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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Security Council extends pillage panel's mandate

NAIROBI, 14 August 2003 (IRIN) - The UN Security Council voted 15-0 on Wednesday renewing the mandate of a special panel that is investigating the plunder of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UN News reported. The panel now has until 31 October to complete its work and submit a final report to the council.

At the same time, the council demanded that all states said to be involved in the illegal exploitation take immediate steps to end the plunder, and punish individuals responsible.

UN News reported that the council extended the mandate of the Expert Panel on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the DRC, which was established in June 2002 to follow up on reports and collect information on all activities of illegal exploitation.

The council adopted the resolution on the panel, saying that it had "noted with great concern" that the plunder of natural resources continued, especially in the east of the DRC.

UN News reported that the panel's chairman, Mahmoud Kassem, had said in a report to the council in 2002 that the panel had identified three "elite networks" that had carved out separate spheres of economic control in the DRC over the past four years.

"The elite networks’ grip on the DRC’s economy extends far beyond precious natural resources to encompass territory, fiscal revenues and trade in general," UN News quoted Kassem as saying in his report.

Theme(s): (IRIN) Economy

[ENDS]

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