DRC: Ending the structural causes of chaos

By on April 5, 2010
The role of MONUC and the conditions of its departure should be determined before May 31, as for the new election that must be held. France shall conduct a Security Council mission there in April and plans to hold a regional forum for cooperation in the Great Lakes this year.
Meanwhile and in addition to this mission, NGOs and national as international associations launched a campaign entitled “15 years of war”, focusing on 4 applications:

• Protect civilian population in a focus on human rights by supporting consistent and fundamental reforms of the army, police and justice, ensuring the effective implementation of the current MONUC mandate. Any prospect of withdrawal will depend on tangible improvements in the safety of people, and preferring the voluntary disarmament essentially to military options;
• Ensuring access to basic services by mobilising the resources needed to implement a “Marshall Plan” for the DRC, by allowing independent monitoring of the budget and help by the Congolese civil society and working for a genuine land reform;
• Strengthening democratic processes and people in supporting the local elections, continuing the decentralisation process and support greater participation of civil society, particularly women, to build peace and democratisation;
• Stop the militarisation of the exploitation and trade of natural resources by requiring “reasonable diligence” in helping to implement a multilateral certification and asking that all who benefit from illegal trafficking of these resources to be legally prosecuted.

Finally let’s make a wish that this busy schedule should be an opportunity to finally address the structural causes of conflict and put an end to insecurity, poverty, and also put an end to the plundering of resources and widespread corruption.

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