman knelt on his neck, Hammer said he shared “the pain, the anger, the outrage” of the Congolese regarding the Black Lives movement. Matter.
Hammer issued a statement protesting that the system had once again failed to protect black American citizens, while Trump himself refused to condemn the police violence.
“He’s very skilled,” said one observer. “He is totally loyal to his government and at the same time makes people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo forget about Trump.”
