DRC: Senate President informed of ‘worrying’ security situation in Ituri

Kinshasa, May 19^th, 2025 (CPA) – On Monday, the president of the Senate of the Democratic Republic of Congo was informed of the ‘worrying’ security situation prevailing in the province of Ituri by a delegation of provincial deputies from this entity, during an audience he granted them. ‘We have just met the President of the Senate. As you know, the Senate is an emanation of the provincial assemblies. We have come in a very special context, because the province of Ituri is currently experiencing a rather worrying security situation. We told him all about the security and political situation’, the President of the Provincial Assembly and head of the delegation, Samy Jakwonga, told the press.  ‘We came away very satisfied, because he remained very attentive to our concerns, and we think that this approach will encourage the country’s authorities to take a serious look at the security situation prevailing in our province’, he added, after the audience with the Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament, Jean-Michel Sama. Mr Jakwonga also pointed out that the provincial assembly of this province under siege had not met for some time. ‘The last time we met was to elect senators’, he said. Meeting on Tuesday, April 15^th, Ituri’s elected representatives rejected the bill and called for the special state of siege regime to be lifted and for parliamentary activities to resume. It should be noted that in a series of statements made public earlier, the provincial deputies of Ituri had called for the abolition of this exceptional regime in their province. In their view, the state of siege has demonstrated its limitations in imposing peace and security throughout the province of Ituri for four years. It should be noted that the Senate has announced that it will hold a plenary session on Tuesday, May 20^th, 2025, at the People’s Palace in Kinshasa, in a press release consulted by the CPA on Monday, with a single item on the agenda, namely the examination and adoption of the bill authorizing the extension of the state of siege over part of the national territory.