The United Nations Security Council met on 9 January 2007 to discuss the participation of the European Union (EU) forces in the presidential elections held in October 2006 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Following the first elections in the country in over 40 years, Josef Kabila was sworn in as President on 6 December 2006.

The conflict, called "Africa's World War" by some, began in 1998 and ended in 2003 when a transitional government took power. It claimed 3.8 million lives, as the Congolese government forces, supported by Angola, Zimbabwe and Namibia, fought rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda. In 1999, the Security Council created the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) to aid in implementing the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement. With a budget of over $1 billion, it is the largest and most expensive mission of the United Nations so far. In April 2006, the Council authorized the deployment of a reserve force of EU soldiers to oversee the elections in the country. The mission took four months, beginning in July and concluding on 30 November 2006.

The European Union had worked very hard for many years to achieve a democratic transition in the DRC, Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union, said, stating further that "elections were the key to final success" and "we could not fail". He noted that the most decisive intervention came after an attack on the residence of the Vice-President of the DRC on 21 August 2006, when EU forces, in close cooperation with MONUC, contained the potential spread of violence.

"We can state that the mission was a success both in the way it was conducted and in its contribution to the overall positive conclusion of the transition in the DRC", said Mr. Solana. He mentioned that some of the key elements for its success were a clear mandate in scope and timeframe, highly professional troops, close interaction with MONUC, an active communication policy toward the Congolese population, and transparency and information-sharing with African partners, including the African Union. "The EU is determined to continue working with the United Nations", he said, and that the credit for the success in the DRC can be given to the international community and above all to the Congolese people themselves.

The election process in the country was "the largest electoral exercise that the United Nations has ever supported since its inception", said UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari. The collaboration between the EU and the United Nations, he said, "should serve as a model for future post conflict stabilization efforts". Stating that MONUC would stay in the DRC to rebuild a state free of corruption and complete the comprehensive election process, with local elections scheduled in the second half of 2007, he warned that early disengagement could lead to a resumption of the conflict that would require an even more costly redeployment of UN peacekeepers. The DRC is a natural pole of stability in the centre of Africa, Mr. Gambari said. "If Africa's worst conflict can be overcome, then others can too."

-Additional reporting by Dalai Fazio