Home

Episcopal Conference pushes for early elections in DRC

Reading Time: 3 minutes

The Episcopal Conference in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a lead mediator in the country, says any accommodations made to alter the New Year’s Eve Agreement on a political transition in DRC could lead to an explosive outcome.

The Conference urged the UN Security Council to put pressure on the DRC government to ensure that election are held before the end of the year.

The Council held a briefing to consider the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country that already has 4.5 million people internally displaced while over the 13 million will require humanitarian assistance before the end of this year.

The UN’s humanitarian Chief Mark Lowcock held up a picture of 35-year-old Mwasi Kallunga and her seven children in the Council whom he met on a recent visit to an IDP camp in the DRC’s Tanganyika Province.

They fled violence in their village 50 kilometers away – violence that would claim the lives of her husband and two children.

“Her children can no longer go to school. Her entire family, traumatised, sobbing and destitute are too terrified to contemplate returning home. Mwasi and her children are among the 4. 5 million people displaced right now in the DRC. Humanitarian needs, caused by internal conflict, have doubled over the last year. 13 million people need humanitarian assistance. More than 4.6 million children are acutely malnourished including 2.2 million suffering severe malnutrition. We are seeing mushrooming epidemics including the worst outbreak of cholera in 15 years,” said Kallunga.

Uncertainty around the socio-political situation and elections due before the end of the year continues to undermine the state’s authority throughout the country where militant activities and inter-ethnic conflicts are on the rise.

Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference in the DRC, Abbe Donatien Nshole says, “The Congolese Bishops are convinced that only a credible, peaceful and transparent elections can give the Congolese people a legitimate government that is capable of tackling the multi-faceted crises that plague the country. Also the UN should demand the full implementation of the New Years Eve agreement which is a precondition for smooth elections and to monitor compliance with the electoral timetable. Those should be the priorities, any accommodation on this issue would be a time bomb because elections that would bring us back to square one would be a real waste and the international community must prevent this.”

Insecurity in a country that continues to heap catastrophe on the lives of women in particular as explained to the Council by Human Rights Activist Jeanine Bandu Bahati.

“The political participation of women in the DRC is still weak for several reasons including the new electoral law which does not favour the emergence of women and girls. There are not many political parties created by women and in decision-making bodies there are few appointments of women especially on the territorial level. For North Kivu, over six territories and three cities, there are no women office holders despite all of the current and previous efforts, the voice of women has been reduced to silence.”

While the world holds its collective breathe in the hopes of the first ever peaceful transfer of political power in the country, the immediate concern is the plight of the millions of Congolese who continue to suffer under the burden of political uncertainty and conflict.

The UN will host a high level humanitarian appeal for the country on April 13th in Geneva in the hopes of raising the 1.7 billion dollars it requires to meet needs on the ground in 2018 alone.

Author

MOST READ