A strategic review of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo says holding a long delayed presidential election that is credible will be key to ending the political crisis that is the main driver of the country\u2019s increasing violence and human rights abuses.<\/p>\n
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in the report to the U.N. Security Council that Congo risks \u201csliding back into conflict,\u201d but he said President Joseph Kabila also has a \u201chistoric opportunity to cement his legacy\u201d as the first Congo president to hand power to an elected successor.<\/p>\n
In the 27-page report, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, Guterres said that \u201call efforts\u201d must be geared to keeping alive a Dec. 31 agreement calling for elections by the end of 2017 and to \u201censuring the protection of civilians and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the U.N. chief said that without tangible progress on completing voter registration, early publication of \u201ca credible electoral calendar\u201d and the implementation of confidence-building measures called for in the election agreement, Congo \u201cis likely to enter a period of extreme volatility.\u201d This will be marked \u201cby increasingly open confrontation between the opposition and the government and greater unrest among a population facing untold hardship,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The vast Central African nation has seen widespread anger and unrest over Kabila\u2019s stay in power after his mandate ended in December 2016. He is barred from running under the Dec. 31 agreement, but his government has delayed voting, saying preparations are not complete.<\/p>\n
Kabila told the U.N. General Assembly\u2019s annual ministerial meeting two weeks ago that the election timeline should be released \u201csoon\u201d and that his country is moving toward a vote with \u201cundeniable tenacity.\u201d He said 42 million of the projected 45 million people eligible to vote have already registered, and the process recently began in the last area to open registration, the violence-wracked Kasai region.<\/p>\n
Guterres said the U.N. remains committed to supporting implementation of the Dec. 31 agreement and he urged stepped up efforts from Congo\u2019s neighbors, regional groups and the African Union to create conditions for credible elections.<\/p>\n
The secretary-general said he is equally committed to ensuring that the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO, \u201cis able to protect civilians in a context of spreading local conflict and increasing human rights abuses by the national security forces and armed groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the U.N., 57 percent of human rights violations documented in Congo since the beginning of 2017 \u201ccan be attributed to state agents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The review recommends that MONUSCO shift \u201ctowards a more agile and flexible mission\u201d and protects protecting civilians \u201cthrough early warning, prevention and, where required, the projection of military force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guterres said the force will also focus on its other main priority, supporting implementation of the Dec. 31 agreement. He said the force has played a critical role, with the U.N. Development Program, in supporting voter registration, where women who have been historically excluded from the political process make up 48 percent of those registered.<\/p>\n
If credible elections lead to a peaceful transfer of power, Guterres said, MONUSCO would focus primarily on supporting a peaceful transition at all levels of government while continuing to protect civilians. He said the force\u2019s strength also would be reduced.<\/p>\n
MONUSCO is the biggest and costliest of the 16 far-flung U.N. peacekeeping missions. It has a budget of $1.14 billion and about 21,600 people, including over 16,500 soldiers and over 1,350 police.<\/p>\n
The secretary-general stressed that much depends on a fair presidential election. \u201cThe national political crisis triggered by the failure to hold elections on time can have consequences for the country and the surrounding region,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n
The political crisis has also aggravated the humanitarian situation and compounded an economic crisis \u201cthat has fueled popular frustration and raised the specter of widespread social unrest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A strategic review of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo says holding a long delayed presidential election that is credible will be key to ending the political crisis that is the main driver of the country\u2019s increasing violence and human rights abuses. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in the report to the U.N. Security Council that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6660,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6661,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6659\/revisions\/6661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}