In resolution 1533, the UN Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations:

‘Urges all States, relevant United Nations bodies and, as appropriate, other organisations and interested parties, to cooperate fully with the Committee and with the Group of experts and MONUC, in particular by supplying any information at their disposal on possible violations of the measures imposed by paragraph 20 of resolution 1493.’ (Para 12, emphasis added).

‘Calls upon the international community, in particular the specialised international organisations concerned, to provide financial and technical assistance to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a view to helping it exercise effective control over its borders and its airspace.’ (para. 13).

The All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region and Genocide Prevention has been closely monitoring events in the Great Lakes Region since 1998. In seeking to promote conflict resolution, APPG delegations have travelled on fact-finding missions to Burundi (2000); Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (2001, 2003, 2004); Rwanda (2000, 2002, 2004); Uganda (2004), and a series of reports have been published making recommendations to the UK Government, the International Community and states in the region. In particular, this report builds on previous APPG research which examined the role of natural resources in fuelling the conflict in the DRC.[1] Pursuant to Security Council resolution 1533 (para. 12), the APPG commissioned Johan Peleman[2] from the International Peace Information Service (IPIS) to assemble a team to conduct both field and desk research.[3] Using this data, the APPG with other experts, prepared recommendations.

This report is therefore a direct response to the UN Security Council’s Chapter VII invitation to ‘supply any information at their disposal’ and provide ‘assistance’. This report would not have been possible without the cooperation of Ambassador Swing and MONUC, for which the APPG is appreciative.

Readers should be aware of the unusually difficult circumstances involved in conducting research in the DRC. The authors of the report have done their best, in all the circumstances, to be objective and fair in the compilation of this report. Special attention is drawn to the ‘Standards for evidence’ section at Annex 5.

Notes:

[1] ‘Cursed with Riches: who benefits from resource exploitation in the DRC?’ APPG Great Lakes 2002, see www.appggreatlakes.org. [2] Chairperson of the UN Expert Panel on Somalia; Member of the UN Expert Panels on Liberia, and Sierra Leone; Consultant to the UN Expert Panel on Angola. [3] The names of the IPIS team are listed on p47 in the section entitled ‘Acknowledgements’.

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