Kinshasa, March 18th, 2021 (CPA) – The new special representative of the General Secretary of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO), Ms. Bintou Keita, spoke on Tuesday with the president of the National Assembly on the need to properly organize the 2023 elections, during an audience he granted him, in his office at the People’s Palace.
Newly appointed to the post of Special Representative of the General Secretary of the United Nations, replacing Algerian Leila Zerrougui, recalled to United Nations Headquarters, Guinean Bintou Keita said their talks focused on specific points, in particular those relating to the holding of elections in 2023, which the president of the lower house of parliament referred to in his speech at the opening ceremony of the ordinary session of March 2021.
« I have just arrived in the country and, with my collaborators, we thought it was important to come to congratulate the President of the National Assembly for the parliamentary re-entry ceremony which took place on Monday, March 15th, and especially in relation to specific points contained in her speech in relation to legislative reforms, and in particular the need to properly organize the elections for 2023”, declared Ms. Keita at the end of the hearing.
Partnerships to meet the challenges in the east of the country
The head of MONUSCO also stressed that he also rose, during their meeting, the issue of re-establishing partnerships to meet the challenges facing the east of the country.
« We also spoke of the importance of working jointly on challenges facing eastern DRC and in relation to a partnership and trust to be restored with the population and communities, since daily suffering is rife in this part of the country. And the President has been clear that there is genuine sadness and suffering when viewing social media, phones and others. Every day there are deaths and people abused in eastern Congo”, she lamented.
This hearing, she said, was an opportunity to start discussions on climate change and the need to preserve Congolese forests, the second ecological lung of the planet.
“We also talked about the importance of working on the environment. I did not know it, I only learned it during this exchange, with regard to the African continent, 47% of the forests are in DRC which occupies the second place after the Amazon (Brazil). And at the same time, we talked about the need to preserve the environment and to contribute to global efforts with regard to climate change”, acknowledged the head of MONUSCO.
