MONUSCO is currently only present in six provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, while it operated in 20 provinces. Every effort is being made to further reduce its workforce. This is essentially the message sent by Leila Zerrougoui, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in the DRC, during a conference she held on Thursday, October 3, 2019.
« Our role is not to stay in the DRC, nor to keep the DRC as a child under guardianship; that is not our goal. The goal is when you leave a place, you don’t come back. And we are not coming back because things have not been well taken care of by the authorities with regard to the sovereign functions of the State, because in all countries there may be problems, but if we can manage them without the Security Council getting involved, without affecting the stability of the region, it becomes an internal problem of the State. »
Leïla Zerroudi also reviewed her participation in the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York (USA), MONUSCO’s mandate and gradual withdrawal, peacebuilding and the various challenges that remain to be addressed.
For the stability of peace and the lasting solution to the Ebola disease in the DRC, Mrs. Zerrougoui believes that stability is built with the law.
Finally, with regard to armed groups, the boss of MONUSCO emphasized the contribution of her institution.
« Armed groups have been reconstituting themselves for 20 years in the DRC. We need to work on the root causes and we are working on it. Military action is part of it and we are preparing with the DRC because we are here to support the DRC, that is our role, » she said.
For Leila Zerrougoui, these are complex operations that do not prevent them from working holistically together with the Congolese State.
As a reminder, the Head of State, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi, during his first intervention from the United Nations platform, called for the urgent need to readjust MONUSCO’s configuration to developments on the ground, by focusing more on the operational intervention capabilities of UN forces alongside the armed forces of the DRC.
« The DRC still needs MONUSCO, but a non-abundant MONUSCO, well equipped, strong and with an appropriate mandate, like the rapid intervention brigade that had once routed the M23 Movement, » he said before the other UN Member States.
Agnès KAYEMBE