On Monday, United Nations Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region of Africa Mary Robinson said UN forces will be “more robust” in addressing sexual violence and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She added there is still much work to be done to build peace and security in the region.
Robinson, former president of Ireland and founder of the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, spoke to the press after a morning mini-summit convened on the margins of the 68th General Assembly by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Chairperson of the African Union Commission Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. The meeting assessed the progress of the Regional Oversight Mechanism of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC.
African leaders, including six heads of state from the DRC, Malawi, Uganda, South Africa, Rwanda, and Tanzania, as well as representatives from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) attended what Robinson called a “very focused, very positive, very constructive meeting.” Robinson told reporters that MONUSCO, the UN’s stabilization force in the DRC, is currently the most effective tool to combat the over-prevalence of sexual violence in the country.
Categories: Africa