Given the Secretary-General’s personal commitment finding a sustainable solution to the current crisis in the Eastern DRC that ensued following renewed fighting between the Congolese armed forces and M23 rebels, he sent his Chef de Cabinet, Susana Malcorra, to the region as his personal emissary to maintain contact and dialogue with key actors.

With the agreement of the leaders of the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, Ms. Malcorra met Sultani Makenga, the head of the military wing of the M23, to convey the Secretary-General’s concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation as well as reported human rights violations. In this capacity she encouraged him to stop the fighting and pursue his objective through political dialogue and lay down the arms.

Ms. Malcorra’s mission was to engage regional actors and assess how the United Nations could best assist in addressing the crisis in the DRC and, in the short term, to leverage the Secretary-General’s Good Offices and his vision to contribute to a cessation of hostilities to enable the necessary political process to unfold.