PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

There had been progress towards stabilization of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the region remained the focus of security efforts by the United Nations Mission there, Alan Doss, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for the Central African country said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

“Through eastern DRC, we have given that priority as directed by the Security Council, so now 92 per cent of our MONUC (United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) forces are deployed in eastern DRC,” said Mr. Doss, who had just given his first briefing to the Security Council since taking up his post three months ago.

He said an important part of the MONUC effort in the east, particularly in the provinces of North and South Kivu, was following up on the Nairobi and Goma agreements signed respectively last November and January this year between the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda on one hand and armed groups on the other.  Among the successes in the area was Ituri District, which had been rife with conflict three and four years ago and was now relatively stable, though there were still armed groups present.

The presence of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) from neighbouring Uganda was particularly worrisome as no one knew their intentions, he said.  Other major groups operating in the Kivu provinces included the Rwandan Interhamwe and Forces Democratiques de Liberation de Rwanda (FDLR), which were still causing much of the security problem.  MONUC was speaking with the Rwandan and Congolese Governments in an effort to get the groups to disarm, demobilize and repatriate voluntarily, and a meeting with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda was related to that effort.

He said another major focus of MONUC was helping staunch the “epidemic of sexual violence”, which was particularly bad in South Kivu.  It had resulted from the collapse of society and the justice system as well as the presence of armed groups.  Unfortunately, the Congolese National Armed Forces were also responsible for some of those crimes, which were detailed in a monthly MONUC human rights report.  “This is a problem of immense dimensions.”  “It’s not a problem that’s going to be resolved easily or quickly.”  However, some progress had been made and MONUC was actively working on it as part of its protection mandate.  The Mission was also engaged in democracy and governance efforts, providing considerable support to preparations for local elections set for May next year, which required the registration of millions of returnees and young people that had never participated in national elections.

Finally, he said that MONUC was looking towards an eventual drawdown of the peacekeeping mission in favour of peacebuilding efforts.  Most of the country was at peace but facing massive humanitarian challenges such as disease and high infant-mortality rates, as well as a lack of basic infrastructure, which would be the focus of the next phase of work.

Asked what was being done in the area of transportation infrastructure, Mr. Doss acknowledged that it was a huge challenge and a key element in the country’s stabilization plan.  MONUC was not a development organization, but was helping to develop some projects, such as road improvement, that could use large numbers of unskilled labourers, including ex-combatants.  China had also offered assistance for road and railroad rehabilitation.

Asked whether Chinese investment in the country’s mineral sector was problematic, he replied that it depended on whether or not they were in the national interest.  Clearly the country needed private-sector investment for development, but all activities had to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

As for whether the popular MONUC network, Radio Okapi, would be silenced when the United Nations left, the Special Representative said the Mission planned to be in the country for a good while, but it was talking to its partners in the non-governmental organization community about the possibility of continuing.  The station was valuable for the country as it was the most independent and operated nationally.

To a question about the kind of efforts being made to disarm FDLR, he replied that economic, political and military pressure was being put on the group, in coordination with the Congolese National Army, as part of the voluntary repatriation programme, though the Army was not always adequate to the task and posed humanitarian concerns.  MONUC had a primarily protective mandate from the Security Council and could not take military actions.  It was more an effort to encourage armed groups to move out while avoiding the collateral damage that would result from armed operations.

Asked if MONUC had enough personnel to carry out its protection task, Mr. Doss noted that, while it was true that the Mission had the largest current peacekeeping force, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was vast.  The Kivus alone were the size of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands combined.  Bas Congo, the smallest province, which had security problems that had recently drawn forces away from the east, was the size of Belgium.  “Clearly, there are limits to what we can do.”

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For information media • not an official record