PSC/PR/COMM.(DCCXII) Page 1 COMMUNIQUÉ The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU), at its 712 nd meeting held on 23 August 2017, adopted the following decision on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): Council, 1. Takes note of the statement delivered by Ambassador Smail Chergui, Commissioner for Peace and Security and the briefings provided by the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission and Head of the AU Liaison Office in the DRC, Ambassador Abdou Abarry, and the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), Mr Mamadou Diallo, on the political, security, humanitarian situation and the electoral process in the DRC. Council also takes note of the statements made by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration of the DRC, H.E. Leonardo She Okitundu, South Africa, in its capacity as Chairperson of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), Senegal, in its capacity as an African Member of the UN Security Council (A3) and by the European Union (EU); 2. Recalls its previous communiqués and press statements on the situation in the DRC, including Communiqué PSC/PR/COMM. (DCLXXI) adopted at its 671st meeting held on 27 March 2017; 3. Expresses its serious concern about the continuing violence and insecurity in the eastern and central parts of the country and in the Kasai provinces, including escapes by prisoners from jail, which increases insecurity in the urban centres, particularly in Kinshasa. To this end, Council requests the authorities of the DRC to continue to cooperate with the international experts in charge of investigating serious human rights violations and other killings in Kasai so that perpetrators be brought before the courts. Council urges the Government of the DRC to encourage a negotiated approach to all the actors concerned in the search for a lasting solution to the crisis in Kasai; 4. Welcomes the announcement by the AU Commission about the convening in the DRC, on 19 October 2017, of a Regional Summit of the Guarantors of the Framework Agreement for Peace, Security and Cooperation for the DRC and the Region, signed in Addis Ababa, on 24 February 2013. In this regard, Council appeals to the international community to assist in the relocation of the cantoned former M23 elements to a third country;