Democratic Republic of the Congo: Briefing and Consultations
Tomorrow morning (26 March), the Security Council will convene for an open briefing, followed by closed consultations, on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including the work of the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). On 5 March, the Secretary-General appointed James Swan of the US as his Special Representative in the DRC and Head of MONUSCO, replacing Bintou Keita, who completed her mandate on 30 November 2025 after serving in the position for four years. Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Protection and Operations in MONUSCO Vivian van de Perre, the mission’s Officer-in-Charge, is expected to brief. US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos will chair the meeting. Rwanda is expected to participate in the meeting under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.
Ahead of the meeting, the Security Council may adopt a presidential statement on the situation in the DRC, which was proposed by France (the penholder on the file). At the time of writing, the draft text was under silence procedure until tomorrow morning.
Van de Perre is expected to update Council members on recent political and security developments in the DRC based on the Secretary-General’s latest report on the mission (S/2026/208), which was circulated to Council members on 19 March and covers developments since 1 December 2025. She may highlight the progress in ongoing mediation efforts, including those carried out as part of the Doha Framework for Peace signed between the Congolese government and the Mouvement du 23 Mars (M23) rebel group in November 2025 and the Washington Accords agreed by the DRC and Rwanda in December 2025.
Van de Perre may highlight MONUSCO’s efforts in support of a permanent ceasefire, including through the operationalisation of the Ceasefire Oversight and Verification Mechanism (COVM) agreed in Doha. In this regard, she might refer to the 8-11 February visit by Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix to the DRC, where he engaged with the Congolese authorities to discuss MONUSCO’s support to the implementation of a ceasefire in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces pursuant to resolution 2808 of 19 December 2025, which last renewed the mission’s mandate. She may also mention her 12 February visit to Goma, the capital of North Kivu, as part of the mission’s preparations for the implementation of the COVM. Additionally, Van de Perre might speak about MONUSCO’s 23-27 February exploratory mission to the city of Uvira in South Kivu, conducted together with the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to assess the conditions for the COVM’s operationalisation. The M23 had captured the city, which is located on the northern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in December 2025 but has since withdrawn.
Despite these developments, the security situation in eastern DRC has continued to deteriorate over the last couple of months. On 17 March, Council members held closed consultations at France’s request to discuss the escalation of fighting in the region, particularly in light of the 11 March drone attack in Goma which killed one UNICEF staff member and two other civilians. (For more information, see our 16 March What’s in Blue story.) At that meeting, Council members apparently expressed concerns about the disparity between the commitments made by the parties in the ongoing peace processes and the escalation of fighting on the ground. They also voiced alarm about the intensified use of drones and their impact on the safety of civilians and humanitarian personnel. It seems that some members linked this to the involvement of foreign mercenaries in the conflict. Media reports indicate that Blackwater, a US private security company, has been active in the DRC since last year and is supporting the Congolese government’s recent military operations in eastern DRC.
At the 17 March consultations, Council members also discussed the Secretary-General’s 27 February letter, submitted pursuant to resolution 2808, which outlined the proposed scope of MONUSCO’s engagement in supporting the implementation of a permanent ceasefire. The letter recommended a “phased, adaptive, scalable, and conditions-based approach” to support the ceasefire and requested the deployment of two light infantry battalions, a rapid deployment battalion, and an advanced medical evacuation team, all of which could be accommodated within MONUSCO’s current authorised troop ceiling. However, several Council members apparently expressed concerns that the necessary conditions for implementing such an approach are not yet in place. It seems that China and Russia were particularly reluctant to move forward with the Secretary-General’s proposal, noting that the ceasefire agreed by the parties has not yet been implemented.
During the same meeting, Council members apparently agreed to work on a product to react to the latest developments in the DRC and the Secretary-General’s 27 February letter. Although it appears that the DRC, currently serving as a non-permanent member of the Council, initially favoured the adoption of a resolution, other Council members preferred a presidential statement, which the DRC subsequently supported. France proposed a draft presidential statement on 18 March and requested comments by the following day (19 March). The penholder then circulated a revised version of the draft and placed it under silence until yesterday morning (24 March). China, Russia, and the US broke silence over several aspects of the draft. The penholder made further revisions to the text and placed it under another silence procedure until tomorrow morning.
At tomorrow’s meeting, Boulos may describe his work to promote the Washington process. He might highlight the meeting that he hosted on 17-18 March in Washington, D.C. to facilitate discussion between representatives of the DRC and Rwanda on the implementation of the Washington Accords. According to an 18 March joint statement, the two sides agreed to a series of coordinated steps to de-escalate tensions and advance progress on the ground, including the lifting of defensive measures by Rwanda in defined areas in DRC territory and time-bound and intensified efforts by the DRC to neutralise the Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), an ethnic Hutu armed group active in eastern DRC that was implicated in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Another potential focus of tomorrow’s meeting is the operational challenges that MONUSCO continues to face in carrying out its mandated tasks. Van de Perre may describe the access and movement restrictions that the mission continues to encounter in M23-controlled areas of North Kivu, including the continued suspension of banking and airport operations in Goma. She may, however, note some recent improvements, including the release of all fuel trucks previously blocked from entering Goma and the restoration of water and electricity to MONUSCO facilities, as indicated in the Secretary-General’s report. She might also highlight the easing of restrictions on the rotation and repatriation of MONUSCO contingents, which was a major issue last year.
Van de Perre may also elaborate on the implementation of contingency measures in response to the UN liquidity crisis. The Secretary-General’s report notes the repatriation of 1,550 military contingent personnel, 125 military experts, 180 formed police unit personnel, and 125 individual police officers, as well as the elimination of 694 civilian posts as part of broader downsizing measures. These reductions represent a 23.4 percent decrease in uniformed personnel, a 29 percent decrease in civilian staffing, and a 27 percent reduction in operational funding. Van de Perre may describe the impact of these measures, particularly in terms of heightened operational risks and the mission’s reduced capacity to implement its mandate.
