Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi said on Monday that a conflict with rebels in the east of the country could disrupt preparations for general elections planned for Dec. 20.
The M23 rebel group, a Tutsi-led militia that has been conducting an offensive against Congolese soldiers for almost a year, began taking voter registration applications in North Kivu province on February 17.
As a result of the violence, tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, raising questions about the state’s capacity to organize for the parliamentary and presidential elections later this year.
Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council session, Tshisekedi said, “the persistence of the war in the east of our country risks jeopardizing the electoral process, which is already underway, due to a massive displacement of people from combat zones, the insecurity and the inaccessibility of these areas.”
Tshisekedi pleaded with the international community to assist Congo in reestablishing state authority and order in this region of the nation.
He asserted once more that the M23 is supported by Rwandan officials. Rwanda claims not supporting the insurgents.
The electoral commission may postpone the elections, according to three Congolese and international electoral experts who spoke to Reuters. Due to technical issues, the date for voter registration has already been postponed twice in more than a dozen western provinces.
In North Kivu, one of the most populous provinces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the area under M23 rule, registration has so far been impossible.
The Congolese government has requested that talks regarding the repatriation of refugees take place between Congo, Rwanda, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), added Tshisekedi.
Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, declared in January that he would no longer take in Congolese migrants.
According to the UNHCR, there are approximately 72,200 Congolese exiles in Rwanda and nearly 210,000 Rwandan refugees in Congo.
