Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Hannay of Chiswick (Crossbench). It was answered on Monday, 3 November 2008.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Question: My Lords, does the Minister not agree that the present situation in the eastern region of the DRC is a clear-cut case of the international community’s responsibility to protect the civilian population, given that the DRC is not able to do so itself and that the sensitive problem of consent does not arise? Does he not also agree that recent events have shown the need for a large peacekeeping mission such as MONUC to have either its own rapid reaction capability or a multinational back-up force to deal with emergencies such as have now arisen?

Answer: My Lords, the noble Lord is doubly right in that the issue of consent does not apply, not least because the President of Congo himself has appealed for help, calling for a supplementation of the international forces there. Again, we have to remind ourselves that MONUC is the largest UN force anywhere in the world. It is currently overstretched, but first we need to look at ways in which we can enhance and strengthen it. The noble Lord’s suggestion of giving it additional standby capability is very sensible.

Secondary information