Democratic Republic of Congo

Tabled by Angelika Beer, Frithjof Schmidt, Marie-Hélène Aubert, Bart Staes, Raùl Romeva 

The European Parliament,

• Having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Democratic Republic of the Congo,
• Having regard to its previous Resolutions on the illegal exploitation of the natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Having regard to the EU Military Operation in the RDC, "ARTEMIS" conducted in Bunia from June to September 2003,
• Having regard to the EU police mission in Kinshasa "EUROPOL KINSHASA", launched in April 2005 with the objective of providing advice to the Integrated Police Unit under the Congolese line of command,
• Having regard to the EU advisory and assistance mission for RDC security reform ("EUSEC-RDC) 

1. Recalling that a government of national unity has been set up in 2003 for a transition period of two years period of two years in order to organize free and democratic elections and this period comes to an end in June 2006 after it has been extended for a year, 
2. Whereas the RDC transitional Parliament has adopted a bill giving the Independent Electoral Commission 110 days to organize national democratic elections and noting that the country's constitution requires that the polls be held before June 30,
3. Whereas the UN has requested the EU to send a military force to secure the upcoming June election in the Democratic Republic of Congo and regretting that the mandate of such operation is not yet clearly defined how the EU can make a positive contribution in this very big country,
4. Whereas Regretting that the United Nation's request for an EU military assistance during the period of the elections in the RDC did not originate from the Congolese transitional government, 
5. Whereas the constitutional referendum has been conducted with minimal incident in December 2005 where the Independent Electoral Commission has established more than 40 000 voting stations,
6. Whereas the so called EU "battle groups" are not to be operational until now,
7. Recalling that the United Nation Mission in the Republic Democratic of Congo (MONUC) has a total of 16 820 personnel including 15 019 military troops, 729 military observers and 1072 polices to build peace process in the country,
8. Whereas, according to the UN figures  the conflict in RDC has  caused an estimated 3.5 million death and about 3.4  million internally displaced persons  since the conflict started in 1998,
9. Whereas the issue of illegal exploitation of the country's natural resources some of which finds their way in other countries including in the EU is one of the factor in fuelling and exacerbating the conflict in RDC,
10. Worried by the  situation in Ituri (Nord Est ), Kivu (South East)  and Katanga(South) where  fighting  between government army  and armed groups provoked tens of thousands of displaced people,
11. Whereas the national disarmament, demobilisation and integration process which should be implemented by the transitional government face serious difficulties partially due to delays in the payment of demobilisation allowances, 
12. Whereas the presence of armed groups from Rwanda and Uganda on Congolese territory continues to pose a threat to the region in general, 

1. Regrets that the United Nation's request for an EU military assistance during the period of the elections in the RDC did not originate from the Congolese transitional government
2. Demand the Council to come in front of the parliament to present a clear proposal with a strong mandate fully based on a well-established scenario of needs including a timetable; notes that for a possible EU military mission to Congo there is a need for its own mandate on the basis of the UN charter,
3. Considers that there is to date no basis for a decision on an EU mission in Congo,
4. Holds the view that if there is any possible EU military operation it should in principle be temporally limited to the period of the elections,
5. Calls upon the governments of the region to reinforce their cooperation in enforcing the arms embargo in the RDC and to combat cross border trafficking of illicit small arms,
6. Notes that the president of RDC signed the bill giving the Independent Electoral Commission to organize the presidential and legislative election before 30 June which put an end to the mandate of the transitional government,
7. Is conscious of the challenge which the Independent Electoral Commission is facing to organize and adequately conduct the presidential and the legislative election in the country's 40 000 poll,
8. Calls on the EU to provide adequate logistic support to the organization and monitoring of the upcoming election in June,
9. Considers that the post-electoral stability will mainly depend upon the cooperation of all political parties and the population, calls therefore on all political parties to participate genuinely in the election and build a parliamentary democracy on the result obtained,
10. Demand that the natural resources of RDC should be exploited in a transparent and legal system to the benefit of the country and its population and considers that the government of the Great Lake region should promote fair and lawful of natural resources trade among themselves,
11. Demand the EU member states to implement the recommendation of the UN Panel of Experts on the illegal Exploitation of RDC's natural resources and to impose sanctions on those persons and companies whose participation in the pillage has been proven, 
12. Demands the RDC government to put in place a system of transparent regulatory controls on revenues coming from natural resources, allocation of government contracts, public enterprises management, salary payment including military and police,
13. Condemns the activities of armed groups operating in the territory of RDC and in the Great Lakes region and demand the States in the region within their respective country to disarm, demobilize and cooperate in the repatriation,
14. Instructs its president to forward this resolution to the Congolese Transitional government, to the UN General Secretary, the Council, and the Commission.