DR Congo

Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations; Excellencies, Heads of State and Government; Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations; Ladies and Gentlemen, Heads of Delegation,

The holding of this 78th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations offers me the opportunity to share with the Member States of our Organization the vision and major concerns of my country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, regarding the pressing issues of our time in the world.

However, allow me first to congratulate His Excellency Mr. Dennis Francis on his election to the presidency of our august Assembly and to assure all the members of his Bureau of my country's support in accomplishing the noble mission entrusted to them by our institution.

I would be remiss if I did not thank the outgoing President, Mr. Csaba Kőrösi, for his clear-sighted leadership and dedication, which helped advance the debates and find concerted solutions.

My thanks also go to Mr. António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, for his active and ongoing commitment to international peace and security.

Mr. President,

While this session is being held here in New York, the Moroccan people have not yet finished mourning their victims or healing their wounds following the powerful earthquakes that occurred during the night of Friday, September 8 to Saturday, September 9 of this month, causing the death of more than 3,000 Moroccans, injuring at least 5,000, and destroying several towns and localities of the Kingdom. Likewise, the Libyan people have not yet recovered from the trauma of the floods that took the lives of more than 20,000 people and caused enormous material damage on Sunday, September 10 of the same month.

The Congolese people salute the mobilization of the international community to assist these fraternal peoples of the Kingdom of Morocco and Libya. They express their full compassion and solidarity, and wish a speedy recovery to all those injured by these two natural disasters.

Mr. President,

Beyond deploring these natural calamities, the current session of the General Assembly is being held at an exceptional period in our history, when the world is facing serious situations that threaten the very existence of humankind. To the war in Ukraine, which is causing a food crisis marked by a surge in prices and a shortage of essential goods, are added the worsening effects of global warming and armed conflicts that continue to rage here and there. These mutually reinforcing crises challenge the multilateral system and international cooperation.

Yet maintaining international peace and security, guaranteeing justice and human rights, fostering social progress, and establishing better living conditions are indeed unanimous and timeless aspirations of all the peoples of the world, which must therefore remain at the center of our collective action, following a truly multilateral and inclusive approach. We are called upon to work together to respond to these challenges, which are existential in scope.

It is for this fundamental reason that I welcome the relevance of the central annual theme of this session, entitled: "Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all."

This theme places the values of solidarity and trust at the heart of the factors for revitalizing and accelerating solutions to closely interconnected global challenges, in order to advance peace, security, and sustainable development. These two values take on their full meaning in the context of the crisis we are experiencing today.

In this regard, it is essential to recall that, at the midpoint toward the achievement of the SDGs in 2023, under the combined effect of climate disasters, recurrent conflicts, economic recession, and the persistent effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, inequalities and poverty have worsened. Hunger and malnutrition are on the rise. Humanitarian needs and population displacements are reaching record levels. And climate and environmental disasters are plunging the world into one of the most serious systemic and existential risks.

To overcome these scourges, which are real threats to international peace and security as well as a major obstacle to the prosperity and progress of nations, it is clear that pooling energies and adopting a multilateral approach based on mutual trust and solidarity are major and indispensable assets.

Mr. President,

The maintenance of international peace and security constitutes the foundation and the primary objective of the creation of the United Nations. This requires greater determination and commitment from all in the face of any threat to peace and security in the world.

African peoples often do not understand the equivocal attitude, the double standards, the ambiguities and procrastination of our Organization, particularly its Security Council, in certain serious political and security crises raging in Africa, sometimes for several decades.

This is notably the case of the forgotten crisis of Western Sahara, which has been tearing apart two brotherly countries, Algeria and the Kingdom of Morocco, for several decades.

It is also the case of Mozambique, a victim of deadly terrorist attacks for about a decade in the province of Cabo Delgado.

This is the situation in West Africa, in the Sahelo-Saharan region, where United Nations troops are withdrawing, leaving behind them the memory of unfinished business, even though they embodied all the hopes of liberating the peoples of the countries concerned from the grip of jihadism.

The Republic of Sudan is no exception. It is mired in a deadly civil war that has, since last year, pitted the military loyal to the President of the Republic against the Rapid Support Forces under the command of General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. This war has already caused many deaths and significant material damage. The international community remains almost indifferent to the Sudanese tragedy.

This is the place to address an issue of paramount importance for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and for the consolidation of peace in the Great Lakes region. I am referring to the withdrawal of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) from our country.

After more than two decades of the presence of United Nations troops, it is time for our country to take full control of its destiny and become the principal actor in its own stability. We are grateful to the international community and the United Nations for their support and partnership, but we are also aware that the gradual withdrawal of MONUSCO is a necessary step in consolidating the progress we have already achieved.

However, it is regrettable that the peacekeeping missions deployed—in one form or another—for twenty-five years in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have failed to confront the rebellions and armed conflicts tearing apart the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes region, or to protect civilian populations.

Furthermore, has the plan for a phased, responsible, and sustainable withdrawal of MONUSCO, announced since 2018, with its transition plan adopted in 2021, not become anachronistic in light of the evolution of current political, security, and social contingencies? It is therefore illusory and counterproductive to continue clinging to the maintenance of MONUSCO in order to restore peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and stabilize the country.

Moreover, accelerating the withdrawal of MONUSCO has become an urgent necessity in order to ease tensions between the Mission and our fellow citizens. It is time for my country to explore new mechanisms of strategic collaboration with the United Nations, more attuned to our current realities.

That is why, in my capacity as constitutional guarantor of the territorial integrity, sovereignty, and independence of my country, of the proper functioning of our Nation, and of the well-being of my fellow citizens, I have instructed the Government of the Republic to begin discussions with the United Nations authorities for an accelerated withdrawal of MONUSCO from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, moving up the start of this gradual withdrawal from December 2024 to December 2023.

This is the deep meaning behind the current approach of our Government, which sent a letter to the President of the United Nations Security Council on September 1, 2023, requesting the acceleration of MONUSCO's withdrawal.

In addition to the accelerated withdrawal of MONUSCO, the Democratic Republic of the Congo reiterates its request to the UN Security Council to sanction all natural and legal persons recognized as perpetrators, co-perpetrators, and accomplices—whether material or intellectual—of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as of serious violations of human rights, international law, and the Charter of the United Nations on Congolese territory.

It is unjust and unacceptable that persons named as responsible for the aforementioned serious crimes in various reports by UN experts on the security situation in the DRC remain unpunished amid the total silence of our Organization and its members, who nevertheless place the fight against impunity among their priorities in matters of internal and external governance.

In this regard, the Government of the DRC warmly welcomes the sanctions just imposed by the Government of the United States of America on Rwanda for its support of the M23 terrorist group and on one of its senior officials involved in criminal ventures in Congo. As a reminder, this terrorist group, a proxy of Rwanda, does not respect any of the commitments made by the region's Heads of State within the framework of the Luanda and Nairobi processes. Indeed, not only have they failed to withdraw from captured positions, but they continue to massacre civilian populations and refuse pre-cantonment and cantonment.

The DRC hopes that other States will follow this good example of support for the common fight against impunity and for the triumph of the ideals of justice and solidarity among peoples.

The Congolese Government expects the next Security Council meeting to give particular attention to its request and to be constructive in managing the delicate and arduous peace process in our country.

Mr. President,

Another challenge that is of the utmost concern to all nations of the world is that of global warming.

There is no longer any need to recall that the rise in temperature over the past few decades affects the life of all humanity and concerns us all.

However, it must be noted that despite the professed commitment of polluters to stop greenhouse gas emissions, the multitude of forums organized around the world to combat this scourge—including the 27 COPs (Conferences of the Parties to the UN Convention to combat climate change)—and the numerous resolutions and recommendations adopted at these various forums, global warming is far from being kept to 1.5 degrees Celsius. On the contrary, at COP27 held in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, this year, concerns emerged about an upward trend in this temperature.

This far from reassuring finding undoubtedly calls for a revisiting of our approaches and adopted policies.

In this context, the African Climate Summit, which was just held in Nairobi, Kenya, under the joint leadership of the African Union and the Republic of Kenya, from September 4 to 7 of this year, was a welcome and very timely initiative reflecting Africa's determination to actively participate in addressing this vital issue and to henceforth count as an unavoidable heavyweight in the solution to global warming and to a greener and more responsible economy of the future.

Africans left the Summit with a common set of demands contained in the Nairobi Declaration, focused notably on reforming the architecture of the international financial system for greater equity, restructuring and easing the debt burden of their countries, the local transformation of their products, and the establishment of a carbon taxation regime including a tax on fossil fuel trade as well as on maritime and air transport. They also reminded wealthy polluters of a commitment made in 2009, but not yet honored to this day, to provide 100 billion US dollars in climate financing.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo calls on the United Nations and the entire international community to pay particular attention to Africa's legitimate demands. In this regard, my country calls for the creation of a fair carbon market and incentive prices while strengthening the effectiveness of climate financing. It hopes for the swift operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement and supports the idea of mutually beneficial partnerships between the State and the public sectors.

It is in this same spirit that the Democratic Republic of the Congo reiterates its willingness to cooperate with any public or private partner to develop its strategic minerals for the ecological transition, and has made bold commitments, notably to devote 30% of its national territory to biodiversity preservation and to submit a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) including mitigation measures focused on four priority sectors: agriculture, forests, energy, and technology transfer, as well as adaptation measures.

Mr. President,

Multilateralism and respect for a rules-based global system have underpinned peace, security, health, and prosperity in vast parts of the world for seventy-eight years. The United Nations embodies these principles and remains an indispensable actor in confronting contemporary existential threats, whether the current food crisis, climate change, terrorism, pandemics, or nuclear proliferation. None of these critical global threats can be resolved by nations acting alone, however powerful they may be. All of this requires multilateral cooperation.

In order to retain the trust of the international community, the United Nations must show that it is capable of adapting to the present time and of meeting today's challenges effectively and responsibly. Thus, in order to give multilateralism a fresh start, reform of the UN Charter on key points—the Security Council, the veto, Chapter VII, the use of force—is indispensable, but would not be sufficient. There is no shortage of work to be done. Coordination and cooperation among the various United Nations institutions and agencies remain imperfect: global problems are addressed multiple times in different forums, from different and sometimes contradictory angles, while others are never addressed anywhere at all, as each international bureaucracy intends to persist in its own existence.

In this regard, the pressing and constant demand of my country and of all of Africa is to expand the United Nations Security Council—the leading decision-making body of the UN—so as to include, among its members, two representatives of the African continent as Permanent Members, in order to achieve a fair and representative geographic balance.

Hence the relevance and necessity of reforming our 78-year-old Organization, which shows certain limitations in the face of current changes and international dynamics, in order to make it more inclusive, both in its composition and in its decision-making process, which must henceforth take Africa's voice into account.

Mr. President,

Before concluding my remarks, allow me, from this podium, to return to the issue of violence against women in the context of war and armed conflict.

It is no secret to anyone that the Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the African States where sexual violence against women is most alarming, due in particular to decades of armed conflict.

In order to alleviate the suffering of women who are victims of conflict-related violence and to provide at least some measure of redress for the harm done to them, my country has established specific institutional mechanisms. These include the National Fund for the Reparation of Victims of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Victims of Crimes against Peace and the Security of Humanity (FONAREV), created in December 2022.

Building on these initiatives to protect and promote women, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is working tirelessly to change how men view women, notably by dismantling societal structures that create barriers to women's advancement, as well as the power dynamics underlying relations between men and women.

Indeed, the skills and resources given to women are not enough on their own to change their situation. It is also essential to change social dynamics within couples, families, and communities. This is the whole meaning of the positive masculinity promotion project that I initiated at the start of my term as head of the African Union.

Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Excellencies, Heads of State and Government; Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations; Ladies and Gentlemen, Heads of Delegation,

In conclusion, I would like to confirm once again that at the end of this year, general elections will be held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo for institutions with elective mandates, down to the level of municipalities. To ensure their success, all parties involved are actively mobilizing. The Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) has already convened the electorate and published the lists of candidates for the national and provincial legislative elections and the municipal elections. Measures are being taken to ensure the transparency, inclusiveness, equal opportunity, and credibility of the upcoming polls. Invitations have already been extended to international institutions and non-governmental organizations specializing in this field to mandate their electoral observation missions, in order to accompany the process and help the Congolese State consolidate its young democracy. The UN is also invited to play an important role through its specialized institutions. The Congolese Government already thanks those institutions and NGOs that have accepted the invitation and are already at work.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo remains convinced that the UN remains the most appropriate framework for discussing the future of our planet and relations both among peoples and among their States.

Following the holding of democratic elections in Zimbabwe, I issue an urgent appeal to the United Nations to do everything possible to obtain the immediate lifting of sanctions against the Republic of Zimbabwe and its people.

However, in order to effectively fulfill its heavy and delicate missions and earn the trust of all, the UN must embody the values of justice, equity, and solidarity, and be representative of everyone in our cultural, political, economic, and social diversity. This is the whole meaning of the reform that Africans keep raising, and of the struggle we must all wage.

Thank you.