The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has asked the United Nations (UN) mission there for help in transporting material needed for general elections next week even as it pushes for that mission to leave, according to a letter from Ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo seen by AFP on Thursday.
DRC is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, despite its vast mineral wealth. Voters are due to go to the polls on December 20.
Armed groups plague much of Eastern Congo, a legacy of regional wars that flared during the 1990s and 2000s. One such group, the M23, has captured swaths of territory in the region since launching an offensive in late 2021.
Read: Problems loom a week from DRC vote
The UN mission in the former Zaire, known as United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monusco), is still present in three conflict-ridden provinces of the east but is due to withdraw at the demand of the government. Its mandate allows it to provide logistical support for the elections.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, the DRC ambassador asks, even as Kinshasa pushes for a faster pullout, that the mission be allowed to help move election materials and equipment to provinces other than the ones where UN team now operates.
The Security Council is discussing the request, a diplomatic source said, adding that the United States is reluctant to go along with it.
The government of Kinshasa wants the UN force to leave after a presence of nearly 20 years, arguing that it has not been effective in ending fighting in the east of the country.
The Security Council is to vote next week on a withdrawal plan devised by Kinshasa and the UN mission.
Read: DRC, UN sign peacekeeper withdrawal plan
The elections are for president and lawmakers at the national and provincial and local level.
It is a daunting challenge because the country is huge -- 2.3 million square kilometers (870,000 square miles) and much of it lacks infrastructure.
Twenty-two people are running for president, including the incumbent, Felix Tshisekedi, who is seeking another term.
The letter from Ambassador Zenon Ngay Mukongo "raises a number of questions," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
"We'll wait to see what action the council takes," he added.
"We very much hope that the elections will manage to go ahead," he further said.