Arrived in the DRC, Swiss President Alain Berset will visit the field to the east

The President of the Swiss Confederation, Alain Berset, on 15 January 2023. AP - Gian Ehrenzeller

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3 min

The President of the Swiss Confederation arrived in Kinshasa on Wednesday 12 April for Switzerland's first bilateral presidential trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. A three-day working visit to take stock of bilateral cooperation and the humanitarian situation. Indeed, Alain Berset will go to the East. He first met his counterpart, Felix Tshisekedi, on Thursday in the capital.

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After a closed-door meeting, Felix Tshisekedi and Alain Berset held a press conference at the Palace of the Nation in Kinshasa. A large part of this dialogue was devoted to the security situation in the country.

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President Berset, on the eve of taking office at the head of the UN Security Council (on May 1st), is in the DRC to realize the reality, said President Tshisekedi, and it touches us. This means that he will tackle the problem head on. »

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This visit is also part of multilateral relations in a turbulent world " said the Swiss president, adding that the situation in the east would be carried by his country to the Security Council.

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We are very attached to the sovereignty of the DRC ", added Alain Berset for whom the solution of the problem had to come from the region and the countries themselves, and that Switzerland could accompany, provide support, visibility, but in no way the solution.

#RDC 13.04.2023|#PalaisdelaNation
The Head of State, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, talks one-on-one in his office at the Palais de la Nation with his Swiss counterpart, Alain Berset. pic.twitter.com/zMKOrh0lBi

— Presidency DRC 🇨🇩 (@Presidence_RDC) April 13, 2023

Protection of civilian populations

The Congolese president took the opportunity to make announcements on the crisis in the east, especially regarding the continuation of the implementation of the roadmap of the peace plan. Felix Tshisekedi stressed that the withdrawal was not going fast enough to be "reassuring". Regarding the East African force, the president said that it was not destined to remain and that its mandate should be renewed for only three months.

The time, according to him, that the M23 returns to its place of cantonment towards Kitshanga, on the border of the territories of Masisi and Rutshuru. They will then be under the supervision of the Angolan contingent, which does not belong to this EAC force. The rebels will then be moved to Maniema near Kindu where disarmament and reintegration will begin.

President Tshisekedi was categorical: "There will be no political negotiation with the M23," brushing aside the presence of the rebellion at the next talks in Nairobi between the government and armed groups, scheduled for May. "If these people are Congolese, they will have to agree to return to civilian life," he concluded.

During his three-day visit, Alain Berset is also scheduled to travel to eastern DRC as part of the humanitarian component of his trip. The Swiss president recalled that his country had committed $25 million to humanitarian projects in the DRC last year.

This visit to the East is part of the theme that Switzerland wants to bring to the head of the Security Council: the protection of civilian populations. He will go to Bukavu, but especially to Goma, to visit the camps for displaced persons. This presidential trip is the first visit by a head of state, all countries combined, to North Kivu, since the M23 took its first locality in June 2022.

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  • DRC
  • Switzerland
  • Félix Tshisekedi
  • Alain Berset
  • M23