9 January 2018 – Political brinkmanship and a refusal to compromise will only result in further delays in preparations
for elections and deepening of the political crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has been
gripped by a recent spate of violent protests, the United Nations peacekeeping chief told the Security Council Tuesday.
In a briefing to the Council, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the Under Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said that
despite significant progress in preparations for elections, the implementation of the 31 December 2016 political
agreement remains only partial.
That agreement – facilitated by Conférence Episcopale Nationale du Congo(CENCO) mediators – allowed President Joseph Kabila to stay in power beyond the end of his term and stipulated that
peaceful, credible and inclusive elections would be organized in the DRC by the end of December 2017.
The polls were reportedly pushed back to December 2018, sparking violent protests late last month.
Today, Mr. Lacroix condemned the violent repression of the demonstrations by Congolese National Security Forces, and
called on national authorities to carry out the necessary investigations to bring to justice alleged perpetrators of
human rights violations.
“Given the stakes, it is essential that all players in the Congolese political class renounce any act that may lead to
situations of violence,” he said, urging political actors to play a constructive role in the implementation of the
electoral calendar, warning that any refusal to compromise would only deepen the political crisis.
Mr. Lacroix also deemed it imperative for the DRC's partners to provide sufficient political, logistical and financial
support for the conduct of credible elections, noting in particular that any delay would not only risk fueling political
tensions but would also aggravate an already fragile security situation.
In this context, he told the Council that in recent months, armed groups in eastern DRC have launched repeated attacks
on positions of the Congolese Army, with a severe impact on the civilian population.
Turning to his recent visit to Semuliki, where an attack on a base of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) by suspected members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) killed 15
Tanzanian peacekeepers and wounded 43 others. He noted that the Secretary General had appointed former Assistant
Secretary General Dmitry Titov to lead a special investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lacroix announced that preparations were under way to ensure the deployment next month of a third rapid
deployment battalion. He said members of such units were training in jungle combat to enable them to evolve more
effectively in the asymmetrical environment in which they operate.
He went on to stress that the asymmetrical nature of the threats posed by ADF rebels and other armed groups called for
strengthening regional cooperation, as well as information gathering and analysis, but also to interrupt the political
and economic support systems enjoyed by the group. In addition to targeted military operations, he called for
strengthening cooperation between MONUSCO and the national Congolese security forces, known by the French acronym,
FARDC.