STROUD MP David Drew recently visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here he talks about his trip and his hopes for the future of a country previously steeped in conflict which is now trying to make a new start.

DURING early October I visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo along with a small group of other Parliamentarians. The Party was led by Oona King MP for Bethnall Green and Bow, who has now been to the region four times. It was my first visit, though I have taken a long-time interest in the future of the Great Lakes Region of Africa - Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi.

This visit was at the invitation of the new transitional Government in Kinshasa. Whilst it is wrong to believe that the recent history of conflict in the DRC is at an end there is for the first time in years a hope that the country is about to make a new start.

For the main part other protagonists in the conflict, namely Rwanda and Uganda have withdrawn their forces. However there are still too many armed groups active in the east of the country to feel that peace is yet secure. During the one week visit I was able to meet with President Joseph Kabila, as well as the four Vice Presidents. These positions have been shared out between the previous protagonists.

We also met a number of Ministers who have been appointed, and leading Parliamentarians keen to learn about our democracy in Westminster. One event that will always stand out is a meeting we held with 70 recently chosen representatives, keen to know about how they might develop their new democracy.

Everyone was impressed by Kabila. He became President somewhat surprisingly, after the assassination of his father Laurent in 2001. He represents a new breed of African leader, educated, articulate and committed to a burgeoning democracy.

DRC obviously has a long, long way to go following the kleptocratic regime of Mobutu, and the conflict that has engulfed the country, costing millions of lives. We were able to discuss what is being done to try to maintain peace, including the role of the UN force MONUC which is tasked to oversee events. This is the UN's single biggest ever peace-keeping initiative.

The UN remains actively engaged in the main centres of population, and in the east of the DRC, where it is actively engaged in peace-keeping operations costing $670m a year, compared to the country's GNP of only $800m.

At the same time we were able to see what plans the DRC has in place for economic development and social change. Unfortunately the vast majority of the population live on less than a dollar a day.

Meanwhile the cost of living in Kinshasa is high for those of some means as so much of the produce has to be imported. Thus the country is full of contradiction. It has enormous resources including gold, diamonds, coltan, and many other valuable minerals - fuelling the conflict, but not resulting in any noticeable improvement in the lives of ordinary people.

We were warmly received though there were a number of diplomatic issues they had to deal with including the relations between the UK, and Rwanda as there is a remaining view that incursion from that country is a real problem. We also visited an number of non-government organisations' projects including one on providing water and education for a suburb of Kinshasa, and one run by Child Watch UK.

This recovered street children who had lost their parents through the conflict, or who had been accused of witchcraft and thrown out by parents. It was very moving to see the work of Sister Victorine, an uplifting way to finish out time in the DRC a difficult country but one with so much potential, if only they can hold together.

One thing that the visit did teach me is how important the notion of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a nation-state is to the ordinary people. So much now depends on that national identity driving forward the necessary changes to give real hope for the future.