Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva at a UNSC Briefing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Madam President,
We would like to thank Special Representative of the Secretary General Ms. Bintou Keita for her briefing. We welcome the participation in this meeting of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Rwanda, Olivier Nduhungirehe, as well as the representatives of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Angola and Burundi. We listened attentively to Ms. Charlotte Slente, Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council.
More than a month has elapsed since the Security Council adopted resolution 2773. Regrettably, today we are compelled to acknowledge that the Council's key demands remain unadressed.
Hostilities are ongoing, and there is no ceasefire established. M23 is expanding its control over territories and imposing its administrative and governance system in the areas it has taken over. The call for Rwanda and the DRC to stop their interaction with illegal armed groups has also been ignored.
We call for the swift implementation of resolution 2773, for the cessation of hostilities and for the withdrawal of M23 fighters from captured settlements and occupied territories. We also urge Rwanda to respond to the demands of the Security Council, cease its support for M23 and withdraw its military units.
This is needed, first and foremost, for the sake of Congolese civilian population. Since the beginning of this year, as a result of the hostilities, thousands of DRC citizens died and hundreds of thousands have been internally displaced, most of them repeatedly displaced. In conflict-affected areas, there are ubiquitous human rights violations, including sexual violence and recruitment of children into the ranks of illegal armed groups. We must not forget that behind these statistics, there are real people. It is these people who are paying with their lives and the well-being of their families for the inability of politicians to come to terms at the negotiating table.
We are also disquieted by the increasing trend towards further regionalization of the conflict and by intensifying tensions between the States of the Great Lakes Region.
Given these circumstances, greater diplomatic efforts appear to be urgently needed in the region. First of all, these efforts should be geared towards implementing consensus-based decisions reached at the African Union summit and EAC-SADC summit. This is the only path towards sustainable political formulas for resolving the crisis. There can be no military solution.
We welcome the important agreements reached following the EAC-SADC summit on March 24. We do hope for the successful implementation of the road map containing practical steps to resolve the crisis, and for the effective work of the high-level panel of facilitators made up of well-respected political leaders of the region. We support our African colleagues' focus on harmonizing the Luanda and Nairobi processes. We also welcome the meeting of the Presidents of the DRC and Rwanda that took place in Doha under Qatar’s mediation. We expect that this meeting will be a step on the way towards the normalization of relations between the two countries.
On a separate note, we would like to stress that no viable political formula for ending the conflict can be found without defining the status of M23.
Since the very beginning of the escalation, we have been following with concern the developments surrounding MONUSCO. Attacks on peacekeepers are unacceptable under any circumstances; peacekeepers’ safety is a priority for all of us.
The escalation of the crisis has seriously impacted the Mission's ability to effectively carry out its mandate. We stand convinced that the Council must swiftly respond to the situation as it unfolds. We shouldn’t put up with the enforced status quo, especially in areas under control of the M23 group. The situation of peacekeepers in Goma and surrounding areas is unstable – things must not continue like this in the long run. The reputational risks for UN peacekeeping are too high.
What is highly dubious in our view is the “hospitality” extended by MONUSCO to members of European private military companies (PMCs). We would like to reiterate that MONUSCO’s mandate (bestowed upon it by the UNSC) has to do with disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants, but it has no relation whatsoever with the events that we’ve witnessed recently thanks to the media.
Given the potential further transition of MONUSCO, the Council must first and foremost consider the situation on the ground. We must act in a timely manner while preventing any possible deterioration of the situation due to any changes in the configuration of the peacekeeping presence. It is important for us to heed the views of our colleagues in the Secretariat in that regard. Of course, we will attach the utmost importance to the position of the host country. We hope that this position will by officially brought to our notice in the nearest future.
In conclusion, we would like once again to express our solidarity with the Government and people of the DRC. Russia insists on the need to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence and unity of that country, as per the UN Charter. We will continue working so that all the above-mentioned is implemented in practice and the crisis is resolved diplomatically.
Thank you.
