---

Democratic Republic of Congo (Development)

I agree that we can do more on security sector reform and more generally. It is also appropriate to make the broader point about the need for more peacekeeping capacity, at least in the strategic context. My hon. Friend refers to broader ways in which we could engage with security sector reform. Given his long-standing interest in this area, he may be aware that we are working on a comprehensive programme to tackle security sector reform, which we estimate will cost collectively £80 million. We are not yet able to launch such a programme: the detailed design work is still under way. However—my hon. Friend and other hon. Members may not be aware of this—we have already given significant funding to help with different elements of improving security, not least during the transition. We provided support to enable the police and justice systems to begin to develop, so that they could handle security during the elections. No one would say that the elections in the DRC were perfect, but most international observers would agree that they went better than many would have expected. Some of the work that we did with the UN Development Programme, for example, in helping to put in place effective election security, was undoubtedly important. In the defence sector, we are working on the demobilisation and reintegration workstreams that are needed, particularly if we are to tackle the problem of child soldiers and, more generally, demobilising those who have been part of conflict. A key challenge that we face, to which all hon. Members have alluded, is building up an effective justice sector that can end the culture of impunity in the DRC. Again, we have been providing support with a range of organisations to begin to develop what is a fledgling sector. The other strategic point that the hon. Member for North-East Milton Keynes touched on but did not go into detail on related to reform of the operation of the UN development system. The UK, through DFID, with Foreign Office colleagues, has been championing that with some success. The humanitarian pooled fund, to which a wide variety of donors contribute and which has NGOs on the board, is, after some initial problems, working effectively and helping to ensure that all donors work together to tackle the many different problems in the DRC, so instead of many individual programmes, there is now better co-ordination. UN development system reform is by no means complete, but that is one area in which there has been success.