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Congo

My Lords, as we know, the Democratic Republic of Congo is a vast country with immense economic resources. It is also the site of one of the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crises. It has been described as being in the centre of what could tragically be referred to as Africa’s world war. I, too, therefore, thank the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, for introducing a debate on the conflict in eastern Congo and support the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, on the African Great Lakes all-party group. The ongoing, protracted war has claimed 3 million lives at the last estimate, either as a direct result of fighting or because of disease and malnutrition. Continued attacks against civilians are vicious and widespread. Attacks are accompanied by rape and abductions, many of the abductees being made to become sexual slaves or perform forced labour. They often die from their injuries when abused; others are shot or burned to death. It has been grimly calculated that, for every rebel combatant disarmed during the operations in November 2008 against the FDLR, one civilian has been killed, seven women and girls have been raped, six houses have been burned down and destroyed, and 900 people have been forced to flee their homes. Can Her Majesty’s Government say what work the UN is doing to cut off the financing of such rebel groups? Will the Minister update the Committee on the living conditions and situations of the hundreds of thousands of people internally displaced due to the conflicts? Where are they? What action is being taken to make certain that humanitarian assistance for them is being delivered and that further suffering is prevented? How are Her Majesty’s Government bolstering the UN’s role in Congo so that it can more effectively meet humanitarian needs, reduce the remaining violent conflicts, strengthen security through its police force and generally offer greater protection for these groups? MONUC was specifically mentioned by noble Lords today. Do Her Majesty’s Government believe that it is at full strength, or should it have more troops? Refugees International has said that, ""MONUC is once again juggling conflicting mandated tasks while facing a critical lack of resources"." Does the Minister agree? Among other criticisms, it has been remarked that UN, ""military operations have not succeeded in neutralizing the FDLR and have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis"." In fact, FDLR rebels have been able to use vast international networks to bolster their supply of arms and recruit extra soldiers. How confident are the Government in the UN’s new strategy to tackle the conflict in eastern DRC, rather than continuing to provide blanket support for Congolese soldiers? What checks are being made to make certain that these efforts are not being abused? Given that this is a regional conflict, what discussions are HMG having with neighbouring countries about their role in the conflict? In this very volatile region, of which eastern Congo is the heart, with Uganda on its border, a demarcation exercise is currently taking place over access to oil found in Lake Albert. Given the difficulties that oil has caused and will no doubt continue to cause in the developing world—it has been identified by Professor Paul Collier as "a natural resource curse"—what steps are the Government taking to monitor these events and to make certain that the demarcation takes place according to clear and consensual lines? The situation in eastern Congo is a humanitarian catastrophe, as we know. It will deteriorate even further if the international community does not strengthen the UN’s ability to act on its behalf. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.