DRC rejects UN logistical help for presidential poll
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s government said it would not accept logistical support from the UN for the 2018 elections, having already ruled out external financial assistance for the vote.
The central African nation, which has not had a peaceful transfer of power since it gained independence almost six decades ago, is preparing to hold presidential and other polls in December, after a two-year delay. The electoral commission said in November the presidential and parliamentary polls were expected to cost about $420m and US officials have expressed doubt the body can organise the polls without UNsupplied hardware.
The UN Mission in the DRC, known as Monusco, said this week it had set aside more than $80m to deploy aircraft to distribute electoral materials around the vast country.
That type of assistance was used by the electoral commission in previous votes in 2006 and 2011.
“We don’t need anything” and the government is not making a request for logistical support, President Joseph Kabila’s deputy chief of staff, Jean-Pierre Kambila, said. “The president has said that we don’t want financial help from anyone whoever they are.”
Monusco is continuing to plan to contribute to logistics for the elections, according to Florence Marchal, the mission’s spokeswoman. Aeroplanes and helicopters had been reserved and were beginning to arrive in the country, she said.
Logistical support for the polls is part of Monusco’s mandate and “until we have evidence of the opposite it’s still in the resolution that the security council wishes us to continue and be ready if the request is ever made”, Marchal said.
Monusco transported 4,000 tons of materials in 2017 to help the electoral commission, known as CENI, create an electoral register. Monusco was also asked by CENI to submit a logistical support plan in November 2017, Marchal said.
US deputy ambassador to the UN Jonathan Cohen told the security council on July 26 that he “expects the DRC government to take advantage of the support” on offer. “We have not yet seen evidence of how the electoral commission would organise elections without Monusco’s assistance,” he said.
The DRC is the world’s largest cobalt producer and Africa’s biggest copper miner.