The United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) has announced that it would be moving its forces from Kasai region in order to concentrate on curbing violence in eastern Congo, particularly in North Kivu.
Speaking during a press conference on Wednesday, David Gressly, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the new move was within the framework of the “progressive retreat of the UN mission”.
The UN official revealed that some work to this end had already been done with the Congolese government and a plan presented to the Congolese authorities.
“In this place, within this strategy, we have indicated that we are going to quit the Kasai region, and perhaps, after that Tanyanyika. But in the zones as here, in North Kivu, we are going to remain until we can have durable peace, ” Gressly said.
The UN official added: “It is difficult here, it is complicated here, me I am tired of all these conflicts. I am not at all satisfied with the progress made so far.
“I think we have to continue to find new methods which would truly assist us in the protection of civilians, but also to put an end to all these conflicts, either against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) or against the other armed groups.”
The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, had in his quarterly report on the situation in the Congo also made the same observation but he remained optimistic over the next step of the process.
“I am encouraged by the concrete measures that the government has taken to cooperate with the MONUSCO as concerns the common strategy of the transition of the Mission in conformity with Resolution 2502 (2019).
“I remain resolute to ensure that the reduction of the forces of the Mission and its retreat are thoroughly spread out, including the conditions, and carried out in conformity with the objectives as agreed,” the UN official said.
He added that “The elaboration of a common strategy represents a unique occasion to define the form of partnership between the United Nations Organisation and the Congolese Government which would permit the preservation of the gains dearly achieved during the last twenty years, within the phases of progressive transition and the retreat of the Mission.”
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