Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 16 March 2006.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Question: My Lords, will the Minister join me in congratulating the MONUC troops on their recent military successes in south Kivu and in the neighbourhood of Bunya? Does he really think that the conditions will be such as to guarantee the freedom of the people to get to the polls and cast their vote on 18 June, or is a further increase in military forces in the territory needed for that purpose?

Answer: My Lords, the noble Lord rightly made the point in an earlier question that we were talking about a country that was the size of western Europe and had no roads. During the well regulated referendum on changing the constitution to hold the elections, 25 million to 28 million people had the opportunity to vote. We believe that that can be repeated. However, for the reasons given, we are alert to the dangers. That is one of the reasons why the United Nations has made this request to the EU. I should like to believe that between MONUC and ourselves in the EU we shall be able to ensure the same success in the election as was achieved in the referendum. The referendum should give us some hope that we can do that.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 679 c1345-6
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Armed forces Deployment Elections EU action Peacekeeping operations Security Democratic Republic of the Congo
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk