asked Her Majesty's Government:

What measures they will support in the United Nations Security Council to deal with the recent upsurge in attacks by the rebel movement under Laurent Nkunda in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and threats to the safety of Ituri province by a new armed coalition, the Popular Front for Justice in the Congo.

My Lords, my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary visited the Democratic Republic of Congo over the weekend. During this visit, he called for a strengthening of MONUC, the UN force, in North Kivu province. We are discussing with the UN and the countries that contribute troops to MONUC options for increasing its effectiveness. We are also carefully following events in Ituri province, including the launch of the Popular Front for Justice in the Congo.

My Lords, as MONUC is facing military attacks not only in the vicinity of Goma but on three other fronts, does it make sense to denude the MONUC forces of assistance in those other three provinces by transferring troops into Goma? Would it not be preferable to accept the proposal by the French presidency of an emergency force of 1,500 troops supplied by the European Union? Will the Government ask for a full meeting of the Security Council to mandate an increase in the MONUC forces, perhaps up to a level of 24,000 as originally envisaged by Kofi Annan, and to bring together the parties from the Nairobi accord and the Goma agreement with the support of the African Union?

My Lords, I think that MONUC troops deployed elsewhere in the country will provide by far the quickest solution to the immediate, short-term need to reinforce MONUC in North Kivu. In the longer term, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations at the UN will report to the Security Council later this month on what it considers to be the right size of force for the increasingly complex task that it faces. We will obviously seek an early debate on that because, if there is a need for MONUC enhancement, we want to address it as quickly as possible. As we have made clear, at this stage neither we nor the French think that a European force is the immediate solution, but prudence requires that we continue to look at the possibility of deploying such a force, should it become necessary.

My Lords, have there been discussions between the members of NATO about this issue? It is better to be prepared in advance rather than to react suddenly.

My Lords, in fact, there have now been some 21 missions of the European defence forces, which, rather than a NATO force, are more normally used for these kinds of activities. On Thursday, there was a meeting of the relevant committee in Brussels, and a two-day working session is now under way to plan and agree a contingency arrangement, should such a force be necessary.

My Lords, does the Minister not agree that the present situation in the eastern region of the DRC is a clear-cut case of the international community's responsibility to protect the civilian population, given that the DRC is not able to do so itself and that the sensitive problem of consent does not arise? Does he not also agree that recent events have shown the need for a large peacekeeping mission such as MONUC to have either its own rapid reaction capability or a multinational back-up force to deal with emergencies such as have now arisen?

My Lords, the noble Lord is doubly right in that the issue of consent does not apply, not least because the President of Congo himself has appealed for help, calling for a supplementation of the international forces there. Again, we have to remind ourselves that MONUC is the largest UN force anywhere in the world. It is currently overstretched, but first we need to look at ways in which we can enhance and strengthen it. The noble Lord's suggestion of giving it additional standby capability is very sensible.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that, even if the present situation is dealt with and contained, the root causes of this problem have to be dealt with? One of those root causes is the huge mineral wealth to be found in east Congo, which everyone—especially Rwanda and allegedly Uganda—wants. Can he say what progress is being made with the G8-sponsored regulatory system for the extraction and export of these resources, which would ensure more revenue for the Congo and peace and stability in the region?

My Lords, one of the three pillars of DfID's development strategy in the Congo relates to transparency and honesty of resource extraction policies following that G8 commitment. More broadly, with a pattern of divided, tribalised, power-grabbing politics, the area has been a sandpit that has attracted every rogue natural resource operator in the world. However, the solution is better government to manage the mineral wealth better.

My Lords, will the Minister share with me this opportunity to salute the courage of the aid workers and truck drivers who are being asked to drive into dangerous rebel territory, obviously at considerable risk, however successful or otherwise the UN is at protecting them? They seem to be the unsung heroes of such situations. The Minister said that our troop contribution is being considered. Will he indicate what size of contingent the UK will contribute, if it goes ahead, and from where would we draw those troops?

My Lords, on the first point, I think that we all share the noble Lord's respect and gratitude for international and NGO humanitarian workers who, in recent years, have given their lives in even greater numbers than UN peacekeepers in conditions of this kind. On his second point, he will forgive me if I am not drawn too far down the road of a hypothetical deployment. I repeat that we very much hope that there will be a strengthened MONUC and a political solution to this problem. A UK deployment as part of a European force is something that we are holding in reserve. An EU brigade, which is more than 1,500 people, is on standby for such purposes and the UK would be one of the contributors.

My Lords, is one of the reasons why Laurent Nkunda refused to lay down his arms the failure to disarm the Hutu genocidalist FDLR? Will the Minister try to ensure that that ingredient is fed into any political solution by the Security Council and that there is an acceleration of FDLR disarmament and demobilisation?

My Lords, the noble Lord puts his finger on what we think is the core problem: the continuation of a Hutu militia—many of whose members were directly involved in the genocide of 1994—in the Congo as a military force, jeopardising the security of Rwanda. There can be no solution to the Tutsi militia of General Nkunda without addressing, first and foremost, the issue of the Hutu militia. There is a plan for doing so, but there has been a lack of political will, particularly in the Congo, to achieve that agreed demobilisation and reintegration of this group.