The United Nations is warning that the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is on the precipice of sliding into extreme violence.
Explaining an extremely fragile political situation in the DRC, where “actors on all sides appear more and more willing to resort to violence to achieve their ends,” the top United Nations official in the country appealed to the UN Security Council (UNSC) to urge the parties to return to dialogue, guarantee the right to peaceful opposition and to end impunity for violence.
“The tipping point towards grave violence could arrive very rapidly,” said Maman Sidikou, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).
“I believe the Council must remain actively in control of the situation,” also encouraging regional organisations to engage more closely with the situation, said Sidikou.
Briefing the Council on the Secretary-General’s latest report on the situation, Sidikou expressed deep concerns about the impasse in the electoral process, rising political tensions and related violence in the country, and underlined the primary responsibility of the government and all stakeholders “to preserve the hard-won gains made in recent years”.
Recalling that in September, after a group of opposition parties called the Rassemblement boycotted the national dialogue despite the efforts of a facilitator named by the African Union, he said the Independent National Electoral Commission had announced that presidential elections would not be feasible until November 18, 2018, with completion of the voter registry by July 31, 2017.
That announcement, he said, triggered wide-spread condemnation by the opposition, who claimed that the Electoral Commission was being used to extend President Joseph Kabila’s incumbency beyond constitutional limits.
The Rassemblement subsequently called for the president to step down by December 19, 2016.
“Against this backdrop of polarisation,” Sidikou said that on September 19 and 20, serious violence erupted following large-scale demonstrations in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, and elsewhere, during which, the UN had confirmed, there were at least 49 civilians killed, 38 by gunshot, others burned alive or killed by machete.
More than 140 were injured, with four officers allegedly killed by demonstrators.
MONUSCO investigations, he said, had documented the involvement of both state and non-state actors. In all this, the Mission has continued its call for restraint by all actors.
Sidikou said he had personally raised concerns about the role of state violence with his government interlocutors and had worked with the diplomatic community and civil society to build bridges between the parties.
He also liaised closely with the government on confidence-building measures to encourage dialogue, notably through the release of political prisoners and allowing media to operate without constraints.
The Mission has reinforced its presence in Kinshasa to bolster monitoring the political, security and human rights situation, he added.
