asked Her Majesty’s Government:

What action they will take regarding allegations that United Nations peacekeeping troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo traded weapons and ammunition to local militias.

My Lords, we fully support and have contributed to UN efforts on zero tolerance against misconduct. It is for the UN to investigate individual allegations of misconduct and to ensure that the troop-contributing country concerned deals with any substantiated allegations. The UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services investigated the allegations on weapons and ammunition trading but did not find sufficient evidence to substantiate them. I might add that MONUC’s peacekeepers play a vital role in resolving the conflict in the DRC.

My Lords, they did find, did they not, that the peacekeepers had facilitated the trading in gold and other commodities with the armed groups? Does the Minister agree that the General Assembly’s recent criticisms of the OIOS’s investigations methodology indicate the need for urgent reform of the OIOS; and because it has an interest in exonerating the peacekeepers from criticism, can the Minister ensure that any such reforms include an external oversight of the OIOS by the equivalent of non-executive directors who are appointed from outside the UN system?

My Lords, the allegations to which the noble Lord refers, which were extensively covered in a “Panorama” programme that many noble Lords may have seen, were investigated last year by the United Nations and there was no evidence to substantiate the serious allegations of weapons trading. The allegations were also, it might be added, localised and specific to one unit rather than widespread throughout the mission. Two witnesses from the militia changed their evidence in the “Panorama” programme from what they had said in the investigation, so it is difficult to know the veracity of their subsequent claims. However, the head of UN peacekeeping has made it clear that if the “Panorama” programme or anyone else has fresh evidence, that, too, will be investigated.

On the noble Lord’s second point, the OIOS is largely independent of the UN and reports directly to the General Assembly. There is also a new oversight body for audit matters of the General Assembly itself. The head of the OIOS is a former auditor-general of both Sweden and Kosovo, so she is quite a crusader for justice in the fight against corruption. I therefore suspect that this has been well investigated.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that the phenomenal loss of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo, estimated at more than 3 million over the past decade or so, this haemorrhaging of life, has been brought about because of the free flow of arms into the Congo? However, 95 per cent of all weapons going into Africa are manufactured outside of Africa. That underlines the need for the United Nations to act constructively by not only creating a global arms treaty such as they are considering, but stopping the flow into the Congo, especially into the hands of young people and children who have been armed beyond belief.

My Lords, as the noble Lord knows, the UK is one of the leaders in trying to get a global arms treaty to cover small arms, which are a devastating weapon in the hands of young people and generally among insurgents and other poorly trained groups. The good news about the Congo is that, for now at least, the violence is behind us. The peace agreement and elections, all of it policed and supported by MONUC, has led to a much more stable situation. Despite these very troubling allegations and concerns, MONUC’s record overall shows that it has been a decisive force for peace in that difficult country.

My Lords, I am very glad that the Minister made that last point. Without in any way condoning the reported malpractices, which of course, we must take very seriously, is not the bottom line that the 17,000 UN troops, or many of them, are really making some progress in bringing stability to this area which is so full of bloodshed and atrocities? Should we not recognise the good side of what is going on there and support UN peacekeeping, in its best sense, wherever it is conducted by countries that have a sense of world responsibility?

My Lords, I very much thank the noble Lord for those remarks. The great majority of the world’s 110,000 UN peacekeepers are extraordinary people taking on difficult work under very difficult circumstances. Where there are allegations of corruption or of sexual exploitation, which has been another major issue, they are to do with a very small minority. I am confident that the United Nations and the troop-contributing countries are working hard to improve disciplinary and investigation arrangements to make sure that even these handful of cases, which tarnish the reputation of peacekeeping as a whole, are brought to a resolution and that those who are offenders are removed from any peacekeeping role.

My Lords, as the Minister will be aware, in his report to the General Assembly on strengthening investigations the Secretary-General noted that some 250 misconduct cases were being investigated by the OIOS at that time. Surely that strengthens the argument for a review into the investigation procedures, which is at the heart of the issue. However, is the Minister as concerned as I am that the General Assembly’s response was to call for more information on the terms of reference of such a review in order to see whether it should have a review at all? Does he share our concerns about that?

My Lords, I should perhaps at this point acknowledge a special interest in this because I set up the unit being discussed. I was well aware that it would cause deep offence to the General Assembly as it was set up in the aftermath of Oil for Food when the United Nations needed to cleanse the stables and ensure that any allegations of wrongdoing were chased down and dealt with firmly and clearly. Some in the General Assembly saw it as an unsettling act intended somehow to tilt power towards western donors and away from the membership as a whole. I applaud the Secretary-General’s efforts to consolidate this office. Investigations such as this one show that this reform will survive time and any attacks from the General Assembly.

My Lords, is the Minister aware that it takes longer to set up a company in the Democratic Republic of Congo than anywhere else on earth? Is there any way in which outsiders can help to cure that malfunctioning?

My Lords, the noble Lord always surprises me with a statistic of which I was unaware, and he has done so again today. But perhaps I should not have been surprised; I suppose it should have been predictable that the Congo is close to the bottom of the World Bank list rating how long it takes to establish a business. It is mainly insiders who, responding to that pressure, will have to strip out the layers of regulation and bureaucracy that make registering a company so difficult. The best pressure comes from seeing that countries such as Mozambique that have done so have been rewarded by high rates of economic growth and high rates of inward foreign investment.