K A I R O S
Security Council
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Regarding imperative issues at war
An hour and a half into the debate, the main topics that have been brought to the discussion are the fight for power, the deep ethnic issues and the democracy crisis. Militias present in the area seem to be forgotten. The only recognition that they’ve had is Kavumu´s name being named. It is imperative to remember that the topics mentioned result into tangible elements, that include the deaths of people (topic brought to discussion by the delegation of the United States), and not only political crisis. Lockheed Martin deeply respects the delegates decision to not make a direct intervention in the country, and recognizing UN´s army, makes a call to recognize the military illegitimate intervention in the area.
During an interview with the delegate of Russia, we touched the limited capacities of Congo’s electoral system, topic brought up by them before. Russia’s delegation did not recognize present militias as legitimate actors. The delegate stated that “the Militias have had opportunities to participate, specifically in December 2016, and until they are not disarmed, they won’t be considered as actors that can be a part of the dialogue”. But they are. Militias must be considered. We remind the delegates of the power that guns, army’s and violence has. It’s imperative to create a way in which very single actor is taken into account and has legitimate word during the dialogues. If not, sadly, the conflict will continue to be an armed one.
Press agent from Lockheed Martin Enterprise
The causes of Congo’s crisis: is electronic vote our savior?
By: Estefanía Bohórquez
The Security Council has had a productive morning this 17th of March. The recurrent topics have included the causes of the conflict in general and the establishment of a clear agenda towards the resolution of the conflict.
The delegations have recognized two leading causes for the whole issue: 1) ethnic matters and 2) the fight for legitimate power. The delegates could not decide on a single reason and seem to embrace both problems as causes and elements that need solving. Several factors were briefly addressed regarding how these elements should be treated. Concepts such as development, electoral processes, the necessity of integration, and the policy of “no force” have been talked about by the delegations of the United States, Russia, France, and China, respectively. The discussions have taken these concepts as pillars.
About the establishment of a clear agenda, delegations have not been able to set specific steps as to what to do. Several delegations, however, have received the ideas of delegations such as Russia, that what is important to address is Congo’s lack of capacity to manage their electoral system and process correctly and independently. In this manner, a session of an informal debate has been opened. Its topic: conflict on elections. The delegation of Ethiopia has brought up the MONUSCO operation (a United Nations operation for the protection of the population and establishment of peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo). Several questions have arisen regarding how the process can allow for legitimate, fair, and uncorrupted elections. However, MONUSCO's final day of operation is stated in two weeks.
Regarding the elections, a recurrent topic, elements such as an electronic vote have created heated discussions during lobby. Delegations such as the one from the United States fear the electronic vote will only allow for more corruption and the failure of the new elections. Ethiopia’s delegation utterly refuses to the Agora Project, brought up by the delegation of China. The delegation of China believes that the electronic vote will, in fact, allow for a new way of establishing fair elections and “not make the same mistakes as before.” The delegation of Russia has expressed their concern regarding the possible attack of rebels that any new election may suffer. A lobby time has been opened to condense proposals, and Ethiopia’s lean towards the MONUSCO being re-structured and establishing a proper electoral education is being discussed. Apart from this, the delegations of France and Japan have expressed the importance of using different hues to structure the solutions (micro and macro levels, and short and long-term solutions). The goal is to establish a working paper that closes the election issue and to continue to treat other elements during the rest of the committee.
Joseph Kabila assassinated
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The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph Kabila, was assassinated at his residence by two of his employees, who shot him while he slept. Amidst the chaos that broke out in the Presidential Residence, the two employees were apprehended while attempting to escape. Afterwards, links between the latter and Russian intelligence services were discovered.
Up to now, it has been impossible to establish contact with any representative of the Congolese government. There have been no official statements on the matter.
More up,
International relations being broken put a hold on the cooperative session of the Security Council
By: Estefanía Bohórquez
A new topic has been established: the ethnic issues present in the territory. However, the electoral procedure continues to be a topic of discussion, that should be solved in the working papers presented to the DAIS. As for now, the elements discussed towards the transparency and success of the elections point towards an international intervention (led by the African Union), not many other topics have been touched, although the theme for the session was ethnic. The delegation of China continues to propose the Agora system, to allow for biometric identification for the electronic vote. To this, Ethiopia’s delegation points that Congo’s territory, regarding infrastructure, isn’t prepared to assume the responsibility of electronic elections. “Half of DCR’s territory is the jungle,” she says, “if we have to implement elections, we must broaden the base of people who vote.” Following this statement, the delegation of France also disagrees with China’s proposal stating that there are not enough financial assets to fund the program and that there is no imperative need to implement it for the next election (that would take place at the end of this year).
Before everything started, the United Kingdom and Russian Federation have broken their diplomatic relations. This, of course, has divided the Security Council into two different blocks. The delegations were working together, diplomatically, before this event. For this reason, several delegations have created a video message for the Presidential Council, in which they ask for a quick resuming of the relations so that the issues can continue to be solved cooperatively. There has been no answer from the Presidential Council yet.
This being, there are delegates during lobby working on two different Working Papers, that should be revised and voted at the end of the session. The general topics of both working papers include the elections, social security, funds, ethnic integration and electoral education. There has, still, not been a complete agreement from the delegates: several topics continue to be polemic, and although important and valid points have been brought up, it seems as if everything is going to be solved with the working papers and their final votes.
A new crisis has arisen, and the committee now has several topics to treat. If the crisis will be another obstacle for the cooperation inside the committee is still unknown. The information that the committee has: Joseph Kabila has been assassinated, and genocide has occurred.
One too many crisis
By: Estefanía Bohórquez
The followings are the crisis that arrived in session during the morning of March 18.
FAKE NEWS: Joseph Kabila still alive. Delegates infuriated.
Yesterday afternoon, the fake news reported that Joseph Kabila wasmurdered by two of his workers. The press release was published in The New York Times journal. Delegations of the Security Council such as Senegal, Sweden, and France have recognized how dangerous a situation like this may be. The delegation of Ethiopia has gone as far as stating “all delegation’s present, here in the Security Council, have failed and mismanaged the issues. States such as the one from the United States, that have the means to confirm such news should have done exactly that”. The delegation of the United Kingdom fears the possibility of having a “control” in Congo’s and international media, stating that “that is specifically what we are avoiding, creating censorship for the media.”
ISIS REPRESENTATIVE
An ISIS representative has entered the room; he demands a spot for the organization in the Security Council and for the committee to allow them to participate in dialogues. Delegates completely disagree. The first question is how the representative entered the UN’s buildings. Only one delegation, the one of Senegal, has thought of the possibility of allowing them the entry, stating “they, as the delegations here present, should be able to speak.” The delegation of the United Kingdom considers the Area Formula as a possibility to establish dialogues with ISIS without officially recognized by the UN as a state.
Formerly, ISIS representative entered the room again and established the possibility of attacks if the request is not resumed in their favor. There are no further details.
COMMUNICATIONS CRISIS
A press correspondent has entered the room and read an official document from the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency. Amongst, it reads: “it was reported that the triad composed by the most active points from the BackBone, that stands in Northern Africa, most Egypt and the Suez Canal, suffered a serious attack, which produced a total failure of the system in Eastern Africa.” No Cyber-Attack has been registered, only a physical one. Governments are uncommunicated. No further details.