Kinshasa, March 11th, 2023 (CPA) – The members of the UN Security Council, on a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo, deplored the security situation in the east of the country during a press briefing held on Friday in Kinshasa, without mentioning Rwanda, the aggressor.
The Security Council had not been in DRC since 2018, he said. The situation is very difficult; especially in the east with the action of armed groups (…) we said our solidarity with DRC and the determination of the United Nations to help it.
« Sanctions are a lever for action by the Security Council. Sanctions have a process. We are here to bring peace and the aspiration of the Congolese people to dignity (…) Sanctions are useful and which individual and which entity should be sanctioned? Sanctions are a lever and the council has a whole range, » Gabonese ambassador Michel Xavier Biang said in response to a question about sanctions to be imposed on Rwanda by the Security Council.
« The main message we came to bring is that the UN supports DRC and condemns what is happening in the east of DRC, the action of armed groups is very condemnable and must be fought. Integrity means something. We are here to learn about the situation in the east of DRC and to get a touch for the political reality, to understand what is at stake in the situation, » said Nicolas de Riviere, Permanent Representative of France to the UN Security Council and co-chair of the delegation.
« The Security Council is not a humanitarian agency, the political body that helps mobilise the European community added 34 million euros and asked all partners to increase their aid to the population in need in the East, » added the French diplomat, speaking about humanitarian aid to displaced people in the East.
UN delegation received at the Cite de l’Union africaine
Earlier, this delegation of a dozen diplomats from the UN Security Council, led by Nicolas Riviere and Michel Blang, respectively ambassadors of France and Gabon to the United Nations, was received on Friday at the Cite de l’Union Africaine, by President Felix Tshisekedi.
The French ambassador, Nicolas Riviere, represented the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, while the Gabonese ambassador, Michel Blang, represented the ten non-permanent countries of the UN Security Council.
The proven aggression of DRC by Rwanda, the challenge that the terrorist coalition RDF/M23 is launching to the international community, with the repeated violation of the ceasefire, must have been the subject of their discussions behind closed doors.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs, Christophe Lutundula Apala, the Special Representative of the General Secretary of the United Nations, Bintou Keita and the Director of Cabinet of the Head of State, Guylain Nyembo Mbwizya attended the meeting.
The delegation is due to travel to Goma in Nord Kivu this Saturday.
