Panel on illegal exploitation of resources to continue

A reconstituted expert panel set up by the UN Security Council to examine the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is expected to reassemble in late January 2002 for an additional six-month period, UN News reported on Friday.

The panel's mandate was extended at the recommendation of the Security Council, following the presentation of the panel's report in December. An interim report is expected after three months.

When the Council last extended the panel's mandate in mid-2001, it noted that the unabated exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth was perpetuating the conflict in the DRC, exacerbating the suffering of its people and impeding economic development.

In its latest report to the Council, the six-member panel called for a moratorium on the purchase and importing of products such as coltan, diamonds, gold, copper, cobalt, timber and coffee, originating in areas where foreign troops are present, as well as in territories under the control of rebel groups.

The Security Council stated on 19 December that the panel's next report should include an update of relevant data and analysis of further information from all relevant countries; an evaluation of possible actions that could be taken by the Council, including those recommended by the panel, in order to help end plundering; recommendations on specific actions that the international community might take in support of the Congolese government; and recommendations on possible steps that might be taken by transit countries, as well as end users, to contribute to ending illegal exploitation of natural resources.

The panel is to be based either in Nairobi or in New York.

In a letter to the President of the Security Council, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggested that a number of members should continue their work on the panel.

"I should like to renominate Ambassador Mahmoud Kassem (Egypt) to continue to chair the expert panel," he said. "I should also like to recommend the renomination, as panel members, of Mujahed Alam (Pakistan), Mel Holt (United States of America) and Moustapha Tall (Senegal), and intend to propose two new members whose names will be forwarded to you shortly."

Annan also recommended that the panel retain its technical adviser, Gilbert Barthe of Switzerland, as well as a part-time technical adviser.