| 01st
July 2011 -Congolese Women
Speak Out:
MONUSCO and Elections in the
Dr Congo
There is some debate around the role that MONUSCO should
play in the electoral process, with the head of the mission
Roger Meece arguing that other organisations are better
equipped than
MONUSCO to conduct election monitoring and observation.
After all, MONUSCO has a relatively small electoral division,
which in addition has also suffered the tragic loss of some
of its leaders in a recent plane crash in Kinshasa. He also
points out that MONUSCO did not do much direct election
observation in 2006.
Instead, Meece wants to preserve MONUSCO's
"good offices" in order to better manage election
disputes between the various contenders. This is in line
with his overall objective of re-establishing good relations
with the Congolese government after they had reached their
nadir under his predecessor. Meece has argued, quite reasonably,
that as long as the Congolese see them as antagonists or
rivals, they will accomplish little in the country.
However, this drive to preserve good relations could become
a slippery slope, as MONUSCO begins to barter away more
and more of its leverage and moral authority in order to
stay in President Kabila's good books.
For example, in their latest report to the
UN Security Council, the UN mission said that they have
documented over a hundred human rights violations related
to the electoral process between January and May 2011. However,
the mission has not made any of their information on these
incidents public. The publication of this kind of information
could help deter further abuses and put pressure on authorities
to rein in their local officials.
Some human rights advocates have spoken
of the possibility of setting up an election abuse team
headquartered within MONUSCO - drawing on members of its
military, election workers, human rights division and intelligence
cell - that would focus solely on this issue for the next
6 months. I think this could be an excellent idea, albeit
not one that would probably please the authorities in Kinshasa.
 |
| President Joseph
Kabila " Head of State
without a State". |
Ambassador Meece argues that MONUSCO
is not the best equipped organization to monitor the elections.
He may be right on some fronts. However, for now MONUSCO
is probably the only organization with representatives in
almost province and with the ability, finances and clout
to investigate the voter registration process as well as
other abuses. Soon, the Carter Centre and the EU will have
official monitors on the ground, but by that time the tone
for the campaigning will have already been set and the voter
register will be complete. Congolese organizations are also
increasingly calling for the UN to use its authority to
prevent repression and intolerance.
MONUSCO does not necessarily need a strong
election mandate, although a sentence telling it to use
its resources to document and investigate abuses related
to the elections would be helpful, but it should not value
its good relations with the government more than the most
important political event in five years.
The security situation in the east of
the DRC must be of concern to everybody, as local authorities
do not join forces to reinforce efforts to better protect
the populations and provide security throughout the country.
In contrast to recent U.N. statements downplaying insecurity
in eastern Congo, local civil society and humanitarian groups
continue to be alarmed by violence by numerous armed groups
operating in the region. The number of displaced civilians
remains unconscionably high, and fighting along key roads
frequently cuts off access for aid groups.
|
Violence is on the rise in eastern Congo,
with attacks by rebel groups increasing in recent months
despite U.N. mission chief Roger Meese’s claims of
“significant progress regarding the security situation
in recent years in eastern DRC,” in a briefing to
the U.N. Security Council last month.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative
and head of the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Congo, or
MONUSCO, told the council that “the security environment
and the related threat to civilian population, our highest
priority concern, must be viewed on a localized basis to
obtain a full understanding of the remaining threats.”
Civil society representatives in eastern Congo’s
North and South Kivu provinces offer contrasting, far less
optimistic assessments, having continuously watched as the
long-feared militias keep a stranglehold on their villages,
committing atrocities to hold their unwilling host communities
subdued.
“He has come a long ways to tell long
lies,” said a member of the Shabunda civil society
group when they heard of Special Representative Meece’s
briefing at the Security Council.
The Norwegian Refugee Council program coordinator
declared that it had to suspend its programming for two
weeks as the security situation worsened in Eastern Congo.
Just days before Meece’s briefing to the Security
Council, a U.N. mission to South Kivu, led by Catherine
Bragg, the U.N.’s deputy emergency relief coordinator
in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,
emphasized the ongoing challenges to security, which continue
to leave civilians in harm’s way and prevent conflict-affected
communities from accessing international assistance. Bragg
noted that with 1.5 million displaced persons in the South
and North Kivu provinces, the humanitarian situation was
worrying. Most of this displacement was triggered by militias
who moved in throughout South Kivu territories to fill gaps
left by the Congolese army units as they went to the army
regiment centers in recent months.
As a result, administrators in the villages
and towns of Shabunda, Kabare, Fizi, Mwenga, and Kalehe
have been calling for the Congolese army to come back, in
spite of the abuses perpetrated by the Congolese soldiers.
These communities are effectively choosing between the lesser
of two evils.
Caught between an abusive Congolese army and predatory rebel
groups, many Congolese continue to be confused about the
role of U.N. peacekeepers in civilian protection.
The security situation in the east of Congo must be of concern
to everybody. There continue to be deep skepticism regarding
the U.N. role in Congo.
The U.N. peacekeeping presence has deterred
attacks by armed groups against civilians but only in areas
around their bases. For local populations in eastern Congo,
the U.N. peacekeepers’ mandate has always been an
enigma that the U.N. alone understands and can explain.
However, not all the blame falls on MONUSCO; if our own
government doesn’t make it a priority to protect its
people, how do you expect strangers who are there just to
make a living to risk their lives attacking ruthless combatants
like the Rwandan and Ugandan militias?
Victoria Dove Dimandja - Congolese
Human Right Campaigner
Liberation
Congolese Women Group
|
