Written question asked by Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Conservative) on Wednesday, 23 May 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 4 June 2007. It was answered by Ian McCartney (Labour) on Monday, 4 June 2007 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Peace Keeping Operations

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the current status is of the 2006 UN investigation into United Nations peacekeeping troops selling weapons to Congolese militia groups.

Answer: The UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) has said that the allegations that peacekeepers based in the Ituri district were engaging in gold and weapons trafficking was brought to its attention in 2006. Following this, the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS-Nairobi) initiated a full inquiry, independently from MONUC, in accordance with its mandate to investigate instances of serious misconduct.The UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson stated on 23 May that the investigation is almost complete and that the final report is going through a quality control procedure. Upon completion of its investigation, OIOS will pass its report and recommendations to the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations, for appropriate action with the troop contributing countries of the concerned contingent personnel.The allegations are of concern, and it is entirely proper that they should be investigated in line with UN procedures. Officials in our Mission in New York are pressing the UN to complete their investigations as soon as possible.

Secondary information