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[Congo]

The weekly conference of the United Nations Security and Peacemaking Mission in Congo-DRC was held on Wednesday, June 28, 2017, at its Headquarters in the commune of La Gombe. Théophane Kinda, the moderator of the day, said that Monusco had no comments to make in relation to the last declaration of the Catholic prelates who demanded the holding of the ballots before the end of the current year. According to him, the important thing is to refer to the commitments made by the politicians in the roadmap which they initialed after bitter discussions at the interdiocesan center. The agreement was supported by Resolution 2348 of the UN Security Council. Further on, the deputy spokesman said that Monusco supports the Independent National Electoral Commission, but it can never substitute itself for this structure in order to publish the electoral calendar within the prescribed time-limit in order to convene The electorate, or even respect the spirit of the New Year’s Eve agreement.

Two logics

Yes, more than 6 months to reach the deadline for the organization of elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Will they actually be held? This is the question that divides opinion within the political microcosm. There are, in fact, two camps that are clearly antipodes. These are, on the one hand, the Presidential Majority and the Rallying of the political and social forces acquired in the Change. Supported by a group of opponents who signed the agreements of 18 October and 31 December 2016, the MP rejects the hypothesis of holding elections without the provinces of Kasai and North Kivu, which are now plunging into insecurity. The presidential mobility prevails on the issue of inclusiveness, insecurity, the financing of elections by the country’s own funds, the absence of the calendar and the electoral register.

On the other hand, these arguments are rejected by the other side, namely: the opposition in its hardest wing and which in one way or another receives the contribution of the Catholic prelates. Vital Kamerhe comes to expand the list.

Still the Kasai

After a tour of the Kasai, Tanganyika, Ecuador and North Kivu by Alexis Bonté, Acting Director of the United Nations Fund for Agriculture and Fisheries, FAO, and Claude Jubidar, representative of the World Food Program ), The field experience seems disappointing in particular, in the Kasai. They noticed the destruction of houses, market gardens, and especially the displacements of nearly 2 million people. The constant of Mr. Alexis Bonté is that one child in 10 smiled when shooting the picture. According to him, children generally smile once they are in front of a camera. The case of those in Kasai reveals how much they have a psychological problem that really needs support from all actors, all trends combined. This, in fear that these miners grow up with stressful memories. “They left at a distance of 100 km on foot to move from one country to another. We saw children wounded with machetes. We need psychological assistance, “he said.

For Claude Jubidar, it is more than urgent that the funds be combined to put an end to this escalation of the crisis.