Zénon Mukongo Ngay (Democratic Republic of the Congo/ Security Council President) on the programme of work of the Security Council in July - Press Conference

work there?

That is a perfect question to ask the President of the General Assembly— President of Security Council in 14 minutes, and he can give you an update of what his colleagues are saying. Let's see if there's another question I can't answer. Go ahead, Gabriel.

Thanks, Steph. I preface this question by acknowledging that there are lots of meetings that take place in this building, uh, and the Secretary-General doesn't necessarily control who attends all of these meetings, right? With that said, next week there's an international conference for police chiefs and Interior, uh, Secretary officials here at the UN headquarters in New York. Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir is reportedly planning to attend. Does the Secretary-General agree with him attending this conference in UN headquarters in New York?

Look, uh, Ministers from, I think, all member states having to do with police and national security were invited to attend. Israel is a member state, and as of 100 other— 192 other member states. I think if you look back over the years and you've seen representatives that are being sent by various governments, you will know that the Secretary-General is not there to to express an opinion on those representatives. These are sovereign decisions taken by sovereign member states. Yes, Linda, and then we will give you another 12-minute hydration break, and then Evelyn as well, before the next half.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'll be quick.

Just regarding another issue, the Houthis—

Your microphone a little closer.

The Houthis and the detention of UN staff diplomats. NGOs, etc.? I mean, I know everyone's condemned them, the Secretary-General, Security Council, etc., but what kind of negotiation— are there any negotiations going on regionally or in other ways? Or is it like a forever thing?

It is sadly a forever thing, especially for those colleagues who remain in jail for no good reason, right? Being held by the Houthis, by the Ansar Allah. We have a point person on behalf of the UN system who puts in great effort to regularly engage with Ansar Allah, with the Houthis, and others. We continue. I mean, the results are what they are. I mean, I tell you, we would be the first one to announce the liberation of all of our colleagues or some of our colleagues, but we are continuing to push and we very much hope that all member states who have an who have inroads can help us as well.

And just one question regarding the UN staff. Are those primarily Yemenis?

Yes, they're all national staff.

Oh, they're all national.

Yes, yes, yes.

Evelyn, and then we'll call it a day.

Thank you, Steph.

Totally different.

Central African Republic. Does the SG know if the unrest is is carried out by this— the Wagner Group?

I mean, what we've seen, like, just in the attacks against our Zambian colleagues, these were by local armed groups. Okay, enjoy the rest of the day and more briefings.

Testing, testing, English booth testing, 1, 2, 3. English booth testing, 1, 2, 3.

1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1.

Good afternoon. Good afternoon, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen. It's my pleasure to welcome you today to today's press briefing marking the beginning of Democratic Republic of the Congo Presidency of the United Nations Security Council for the month of July 2026. Throughout the month, the Permanent Mission of the Democratic Republic of the Congo will remain available to engage with the media and provide information on the work of the Security Council under our presidency. It is now It is my distinct honor to invite His Excellency Mr. Zenon Mukongongai, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United Nations and President of the United Nations Security Council for the month of July 2026, to present the Council's program of work and deliver his opening remarks. Your Excellency, you have the floor.

Thank you very much. I would like to apologize for the delay which was caused by the fact that we drafted our presentation in English, and as far as multilingualism is concerned, And being a French-speaking country, we have to switch in French, and it's good for all people, including the Congolese people, to understand what we are doing here.

Bonjour.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, members of the press. It is a privilege to be able to address you today in my capacity as President of the United Nations Security Council for the month of July 2026. It's my pleasure to present to you with the Security Council's program of work for this month. Before setting out the major points, allow me to make some brief remarks in my representative— as the Permanent Representative. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is profoundly honored to take up the presidency of the Security Council during our current mandate as elected member. This is a particularly important presidency for my country, marking our return to the Council after almost 3 decades after the last of— the end of our last mandate in 1992. So we take up this responsibility with a profound sense of duty and humility, fully aware of the expectations on the Council at a time at which international national peace and security are facing multiple and complex challenges. Since its entry into the Council, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has strived to contribute constructively to the Council's work by promoting dialogue, encouraging consensus, and promoting a principles-based commitment to uphold the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter. Throughout our presidency, we will lead the Council's work with impartiality, transparency, effectiveness, and inclusivity, while also promoting cooperation among Council members and ensuring that the Council remains reactive to urgent challenges that it has to address. Our aim is to facilitate the substantive discussions of the Council and ensure concrete outcomes contributing to maintaining international peace and security in line with the United Nations Charter. Allow me now to present the program of work for this month that the Council adopted this morning. So I will present it week by week. For this week, following on from the adoption this morning, there isn't much to mention, but I'm sure that there will be a meeting announced for the 2nd of July, and that will be published in the program. But this was not included in the program of work as it was presented this morning. Now, on the following week, on the 7th, the Council will receive a briefing from the International Criminal Court on the situation in Sudan. On the 8th of July, the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be organizing a high-level open debate entitled Women and Peace and Security. Addressing the topic "Honoring the Promise of International Law to Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence." This meeting will be chaired by the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Her Excellency Meuse Judith Somminwa. On the third week, that is from the 13th to the 17th of July, On the 13th of July, the Democratic Republic of the Congo in its national capacity will be convening a high-level ARIA formula meeting on the topic assessment of the normative vacuum regarding natural resources and peace, the foundations and outlooks. We will look at the gaps in the current international legislation relating to natural resources and peace, and we will explore practical, uh, reaction responses to ensure a more consistent, effective response. A concept note has already been disseminated for this. On the 14th of July, we have set aside some time for the potential adoption of a resolution on on Resolution 2722 on the Red Sea. That will be followed by a briefing and consultations on UNOWAS. On the 15th of July, the Council will hear a briefing and will have consultations on Colombia. On the 16th of July, the Council will hold consultations on Lebanon under Resolution 1701, and the United Nations Force— peacekeeping force in Cyprus, UNFICYP. Looking now at the fourth week from the 20th to the 24th of July. On the 20th of July, the Council will hear a briefing and will have consultations on Haiti. On the 21st, The Council will hear a briefing and will have consultations on Syria, addressing political and humanitarian developments. On the 22nd of July, we will have our signature event, that is a high-level open debate relating to natural resource governance, the foundation of peace, Security and Prosperity in Maintenance of International Peace and Security. This meeting will be presided by His Excellency Mr. Félix Tshisekedi, the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC believes that the continued exploitation of natural resources as a driver of conflicts makes this discussion both timely and necessary. We hope that this debate will encourage member states to identify practical ways through which responsible and transparent governance of natural resources can contribute to sustainable peace, security, and development. We warmly encourage all delegations to participate at the highest possible level. July, we will have an open debate on the maintenance of international peace and security focused on the peaceful settlement of disputes pursuant to Resolution 2788. This is a mandated open debate. Now, for the 5th week, that is from the 27th to the 31st of July, on the 28th there will be an open debate on the Middle East. On the 29th, we have set aside some time for the potential adoption of Resolution— Resolution 2745 on sanctions, and that would be followed by consultations on the UNRCCA, that is the Central Asia Preventive Diplomacy Center, on the— On the 30th, we will have a meeting at 3 PM, our monthly meeting. In addition to the meetings set out in the program of work as it was presented this morning, the Security Council remains ready to respond to any developments that might arise throughout the month. If circumstances so require, the presidency will convene meetings in line with the Council's established procedures and in close cooperation with its members. As you know, the Secretary General selection process is also a part of our responsibilities as President of the Security Council for the month of July and could also have an impact on our program of work. As ever, we count on the spirit of cooperation and the constructive contribution of all member states so as to allow the Council to swiftly and effectively respond to emerging situations affecting international peace and security. I would also like to express our sincere thanks to the United Nations Secretariat and, in particular, to the Security Council Affairs Division for its professionalism, its dedication, and precious support as we prepared for our presidency. We welcome the opportunity to continue this close cooperation throughout the month. For the Democratic Republic of the Congo, presiding the Security Council is both a profound honor and a lofty responsibility. We are determined to lead the Council's work with impartiality, transparency, and respect for the United Nations Charter, while also promoting dialogue, cooperation, and concrete outcomes for international peace and security. We also welcome the opportunity to work closely with all United Nations members, with regional bodies, and other relevant stakeholders as we lead the work of the Council this month. I thank you. I would now— and I'm now at your disposal for any questions. Thank you.

Merci, Excellency. Thank you, Excellency. You can just introduce yourself and then ask your question. The floor is open.

Thank you, Ambassador. On behalf of ANCA, I'd like to welcome you and thank you for this press conference. I'm Linda Fasulo with NPR at the UN, and my question has to do with Lebanon and if you think that UNIFIL will be addressed at all during this period.

Thank you. So we can take like 2 or 3 more questions and then he will respond. Yeah, go ahead. Merci.

Amélie Bautelier de l'Agence Thank you. Agence France-Presse. On the Secretary-General selection process, could you tell us a bit more about how the first meeting is going to take place, which I think is for the last week of July? And can you confirm that Bahrain asked for an emergency meeting on Iran, and that's the meeting you were talking about, but potentially tomorrow. Thank you.

This is Nam Abdullah with Ruda Media Network. One question on the meeting about Syria. What made you include Syria in your sessions, and will the minority rights be the focus of that meeting? Thank you.

I'm Damilola from Paz Blue. Could you speak a little bit more on your signature event, the Open Debate? I mean, we understand that one of the financial motivations of the conflict in DRC has to do with the mining of natural resources in the country. Would you say this is one of the reasons for choosing this subject to talk about? If you could talk more just on the importance of this open debate for you and why you have chosen it.

Thank you.

Right. So we can already answer the questions. Let me start by the signatory events. This was the last one that was put. Let me say here, you know, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is of the view because of our priorities, that one of the root causes of the conflicts in the world lie in poor management of natural resources. The principle here is as follows: that natural resources should normally benefit those states and peoples where these resources are found. But in practice, most of the natural resources benefit the armed groups which exploit these natural resources illicitly. So the principle here would be to use the natural resources to use them for the development of those countries who own them, but in practice it's exactly the opposite. It's the armed groups who exploit them, and in most cases this leads to a bloodbath, and we want to underscore the fact that the management of natural resources has to be done for the benefit of and positively contribute towards the sustainable development of those countries where they are located. This is the logic behind our signature event. And as you noticed, I also talked about an ARIA Formula meeting on the 13th, and during that meeting, what we are going to have there is the development of the idea based on the fact that when we are talking about the natural resource governance and management and when we look at the international legal toolkit, we realize that there is no legal basis, there are no international texts which legislate natural resource governance and that is why we in the DRC, we think that the basis needs to be created for what we could call it in English a legal framework for this to make sure that on the basis of these principles, international legal principles, that states then abide by and have a standard of conduct when it comes to natural resource governance, again, to make sure that the resources do not benefit the armed groups but rather help with to states with their development. And this is a discussion we are planning on the 13th within the ARIE formula format. In other words, we are going to be talking to states who will participate and explore the ways and means of arriving at a Security Council resolution on the exploitation of natural resources. So far, we haven't had that.

The—

—attempts to codify or regulate this issue, if you take a look at that, you can see that these are disparate attempts. And this is being talked about in various separate resolutions, but there's no Security Council resolution specifically on natural resource governance. So we want to create a foundation for such a resolution eventually. And that's why we put forward, first of all, the informal ARIA Formula meeting and then our signature event, which will be also on this issue. Now, and the first question was on— Lebanon and UNIFIL, right. Um, the Resolution 1701 was invoked, and I think we're going to have a briefing on that. On which date? Let me take a look at my calendar here. So we're going to have a meeting on UNIFIL Resolution 1701 on the 16th. So we will be discussing that. So it's planned. This is planned in the program of work. Now the next question, selecting a Secretary-General. It is true that we had hearings with the candidates. Columbia had already had hearings with 2 out of 6, and it would seem that we will have to have all of the forum meeting. So we will have working meetings on that with members of Security Council, and I cannot tell you more than that at this stage. In addition to that, there will be the first straw poll. Under our presidency. That's what I can tell you about that at this stage. Bahrain did indeed ask for an emergency meeting and the procedure is underway and I think we're going to have the meeting on the 2nd in the morning. So this has been asked for and accepted. The request has been accepted. No, the issue of Syria, it's on the humanitarian situation and it's a statutory meeting. Most of the issues we have on the Security Council agenda are statutory mandated issues outside of the three which are the personal initiatives of the GRC, including in this the high level on sexual violence on the 8th, which will be shared by our Prime Minister, as I mentioned earlier. And the second one, we will have an informal ARIA meeting on the 13th on the gap in the regulation of the natural resource exploitation, and this will be chaired by our Minister of Foreign Affairs. And then you have the signature event. That is the meeting on the 22nd. On natural resource governance, an in-depth debate that we are going to have and will be chaired by the head of state, the President of the Republic. So these are the events that come in under our own initiative. I think, uh, I have finished with the set of questions. We can have another one. We have 5 new ones. Please introduce yourself. Absolutely.

Thank you so much, Ambassador, for the briefing. This is Ahmed Ali with Egyptian media outlet Sphinx News TV. I would like to first congratulate you thus far for your country's amazing performance against England. It's not yet done. Not yet, not yet, but it's looking good.

Yeah, I know. I know. So let's finish quickly.

So absolutely. Yeah. I would like to ask you a question somewhat similar to what I asked the spokesperson for the Secretary General earlier today. The latest framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel lays out a, quote, sequenced process plan for the withdrawal of Israel from southern Lebanon contingent on the disarmament of Hezbollah. We know that this kind of diplomatic process has been an impetus for great peril in Gaza, despite a supposed ceasefire agreement there. In your national capacity, what does the DRC make of these developments? And in your presidential capacity, would you allow for a Security Council resolution that endorses this plan as a long-term and sustainable agreement between Israel and Lebanon? Thank you. And good luck. Merci. Merci. Second question.

Africa Confidential. You mentioned that natural resources to a large extent are the source of conflict, drivers of conflict. You, in terms of natural resources, are perhaps the richest country in Africa. But you didn't mention that these only benefit armed groups. They also benefit the states themselves. Just look at the United States, which is now enormously interested in your country, among others.

We'll now take the third question.

I'm Dulcie Leinbach from PAS Blue.

I just wanted to clarify these two meetings on the natural resources One is going to be an ARIA formula where you will discuss a potential legal framework to manage these resources, and then you'll follow up with an actual Security Council formal meeting on the same issue. So I'm just wondering why you're having two meetings on one topic, and the Secretary-General candidate hearings or dialogues, you're going to have them held offsite in your mission, just like Columbia did yesterday? And the straw polls that begin the last week in July, are they going to be color-coded straw polls or not just white? And this— How will that process begin? Thanks very much.

Fourth question, please. Thank you so much. Efrat Lachter from Fox News Digital.

You spoke about the meaning of natural resources as a top priority. I wanted to ask you about the big report that the US-backed Virtuous Mineral acquisition in the DRC. It's been described by the State Department as a flagship US investment. I would like to ask you how your government sees this investment. Is this part of a larger strategic shift?

Fifth and last question for the last second set of questions. Thank you very much.

The first question. Related to the peace process between Israel and Lebanon. You were asking what we think of this proposed peace plan. As the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country which has its own experience of war, in such a context we cannot but support such a plan. For us, that the principles set out in the United Nations Charter as conceived in San Francisco at the time must be respected. And now we see a lot of slippages, if you like, in terms of how peace and security are managed at the international level. It's because the UN Charter is not being respected. So for us, any principle that upholds the peaceful settlement of disputes is something that we must support because in the end people fight, war carries on, and as you can see that all over the place. But it's endless. We can't continue war ad aeternam. People can't spend their entire lives killing each other. We can sit down and talk. We're human beings. We're not animals. We can sit down to talk. And so any peace initiative, any announced peace Peace Initiative should be considered as something valuable that we should support. That's what I think as the DRC. For us, the respect of the UN Charter principles is key. We cannot but support it. Now, natural resources. Two meetings. Pourquoi? Why two meetings on natural resources? Simply, firstly, we want to inject some momentum into finding solutions because we do see a serious gap between the exploitation of natural resources and respect for the principles, international principles and law. I would say legally speaking, international law is mute on this, on how to manage natural resources, states' natural resources. Now, the main principle here is state sovereignty, but when armed groups used by some states— just to answer your question— which are behind some states. They use— they try to use these natural resources to fuel war, and in that context, we should be trying to uphold principles or ensure that we have principles to govern the management of these natural resources. That's why we thought that it would be important to reflect because we're talking here in the Security Council. We're not talking about a law or an international treaty for now. The Security Council acts through resolutions which do have an impact on us all and which are binding on everyone. So that is why we wanted to very clearly mark our passage through the Security Council by laying the foundations for what might eventually become a Security Council resolution on the exploitation of natural resources, because that doesn't exist at the moment. But secondly— —seen through another angle, we want to look at this issue of natural resources in depth so as to encourage debate on this issue because natural resources should, I think, be effectively contributing to states' economic development and we want to highlight that. So that is why we will be focusing on our signature event and using that as an opportunity to highlight the exploitation of natural resources. Now, on the SG selection process, obviously, yes, completely off-site. You wanted to know whether it would be the permanent mission of the DRC. Perhaps yes, perhaps not. This is an eternal issue within the Security Council, so perhaps it will be, perhaps not. But Colombia, I think, did it in their mission. So that— perhaps that means that we'll also do it at the DRC's mission. That's all I can say. Now, I didn't fully understand the question on the straw polls, but the straw poll will happen during our Security Council presidency. I don't know whether you were asking whether there had been a different straw poll. I'm not sure. But I can tell you that the straw poll will happen during our presidency. Now, Fox talked about U.S. investments in the agreement signed between the DRC and the United States. Was that right?

Yes.

Obviously, we think that's a great investment. We're still looking at it— we're still dealing with the paperwork, but this is an agreement that will be implemented, and we look forward to seeing its full implementation on the ground. The Congolese populations have faith in that, and we look forward to seeing how it's rolled out on the ground. So I think that's all in terms of questions. If there are no further questions, I think that might now be the right time for us to see whether the match is still going, if we still have some hope. We have a great international team after 52 years of absence, so I would like to ask if you don't mind, we would love to leave now so we can go and watch the end of the match. Thank you very much.