PRESS BRIEFING ON EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Efforts were needed to strengthen the capacity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to combat the exploitation of its vast natural resources, according to the Chairman of the panel established by the Security Council to this issue.

Mr. Mahmoud Kassem, Chairman of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said the Panel, created in September 2000, last reported its findings to the Security Council on 12 April.  At that time, the Council decided to extend the Panel’s mandate for three more months, asking it to complete the work that remained outstanding and to respond to observations, comments and complaints that had been registered by some Governments, individuals and other entities.  The Panel was also asked to report to the Council about development in the Great Lakes Region.  Over the course of the last three months, the Panel had visited 14 African and three European countries, and the United States.  This afternoon, he planned to present to the Council his findings and recommendations on the issue.

Mr. Kassem said the DRC’s natural resources continued to be exploited by a number of actors:  State and non-State, individuals, companies and other entities. The weak institutions of the DRC were a primary factor in that exploitation.  “Unless and until something can be done to rebuild the capacity of the State to make it strong and capable enough to control its immense territory, this rampant exploitation will continue,” he added.

Mr. Kassem said the panel originally set out to find if the exploitation in the DRC was legal or illegal.  But during the second phase of the fact-finding mission, the Panel discovered that whether it was legal or illegal, most of the exploitation was illicit.  “There may be differences in style and forms of exploitation, but in the end it was illegal,” he said.  Illicit trafficking occurred in such precious materials as coltan, diamonds, gold, timber, copper, coffee and others.  That exploitation would continue unless something was done to make the DRC capable of controlling its territory.  It was an immense country whose surface was almost as big as all of Western Europe.  The Government did not have control of many parts of its territory and that lead to the abuse of its rich natural resources.

“Unfortunately those that suffer the most are the people of the DRC,” he said.

Questions and Answers

To a question regarding foreign troops in the DRC, Mr. Kassem said that, while the Panel was primarily a technical one, it did not work in a vacuum.  It was aware that there had been a civil war in the DRC and a number of African countries took part in that conflict. Some were invited and some where not

invited and some still have troops in the DRC.  It was interesting to notice that, where there were rich natural resources, there were troops stationed.  The troops were used as a tool by Governments to grab as much as they could of the natural resources of the DRC.  The presence of foreign armed forces was an important factor in the continuing exploitation of resources.

Asked about the financing of foreign troops in the DRC, Mr. Kassem said that many countries would not answer questions regarding the financing of troops in the DRC.  They would not or could not answer that question because they had extra budgetary sources of financing their troops in the DRC. 

Asked about international funds being redirected to support military actions, Mr. Kassem said there had been reports that a probable source of financing military operations came from international aid, but those reports could not be corroborated by the Panel.  As a result of those reports, however, the Panel asked all the donors and the international financing institutions to make an assessment and see whether their contributions had somehow helped to finance military operations.

A correspondent asked a question regarding the difference between legal and illicit exploitation.  Mr. Kassem said that, during the first phase of the Panel, the issue was whether the exploitation was legal or illegal.  In the second phase, the Panel found that the words legal or illegal became irrelevant.  In the end, it discovered that those who claimed to be operating legally were actually engaged in illicit activities with regard to exploitation.  Also, between those activities classified as legal and those classified as illegal there was a wide gray area.  For example, those whom the Panel thought were illegal were not denounced by the DRC Government –- in fact the DRC dealt with them to allow the continuation of the activity.

To a question regarding Security Council sanctions, he said there was currently a positive political atmosphere that did not exist before.  The heads of adversary States were now meeting and hopefully they could come up with some common views on how to implement the Lusaka ceasefire agreement.  Also, the Congolese factions were talking to each other for the first time.  Such a situation had to be given a chance to work.  If that effort failed and pressure was needed from the international community, then the Council may take the decision to impose sanctions.  Another way to halt the exploitation was to encourage consumers to stop buying products that were illicitly taken from the DRC.

Did the change in Government in the DRC make a difference in the situation there, Mr. Kassem was asked.  He said that the peace process did not have a chance under former President, Laurent Kabila.  He had a certain attitude on how to solve the problem and he did not really give the ceasefire a chance.  But President Joseph Kabila was sincere in opening ways and means for getting some kind of agreement among all actors.  He thinks in terms of peaceful ways of achieving that, not through military means, Mr. Kassem said.

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