Kinshasa 15 June 2009 - Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), today ended a three-day trip to the DR Congo where she visited the capital Kinshasa before heading on Sunday to the eastern town of Goma in North Kivu province.
In Goma, Ms Clark visited the camp for internally displaced people at Kiwanja.
While in Kinshasa on Saturday, Ms Clark met with Congolese Prime Minister Adolphe Muzito and several members of his cabinet.
A range of issues have been discussed during her talks with the Government authorities, the UNDP Administrator told reporters at an evening press conference following those meetings.
One of the issue was regarding support to the electoral process, she said, adding she was «pleasantly impressed » with the participation of the Congolese population.
She said they discussed decentralization, as well as security sector reform with an emphasis on respect for human rights. « The United Nations takes very seriously the insecurity in the east of the country. We want to see an end to impunity and [we want] women to be better protected, » she said.
Ms Clark also called for greater participation of Congolese women in their country’s political life.
With respect to the Poverty Reduction Programme, which is one of the pillars of UNDP support to the DRC, she reaffirmed the commitment of United Nations agencies to « work in close collaboration with the Government and to support the strategy it has already in place.”
The Government has requested support for holding a new population census, Ms Clark said.
While census data provide an indispensable basis for formulating development projects, she said, the last population census in the DRC was conducted 25 years ago.
Ms Clark said she would convey that concern of the Government to authorities of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Ms Clark said problems relating climate change and deforestation were also broached. « UNDP offers its support to the Government so it they can define their position regarding protection and regulation of forest resource exploitation, » she said.
On Monday, Ms Clark was in Goma, North Kivu province, where she arrived on Sunday. She visited an IDP camp there, and late in the afternoon was to fly out of the DRC heading to Ethiopia for the last leg of her African tour.