After 25 years of presence, MONUSCO will definitively leave the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) “ at the latest » at the end of this year 2024, confirmed the national authorities and the UN mission this Saturday, January 13 during a press conference in Kinshasa.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa, Pascal Mulegwa
THE departure from MONUSCOannounced in November when signing a withdrawal plan, is only a matter of months. A first total withdrawal from the province of South Kivu, in the east of the country, is planned by the end of April. “ Responsibility for protecting civilians in South Kivu from May 1 will be the sole responsibility of the national security forces. Then, every three months, we will make an assessment of the state of play of how we are implementing this disengagement plan. », Explains Bintou Keita, the head of MONUSCO. For the head of Congolese diplomacy, “ no one can imagine what the DRC would have been like, without MONUSCO » at the time.
For their part, the authorities claim to have already taken steps to ensure succession, assures Christophe Lutundula, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of Foreign Affairs: “ We don’t have to be afraid to take responsibility. We have always said that the secret is the strengthening of the strike force, the power of our army, the capacities of our security services, of our territorial administration. And efforts are being made today, particularly on the side of the army. »
After South Kivu, the troops and the administration will withdraw from North Kivu then from Ituri, which hosts a quarter of the nearly seven million displaced people in the country.
In total, 14 MONUSCO military bases will be handed over to the government and certain missions will be entrusted to agencies of the United Nations system.