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AFRICA

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Expected Council Action
The Security Council Sanctions Committee on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is expected to receive the report of its Group of Experts. The Committee is expected to report in February. However, in light of the intensified fighting in eastern DRC, wider consideration of the situation is possible.

Key Recent Developments
There has been a steep rise in clashes between government forces, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Forces armées de la République Démocratique du Congo or FARDC) and renegade general Laurent Nkunda’s forces (Congrés National pour la Défence du Peuple or CNDP) in the volatile North Kivu province since early December when the government launched a major military offensive against Nkunda. The UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) is reported to be providing logistical support to government forces. MONUC’s mandate allows it to act in support of the government and ensure protection of civilians. The mission has also stated that it will not allow any illegal armed group, particularly the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), to occupy areas from which dissident forces have been evicted.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees indicated that the ongoing violence in eastern DRC has displaced tens of thousands of people and that makeshift refugee camps in the Goma area are “about to reach capacity” and expressed concern about the risk of human rights abuses and violence against civilians.

MONUC reported that rival armed groups have been forcibly recruiting hundreds of children and sending them to fight in the front lines in North Kivu. Nkunda’s forces and the FDLR have been identified as the main groups indulging in this practice.

At press time, the Council seemed set to renew the mandate of MONUC on 21 December.

Key Issues
The major scheduled issue in January relates to monitoring implementation of the sanctions regime (arms embargo, travel ban and assets freeze). But in light of the recent violence, possible sanctions against political and military leaders involved in recruiting or using children in armed conflict, as provided in resolution 1698, could arise. (The Committee seems to have deliberated on the issue but more than a year has elapsed since the resolution was adopted and it is yet to come out with any such measures in the face of reported violations.)

Options
Options for Council members include:

• taking up the wider situation in eastern DRC if the violence continues into January;
• calling for a briefing by the Secretariat if the security situation in the country continues to deteriorate;
• issuing either a presidential or a press statement expressing concern about current situation in the country;
• deciding to sanction users or recruiters of children in armed conflict; and
• requesting the Sanctions Committee to take recent developments into account in preparing its recommendations for February.

Council Dynamics
The upcoming report will be the first by the newly reconstituted Group of Experts. Council members are likely to be interested in how the change in the Group’s composition has affected the report’s contents. Apart from the aviation expert, the Group is presently composed of new members who have had a relatively short period (six to eight weeks) to conduct actual investigations on the ground as well as acquaint themselves with the key players. (Although resolution 1771 was adopted on 10 August the Group was appointed only on 2 October.)

The submission of the upcoming report also seems to have been timed to provide Council members and the Committee sufficient time to consider it before the renewal of the Group’s mandate.

The tenure of Ambassador Jorge Voto-Bernales of Peru, current chairman of the DRC Sanctions Committee, ends on 31 December along with his country’s membership on the Council. A new chairman will be appointed by the Council. It is difficult to tell at this stage how this will affect the dynamics of the work of the Committee.

UN Documents

Other Relevant Facts

Full forecast

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