Attachments
I. Introduction
1 . The present report is submitted pursuant to resolution 2666 (2022), in which the Security Council requested the Secretary-General, once the joint review of the transition plan for the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) was concluded and no later than July 2023, to provide options for adapting the configuration of the Mission’s civilian, police and military components and on the future United Nations configuration in the Democratic Republic of the Congo beyond the current mandate of MONUSCO, taking into consideration the Mission’s role with respect to the East African Community regional force and other existing international, regional and bilateral initiatives in support of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
2 . The options set out in the present report reflect the outcome of wide-ranging consultations with MONUSCO, the United Nations country team and relevant United Nations actors working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the region, including the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region and the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA). In addition, the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 3 to 7 June to engage with the President, the Prime Minister, key government officials, relevant national and provincial stakeholders, including civil society organizations and members of the diplomatic community, on the Mission’s configuration.
II. Overview of the current situation
3 . Despite the progress achieved in numerous areas of the MONUSCO mandate, the challenges facing the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its people remain daunting. In the past year, the political and security environment has deteriorated sharply, creating a severe humanitarian and protection crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
4 . Upon taking office in 2018, the President, Félix Antoine Tshilombo Tshisekedi, prioritized the pacification of the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the normalization of relations with some of the country’s neighbours. His attempts to forge collective regional responses to the common security and economic challenges and advances towards regional integration were, however, quickly challenged by mistrust and tensions in the region. The resurgence of the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) in November 2021 has frayed relations between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. Regional tensions were further heightened following the M23 occupation in June 2022 of Bunangana, a key trading town on the border with Uganda, leading the Democratic Republic of the Congo to suspend all bilateral agreements with Rwanda.
5 . Since then, tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda have remained high, as illustrated by security incidents at the border and the continued confrontational rhetoric between senior government officials from both countries.