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Congo

My Lords, like all noble Lords, I pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey. I am very grateful to him for bringing this debate before us today and giving us an opportunity to discuss the situation in the DRC. By my calculation, 47 questions have been asked and I doubt whether I shall be able to do them justice in the 12 minutes available to me. However, I have been helped by your Lordships, who have described the human tragedy in the DRC far better than I could and, indeed, far better than my civil servants, who have drafted a speech for me. My noble friend Lady Kinnock, who is in Brussels today, will be visiting the DRC before the end of the month. I shall ensure that your Lordships’ concerns, and indeed suggestions, are brought to her attention, together with the letter that I shall inevitably have to write to cover a number of the questions which have been posed but which I cannot possibly answer in the time available. As noble Lords have said, there has been widespread concern about the atrocities that continue to be committed not only by some rebel groups—in particular, the FDLR—but also by the Congolese armed forces during Operation Kimia II. We are clear that the situation is unacceptable. Although MONUC and the Congolese army have claimed relative success over the FDLR in the past few months, the humanitarian cost of operations in the region has been unacceptably high, as has been eloquently indicated by your Lordships. We are now moving into the phase of Operation Amani Leo. It has only a five-month mandate but will have a very tight focus: while it will put pressure on the FDLR fighters, it will also strengthen civilian protection. It is important that lessons from the previous mandate and from the abuse of civilians that has taken place are learnt and that the United Nations, through MONUC, is more effective in avoiding some of the things that have gone on. My brief says that 1.5 million people are internally displaced in eastern DRC, although I think that the noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, said that the figure was 2.1 million. What is half a million when we are talking of such numbers? The truth is that it is a tragedy for millions of people. Although some of the armed groups are now operating on a smaller scale—the Lord’s Resistance Army, for example—they continue, as has been more than adequately expressed, to commit human rights abuses. We continue to support humanitarian work in the region. The DfID budget spend in the DRC was £47 million in 2009. Of this, £30 million was contributed to the humanitarian pooled fund, which is available to agencies doing aid work within the area. Here, I would rather try to answer some of the questions that have been raised in different forms by a number of noble Lords than frustrate them by giving facts and figures of which they are fully aware. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, asked how we reconcile the fact that we appear to be spending less money while the problem is increasing. The humanitarian action plan budget is set and reviewed mid-year. In 2009, the budget was increased by that review from $831 million to $946 million. While a slight reduction in the overall amount took place in mid-2009, the humanitarian action plan budget for 2010 of $837 million is still comparable to the original figure provided at the start of 2009, which was $831 million. The important point is that that assessment is based on the needs of the DRC, assessed by the broader humanitarian community in the DRC. It is not a response that has anything to do with the downturn in the world economy; it is to do with those on the ground seeing what can most effectively be spent. As has been acknowledged by noble Lords, we remain a leading and very active contributor and donor, with some £40 million given in 2009 and £39 million already committed in 2010. We continue to monitor the situation and can respond with additional support if that is thought to be necessary. The mandate of MONUC is, as has been said, short-term until the strategic review, which will be dealt with in April. That relates to the operational part of the continuing mandate of MONUC, which is already determined to be for a year from 2010. The troop ceiling remains unchanged at 21,000. That is the assessment of what is required. UN Security Council Resolution 1906, which supports this, mandates a presence for 12 months from May 2010. We hope that a new mandate will complement a period of progress in the DRC, with positive developments in security sector reform and the re-establishment and reintegration of those who will give up arms and come back into the society that we seek to restore. We do not envisage that a drawdown of troops will arise from the review. It will be an opportunity to reconfigure the resources, based on the judgment of the special rapporteur, Alan Doss, on the most effective way of using those resources. As this is the first debate on this issue since 2008, the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, asked whether we could have such debates periodically. I have not learnt many lessons while I have been in this House, but what I have learnt is that you do not make commitments for debates in the House. That is a matter for the usual channels. There are other opportunities, as have been taken on this occasion, for members of the Opposition to initiate debates, through the Thursday balloted debates and QSDs. However, I will take the request and report it faithfully to the Chief Whip. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, also raised the question of the ability of the Kabila Government to deliver on the Security Council’s demand to protect civilian populations. Other noble Lords made the point that the state institutions of the DRC do not provide for the strong government that is an essential component for that country to gain for its citizens the kind of freedoms, humanitarian support and lives that they deserve. We are supporting the development of the DRC state institutions. The international community has been focusing on that for some time. We are actively pursuing security sector reform to make sure that those institutions comply with human rights norms. The Government of the DRC have also launched their own initiative to tackle impunity, which, as several noble Lords said, remains an issue. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, that there need to be realistic and achievable benchmarks—some way of measuring the way forward. That is what we want to see from MONUC, the international community and our own DfID and Foreign Office commitments. The noble Lord, Lord Chidgey, talked about resources and, in particular, helicopters. The contribution that the UK makes to the UN peacekeeping operation will be in the region of $100 million this year. While we have no plans to provide helicopters bilaterally, we understand from MONUC that three troop-contributing countries, of which there are 57 in total, will explore the possibility of providing additional cover. The noble Lord also raised the question of joint civilian and military operating teams. Again, we think that this is a very important way forward. We agree with all those who have said that there cannot simply be a military solution to the problems of the DRC. It will require a military and political solution. He also asked whether there should be a civilian protection expert group to inquire into and report on the needs. The recent UN system-wide strategy for the protection of civilians in the DRC has been developed by the Protection Cluster and MONUC. The aim of that strategy is to consolidate the protection of civilians, report on responses and improve the current actions to be in line with international human rights and international humanitarian law. This work is a response to the MONUC mandate’s requirements to report on this. I believe that there is a greater focus and concern, which is certainly reflected in the Security Council resolution. MONUC has always been committed to tackling indiscipline and human rights abuses within the Congolese army and will continue to withdraw support from units implicated in the carrying out of atrocities. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, made criticisms that the action was not moving quickly enough and that there had to be atrocities before you could prevent atrocities—if that is not too unkind an interpretation. The Security Council resolution states: ""MONUC military leadership shall confirm, prior to providing any support to such operations that sufficient joint planning has been undertaken, especially regarding the protection of the civilian population"." It, ""calls upon MONUC to intercede with the FARDC … if elements of a FARDC unit receiving MONUC’s support are suspected of having committed grave violations of such laws, and if the situation persists, calls upon MONUC to withdraw support"." In practical terms, that means that the support that we are providing is in the form of food, fuel and transport. We will not withdraw humanitarian support in those circumstances. MONUC is working closely with the Congolese army to investigate the human rights abuses of each brigade that MONUC is supporting. Several noble Lords raised the question of impunity in relation to Congolese army personnel, some integrated and some in the militias. Bosco Ntaganda was mentioned. Our ambassador has discussed with the UN Secretary-General’s special representative Alan Doss the arrest warrant required and has received assurances that the UN mission will support the DRC Government in carrying out the warrant. The Government of the DRC have accepted the indictment and are committed to arresting Bosco, but they are concerned to ensure that the timing of this does not derail the fragile process of integrating CNDP forces into the FARDC, the Congolese army. We continue to press for Bosco to be handed over to the ICC. In answer to the question whether we recognise the requirement for a special court, we fully support the investigations of the ICC and continue to press the Government of the DRC to hand over Bosco Ntaganda to ICC investigators. We agree that prosecution of human rights abusers and an end to impunity are essential steps in tackling human rights abuses. I am running into the point when my time is up, although I have probably dealt with only seven of the 47 questions that I have been asked. A voluminous document answering all the remaining questions will be winging its way to all noble Lords who have participated. I repeat my assurance that I shall bring the debate and its contents, suggestions and criticisms to the attention of my noble friend Lady Kinnock before she visits the DRC towards the end of the month.