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Presidential visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo

12 April 2023 - 16 April 2023

Switzerland sits on the Security Council and is to chair a debate there in May on the protection of civilians in conflict. The DRC is the second stage of this preparation, after Mozambique in February. On 13 April, in Kinshasa, Alain Berset holds lengthy talks with President Félix Tshisekedi: the situation in the east, MONUSCO, to which Switzerland contributes police officers and deminers, the country’s territorial integrity in the face of foreign actors. At the press briefing: “We want to focus on those who are the first victims of insecurity.” The same day, he is received at the Palais du Peuple by the bureaus of the National Assembly and the Senate, chaired by Christophe Mboso and Modeste Bahati Lukwebo.

Then the east. On the 14th, in Goma, he visits a camp for internally displaced persons; the M23 rebellion has driven out hundreds of thousands of people since late 2021. On the 15th, in Bukavu, he meets the South Kivu authorities and Swiss cooperation partners, and holds talks with Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, at his Panzi hospital. At a vocational training centre supported by Switzerland, he tells the apprentices that training turns population growth “into a genuine economic dividend”.

On the 16th, back in Goma: meeting with the Swiss serving with MONUSCO and tribute to the peacekeepers who fell in the DRC.

Wednesday 12 April 2023 — Kinshasa

  • Welcome by Prime Minister Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde
  • Dinner with President Félix Tshisekedi

Thursday 13 April 2023 — Kinshasa

  • Military honours at the Palais de la Nation
  • Meeting with President Félix Tshisekedi, followed by a joint press briefing
  • Official lunch
  • Reception at the Palais du Peuple by the bureaus of the National Assembly and the Senate
  • Meeting with Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo at Notre-Dame Cathedral
  • Visit to the Académie des Beaux-Arts
  • Exchange with the ICRC and UN agencies
  • Meeting with the Swiss community

Friday 14 April 2023 — Goma and Bukavu

  • Meeting with the Governor of North Kivu, Constant Ndima Kongba
  • Visit to a camp for internally displaced persons
  • Meeting with the Governor of South Kivu, Théo Ngwabidje Kasi

Saturday 15 April 2023 — Bukavu

  • Meeting with Denis Mukwege, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
  • Exchange with MONUSCO, UNDP, WFP and OCHA
  • Visit to Panzi hospital
  • Exchange with the partners of the peace and human rights programme
  • Visit to the CAPA vocational training centre (PROMOST programme, Swisscontact) and speech
  • Visit to the Centrale des médicaments and meeting with survivors of sexual violence
  • Press briefing
  • Meeting with Swiss cooperation partners

Sunday 16 April 2023 — Goma

  • Exchange with MONUSCO on disarmament and the protection of civilians, with Khassim Diagne, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General
  • Wreath-laying in tribute to the peacekeepers who fell in the DRC
  • Meeting with the Swiss serving with MONUSCO
  • Press briefing

Speeches on this site

Sources

Details

  • Start: 12 April 2023
  • End: 16 April 2023

Venue

  • Kinshasa