British parliamentary group urges action against exploitation

The British All Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region and Genocide Prevention has urged Whitehall to act on the findings of a UN panel of experts' report on the foreign exploitation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's (DRC) natural resources. The parliamentary group produced a set of recommendations in November, including one calling on Britain's Department of Trade and Industry "to ensure that all contracts, concessions and commercial agreements made since 1996 are reviewed and revised under a special monitoring body, in close collaboration with the World Bank". The department should, the group said, also carry out a review of all UK companies and individuals named in the UN panel's third report. That report named some of the states directly involved in the fighting in eastern DRC, and some individuals - including DRC officials - as being involved in exploiting the country's resources. In its 37-page report, entitled "Cursed by Riches", the parliamentary group also advised governments in the Great Lakes region, and the UN to take action to correct the anomaly in the DRC. Following the UN panel's report, the parliamentary group said it had commissioned its own independent research into how the exploitation of natural resources was impacting on local residents, and its implications for lasting peace. The complete report of the parliamentary group