Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs expressed their concern, on 1 March, about the “deteriorating humanitarian, political and security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo”, during an exchange following the “terrible armed attack on a WFP convoy” which killed Italian Ambassador Luca Attanasio and injured several people near Goma (see EUROPE 12663/4).
“I strongly encourage the Congolese authorities to promptly investigate the circumstances. On behalf of the Committee, I express my condolences to the relatives of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery”, said David McAllister (EPP, Germany). At his request, a minute of silence was observed in memory of the victims.
The representative of the European External Action Service recalled that the EU has always deplored the acts of violence by armed groups in the east of the country and will continue to call for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
“The death last week of the Italian ambassador, his bodyguard and the WFP official who was driving them is a tragic example that affects us all and that the Congolese people are victims of every day”, the representative said.
According to the EEAS, the DRC President Félix Tshisekedi is at a pivotal point in his mandate and “it will now be necessary to establish an administration geared towards the implementation of economic and development reforms driven by democratic principles and the Rule of law”.
After the political dialogue that took place in 2020 (Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement), the Commission and the EU Council said they were confident that the formation of a new Congolese government will accelerate the implementation of a real reform agenda that would benefit the Congolese people.
It should now be possible to ensure better governance at all levels of the state and society, including public finance and the fight against corruption, to organise a credible electoral process in 2023, to guarantee sustainable security in the East, where violence has again increased since last year, the representative said.
These issues were discussed “in a recent telephone conversation between the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and President Tshisekedi”, and a representative of the EEAS is currently in Kinshasa to follow up.
President Tshisekedi will have to invest in both the internal political situation in the DRC and the AU presidency, which his country has held since 7 February.
The EEAS representative assured that the Congolese crisis - one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world - was “anything but a forgotten crisis”.
This is evidenced by the maintenance until the end of 2021 of individual restrictive measures against a number of prominent individuals, the support to national jurisdictions for the trial of crimes and sexual violence committed in the east of the country, and the provision of considerable humanitarian assistance.
And also, as a reminder, that the European regulation on responsible mining came into force this year. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)