United Nations S/2010/596 Security Council Distr.: General 29 November 2010 Original: English Letter dated 15 November 2010 from the Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo addressed to the President of the Security Council On behalf of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in accordance with paragraph 6 of Security Council resolution 1896 (2009), I have the honour to submit herewith the final report of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this connection, I would appreciate it if the present letter, together with its enclosure, were brought to the attention of the members of the Council and issued as a document of the Council. (Signed) Maria Luiza Ribeiro Viotti Chair 10-61506 (E) 261110 *1061506* S/2010/596 Enclosure Letter dated 26 October 2010 from the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo addressed to the Chair of the Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1533 (2004) The members of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo have the honour to transmit herewith the final report of the Group prepared pursuant to paragraph 6 of Security Council resolution 1896 (2009). (Signed) Raymond Debelle (Signed) Mouctar Kokouma Diallo (Signed) Steven Hege (Signed) Frederick Robarts (Signed) Pawel Tarnawski 2 10-61506 S/2010/596 Summary The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has registered progress in its efforts to bring peace and stability to the eastern part of the country, not least by building on its rapprochement with its neighbours. A number of encouraging initiatives are under way, including the Government’s leadership role in the promotion by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region of the legal trade in natural resources in the region for the benefit of all of its inhabitants. President Joseph Kabila has publicly recognized that the involvement of criminal networks within the Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo (FARDC) in the illegal exploitation of natural resources has created a conflict of interest with the army’s constitutional security mandate. This involvement has led to pervasive insubordination, competing chains of command, failure to actively pursue armed groups, amounting in certain cases to collusion, and neglect of civilian protection. Criminal involvement can range from illegal taxation, protection rackets and indirect commercial control, to more direct coercive control. Taken together, the consequences of this involvement in the exploitation of natural resources by networks within FARDC are an important cause of insecurity and conflict in the eastern part of the country. Congolese armed groups, including the Forces patriotiques pour la libération du Congo, Mai Mai Sheka and Alliance des patriots pour un Congo libre et souverain, have continued to form coalitions among themselves and with foreign armed groups, despite their varying strategic agendas. Through those alliances, foreign and Congolese armed groups have been emboldened to attack FARDC and pillage mining sites and local populations. Some armed groups, such as Mai Mai Sheka, have been generated by criminal networks within FARDC that compete for control over mineral-rich areas. In addition, armed groups continue to tap into popular unease with the current status quo in the Kivus, including fear of unmanaged refugee returns, land grabs, politico-military marginalization and resentment caused by ongoing insecurity. Although armed groups have been forced to concede most of the main mining sites in the Kivus, they continue to control smaller mines in more remote areas and have increasingly relied on intermediaries and predatory attacks to profit from the mineral trade. Units of the former Congrès national pour la défense du peuple (CNDP) in FARDC have gained military control over most of the strategic areas rich in natural resources in the Kivus, presenting a challenge to their integration into FARDC. The process has also been undermined by the withholding by CNDP of non-integrated units and weapons, links to armed groups and profound internal divisions. More recently, CNDP has reunified and increased recruitment to oppose redeployment outside the Kivus. The arrests in Europe of senior political leaders of the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda (FDLR) has signalled stronger international resolve to bring to justice those who command and represent the group from afar. Yet the Group has found that impact of those arrests on the morale of combatants and their military leaders has been more limited than expected. FDLR increasingly works with other armed groups, including former enemies, to attack and loot both civilian and military targets. FARDC operations, meanwhile, have successfully disrupted FDLR taxation and trading activities, although the organization continues to exploit natural resources in remote areas. 10-61506 3 S/2010/596 The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) still abducts children and commits atrocities in Orientale Province, but it appears to have withdrawn most of its forces to Southern Sudan and the eastern area of the Central African Republic. The Group investigated reports of contacts between an LRA delegation and officers from the Sudanese armed forces, finding that contacts took place at the initiative of LRA, which was seeking to re-establish relations and to negotiate refuge in the Sudan. The Group also researched sources of financial and military support to the Ugandan-led Allied Democratic Forces, including from its London-based leader Jamil Mukulu and Pakistani and Moroccan trainers. Moreover, following the disappearance from Burundi in July 2010 of opposition leader Agathon Rwasa, the Group monitored the remobilization of his Forces nationales de libération movement and its use of South Kivu as a rear base, where it has already formed alliances with local armed groups. The present report documents a small number of cases of direct and command responsibility for the recruitment and use of children by the leaders of Congolese armed groups as well as two military commanders from FARDC, all of whom have used children as their personal escorts. The Group did not duplicate investigations into the mass rape of more than 300 civilians over three days in Walikale, but its research did lead to some observations on the nature of the coalition responsible for this atrocity. The report also examines a number of challenges to the transparency and traceability of mineral supply chains from the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as an industry-led initiative aimed at addressing the involvement of armed actors in the supply chain. After full and wide-ranging consultations, particularly with the Congolese Government, the Group has presented two options for due diligence guidelines. The first option, drawn precisely from the Group’s mandate, provides guidance to importers, processors and consumers of minerals from the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on how to mitigate the risk of providing direct or indirect support to illegal armed groups and/or to individuals and entities that are subject to targeted sanctions. The second option provides guidance to the same audience to mitigate the additional risks of providing direct or indirect support to criminal networks and perpetrators of serious human rights abuses within FARDC. Both options employ the same five-step risk- based due diligence approach developed by the Group and other stakeholders through a working group hosted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to develop due diligence guidance for responsible supply chains of minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. 4 10-61506 S/2010/596 Contents Page I. Scope and methodology ......................................................... 9 II. Context ....................................................................... 11 A. Regional developments...................................................... 11 B. National context ........................................................... 12 C. Overall security context ..................................................... 13 III. Congolese armed groups......................................................... 15 A. Mai Mai Sheka/Nduma Defence for Congo ..................................... 15 B. Alliance des patriots pour un Congo libre et souverain ............................ 17 C. Forces patriotiques pour la libération du Congo.................................. 18 D. Forces républicaines fédéralistes .............................................. 20 IV. Foreign armed groups ........................................................... 23 A. Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda .................................. 23 B. Lord’s Resistance Army ..................................................... 30 C. Allied Democratic Forces.................................................... 31 D. Forces nationales de libération................................................ 32 V. Information relevant to the Sanctions Committee’s designation of individuals referred to in subparagraphs (d), (e) and (f) of paragraph 4 of resolution 1857 (2008) .................. 34 A. Political and military leaders operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and recruiting or using children in armed conflict in violation of international