Statement by Ambassador James Roscoe at the UN Security
Council Briefing on the situation concerning the Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
Thank you very much, Madam President, and I begin by joining
others in thanking SRSG Keita for her characteristically thorough
and clear briefing, and we look forward to reading Ms
Inyobondaye’s contribution, in due course.
I also wanted to share the concerned express by others around the
Council table at the news that a helicopter has gone down today
in Rutshuru, North Kivu. We hope that the rescue mission underway
today is successful, but we are also reminded of the risks taken
daily by peacekeepers across the world to implement our mandates.
The United Kingdom is extremely concerned, as we’ve heard today
around the Council table, by the violence facing civilians in
eastern DRC, including the persistent attacks by armed groups. In
addition to armed groups such as the ADF and CODECO, we are
increasingly concerned about the resurgent M-23 group.
We welcome MONUSCO’s efforts to enhance protection in the Djugu
area of Ituri, but note that insecurity around IDP camps
continues. Also of concern is the number of recent kidnappings in
North Kivu, which have made a large proportion of the province
inaccessible to humanitarian actors.
Whilst we take note of the Government of the DRC’s efforts to
address the security in eastern DRC, we call upon them to
intensify those efforts in order to improve security,
humanitarian access and lessen the suffering of the Congolese
population.
Almost a year after the declaration of the State of Siege, the
United Kingdom welcomes the reinstitution of civilian judicial
processes. We urge the Government of DRC to continue to mitigate
the negative impacts of the State of Siege. This includes setting
clear objectives and an exit plan, and addressing the
recommendations of the National Defence and Security Committee.
Regarding joint DRC-Ugandan military operations, we welcome
efforts to de-conflict operations. However, we remain concerned
that joint operations in the Beni area of North Kivu have not yet
been successful in improving the security situation or decisively
tackling the threat of the ADF.
We urge the Governments of DRC and Uganda to increase their
coordination with MONUSCO. Not only is this essential to ensuring
protection of civilians and the safety and security of UN
personnel and humanitarian workers, but could also support
efforts to hold cleared areas and to prevent the ADF from
spreading into new territory where they can re-establish their
footholds.
Regarding the safety and security of UN personnel, the firing at
a MONUSCO patrol by FARDC soldiers in North Kivu is also deeply
concerning, and we echo the Secretary-General’s call for those
responsible to be held to account.
Madam President, the United Kingdom welcomes progress made to
develop and operationalise the DRC’s new DDR community recovery
and stabilisation program, the PDDRCS. It’s essential to learn
from previous DDR efforts, including by adopting a decentralised
and community-based approach. We welcome the technical support
provided by the UN in this regard. As the operational phase
begins, the establishment of inclusive coordinated structures
between the UN, the international community and the PDDRCS, will
be critical.
Turning to MONUSCO’s transition, we share the Secretary-General’s
view that the transition plan, and its associated benchmarks,
offer a comprehensive framework for mobilising the collective
efforts of the government, the UN and international partners.
Establishing baselines and tracking progress against transition
indicators, collectively, by the UN and the government of DRC,
will be particularly important as the Council looks to assess
progress in implementation of that transition plan. We look
forward to future updates on the transition as part of the
regular reporting cycle.
To conclude, Madam President, let me commend the work of SRSG
Keita, and her team, in extremely challenging circumstances. It
is our sincere hope that the collective efforts of MONUSCO and
the government of DRC can soon create a more stable and peaceful
environment for the people of the DRC.
