Political polarization in DR Congo may spark 'large-scale violence,' UN envoy warns Security Council

11 October 2016 - Warning of an extremely fragile political situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where "actors on all sides appear more and more willing to resort to violence to achieve their ends," the top United Nations official in the country called today on the Security Council to urge the parties to return to dialogue, guarantee the right to peaceful opposition and to end impunity for violence.

"The tipping point towards grave violence could arrive very rapidly," said Maman Sidikou, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). "I believe the Council must remain actively seized of the situation," also encouraging regional organizations to engage more closely with the situation.

Briefing the Council on the Secretary-General's latest report on the situation, Mr. Sidikou expressed deep concerns about the impasse in the electoral process, rising political tensions and related violence in the country, and underlined the primary responsibility of the Government and all stakeholders "to preserve the hard-won gains made in recent years."

Recalling that in September, after a group of opposition parties called the Rassemblement boycotted the national dialogue despite the efforts of a facilitator named by the African Union, he said the Independent National Electoral Commission had announced that presidential elections would not be feasible until 18 November 2018, with completion of the voter registry by 31 July 2017.

That announcement, he said, triggered wide-spread condemnation by the opposition, who claimed that the Electoral Commission was being used to extend President Joseph Kabila's incumbency beyond constitutional limits. The Rassemblement subsequently called for the President to step down by 19 December 2016.