This is what emerged from the press encounter held on Wednesday 23 December 2015 at the Mission’s headquarters in Uvira, South Kivu. For this last meeting with journalists for the year 2015, the focus was on MONUSCO’s major results or achievements in the two territories, Fizi and Uvira.

While it is not feasible to list here all positive results achieved by MONUSCO in those two territories in 2015, it needs to be mentioned that the Mission’s presence and its interaction with civil society organizations and local authorities, both civilian and military, have greatly contributed to improving the general security situation.




Thanks to the improved security and to other actions undertaken by MONUSCO, in collaboration with the main actors (Congolese defense and security forces, civil society organizations, politico-administrative authorities), thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) have been able to return to their homes in Mutarule in dignified conditions.




« Had it not been for MONUSCO we would not have returned to Mutarule-Katekama, » said these IDPs, referring to their village in the Ruzizi Plain, which they had deserted between 2013 and 2014 due to interethnic massacres.




Since the return of these IDPs between August and September 2015, and with the sensitization activities that resulted in the establishment of Local Protection Committees, and also the conduct of regular patrols by UN peacekeepers and the establishment of a military operating base in that village, the local communities have been living in peace. They have been receiving support in the form of quick impact projects and advocacy actions undertaken by MONUSCO. The rancor and distrust caused by those massacres will, of course, take some time to dispel completely, but concerted action between MONUSCO and its partners (Congolese police and Armed Forces), « has prevented any further massacres ».




Yet another of MONUSCO’s major achievement in Uvira and Fizi territories in 2015 is helping in facilitating access to justice, through the provision of financial support for mobile court hearings, and especially the organization by the justice system of three open-door days in Uvira, Sange and Baraka. This has contributed to changing public perception of the justice system, which has often been described as corrupt and far removed from the citizens…




MONUSCO has also contributed to improving the living conditions for inmates in Uvira’s prison. The Mission has constructed and equipped a unit for female inmates, allowing them to be separated from male inmates. It has also built a protection wall around the prison. Today, « female inmates in this prison live with security and dignity.” In addition to that, in October 2015, MONUSCO made an important donation of food supplies, the equivalent of two months’ worth of food rations for the some 500 inmates in this prison.




These have been some of the actions undertaken by MONUSCO and which will be pursued in 2016, within the framework of the Mission’s mandate and in collaboration with its different partners.




Jean-Tobie OKALA