DRC: MONUSCO withdrawal plan to be completed by Nov 15

Kinshasa, DRC | Xinhua | Details on the withdrawal plan of the peacekeeping mission from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) will be completed by Nov. 15, DRC Vice Prime Minister Christophe Lutundula said late Monday.

Lutundula, also the Congolese foreign minister, outlined the key phases of the withdrawal plan of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), at a press conference held Monday evening in Kinshasa, the capital of DRC, saying the elaboration on the plan already began Monday between the Congolese side and MONUSCO.

The UN peacekeeping mission has been present in the country since 1999. The DRC’s president urged the UN mission to expedite its withdrawal and move the deadline up a year from December 2024 to December 2023 at the UN General Assembly in September.

On Oct. 16, the UN Security Council expressed its readiness to decide, by the end of this year and as a matter of priority, the future of MONUSCO and its gradual, responsible and sustainable withdrawal, as well as realistic and concrete steps to be taken in that regard. ■