In light of the worsening political and security crisis in the DRC, EurAc calls on European Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the High Representative of the EU Federica Mogherini, to take concrete steps to prevent a further escalation of violence and new abuses in the DRC and in particular to :
On the political and diplomatic level
1. Extend EU targeted sanctions (travel ban and asset freeze) to new individuals responsible for human rights violations and/or for obstructing the democratic process
- On addressing the widespread human rights violations taking place across the country, including the recent apparent summary executions in the Kasaï region by alleged DRC’s armed forces, EU targeted sanctions must be extended to new security agents responsible of serious human rights abuse ;
- On addressing the current political stalemate of the democratic process, EU targeted sanctions must be extended to key senior political figures and influential DRC officials, closer to the inner circle of the President, individuals who are the most responsible for blocking the democratic process and current negotiations for the application of the 31st of December Agreement, and for obstructing a consensual and peaceful solution to the crisis ;
2. Call on both the Presidential Majority and the opposition to apply immediately the New Year’s Agreement by continuing to work with the National Bishops’ Conference (CENCO) to adopt without further delay the different arrangements for the application of the aforementioned agreement by :
- Nominating a Prime Minister from the opposition (Rassemblement) ;
- Defining the composition of the new government and appointing the new Ministers
- Nominating the President of the Comité des Grands Sages of the monitoring committee, the CNSA ;
- Defining the composition of the CNSA and appointing its members ;
- Urging the CENI to publish without further delay a credible electoral calendar and budget for the organisation of the elections in 2017 ;
On the level of protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms
1. Express its deep concern about the deteriorating human rights situation and the continuing restriction of the political space in the DRC, and in particular the instrumentalisation of the judicial system and the violence and intimidation faced by human rights defenders, political opponents, pro-democracy activists and journalists ;
2. Call on the DRC government to fully abide by the requirements enshrined in the Cotonou Agreement as well as in the New Year’s Agreement by immediately and unconditionally releasing all political prisoners, abandoning all charges still pending against some of them and lifting the restrictions on media, like Radio France International (RFI) ;
3. Fully suspend all its financial support for the DRC’s Justice Sector and for the training of Congolese security forces and army officers [1] and reallocate this financial aid, via other channels than the government, to a flexible continued support for access to justice programmes, as well as to programmes to fight against impunity and defend the right to reparation of victims ;
4. If the situation further deteriorates and no meaningful progress has been made to a peaceful solution of the current crisis, the EU Council should consider to deploy additional means of pressure, such as new additional restrictive individual measures, and trigger the mechanisms for enhanced political dialogue provided for in the Cotonou Agreement (enhanced Article 8 and consultations under Article 96) with the possibility of the suspension of all aid programmes [2].
On the security level
Due to the termination of UN Peacekeeping Mission in Congo (MONUSCO)’s mandate in March 2017 and the negotiations around its renewal, the EU members of the United Nations Security Council, permanent or temporary, must advocate for a more focused mandate in the pre- electoral and then electoral context, temporarily devoid of its current institutional stabilisation tasks in general and support to the security sector reform in particular. The objective is to concentrate all the resources of the mission on priority tasks, such as protection of civilians, defense of human rights, humanitarian access and distribution of aid and reduction of violence. We therefore encourage MONUSCO to comply with its obligations enshrined in UN Security Council Resolution 2277, in particular Article 29 b) [3] and Article 35 i) a) [4] and further develop its human, logistical and technical capacity in order to ‘ensure, within its area of operations, effective protection of civilians under threat of physical violence […] in the context of elections’.