Pope Francis appeals for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo

by Congo | Dec 27, 2016 | Congo Today

Question 6

N’Kiere May / Congolese Press Agency: Mrs. Florence Marchal, if it is necessary to preserve peace here in the DRC and possibly organize the elections before 2018, do not you think that UNDP and the partners of the DRC can reinforce and double Their contribution, so that we can organize the elections eventually in 2017, since the CENI precisely poses the problem of logistics, the problem of equipment?

Are you not able to double your bet?

Coordinator of the United Nations Communications Group [Florence Marchal]: As you know, the United Nations support for the revision of the electoral register – and we are talking about the revision of the electoral roll – is clearly defined in resolution 2277 Of the Security Council, which mandates MONUSCO for logistical support, and as I have already explained to you on several occasions, this logistical support is expressed through the airlift of electoral material from Kinshasa to Provinces.

Second, with regard to financing, MONUSCO has established a provisional budget for these activities.

There is another component, you are right, which is the technical assistance component, which is normally taken care of by the partners of the CENI and implemented by the UNDP.

This project, the “PACEC” project, I imagine that this is the one you are referring to, today has not received all the expected funding. The reason why the expected funding has not been received is because the international partners, the donors, since this “PACEC” project is not only a United Nations project, it is A project of the international community, which requested UNDP to take charge of the management of this project.

These partners have set conditions for financing this project, and among the conditions is that of the establishment, the publication of a precise timetable of electoral sequences. And in the absence of the precise publication of this calendar, partners to date, have not put the money on the table.

So they laid down conditions. For the moment, the conditions are not fulfilled. And that’s why the project is not funded as much as it should be.

But that does not prevent MONUSCO, since we had it in our mandate, to send the equipment. All the equipment: recording kits, office kits, generators, cards. All this equipment that will make it possible to operate the registration centers, that we take charge of it and we are about half of our mission in this field.

Congo
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