14 jan. 04 | Yulu Kabamba

The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, William Lacy Swing, declared Tuesday in Kinshasa that, as indicated by the UN experts during their recent mission, it was technically possible to organize elections in 2005.

Mr. Swing made the declaration during a presentation to the Transition Parliament?s Commission for External Relations, Defence and Security, in the presence of a Belgian Parliament?s delegation currently visiting the DRC.

Monuc?s chief stressed that the DRC elections due to end the transitional period would be held in 2005 under the provisions of the All-Inclusive agreement and the Transitional Constitution. He however indicated that this would be contingent upon the government program and its political will.

Mr. Swing pointed out that the political will is yet to be demonstrated since most of the laws on the organization of the polls are not yet voted. The issues relating to the refugees and the displaced, the presence of the foreign armed groups on the Congolese territory and the demobilization of the local armed groups are the so many obstacles to overcome for a smooth organization of the elections, declared Mr. Swing confirming Monuc role to assist the Congolese.

It is in this context that he outlined Monuc objectives in the DRC, namely: institution of good governance, stabilization of the region, organization of democratic elections, improvement of the Congolese standard of living and establishment of the rule of law.

The Special Representative further updated on the Disarmament, Demobilization, Repatriation, Resettlement and Reintegration of the foreign armed groups. To date, over 5000 Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian ex-combatants and their dependents have been repatriated to their respective countries, announced Mr. Swing who indicated that this number could be doubled in the next few months with further voluntary repatriation operations under Monuc mandate.

Mr. Swing insisted on the exceptional support of the international community for the DRC reconstruction, as already proven by the World Bank pledge to allocate 3.9 billion dollars for the DRC reconstruction efforts.