DRC Parliament reluctantly extends state of emergency in Ituri and North Kivu

The assembly seriously questions the effectiveness of a measure adopted more than three years ago to facilitate the fight against the militias

Nov. 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Congolese Parliament has approved a new extension, and now there are 85, of the state of emergency declared in the northeastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, but not before harshly criticizing the ineffectiveness of a measure declared for the first time in May 2021 to facilitate the military operations against armed groups as violent as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) or the March 23 Movement (M23).

The president of the National Assembly, Vital Kamerhe, has conveyed this concern in recent days to the country’s president, Félix Tshisekedi, to whom he conveyed that “the people do not see that the state of emergency any longer has any importance” in these two provinces of the country, a constant scene of combats that have left a total number of victims practically impossible to determine, and subsequent exoduses of the population to escape the clashes.

This opinion has been shared for years by local officials and Congolese civil society, who denounce that, instead of reducing their activities, armed groups have multiplied and the M23, in particular, resumed armed activity only six months after the first declaration of the state of emergency, to end up currently occupying large areas in the territories of Rutshuru, Nyiragongo, Masisi and Lubero.

Tired of the situation, Kamerhe has asked the president for permission to receive in audience the deputies of the interested provinces so that they can directly share their information and concerns.

Tshisekedi has given his consent for this meeting, although a date has not yet been set, according to Radio France Internationale (RFI), to a meeting highly anticipated by Kamerhe, who has denounced on several occasions the absence of direct communication with the authorities directly threatened. by the guerrillas.

“You don’t know what acrobatics we are doing here to talk to the national deputies of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri,” Kamerhe lamented to the media at the end of October.

At the same time, and again according to RFI, Congolese deputies have decided once and for all to carry out their own assessment of the state of emergency and will organize a closed-door session with the participation of the military governors of Ituri and North Kivu — the State of emergency implies that the civil authorities in these areas take a backseat — as well as the deputy prime ministers responsible for Defense and the Interior.