Foreign Affairs committee  Certainly, sir. As far as the involvement of MONUC is concerned, you are right, there are problems in terms of the rules of engagement. That is why, when a top Spanish general was appointed, he resigned. Seeing that his hands were tied and realizing what the rules of engagement were, he stepped down.

Foreign Affairs committee  As far as the Canadian involvement with the MONUC peace mission is concerned, last December we accompanied a delegation of the Congo National Episcopal Conference, brought over here by Development and Peace, which came to plead for more Canadian troops. You are quite right: you may know as well as I do that the Pakistani, Indian or Guatemalan troops that are there are sent by their countries as a contribution to the United Nations and often, for the Guatemalans, they're under orders to take no risks.

Foreign Affairs committee  In the eastern province, meaning in North Kivu, you are correct, it is the LRA, the Ugandan rebels who are hiding out in the eastern province and who have taken control of part of that territory. Uganda, along with Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, tried to neutralize these foreign rebel groups.

Foreign Affairs committee  The Congo has a Parliament that works, although with difficulty. During the last parliamentary session various decisions were made including ones on requiring audits of six systems such as mining contracts and crown corporations. Speaking of institutions, the Parliament works and wants to work.

Foreign Affairs committee  Are you talking about the Congo or about the National Round Table Advisory Group?

Foreign Affairs committee  Of course. As far as I know, I will say it again, there are now between eight and nine Canadian companies on site among the biggest. We always remain on the ground with the voluntary commitment of companies to apply their own internal policies on the environment and in other areas.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. The fighting is now limited to eastern Congo. We are talking here not only about North Kivu and South Kivu, but also about a large portion of the eastern province, where the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army is hiding out. So the fighting is limited to that region. It is, nonetheless, quite a large region.

Foreign Affairs committee  Yes. You are correct. Canadian companies, I can assure you, are not mixed up in the fighting. As far as I know, only one Canadian company, Banro Corporation, which set up shop in Kivu in 2004, is still doing exploration. It is the source of extremely localized fighting because people are waiting.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you. I will make some brief general remarks. First of all, I can only emphasize the importance of the standing committee's study on the Congo. I assume that you are already aware of the importance of the DRC, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Canadian policy. We are very happy to be here.