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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: UN panel releases report on plunder of Congo resources

NAIROBI, 29 October 2003 (IRIN) - The UN Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) released its final report on Tuesday, listing names of individuals, companies and governments that were involved in the plunder of gems and minerals, and recommending measures to be taken to curb the exploitation.

"It is vital to break the dependency link between armed groups carrying out natural resource exploitation and the local communities if their activities are to be brought to an end," the panel said in its report to the UN Security Council.

The report listed five categories of companies according to the level of cooperation they gave the panel, and the status of their cases, ranging from those whose cases had been resolved to those which did not respond to the panel's inquiries.

As the panel released the report, the Ugandan government challenged it to produce evidence that the country was involved in fuelling instability in the Congo as a cover up for economic plunder. The government-owned Ugandan newspaper, The New Vision, quoted on Wednesday Foreign Affairs Minister James Wapakhabulo as saying that Uganda was in the Congo for a mission that it accomplished and had since withdrawn.

The Security Council established the panel in 2000 to investigate and pursue dialogue with individuals, companies and governments alleged to have been involved in the illegal exploitation of the Congo's natural resources.

The panel's final report called for full disclosures of business transactions in the Congo and recommended a plan for all international companies to "publish what you pay" so as to stop the illegal exploitation of gems, cobalt, copper, gold, timber, uranium and coltan, a component for electronic chips in cell phones and computers.

The panel also recommended increased efficiency in border control, the integration of the new armed forces and the creation of a natural resources fund that would to ensure that the benefits from mining go to the Congolese people.

"The Panel realizes that the foregoing measure cannot be fully implemented in the immediate future and will require the sustained efforts over a long period of time of both the Congolese and international stakeholders," the report said.

[The full report is available online at: www.un.org]

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Economy

[ENDS]

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