DRC Prime Minister Judith Suminwa addresses UN on national dialogue and displacement

During the 81st United Nations General Assembly, Democratic Republic of the Congo Prime Minister Judith Suminwa addressed the necessity of a national dialogue to address the structural causes of the country's instabilities. She stated that the dialogue aims to consolidate national unity and build a more just and protective state, rather than serving as a mechanism for power-sharing or bypassing institutions.

Suminwa emphasized that internal dialogue must not allow external aggression to be treated as a mere domestic dispute, nor should external aggression excuse the nation from correcting its own internal weaknesses. She also noted that peace efforts must include the transformation of natural resources from sources of conflict into instruments for shared prosperity.

Additionally, speaking at the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, the Prime Minister called for increased international solidarity to address forced displacement. She reported that over one million Congolese are refugees in neighboring countries, approximately six million are internally displaced, and the DRC hosts more than 500,000 refugees. She highlighted the vulnerability of these populations to humanitarian crises and the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the east of the country, advocating for a 'humanitarian-development-peace nexus' approach.