Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are taking action (1) bilaterally, and (2) multilaterally, to seek to ensure that Joseph Kabila does not stand as a candidate in the next presidential election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The British Government has repeatedly called for President Kabila to honour both the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Constitution and the 31 December agreement and conduct a peaceful transfer of power in DRC via credible elections. The Minister for Africa, Harriett Baldwin MP, made these points directly with representatives of the DRC government when she visited DRC last week. Our Embassy in Kinshasa regularly presses the DRC authorities to ensure they enable the Congolese people to meet their democratic aspirations by electing a new President.

The UK continues to coordinate closely with the EU and at the United Nations on the DRC's electoral commitments. We are also working alongside regional partners; for example, in February in Addis Ababa the UK Special Envoy to the Great Lakes joined other members of the International Contact Group on the Great Lakes (ICGGL) to discuss presidential elections in DRC.