76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
UN Security Council meeting on MONUSCO
Delivered by Ambassador Sven Jürgenson
October 5, New York
Thank you Mr President.
I thank Special Representative Ms Keita, Ambassador Abbary and Ms Mbangu for their presentations
At first, I would like to commend the Congolese Government for maintaining political stability in the country and making further progress in relations with the neighbouring countries.
Further, we take note of the commitments of the Congolese Government to facilitate electoral reforms ahead of the 2023 elections. We particularly support the commitments of the Government to further advance equitable representation of women in public life. At the same time, the importance of the implementation of other key reforms under the Government´s programme of action should not be underestimated. Taking note of the complexities with respect to the electoral reforms, we encourage the Government to make efforts in tackling the hate speech and incitement to violence. Accordingly, I take this opportunity to join the Special Representative in underlining the important role of timely, inclusive and peaceful elections.
Secondly, we continue to be concerned by the unabated violence in the Kivu and Ituri provinces. We regret that in spite of the state of siege and military operations against negative forces, the circle of violence continues.
Incidents in conflict-affected provinces, involving armed groups and State agents have recently resulted in killings of at least 600 civilians, while almost 300, mostly women, were victims of sexual violence. It is equally concerning to learn that several journalists have been threatened by both armed groups and State agents that fuels the existing insecurity even more.
This in our view has spillover effect on the dire humanitarian situation. The country is ranking high as regards the number of internally displaced persons in Africa. We also remain concerned about the ongoing threat posed by the Covid-19 and other endemic diseases such as malaria that affect the health and economic situation in the DRC.
In these circumstances, we encourage the Government of the DRC in partnership with MONUSCO and other stakeholders to do its utmost to address human rights violations and abuses committed against the civilians, as well as the phenomenon of conflict-related sexual violence. It is crucial that measures to curb the violence and restore safety to its population go hand in hand with principles of the rule of law. In this connection, we welcome the motion to establish the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, which will be tasked to investigate human rights violations and abuses, support justice and the rule of law. We likewise encourage the Congolese Government to pursue its commitments and efforts to prevent high number of grave violations committed against women and children. We believe that the way out of this circle of violence is to address the root causes of the conflict and further advance the fight against impunity.
Lastly, I would like to thank the Special Representative for her leadership and common efforts in partnership with the Congolese Government, MONUSCO and the UN Country Team in developing the Transition Plan on the gradual, responsible and sustainable withdrawal of MONUSCO by 2024. We welcome the proposed benchmarks that empower the Congolese Government and affirm their role in sustainable transition process. We are of the view that continued engagement between the Congolese Government, MONUSCO and international stakeholders, and greater national ownership by the Congolese Government over the transition process is a key to the successful implementation of the Plan. We are confident that initial steps taken by the Government towards the new Disarmament, Demobilization, Community Reintegration and Stabilization Program already demonstrate the positive prospects for the transition process.
Thank you!