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Annan backs UN probe of Congo arms ban compliance
United Nations, Nov 29: UN Secretary General Kofi Annanrecommended the creation of an expert panel to investigate whetherthe Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighbours were complying with an arms embargo on eastern Congo.
United Nations, Nov 29: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
recommended the creation of an expert panel to investigate whether
the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighbours were complying
with an arms embargo on eastern Congo.
Annan also called for creation of a new UN Security Council
committee to monitor the expert panel`s work yesterday, seek ways to
tighten the embargo and pursue its ideas with UN member-states.
His views were set out in a report to the 15-nation security council meant to follow up on the work of an earlier UN independent panel which has been studying how to stem the systematic plunder of Congo`s rich natural resources.
That panel, whose mandate expired last month, concluded that the Resources, which include gold, diamonds, medicinal barks, cobalt, copper and coltan, a mineral used in cell phones and nuclear reactor parts, were being drained away at least in part to help finance Congo`s long civil war.
It recommended that a ``monitoring mechanism`` be set up to track who was buying and selling weapons to fuel the central African country`s five year-old civil war.
While the war has tapered off in most of the country, sporadic fighting continues in the volatile eastern area of the country, which is particularly rich in natural resources.
The Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Eastern Congo earlier this year.
“Without arms, the ability to continue the conflict, and hence creating the conditions for illegal exploitation of resources, cannot be sustained,`` the independent panel said in its final report, issued in October.
Bureau Report
His views were set out in a report to the 15-nation security council meant to follow up on the work of an earlier UN independent panel which has been studying how to stem the systematic plunder of Congo`s rich natural resources.
That panel, whose mandate expired last month, concluded that the Resources, which include gold, diamonds, medicinal barks, cobalt, copper and coltan, a mineral used in cell phones and nuclear reactor parts, were being drained away at least in part to help finance Congo`s long civil war.
It recommended that a ``monitoring mechanism`` be set up to track who was buying and selling weapons to fuel the central African country`s five year-old civil war.
While the war has tapered off in most of the country, sporadic fighting continues in the volatile eastern area of the country, which is particularly rich in natural resources.
The Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Eastern Congo earlier this year.
“Without arms, the ability to continue the conflict, and hence creating the conditions for illegal exploitation of resources, cannot be sustained,`` the independent panel said in its final report, issued in October.
Bureau Report