UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- The top UN envoy for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday outlined the security and public health challenges as well as ethnic tension confronting the African country's upcoming elections.

"In many parts of the country, these long-awaited elections will take place in a volatile security environment," Leila Zerrougui, the UN Special Representative for the DRC, told the Security Council.

In particular, she underscored the situation in Beni, where civilians, the Congolese force, and the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO are targeted by rebel groups.

Moreover, MONUSCO is also coping with supporting a major Ebola response effort in Beni, said the Algerian legal expert, who also heads the mission. "We are still seeing a growing number of cases in the major population centers in Beni and Butembo and significant community resistance to response efforts."

The UN envoy pointed out that women are disproportionately affected by the epidemic, representing about 60 percent of all probable and confirmed cases, due to a number of factors, including their roles as caregivers of the diseased.

Returning to security issues, the UN envoy warned a potential for armed group interference in elections in specific areas throughout eastern DRC, particularly in Tanganyika, South Kivu, and the Grand and Petit Nord ares of North Kiva.

"Armed group violence in these key provinces could affect the secure deployment of electoral material and may prevent certain parts of the population from voting on election day," she said.

In addition, she took note of the forced return of Congolese migrants from Angola to the Kasais, saying given the pace of returns and the capacity to receive returnees on the ground, "there is the possibility for ethnic tension to flare up in certain areas of the Kasais."

Concluding her briefing, Zerrougui appealed that collective focus be put on ensuring the credibility of the electoral process, stressing the need for candidates to have equal access to political space during the campaign period, which starts in days.

The DRC's elections were long overdue. A political agreement on Dec. 31, 2016 allowed President Joseph Kabila, who has been in power since 2001, to stay on after his term of office expired, on the condition that elections would be held within 2017. But elections were delayed on the grounds of logistics.

On Nov. 5, 2017, the country's electoral commission published an electoral calendar for the combined presidential, legislative and provincial elections on Dec. 23, 2018.