LABOUR MPs Kim Johnson and Kate Osborne have called on the government to take action to arrest the escalating violence in eastern Congo.

They have tabled a Commons motion urging “the UK government to use sanctions and other means to hold Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda accountable for their indirect support of M-23 and the Alliance Fleuve Congo.”

Ministers are also asked “to work to ensure the inclusion of the Congolese people at the heart of negotiations, to recognise their sovereign right to democratic control of their resources, and to demand accountability for human rights violations, in order to ensure a just and lasting peace is secured.”

The motion, expected to attract the backing of more Labour and progressive MPs, expresses “deep concerns about the devastating violence in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the humanitarian crisis that’s caused over 15 million civilian deaths since 1996” and notes reports of war crimes being committed by Rwandan-backed militia.

“This violence stems from the exploitation of DRC’s vast natural resources by corporations like Glencore, often using child and slave labour,” it points out, adding that “the best path to peace and prosperity for the DRC lies in democratic ownership of its resources.”

The recent “minerals-for-security deal brokered by US President Donald Trump on the basis of continued foreign exploitation of rare minerals from eastern Congo risks deepening the root cause of the conflict and a re-escalation in violence,” Ms Johnson and Ms Osborne note.