As part of strengthening the partnership for peace with the African Union (AU), a delegation from the Security Council of the United Nations (UN), led by the French ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, has visited Africa for some time.
Addis Ababa, Kigali, Kinshasa, Goma in North Kivu and Liberia’s capital, Monrovia.
On Monday, May the 18, the UN delegation visited the Congolese city of Goma to be aware of the ongoing efforts to bring peace in this part of the DRC and to understand the humanitarian tragedy rampant in these conflict zones where mainly Rwandan Hutu rebels of the FDLR attack, day after day, the civilian populations.
In Kinshasa, the talks focused on peace efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and of course in the Great Lakes region.
Discussions also revolved around the mission of UN peacekeepers in Congo, MONUC. On this point, the exchanges have been geared towards strengthening the capacity of MONUC, in accordance with Resolution 1856 of the Security Council strengthened the mandate of MONUC for the protection of civilians and the disarmament of both foreign armed groups and national ones.
In this regard, the mission of the Security Council gave all the assurances that the deployment of the additional 3,000 peacekeepers will be effective by July.
However, the delegation underlined that peace, stability and security in the DRC is primarily a matter of the Congolese Government and the Congolese citizens themselves. The international community, the delegation added, will only support the efforts made in this direction.
Thus, during their one-hour interview with President Joseph Kabila, the Security Council delegation had stressed the importance of government commitment to end abuses by the FARDC, Jean-Maurice Ripert said.
The French ambassador also requested “to reform the Congolese armed forces and the national police for more ethical behaviour, to stop violence against women and to find the criminals and put them in prison.”
This recommendation once again confirms the thesis that in conflict zones, the Congolese national army has also committed various abuses against civilians including rape, looting, summary executions.
This is the reason behind the strong signals on the political level to accelerate the reform of the army, the police and of the special services. External partners will just support that.
The same determination must be reflected in good governance to regain control of economic spaces or mining, which are so much desired.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIDfYgxcE4A
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