Ambassador Đặng Đình Quý, Permanent Representative of Việt Nam to the United Nations. — Photo from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

HÀ NỘI — Ambassador Đặng Đình Quý, Permanent Representative of Việt Nam to the United Nations, called on the international community to intensify multi-faceted assistance for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) during the UN Security Council’s meeting on the country’s situation on Tuesday (US time).

Quý noted the ongoing tensions among political and civil society actors in the DR Congo and underlined the critical importance of integrating women’s voices in the political process.

Expressing concern over the continued deterioration of the security situation in the east of the country – especially in Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu – he strongly condemned attacks against civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian operations. 

Also citing the impacts of socio-economic hardship, displacement and COVID‑19, he stressed the utmost importance of addressing the root causes of instability. In that regard, he welcomed the Government’s establishment and implementation of the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Community Recovery and Stabilisation Programme, which maps out a comprehensive strategy to combat hostile armed groups, and commended efforts to formulate a transition plan for the progressive and phased drawdown of the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DR Congo (MONUSCO).

UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the DR Congo Bintou Keita, who also heads MONUSCO, called on the UN Security Council to continue providing its “full backing” to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in that country.

According to UN statistics, 19.6 million out of over 90 million people in the DR Congo are in need of humanitarian assistance. With over 5 million internally displaced people, the country has the highest number of internally displaced people on the African continent. More than 26 million Congolese also suffer from food insecurity, about 29 per cent of the population. — VNS