Although Britain has never directly colonised DRC, British companies are deeply involved in the exploitation of the country’s mineral wealth. DRC has the world’s largest deposits of copper, cobalt, coltan and cadmium, as well as chrome, timber, tin, rubber, oil, uranium, germanium, diamonds and gold. The war that has taken the lives of over 5 million people in DRC has been depicted in the international media as an ‘ethnic war’ or a ‘civil war’. In reality it is a war for the control of these resources. Since his election last year, Kabila has signed lucrative contracts with multinational companies, many of which have British links.

The more implicated in the country Britain is, the more important it becomes for the government to keep up the illusion that DRC is ‘safe’ and that the people seeking asylum here from DRC have ‘unmeritorious’ or even ‘fraudulent’ asylum claims.

The possibility of safe deportations to DRC is being challenged through the courts in the Country Guidance Tribunal due to be heard in September. Despite this hearing being due, a charter flight has been booked for 30 August and asylum seekers from DRC given removal directions for this day. The judicial review challenges these directions and the legality/reasonableness of proceeding with deportations before the Country Guidance Tribunal takes place