The Security Council has decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), alongside its Force Intervention Brigade, until 20 December 2021, according to an official statement obtained Friday in Kigali.
According to the voting results announced by videoconference, in accordance with the temporary silence procedure adopted for the COVID-19 pandemic,the Council also decided that MONUSCO’s troop ceiling will remain at 14,000 troops, 660 military observers and staff officers, 591 police and 1,050 formed police units.
It further authorized the temporary deployment of up to 360 formed police units provided they are replacing military personnel, the statement said.
The Council endorsed the Joint Strategy on the Progressive and Phased Drawdown of MONUSCO, as well as its planned withdrawal from the Kasaï provinces, in 2021 and progressively from Tanganyika in 2022, requesting that the Secretary-General proceed with the gradual transfer of the Mission’s programmatic activities to relevant partners.
The mandate of MONUSCO is to monitor the implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement and the redeployment of belligerent forces, to develop an action plan for the overall implementation of the Ceasefire Agreement, to work with the parties to obtain the release of all prisoners of war, military captives.
CU/abj/APA