Making heavily-indebted Congo’s management of oil revenues more transparent is the key to the country’s development, as the IMF and World Bank have recognised. France has a particular responsibility to help: former state oil company Elf’s secret system of kickbacks, influence-peddling and oil-backed loans, culminating in its support for both sides in Congo’s 1997 civil war, led the country down the path of indebtedness and unaccountable government.