Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the adequacy of support by the UK and partners for peacekeeping operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo to help prevent the involvement of (a) the Wagner Group and (b) other Russian state-backed operations.

The UK is committed to supporting efforts to build stability and reduce violence in DRC. In 2021/22, the UK will contribute approximately £45 million and three military staff officers to the UN Peacekeeping Mission, MONUSCO. MONUSCO works to protect civilians, humanitarian personnel, and human rights defenders under imminent threat of physical violence and to address conflict for example through stabilisation support and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of armed groups. The DRC Government retains ultimate responsibility for security and stability, and we regularly discuss the importance of ensuring coherence, transparency, accountability and protection of civilians in security operations. The UK remains deeply concerned by the destabilising role the Russian mercenary group, Wagner, is playing in Africa. As I have said previously, the Wagner Group is a driver of conflict and capitalises on instability for its own interests, as we have seen in other countries affected by conflict such as Libya and the Central African Republic. Wagner does not offer long-term security answers in Africa.