The government of the DRC and MONUSCO signed this Tuesday, November 21 in Kinshasa, the disengagement plan which should lead to the withdrawal of the UN Mission on Congolese soil. This plan will be implemented jointly with the support of national technical partners and UN Agencies, Funds and Programs.

The MONUSCO disengagement agreements were signed between the representative of the UN Mission in the DRC, Bintou Keita, and the Congolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Christophe Lutundula.

In response to the DRC government’s request for an accelerated withdrawal of the UN Mission by the end of 2023, the Security Council declared itself ready to decide on the future of MONUSCO based on its gradual withdrawal, responsible and sustainable and concrete and realistic measures to be taken as a priority to carry out this withdrawal.

In a declaration adopted by the fifteen members last October, the Security Council encouraged the Congolese government and the UN, within the framework of the joint working group which was made up of the government, MONUSCO and the team of the UN, to develop a comprehensive disengagement plan by November.

The Council had also requested proposals on the chronology of the progressive and orderly withdrawal of MONUSCO contingents, in particular, the gradual reduction of the Mission’s workforce, the definition of the practical modalities of the gradual transfer of responsibilities, the development of the operational plan of setting up the withdrawal and defining the tasks.