Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 162: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25476/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Presidential and parliamentary elections are now scheduled to take place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on 30 July 2006. These will be the first multi-party elections in the DRC in over forty years. A total of 33 candidates will contest the presidency while some 260 political parties and over 9,300 candidates will compete for the 500 legislative seats in the new parliament. Over 25 million people out of an estimated potential electorate of 28 million have registered to vote.

Successfully conducted elections are absolutely critical to the consolidation of peace and security in the DRC and in the Great Lakes Region as a whole. The international community, including Ireland and its EU partners, is investing heavily in ensuring that the forthcoming elections are successful, given the major organisational challenge they represent for a country the size of western Europe with extremely poor basic infrastructure and ongoing security problems. The EU and its Member States alone are contributing some €235 million towards the overall cost of the elections which are estimated at well over $300 million. The EU will also deploy a 250-strong electoral observation mission, including two observers from Ireland, to monitor the elections.

Nationally, Ireland is also actively supporting the electoral process in the DRC. The Government has contributed a total of €1.3 million in support of the DRC elections, including a contribution of €800,000 announced by my Department last month in support of the South African Independent Electoral Commission which is assisting in the logistical organisation and oversight of the elections. The Government has also decided to provide five Permanent Defence Force personnel to serve with the EUFOR RDC mission which the EU is deploying, at UN request, to provide support, if required, to the UN MONUC peace-keeping mission during the electoral period. Ireland also provides three members of the PDF who serve with MONUC while the Government has also contributed over €11 million for emergency and recovery activities in the DRC since 2002, almost €5 million of which has been provided to date in 2006.

The DRC will continue to face considerable challenges in the post-election period and it will be important for the international community to remain engaged in support. Particular challenges will be security sector reform and completing the integration of national armed and police forces. The EU is already offering extensive support in this area though the EUSEC and EUPOL ESDP missions. The successful holding of the second Summit of the Great Lakes Conference, now provisionally scheduled for next December in Nairobi, would also help to underpin security in the DRC and throughout the region. A UN Security Council mission visited the DRC earlier this month and raised some of these themes in its discussions with the DRC government and parties.