


RDC: Declaration Politique de la Dynamique de l’Opposition en Rapport avec la Situation Politique de l’Heure (06.01.2017)









“One immediate step the DRC authorities can take regarding this is to lift the restrictions and bans imposed on various media organisations in recent months”.
GENEVA, Switzerland, January 6, 2017 –
Spokespeople for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights:
“We welcome the signing of the political accord in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on 31 December, which we hope will mark a turning point in the country.
“The agreement, which was reached after the careful mediation of the National Episcopal Conference (CENCO), represents an opportunity to ensure that everyone, including political opponents, journalists and civil society representatives, are able to fully exercise their right to freedoms of association and peaceful assembly, opinion, and expression. One immediate step the DRC authorities can take regarding this is to lift the restrictions and bans imposed on various media organisations in recent months.
“It is important that the Government, opposition parties, civil society and all Congolese citizens work to ensure the implementation of the accord and the creation of an environment conducive to free, fair, and credible elections. We therefore urge President Joseph Kabila to publicly endorse the agreement.
“It is also essential that measures are in place to avoid a repeat of the violence which has erupted in the DRC, notably in Kinshasa in September 2016 when some 54 people were killed, and most recently in December when at least 40 people were killed and hundreds arrested across the country.
“We welcome the fact that the agreement stipulates that emblematic cases of political prisoners will be examined by a commission of high-ranking judges (commission des hauts magistrats). Such measures need to be extended to all political prisoners and to others, including journalists and members of civil society, who may have been detained illegally.
“If the agreement is implemented before the end of 2017, it would represent an important development for the region and, we hope, an example for the DRC’s neighbours to follow.”



The agreement – facilitated by Conférence Episcopale Nationale du Congo (CENCO) mediators, and reached in DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, on 31 December 2016 – represents a significant step towards a peacefully managed transition.
NEW YORK, United States of America, January 5, 2017 – The United Nations Security Council today welcomed a comprehensive political agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and called on all stakeholders to continue to exercise flexibility and compromise in their discussions to swiftly resolve all pending issues, particularly those related to the holding of elections in the country within 2017.
“The Security Council is encouraged by the spirit of flexibility and compromise demonstrated by Congolese political leaders in reaching this agreement, for the stability, peace, development and consolidation of constitutional democracy in the DRC,” said a Presidential Statement read out at a formal meeting of the 15-member body today.
In the Statement, the Council also urged all political parties which didn’t sign the agreement to do so.
The agreement – facilitated by Conférence Episcopale Nationale du Congo (CENCO) mediators, and reached in DRC’s capital, Kinshasa, on 31 December 2016 – represents a significant step towards a peacefully managed transition consistent with the democratic principles enshrined in the country’s Constitution.
This new agreement followed an initial political agreement between part of the opposition and the majorité présidentielle reached in October under the auspices of the African Union facilitation.
Also by the Presidential Statement, the Council expressed hope for a swift implementation of the agreement in order to organise peaceful, credible, inclusive and timely presidential, national and provincial legislative elections no later than December 2017, as well as leading to a peaceful transfer of power.
“The Security Council stresses the importance for the Government of the DRC and its national partners to take all necessary steps to accelerate preparations for the elections without further delays, within the agreed timeframe,” added the Statement in which the Council also stressed the importance of the inclusion of women in the follow up and implementation of the agreement.





