Both sides are using local proxies to keep control

Throughout its history, the country's resources have been stolen by colonists, corrupt rulers and most recently neighbouring countries, with the proceeds laundered via a dizzying array of methods.

But now, Central Bank Governor Jean-Claude Masangu told a conference on fraud in Kinshasa, the authorities urgently need to start plugging the holes in the DRC's financial system.

The bank, he said, "must pursue the restructuring of the financial system in order to create a healthy, well-regulated banking system with modern payment methods".

All sides want to control the oil, gold and diamonds produced in north-east Congo... and the local population is caught in the middle More on the fight over Ituri's resources

That means new laws designed to crack down on money laundering, he said.

The Bank has set up a committee to examine just what new legislation and structures are needed, and is expected to report back by October 2003.

Back on the road

Help from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, both of whom returned to the DRC in 2001, has helped encourage some inward investment, and a dozen banks have reopened.

And a long-negotiated peace deal was finally signed earlier in April, setting up a transitional government to try to guide the country to its first elections in four decades.

But even new laws may make little difference, given the lawlessness that prevails across much of the country.

The DRC remains a black hole for criminals and others bent on exploiting its riches, as a United Nations Security Council expert panel has found.

According to the panel's reports, Congolese elites are conspiring with top military and political figures in Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe - with help from a selection of US, European and Russian figures - to extract gold, coltan, oil, diamonds and cut timber.

Daggers drawn

Recently, as BBC News Online reported, renewed fighting across the oil- and mineral-rich north-east has been exacerbated by rivalry between Uganda and Rwanda over who should control the valuable resources.

The economy of the whole of Central Africa, the UN expert panel said, is now warped by what became known as "Africa's world war", which according to some estimates has now killed as many as 4 million people.

The chaotic state of most of the DRC means that most transactions are informal and cash-based and the borders are porous.

That makes it easy to launder money through banks, bureaux de change, money transfer services, brokers and diamond traders, not to mention through inflated invoices on otherwise legitimate deals.