The year 2006 was a very eventful year in the recent history of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was the year when the Congolese sought to take a long-term, hopefully permanent, break from more than 40 years of trauma brought about by misrule, violence, civil war and the attendant misery. It saw the end of a protracted political transition with the election of the first democratically-elected president in the country's post-independence history. It also witnessed the election and installation of new national and provincial parliamentary institutions. The electoral process was overseen by a huge UN presence and was generally recognized to have been free and fair.
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The newly installed institutions face the daunting challenge of reconstructing the country in virtually every domain. The national parliament will have to play a big role in developing a new legislative framework for a country where the rule of law has been lacking for a long time. It will also have to bring its moral weight to bear to fight corruption and mismanagement which have been the hallmark of the country's past leaders. Moreover, the decentralization of executive and legislative power to the provinces is a welcome move to ensure greater empowerment of local stakeholders and guarantee harmonized development of all the country's regions.
The United Nations and the IPU are set to buttress the efforts of the new Congolese authorities in these areas. In December 2006 and February 2007, the IPU, in partnership with the UN Mission in the DRC and the United Nations Development Programme, fielded needs assessment missions to Kinshasa and four of the country's 11 provinces. These missions helped the parliamentary authorities at the national and provincial levels to assess the functioning of their institutions, identify bottlenecks and articulate their needs. The missions' findings are being fed into a governance programme being put together under UNDP auspices. The bulk of this programme, about 80%, will be devoted to activities intended to strengthen the national and local parliaments' capacity to perform their constitutional missions efficiently. Training and advisory and documentary support are foreseen. Of course, in a country bereft of any infrastructure worthy of the name, support in terms of basic equipment for the national and provincial parliaments will occupy a special place in this programme.
The IPU and the UN have a special responsibility to help the newly elected parliamentarians deliver very quickly given the high expectations of the Congolese people, after so many years of deprivation. Helping the governing and opposition parties to work together in fostering the welfare of the people will also play a crucial role in this respect.
