Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to support the development of a stable government in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and whether that work includes assisting the work of the Catholic Church's Conference of Episcopal Bishops in Congo towards that aim.

In 2016 there have been three UK ministerial visits, each emphasising to the most senior levels of Congolese government that the current political crisis poses serious risks of instability to the country and region. The UK is a major contributor to the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, which deploys 19,000 personnel. Our aid programme provides support to the ongoing electoral process as well as other efforts to strengthen government accountability. We provide £1.5 million in support to the Catholic Church’s Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace (CEJP), which deploys hundreds of long-term electoral observers and tens of thousands of observers in the lead up to election day. The UK has been supportive of the efforts of CENCO (the Catholic Bishops’ national commission) to make political dialogue in DRC more inclusive.