Special Envoy Huang Xia visits the Democratic Republic of the Congo, meets with the highest authorities of the country and members of the international community

Special Envoy Huang Xia addresses the media following his meeting with Claude Ibalanky (l), head of the National Oversight Mechanism of the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement.

24 Apr 2019

Special Envoy Huang Xia visits the Democratic Republic of the Congo, meets with the highest authorities of the country and members of the international community

Kinshasa (DRC), 16 April 2019 - The United Nations Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, Huang Xia, visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on 14-17 April and met with the highest authorities of the country. He also received briefings from Leila Zerrougui, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country, MONUSCO, as well as from other UN officials, and exchanged views with members of the international community on the political and security situation. This was Mr. Xia's first visit to the DRC since taking office on 1 April this year as the new UN Special Envoy for the Great Lakes region. 

While in the DRC, he pleaded for "the pacification of the DRC by the end of 2019". According to the Special Envoy, development in a regional integration approach is the best way to tackle the root causes of regional crises and the tensions between countries. "All efforts will be made to achieve tangible results by the end of 2019 in sustaining peace and security in the DRC and the sub-region," said Mr. Xia.

In addition to meeting with the head of MONUSCO, the Special Envoy also had discussions with Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Claude Ibalanky, head of the National Oversight Mechanism of the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement.