5 Mar 2013

UN / DRC

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the Security Council to authorize the deployment of a special force within the current United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to address imminent threats to peace and security. UNTV

Posted at: March 5, 2013 6:50 pm

Duration: 02:02

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: UN / DRC 
SOURCE: UNTV
TRT: 2.02
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 5 MARCH 2013, NEW YORK CITY/ FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY

1.	Wide shot, exterior UN building

5 MARCH 2013, NEW YORK CITY

2.	Wide shot, Security Council 
3.	Med shot, delegates
4.	SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:     
"Perhaps some would dismiss the recent unrest in the Eastern DRC as yet another cycle of violence in a long plagued region of the world, but we have it within our hands to break that cycle and shape something different. Longer term stability to this entire region is possible, but it requires us to collectively commit to addressing the root causes of this violence. That is why I have reached out to regional leaders and joined with them to find durable solutions."
5.	Med shot, delegates
6.	SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:     
"We agreed that military action alone would not deliver for the people of the Eastern DRC. A lasting solution requires at least four ingredients. First, it must be anchored in the political will of the leaders of all countries in the region. Second, it must address the structural causes fuelling instability in the DRC itself. Third, it must respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and legitimate concerns and interests of all concerned countries. Fourth, it demands a commitment and long term support from the international community."
5.	Med shot, delegates
SOUNDBITE (English) Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General:     
"This intervention brigade will have the ability to conduct, with or without the FARDC, offensive operations against all armed groups that threaten the peace in Eastern DRC. This enforcement capacity, which was initially called for by the regional actors seeks to address the imminent threat to stability and will provide the most appropriate response to the active conflict environment in which MONUSCO has been operating for several years."
5.	Med shot, delegates
8.	SOUNDBITE (French) Ignace Gata Mavita Wa Lufuta, Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the United Nations:     
"The Congolese people and its Government place great hope in these initiative, stemming from the agreement and believe they will have a significant impact on MONUSCO's activities in its overhauled version, i.e. adding the drones to the monitoring capacity of MONUSCO as well as the intervention brigade, the mandate of which will be much more robust than the traditional peacekeeping mandates of the United Nations."
10. Wide shot, Security Council 
      
STORYLINE:

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today (5 March) called on the Security Council to authorize the deployment of a special force within the current United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to address imminent threats to peace and security.

The Secretary-General said that "we have it within our hands" to break the cycle of violence in the DRC but it will require a collectively commitment to address "the root causes of this violence."

He told the Council that in reaching out to regional leaders, they had agreed "that military action alone would not deliver for the people of the Eastern DRC" and that a lasting solution will require at least four ingredients, including political will of the leaders of all countries in the region; addressing the structural causes fuelling instability; respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and legitimate concerns and interests of all concerned countries; and a commitment and long term support from the international community.

Referred to as the Intervention Brigade, the proposed force will have the ability to conduct, with or without the Congolese national army, offensive operations against all armed groups that threaten peace in the eastern part of DRC – a region that is prone to cycles of violence and consequent humanitarian suffering.

This enforcement capacity, he said, "seeks to address the imminent threat to stability" and will provide "the most appropriate response" to the active conflict environment in which the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO) has been operating for several years.

The Intervention Brigade will be established within MONUSCO for an initial period of one year, as proposed by the Secretary-General in a special report submitted to the Council on the DRC and the Great Lakes region.

Ambassador Ignace Gata Mavita Wa Lufuta of the DRC told the Council that "the Congolese people and its Government place great hope in these initiatives," which he said "will have a significant impact on MONUSCO's activities in its overhauled version."

The establishment of the brigade is designed to further support the political objectives of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the region – the peace deal signed last month in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The UN will serve as a guarantor of the agreement, together with the African Union, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes region (ICGLR).

Nearly a million people were displaced in the province of North Kivu during the clashes between the fighters from the rebel M23 group and the Congolese national army (FARDC) late last year, bringing the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in eastern DRC to 2.6 million.

Filed under 01.03.00 - MAINTENANCE OF PEACE AND SECURITY MONUSCO - United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo UNDPKO - United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations.