Thank you, Chair.
Merci à tous.
I'll start with where we might find consensus among members and you. In both your responses and your opening remarks you've suggested that Canada should support peacekeeping in the Congo. I believe that's the case.
You're aware that General Leslie has been asked to head the MONUC mission, and we're waiting for the government to respond to that. I think that's a pretty clear consensus among people here, and I think people around the table would see that as something that Canada can do.
I would agree with you. When I was in the Congo last year, there was great concern among some of the international NGOs and among some of the people I talked to in the embassies from Europe and in our own embassy around the Congolese army and how effective it was beyond Kinshasa and that region, and specifically in the DRC. One of the issues was how the army is paid.
There had been some work done to normalize the standards within the Congolese army--that is, to make sure that the people who were enlisted in the Congolese army were going to be paid. One of the concerns I heard was that basically the upper echelon were responsible for paying the soldiers and they would literally come out with bags of cash to hand out to the soldiers. Often the money wasn't being handed out to the soldiers, so the soldiers went out and got involved in activities they shouldn't have been involved in.
I would think there would be some need to normalize the standards within the Congolese army. I think you touched on this point. There has been an absorption within the Congolese army of many other factions, and it's not clear what the Congolese army is. I think that's something you mentioned, so clearly that's in need of help.
One thing I think Canadians are seized with are programs to fight violence against women, particularly rape, and for the prevention of rape, and also the health services that are required. The government has supported these programs, but I'm not sure if they're going to continue to support them. One of the things I heard on the ground when I was there last year is the need for airlift capacity in the east so that you can take people who have been victims of the war to clinics to get the health services they need, but there is also a need to provide support for women to prevent rape, and that requires a combination of security protection from MONUC and support for women themselves.
Finally, on mining, some work is being done in the United States on legislation to deal with minerals and mining being done in the DRC and to track it. I wonder if you have any opinion on the legislation that is being debated right now in Washington and if you think that's something Canada should be doing, because we're very implicated in mining in the east Congo.
I would say to my colleagues that we're not talking about the usual list of minerals. Coltan, which is in all the BlackBerrys we use, is probably coming from the DRC. It is a conflict mineral. Recently there have also been concerns about uranium, and of course there is a concern around where this uranium is going and what it's being used for. Clearly we need to take a look at it.
Could I, then, have your opinions on peacekeeping and the Congolese army and how that can be dealt with, as well as your opinions on support for women, both for prevention of rape and for health services? Also, could you give your opinions on legislation in Washington, if you have opinions on it, and whether we should be adopting legislation here when it comes to conflict minerals?
Thank you.