The United Nations' mission chief in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) pledged on Monday that the organization will do its utmost to mitigate any risk of violence in the country.
"We will be doing our utmost to prevent and mitigate any risk of violence throughout this politically sensitive period," said Leila Zerrougui, the UN secretary-general's special representative for the DRC, while briefing the Security Council on the situation in the country.
General elections were held in the DRC on Dec. 30 last year, to determine a successor to President Joseph Kabila, as well as for the 500 seats of the National Assembly and 715 provincial council seats.
Despite the relatively peaceful passage of the elections in the country, Zerrougui told the Security Council that she "remained concerned" over developments in the east, where dozens of armed groups continue to operate.
Citing the situation in North Kivu as an example, she said that the ongoing deadly Ebola outbreak in the Grand Nord region was the second-largest in history. In the meantime, militias continued to attack civilians and government forces, as well as humanitarian workers and personnel from MONUSCO -- the UN peacekeeping mission in the country.
Following recent attacks against Ebola response centers in Butembo and Katwa, MONUSCO has redeployed additional personnel for security assistance and to address community resistance to the response, she said.
Turning to South Kivu, she noted that clashes have "flared up" between community-based militias, "resulting in significant displacements of the population, with the potential of further deterioration."
To address this, she said MONUSCO was supporting a reinforced government presence in addition to "our own standing combat deployment, and our intercommunal mediation efforts."
Zerrougui also updated the Council on the mass inter-communal killings around Yumbi in the west, on the banks of the Congo, which took place in mid-December, with her office and UN human rights workers later documenting 535 deaths, 111 wounded, 19,000 displaced and destruction of many homes and livelihoods.
It was "a troubling reminder of how quickly violence can escalate," she said.
The mission chief said the government needed to be encouraged to better prevent and address potential causes of violent conflict overall.
Despite protests by some parties and politicians who lost out, Zerrougui told the Council that it was the first peaceful handover since independence, and "most Congolese citizens were pleased to welcome the inauguration of President Tshisekedi."
Calling it "a decisive step to establish democracy and rule of law" in the DRC, the MONUSCO head acknowledged that the reactions of "certain political parties and their supporters" to the outcomes of senatorial elections last week "are a concern," as "they reveal the fragility of the political process in the country."
Zerrougui urged the Council "to support the government in its efforts to honor the expectations of the Congolese population; to advance political dialogue and collaboration; and to seize the opportunities which we are now seeing for a sustainable reduction of armed groups in some areas."
