The Lutundula parliamentary commission says that dozens of contracts struck during the war years must be renegotiated. The commission uncovered illegal natural resource exploitation and profiteering from armed conflict in the Congo. The commission calls for: - The cancellation of all contracts signed during the transition process - Judicial action against government and corporate figures - Moratorium on signing of new contracts until after the election - An expansion of its mandate to investigate contracts signed during the transition period (2003 - present) - Twenty-eight Congolese and international companies to be investigated for violations of Congolese law We must fight for immediate and long term corporate responsibility by putting pressure on corporations that are illegally exploiting the natural resources of the Congo and supporting politicians and militias that are raping the Congo of its wealth at the expense of the lives of the Congo people.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) recently promulgated their constitution and adopted the electoral laws for the upcoming elections. In short, the constitution called for the following: - The president will be elected for a five-year term, renewable only once - The 11 provinces will be replaced by 25 new provinces over a three-year period - The president will pick a prime minister from the majority in the parliament - There will be a separation of powers (Judiciary, Parliament & Presidency) The parliament adopted the electoral law which gave the Electoral Commission 110 days to organize elections after President Kabila signs the document into law. The transitional constitution requires that elections be held before June 30, 2006. The Electoral Commission has scheduled the parliamentary and presidential elections for June 18, 2006. It will cost presidential candidates a $50,000 non-refundable deposit to participate in the race. Although the constitution is in place and the electoral law adopted, the key to stability and peace in the Congo does not lie in elections, in and of themselves. The future of the Congo lies in large part in the ability of the Congolese to freely and legitimately choose their own leaders as opposed to having them imposed on them which has been the case since 1885. In addition, the Congolese must be free from internal oppression and external aggression all in the name of the exploitation of their natural resources.?
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ailed to provide the people of
the Congo justice in its ruling that Rwanda was not under its
jurisdiction, therefore it could not deliver a ruling regarding the DRC
charges that Randa has plundered its resources since 1998. The fact
that the ICJ did not deliver a ruling does not mean that Rwanda is not
culpable of plundering the wealth of the Congo as several United
Nations reports have documented.