Final report of the panel of experts on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

This controversial report presents the results of the panel's investigations into trade in diamonds, coltan and other natural resources.The authors make a number of allegations regarding Rwandan and Ugandan government support of armed militia and illegal exploitation in areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that those countries control.They refer to documentary and other evidence collected during their study, that implicates a number of international companies in illegal activities such as smuggling diamonds, trading in illegal 'conflict' diamonds, avoiding taxes, being involved with illegal arms trading and contravening sanctions against Zimbabwe by supporting their military.The report names 85 companies that it considers to be in contravention of OECD guidelines, despite many being based in OECD signatory countries. The authors makes a number of recommendations, which include placing financial restrictions on 29 companies and travel bans on individuals as well as:institutional capacity buildingreform of the mining and forestry sectorto promote post-conflict peace-building measures through government support for confidence building regional organisationsstates trading in diamonds signing up to the Kimberley Processimproving legislation and enforcement against trade in endangered speciesdeveloping an effective monitoring process