Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-11-19-Speech-3-032"
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"en.20081119.3.3-032"2
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"−
Mr President, honourable Members, first of all, I believe the debates have shown that we are all agreed: now we must act fast, very fast, in a terribly tragic situation.
As regards sending a European force to the east of the DRC, I believe that it emerged that only a European force with the strict aim of securing the humanitarian space could possibly be accepted by all the countries in the region. This would therefore mean imposing on all parties in the conflict a humanitarian ceasefire to allow delivery of aid to the populations near the frontline. This is precisely what the Great Lakes countries want, and for them a ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid is an absolute and immediate priority.
In this respect, they have also indicated the avenues to explore: political negotiation and, above all, and this is what we have all said, reinforcing MONUC. While the humanitarian situation is gradually coming under control, some Member States appear not to rule out the possibility of a CFSP mission. However, no final decision will be taken until there is unanimous European support on this issue and the United Nations Security Council has stated its official position on this.
With regard to the reinforcement of MONUC, I believe this is absolutely essential, as does Louis Michel. MONUC brings a constructive and objective approach to this conflict, but it cannot be asked for things that are not part of its mission. MONUC must ensure peacekeeping in a specific approved framework and not impose peace on all the parties using military means. It is sometimes difficult to grasp, but the nuance is, I feel, significant.
On the other hand, it is clear that, for the scale of the Congo and the complexity of the problem, MONUC is not sufficiently equipped – you have all said this and it is true –, neither in resources, nor perhaps with regard to its mandate and, for this, the request by the United Nations Secretary-General for more resources, in particular, three thousand additional men, is no doubt justified.
Moreover, the extension of MONUC’s mandate, in particular regarding the monitoring of the illegal exploitation of natural resources – which, as you said, is the real sinew of the war – is very important, as many have already rightly stated, in order to be able to have any influence on the development of the conflict. Once peace returns, this question must be examined by the international community.
The example of the Kimberley process certainly opens avenues to be explored in this sense and, in practical terms, the Commission has already released EUR 75 million for the programme in the east of the Congo, for rebuilding governmental structures such as justice and the police, and to re-establish resource exploitation monitoring. This programme is being put in place and I hope that the first results will materialise."@en1
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