Kinshasa, 21 November 2010 - The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr. Roger Meece, wound up a three-day working visit to Katanga province on Saturday 20 November. It was Mr. Meece's first visit to the province since assuming office as head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in DR Congo (MONUSCO) last July. The trip took him to Lubumbashi, Kalemie and Bandera.

"For me, this visit is an opportunity to share my views with local authorities on the overall situation in Katanga, and enhance partnership between the Government, MONUSCO and the entire United Nations system," said Mr. Roger Meece when he arrived in Lubumbashi on 17 November.

In Lubumbashi, Mr. Meece met with political, military and police authorities. These include Provincial Governor, Mr. Moise Katumbi; Speaker of Provincial Assembly, Mr. Kyungu Wa Kumuanza; Commanding officer of the 6th military region, General-Major Padiri Bulenda and Provincial Inspector of the Congolese National Police Force (PNC), General Tshibumbu Rafael. He also met with the representatives of Non-Government Human Rights Organisations, civil society organisations as well as representatives of political parties.

In spite of the reported presence of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in North Katanga security is reportedly relatively calm. ''Peace prevails in Katanga. Thanks to MONUSCO, all the pockets of insecurity in the North have been cleared. This is a major achievement'', said the speaker of the Provincial Assembly, Kyung Wa Kumuanza.

While highlighting that security and civilians' protection remain a priority for MONUSCO mandate, Roger Meece indicated that in the specific context of Katanga, the Mission focuses, and will continue to focus more on the stabilisation so as to ensure, improve and build capacity for public institutions. This, he said, will be done in close collaboration with all the UN Agencies, as a coordinated UN family.

Roger Meece assured his Congolese interlocutors of MONUSCO and the entire UN system's commitment to pursue capacity-building programs for the National Security Staff, to enable them to tackle the security issues confronting the country. He told them that MONUSCO was currently seeking to mobilize more resources from the donor community in order to expand the training and re-training of the PNC. In anticipation of the upcoming DRC's elections, MONUSCO is also training the national Police Force in securing the elections.

Referring to the upcoming elections, Roger Meece reiterated the UN's determination to continue supporting the electoral process. In spite of the huge challenges, MONUSCO is committed to do its utmost to ensure that conditions are satisfied for credible, fair and transparent elections. "Elections are key to consolidating democracy and reinforcing public institutions' integrity'', he told them adding that MONUSCO's role in the electoral process would be restricted to technical and logistic support.

The visit also took him to Kalemie, where 150 peacekeepers out of the 450 peacekeepers present in the Katanga province are deployed. Here, the District Commissioner expressed his regret that 300 peacekeepers were recently withdrawn and some peacekeepers' operational bases closed down in the Province.

Roger Meece wound up the trip with a visit to Bendera, 120 kilometres North of Kalemie where FDLR's attacks on civilian population have been reported. "We feel comforted by the visit of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to our village. It is encouraging to note that we have not been abandoned by MONUSCO," declared Mr. Gedeon Kakudji, chief of the Bendera.