Speaker after speaker pointed to the same dark fear: If a solution can’t be found soon to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s political crisis, the country may slide into violence.

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the United States Congress held a hearing on November 29 about the deteriorating situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The speakers were Fred Bauma, Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, Ida Sawyer, Sasha Lezhnev, Tom Malinowski and Tom Perriello. Timo Mueller for Human Rights Watch. © 2016 Timo Mueller/Human Rights Watch

“If this is settled on the streets, it will be a disaster for the people of Congo,” said Tom Perriello, United States Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa. “Anything is possible.”

Perriello was one of the speakers at a hearing today in the US Congress on the status of human rights and democracy in Congo.

All speakers, two from the US government and four from nongovernmental organizations and academia, raised concerns about the potential for violence and further repression as the constitutionally mandated deadline approaches for President Joseph Kabila to step down on December 19.

In her testimony, Human Rights Watch senior researcher Ida Sawyer said she wants to “set out for Congress the severity of the situation and the important role the US government can play to help walk Congo back from the brink.”

Perriello pointed to the “deep reservoir of mistrust on both sides” of the political class. While “there is still time for a peaceful transition,” Perriello said he fears the violent crackdown on demonstrations in September “were a preview of tactics used, we could see the situation spin out of control very quickly.”

Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, also shared concerns about the potential for a lethal crackdown, saying, “the bad news is that what happened in Burundi could happen in DRC.” But “the door is still open” to help avert the crisis, he said. Congressman James P. McGovern, who chaired the hearing, agreed a crisis was “avoidable.”

Many of the speakers spoke out strongly in favor of targeted sanctions against high-level officials responsible for serious abuse in Congo. Perriello said that existing sanctions against three high-ranking security officials have been “extremely important and noticed.”

“I can assure you targeted sanctions had a notable deterrent effect and rattled those implicated in abuses,” said Sawyer, who has been barred from working in the country since August. Malinowski told Congress that the US government has been focused last month to “multilateralize” targeted sanctions, encouraging the European Union to impose its own set of targeted sanctions.

Perriello confirmed that the US government will “continue to consider additional targets” for sanctions, stressing that the “focus is on the individuals responsible [for abuses].”

Sawyer called on the US administration to heed this call and sanction the Congolese intelligence agency director, Kalev Mutond; Vice Prime Minister Evariste Boshab; and the Republican Guard commander, Gen. Ilunga Kampete.

Fred Bauma, a Congolese activist of the youth movement Struggle for Change (LUCHA) who, together with Yves Makwambala, served 17 months in prison on trumped-up charges, like many other political prisoners, called on the government to apply more financial sanctions to those involved in “malpractices and scandals.” Sasha Lezhnev, associate director of policy at the Enough Project, spelled out the technical details of financial sanctions.

Many speakers agreed that supporting mediation efforts by the Catholic Church remains one of the most promising avenues for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, professional lecturer at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, called on Congress to remember that the responsibility for the crisis rests primarily with the political leaders and that it is important to engage President Kabila, “the man who holds the key” to solving the crisis. Echoing his remarks, Sawyer said there is a “need to show Kabila that there is an honorable way out.” Earlier, Perriello had stressed that Kabila – who “surpassed expectations” as a leader – could leave as a “hero.”

With the ruling political class in Congo strongly believing that President-elect Donald Trump will be more lenient in its approach to mitigating the crisis, Dizolele and Lezhnev called on Congress to impress upon Trump the importance of appointing a new special envoy to Congo, which Congressman McGovern did not rule out as a possibility.