A short post today as I have limited time here today.
Last Friday, my teammate J and I flew to Butembo - a bustling trading town where small vendors on every street offer to buy gold from artisanal miners and then export it on to Dubai or Kampala for processing and further export. We ended up staying the night as the 10:00 bus we'd been told about never materialized (in fact it runs only once a day at 7:00 a.m.), we also tried to get into a car share but six passengers were needed and by early afternoon it was clear more passengers would not be forthcoming and we were not keen to be travelling at night. So Saturday morning we took the early bus and arrived in Bunia midafternoon - to the delight of R and C who had taken the bus all the way from Goma to Bunia (also with an overnight in Butembo) a few days ahead of us. In Bunia we had a meeting with the head of office Bunia province, for MONUC, the UN mission to Congo. We also met with a man working with a union of sorts of artisanal gold miners (of which we learned there are about 100,000 in Ituri district - a serious glut of miners who earn very little as the gold is very difficult to find and the labour is difficult to retrieve it). We also met with the local Anglican Bishop to learn about their programs on peace and reconcliaton, including their work to reintegrate former child soldiers and former militia members.
Bunia, and most of Ituri province, is post conflict with the last major fighting taking place in 2006 when multiple militia and rebel groups were active. Now, there are remnants of those groups and occasional fighting (as recent as 2 months ago) but the area is rebuilding, construction of new homes and reconstruction of destroyed buildings is evident. The market was full of people and activity and we really were in a different world from Goma. There is still a lot of need for trauma counselling and post conflict work, but the lethal violence appears to be mostly over.
A few pics from that trip will be forthcoming as I cannot upload today.
til next time,
a.
30 January 2009
22 January 2009
changes in North Kiva
Much is happening in the region this week. We learned yesterday that an estimated 2,000 Rwandan troops (reported numbers range from 1,500 - 3,000) have entered DRC just north of Goma to assist the Congolese military in a 10-15 day offensive against alleged Hutu rebels. So far there has been no reported fighting as both military's are still in the preparation stage. We are on the main road north and have always seen lots of military and UN traffic but the past days has been truckloads of soldiers headed north, but also public trucks carrying people north, who are hoping to return to their homes as they see a sign of hope. Personally I'm not sure I'd go home just yet. The one's we see who appear to be returning are not people who were in the IDP camps but rather people who had just been on the streets of Goma and were likely more recently displaced than others. I don't know for sure.
Another interesting fact, as you'll see in the BBC article below is that the military is blocking MONUC and aid agencies from getting through on this same road.
My two teammates, C and R, took a public bus to Butembo yesterday (an all day journey) and passed through this area, the first day after the Rwandan forces came over the first day after the rebel checkpoints were allegedly dismantled. We will meet up with them in Bunia on Friday and learn more about their trip. What they've told us so far was that while there are still some checkpoint they are now staffed by mixed troops, rebels who have joined forces with the military as well as military and Rwandans. It will be very interesting to see what happens.
I am flying to Butembo with my teammate J tomorrow morning. Not quite feeling up to taking a public bus through the area just yet. From Butembo we'll take a bus to Bunia where we hope to learn more about gold/diamond mining and oil developments in Lake Albert.
Am not sure if I'll have internet in Bunia so next post may not be until next Wednesday when I am back in Goma.
And I still have 5 weeks to go!
Thanks for reading,
a.
Another interesting fact, as you'll see in the BBC article below is that the military is blocking MONUC and aid agencies from getting through on this same road.
My two teammates, C and R, took a public bus to Butembo yesterday (an all day journey) and passed through this area, the first day after the Rwandan forces came over the first day after the rebel checkpoints were allegedly dismantled. We will meet up with them in Bunia on Friday and learn more about their trip. What they've told us so far was that while there are still some checkpoint they are now staffed by mixed troops, rebels who have joined forces with the military as well as military and Rwandans. It will be very interesting to see what happens.
I am flying to Butembo with my teammate J tomorrow morning. Not quite feeling up to taking a public bus through the area just yet. From Butembo we'll take a bus to Bunia where we hope to learn more about gold/diamond mining and oil developments in Lake Albert.
Am not sure if I'll have internet in Bunia so next post may not be until next Wednesday when I am back in Goma.
And I still have 5 weeks to go!
Thanks for reading,
a.
BBC: Congo troops bar UN and aid staff
Congolese soldiers have been accused of barring UN troops and aid staff from an area where an operation with Rwandan troops is ongoing on a Hutu militia.
A UN spokesman in the Democratic Republic of Congo told the BBC it was "deplorable", when so many displaced people were in desperate need of help.
At least 3,000 Rwandan troops have crossed the border for the joint push on Rwandan FDLR fighters since Tuesday.
The rebel group's leaders have been linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
DR Congo and Rwanda agreed last month to take joint action against the Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which is estimated to be more than 6,000-strong.
The BBC's Thomas Fessy in the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, says hundreds more Rwandan troops entered North Kivu province on Wednesday, according to UN sources, following the 2,000 who crossed over the day before.
Our correspondent says there has been no fighting reported so far as both armies appear to be still making preparations. 
Some troops are heading towards Rutshuru, 70km (45 miles) north of Goma, and others have been deployed near the strategic town of Sake, 30km (12 miles) west of the provincial capital.
The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) said its peacekeepers and aid workers had been blocked by Congolese troops at checkpoints north of Goma.
Monuc military spokesman Lt Col Jean Paul Dietrich told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme they had protested to the Congolese authorities.
"We've just tried to negotiate since yesterday that our force should have the [access] guarantee," he said.
"Not only for us, the Monuc force, but as well all humanitarian [agencies] desperately need to get to those IDPs [internally displaced persons] in those areas.
"And so far it seems that the blockade cannot be lifted and we deplore that and we cannot accept that. We will continue to keep up pressure."
AFP news agency reported that a convoy of Indian UN peacekeepers and a Red Cross vehicle had been turned away.
The Congolese authorities have said the operation to flush out the FLDR would last between 10 and 15 days, but Lt Col Dietrich said this would be a "very challenging task" in such a short timeframe.
'Simply grave'
Congolese President Joseph Kabila has reportedly come under fire for not informing parliament about the invitation to Rwandan troops.
"If what I'm told is true, it's quite simply grave. It raises lots of questions," parliamentary speaker Vital Kamerhe told the UN-run Radio Okapi.
The UN and aid agencies have raised concerns about the threat posed to civilians on the ground.
Rwanda twice invaded its much larger neighbour during the 1990s, saying it was pursuing the FDLR.
But analysts say much of the fighting is also linked to eastern DR Congo's rich mineral resources, which all sides have been accused of plundering.
Action against the Hutu fighters has been a key demand of the Congolese Tutsi rebel CNDP (National Congress for the Defence of the People), which declared a ceasefire last week.
The CNDP, which seized swathes of territory last year, has offered to join Congolese government troops in fighting the FDLR.
Our correspondent says the CNDP may well be part of the operation, but no details have been given about how they could be integrated to the Congolese army.
On-and-off fighting involving the CNDP, FDLR, the army and pro-government militias has forced more than one million people in North Kivu to flee their homes since late 2006.
Before last month's deal was signed, the UN accused Rwanda and DR Congo of fighting a proxy war in the region - with Rwanda backing Gen Nkunda and DR Congo of working with the FDLR.
21 January 2009
Mount Nyiragongo, our neighbourhood volcano
A random little blog about our local volcano. Mount Nyiragongo last errupted in 2002 and wreaked quite a bit of havoc in Goma. For more info visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1766170.stm.
In the time I've been here rarely have I been able to actually see Nyiragongo as we haven't had clear skies, but I recently shot the two below and one of the volcanic activity signs (with my teammate Jan) in town which is their warning sysem. Radio is used to alert people of concerns and a siren sounds in case of evacuation. Currently the flag is green 'normal volcanic activity', whew!
In the time I've been here rarely have I been able to actually see Nyiragongo as we haven't had clear skies, but I recently shot the two below and one of the volcanic activity signs (with my teammate Jan) in town which is their warning sysem. Radio is used to alert people of concerns and a siren sounds in case of evacuation. Currently the flag is green 'normal volcanic activity', whew!
19 January 2009
Life in Goma
Hi folks,
Have not had internet access since my last post so this is a bit of a treat for me. After having lovely high speed dsl in my own house, this is an adjustment! But really I couldn't have expected much more.
So the biggest personal news to share is that last Wednesday, the 14th, our compound (where we live with Salesian priests and brothers) was robbed by 4-5 armed men (we've determined that they were not military or militia but just civilian criminals). I had just gone to bed when I heard a loud shouting from one of the priests and thought he'd been hurt. I then heard voices outside my door and promptly turned out my light, put back on all of my clothes in case I needed to leave and double checked the lock on my bedroom door before sitting on the bed listening and waiting for what might happen and praying no one would get hurt or killed. It turns out that the other two women did the same, though one locked herself in her bathroom (I don't have my own) as the men broke her window and climbed in. None of the women were found and while we were terrified we are all okay. All of the men, the 5
Salesians and my male teammate were rounded up at gunpoint and taken to the dining room where they were held at gunpoint while rooms were searched, computers, cell phones, money and personal items (watches, etc) were taken. Two of the fathers were roughed up but no lasting or serious injuries. When a knock on my door and a familiar voice told me it was okay to come out, I did and after a headcount and seeing that no one was seriously injured my trembling slowed, but none of us got much sleep that night.
Our story however is not uncommon in this region and some say in any part of Congo. When there is war and people are desparate, criminality increases. We and the Salesians, have received incredible support from the community, our friends and partners. And in this outpouring of support we have heard their stories, their robberies and assaults and we have been welcomed into life in Goma as most people see it. It does give me another perspective and shows me too that I am not ready to live in a village hut with a curtain for a door. I may never be and that's okay.
I won't say more about it but wanted people to know what life can be like here.
Friday and Saturday were national holidays (hence internet and businesses were closed) and we had unexpected days off. The holidays were in memory of the death of the first Kabil and of Lumumba respectively. It was good to have the days off to recover from the fright of the robbery as well as to discuss security issues and spend time with those stopping in to visit. Pole (polay) is the Swahili word for sorry and is the word used when bumping someone in the street to expressing sympathy after a death. It has proved a most useful word and has been used much this week. People come to give pole.
Shortly we have a meeting with MONUC, the local UN force (17000 troops in DRC) and later this week we plan to head north to Bunia (if you check a map it's just west of lake Albert) in Ituri province where we hope to learn more about artisnal gold/diamond mining and oil exploration. I am not sure if we will have internet access there but I will write as soon as we're back should I not have access.
The situation on the ground seems to be changing. We learned yesterday and today that there is a divide in one of the major rebel groups, one advocating for peace and we've heard that checkpoints (by rebels) have been removed on the road to the north (held by the CNDP, Nkunda's forces) If this is true, and we'll find out soon, this is a big and potentially positive shift.
This is a lot of text but hope to have more photos soon as well!
Thanks everyone for your continued support.
peace,
a.
Have not had internet access since my last post so this is a bit of a treat for me. After having lovely high speed dsl in my own house, this is an adjustment! But really I couldn't have expected much more.
So the biggest personal news to share is that last Wednesday, the 14th, our compound (where we live with Salesian priests and brothers) was robbed by 4-5 armed men (we've determined that they were not military or militia but just civilian criminals). I had just gone to bed when I heard a loud shouting from one of the priests and thought he'd been hurt. I then heard voices outside my door and promptly turned out my light, put back on all of my clothes in case I needed to leave and double checked the lock on my bedroom door before sitting on the bed listening and waiting for what might happen and praying no one would get hurt or killed. It turns out that the other two women did the same, though one locked herself in her bathroom (I don't have my own) as the men broke her window and climbed in. None of the women were found and while we were terrified we are all okay. All of the men, the 5
Salesians and my male teammate were rounded up at gunpoint and taken to the dining room where they were held at gunpoint while rooms were searched, computers, cell phones, money and personal items (watches, etc) were taken. Two of the fathers were roughed up but no lasting or serious injuries. When a knock on my door and a familiar voice told me it was okay to come out, I did and after a headcount and seeing that no one was seriously injured my trembling slowed, but none of us got much sleep that night.
Our story however is not uncommon in this region and some say in any part of Congo. When there is war and people are desparate, criminality increases. We and the Salesians, have received incredible support from the community, our friends and partners. And in this outpouring of support we have heard their stories, their robberies and assaults and we have been welcomed into life in Goma as most people see it. It does give me another perspective and shows me too that I am not ready to live in a village hut with a curtain for a door. I may never be and that's okay.
I won't say more about it but wanted people to know what life can be like here.
Friday and Saturday were national holidays (hence internet and businesses were closed) and we had unexpected days off. The holidays were in memory of the death of the first Kabil and of Lumumba respectively. It was good to have the days off to recover from the fright of the robbery as well as to discuss security issues and spend time with those stopping in to visit. Pole (polay) is the Swahili word for sorry and is the word used when bumping someone in the street to expressing sympathy after a death. It has proved a most useful word and has been used much this week. People come to give pole.
Shortly we have a meeting with MONUC, the local UN force (17000 troops in DRC) and later this week we plan to head north to Bunia (if you check a map it's just west of lake Albert) in Ituri province where we hope to learn more about artisnal gold/diamond mining and oil exploration. I am not sure if we will have internet access there but I will write as soon as we're back should I not have access.
The situation on the ground seems to be changing. We learned yesterday and today that there is a divide in one of the major rebel groups, one advocating for peace and we've heard that checkpoints (by rebels) have been removed on the road to the north (held by the CNDP, Nkunda's forces) If this is true, and we'll find out soon, this is a big and potentially positive shift.
This is a lot of text but hope to have more photos soon as well!
Thanks everyone for your continued support.
peace,
a.
13 January 2009
Images from my bus ride through Rwanda:
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Our schedule has been rather full so I haven't made it to the internet cafe – if not at the cafe when it opens (anytime between 8:30/9) it's difficult to get a computer it gets so busy.
Below, a photo of the road to my temporary home across the airport, from here it's about 10 minutes to our front gate.
Since my arrival last week and those first rainy days (this is actually a day after the rains, when it rains the street is a sea of puddles to navigate - My teammate R, in the blue hat)
I've been to several meetings with different local activists and NGOs and this past weekend we visited a small village southwest of Goma, about a two hour drive by local bus “matatu”, spending the night at a local Catholic parish, who host multiple internally displaced people (IDPs) from nearby Massissi. 
Above, at a military checkpoint the man with the stick pokes into bags of grain checking for weapons, we were told. To the right, IDPs at the Parish where we stayed in the town of Minova.
Below, on the road to Minova - looking at the first mountain ridge - about a kilometer away - is a CNDP (rebels led by Laurent Nkunda) controlled area.
Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning were spent with villagers discussing the insecurity and particular risks they face – from nearby militias as well as military forces, who are no less responsible for the human rights abuses committed here. We learned of two young girls, 12 and 13 years old, taken by force just last week by military soldiers as “wives” and there was much discussion about how to respond and how to protect the women and girls in particular. The stories we hear are very tragic and I won't go into details today, but the pain the fear is great. It isn't safe for a woman to go to gather firewood or water without risk, the alternative, staying in their home, is not feasible as then they will go hungry and they are still at risk of soldiers and militia coming for them in their homes. There is widespread impunity here. In 2006 rape was criminalized with a penalty of 20 years in jail. We learned that occasionally someone is identified and caught as a perpetrator but if he has any money, he spends little time in jail. 
Above: A footpath to the village we visited
Middle: one of many bridges crossing small streams
Bottom: children help hull beans by thrashing them with sticks
It's difficult to know how to respond. The request we are getting most frequently is to go to our governments, who they see as complicit in the war. Canada has over 40 mining companies in DRC who, we're told, are benefiting directly from the war as they are able to obtain minerals cheaply and that peace would cut into their profits. My colleagues have been researching these links, as well as with US companies. But there are so many actors, many armed militias, a corrupt military, a UN force MONUC, that is not trusted by the local population as being there in their interest. We have not met with MONUC so have no idea what they are and are not doing.This is just a bit to give you an idea of what I hear every day. My thoughts, I'm sure, will be more articulate as I learn more and can process the information, that at the moment is overwhelming.
On a positive note, yesterday, after a meeting with a local Quaker group that is very active in peacebuilding, we were hosted to a luncheon by elders in the church and enjoyed an incredibly warm welcome and a feast! Our team cooks for itself, we share a kitchen with 5 priests, and having a vegetarian on team limits our food (that and not knowing what's what at the market), so I particularly enjoyed the roast goat! The Quakers here are very active, conducting Alternative to Violence Programs in the IDP camps and to local community leaders, working hard to educate people about the use of nonviolence.
A side note to my avocado loving friends - the priests we live with have a large avocado tree and the fruit is in abundance! Mango's are also in season, so the food here is not an issue. The water we drink is boiled and then filtered, but other than avocado's, mangos and other thick skinned fruit, everything is cooked into a stew to ensure it is healthy, and as we are at a higher altitude everything takes at least twice as long to cook. We also enjoy a delicious cheese from Massissi, which I will attempt to bring home with me in March!
07 January 2009
Arrival in Goma
This is just a quick note to let you know that I arrived safely in Goma yesterday, shortly before noon, to midday temperatures of near 90F with intermittent rain, so high humidity as well. My three teammates, J, C and R, met up with me at the bus stop in Gisenyi, the town on the Rwandan side of the border, and we walked the 2 km to the border, got our Rwandan exit stamps and DRC entry stamps. Since I was with people who were reentering I think they didn't realize I was new, so my bags were not checked and I did not get the full interview the others did on their arrival, just where I was from and my profession. A great relief to me! On the Congolese side of the border we were met by one of our hosts from the group Martin Luther King, who welcomed me warmly and joined us for lunch back at the Centre Don Bosco, my home for the next two months. We took a bumpy 'moto' (motorcycle taxi's - sorry M&L, no Minsks to be seen yet) ride to the centre, and after lunch I had a chance to unpack and settle in before the first briefing.
Our amenities - running water 5-5:30 am (the only opportunity for a shower) and electricity, 5-5:30 am and 6:30-8:30 pm. Sunrise is shortly after 6 and sunset around 6 as well.
We each have our own room though, as well as the 5 Salecian brothers and fathers who live there. We share the kitchen, dining and meeting rooms, and have access to a lovely courtyard, ideal for hanging laundry!
So currently, our schedule is 6 am prayers, 6:30 meeting (daily schedule), 7:00 breakfast, then the 45 minute walk downtown to the internet cafe. The day is over with supper at 6, since nothing really happens after dark, with most of the city without electricity. During the day we might have a meeting or two, as well as some rest time during the high heat after noon.
So that's how things have begun. I'll be going to sleep earlier and waking up early, but think that'll suit me just fine. We are right across from the airport but the planes are already background noise.
That's all for now.
03 January 2009
An excellent article for some background on the conflict
(from Le Monde Diplomatique, Dec 9, 2008)
Vested interests and complex networks behind the DRC fighting
This is not an ethnic conflict
Last month, General Laurent Nkunda, the rebel leader in North Kivu, put aside his usual ethnic rhetoric to demand the renegotiation of all the contracts signed between the DRC government and Chinese companies. There is nothing ethnic about the fighting currently ravaging Kivu; like the earlier wars of 1996- 97 and 1998-2003, this conflict has to do with the way in which vested interests are exploiting the immense natural resources of the eastern DRC.
The DRC is rich in rare minerals and is believed to possess 60% of known global reserves of coltan, 10% of copper, 30-40% of cobalt, 10% of niobium and 30% of diamonds (in the Kasai region alone), as well as some of the world's potentially most significant gold reserves.
International environmental regulations now require the use of tin, rather than lead, to solder electronic printed circuits. The most important tin ore is cassiterite, and its exploitation is supplanting coltan in North and South Kivu, where other attractions include gold and the methane found in abundance beneath Lake Kivu, on the DRC's border with Rwanda. The small independent miners who extract all these minerals are just the first link in an illegal trade from which various local businessmen, mercenaries, truckers and casual customs collectors take their cut. But the real beneficiaries are the western brokers at the end of the supply chain. And inevitably there is a flourishing trade in weapons, flowing in the opposite direction.
It is hard to establish which of the foreign companies active in the region are doing best out of the militarised looting of the DRC. Most of them operate behind the cover of subsidiaries and take advantage of tax shelters where banking secrecy shields them from investigation.
The South African company Metal Processing Congo (MPC) has long played a leading role in this contraband trade (1). And foreign companies seem unconcerned tha t competition between them stirs up conflicts between factions on the ground. During the second Congo war (1998 - 2003), the MPC competed with the Canadian Banro Corporation for gold and tin deposits controlled by the Kivu Mining Company (Sominki) (2), which was itself fighting with the forces of the country's president, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Dominic Johnson and Aloys Tegera write: "At least three parties are contesting the same mining interests, and each relies upon a different political ally: that is the situation inherited from the transitional government that held power in Kinshasa in 2003. Two years later there is no sign of resolution. On the contrary, the conflict in the mining regions has continued" (3). Further north, Uganda has forged a series of contradictory alliances on the ground. During the two previous wars it contributed significantly to the political destabilisation of the north-eastern DRC, "while continuing to profit from [the region's] natural resources" (4). Another Canadian company, Barrick Gold, supported by the South African AngloGold Ashanti, took over the main mining concessions during the first Congo war. In Ituri, where the vast Kilo-Moto goldfields are situated, the Canadian company Heritage Oil owns an oil concession that extends into Uganda. Since last month, armed confrontations between pro-Uganda rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army and DRC government forces have driven out humanitarian workers. The situation is further complicated by the presence, in the south-eastern province of Katanga, of the Chinese companies China Railway Group, Sinohydro and China Eximbank. Last April, Chinese investors beat off intense competition and paid Gécamines, the DRC's state-owned mining company, $9bn for an interest in a series of mining projects worth $80bn. The controversial agreement has been attacked as unconstitutional, too advantageous to the Chinese, a risk to public debt, and for its lack of transparency. But Gécamines' Ca nadian head, Paul Fortin, obstinately defends it.
Foreign interests now exercise crucial direct and indirect control over the DRC's natural resources, either through concessions or agencies. The various armed groups and neighbouring states act as surrogates giving the foreign companies access to resources or securing concessions on their behalf.
Yet many journalists continue to talk about the region's "ethnic wars" without ever examining the economic stakes. When the fighting prevents them from exploiting their concessions, the mining companies can rely upon the crisis to encourage speculation in their shares on the financial markets. Since the present troubles began in 1996, shares in these companies, especially those most involved in prospecting, have risen with every public announcement.
First Quantum Minerals, Katanga Mining (formerly Balloch Resources) and the Lundin Group all made staggering profits after signing one-sided contracts during the 1990s. The economic journalist Nestor Kisenga has described their treatment of the DRC as "like picking up a crude painting in a flea market for peanuts, then selling it to a gallery for its real value as a masterpiece" (5).
Most of this speculative activity is carried out on the Toronto stock exchange. About 60% of the world's mining companies - not all necessarily Canadian - are quoted there. Canadian law affords the industry significant tax breaks, incentives for investors in the mining sector, lax controls on insider trading, and no serious requirement for companies to explain how they came by their profits. Between 2001 and September 2004, the Toronto stock exchange's TSX Venture index - which favours mineral prospecting companies - showed that the value of share transactions rose from $800m to $4.4bn (6).
The government is prepared to support the Canadian mining industry's foreign activities at any cost. It claims to be protecting the public interest on the grounds that the nation's savings (pension and growth funds) are pegged to the industry. Despite many serious allegations of crimes and abuses in the Great Lakes region, Canada has conducted no recent political or legal investigation into the activities of any mining company. The country has turned itself into a legal haven for the industry.
Over the past few years, the World Bank has encouraged producer states to introduce mining codes that favour private companies. The stated aim is to allow international competition to breathe life into these debt-ridden economies. But dizzying levels of consumption in the developed world are the real motive behind the race for resources - and the wars that ensue. International institutions' pious calls for good governance and for business to live up to its "social responsibilities" seem entirely inappropriate.
Delphine Abadie, Alain Deneault and William Sacher are members of the collective Ressources d'Afrique and authors of Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique, Écosociété, Montréal, 2008
(1) "Under-Mining Peace: The Explosive Trade in Cassiterite in Eastern DRC", Global Witness, Washington, 2005.
(2) The Congolese government and Banro are majority shareholders (respectively 28% and 36%) in Sominki.
(3) Dominic Johnson and Aloys Tegera, Digging Deeper: How the DR Congo's mining policy is failing the country, Pole Institute, Goma (RDC), 2005.
(4) International Crisis Group, "Congo Crisis: Military intervention in Ituri", Africa Report, no 64, Nairobi, New York, Brussels, June 2003.
(5) "Mines: des milliards de boni pour le 'quatrième pillage'", Congolité, 25 July 2006.
(6) Fodé-Moussa Keita, Les sociétés minières canadiennes d'exploration et de développement du secteur de l'or: les impacts de leurs activités en Afrique de l'Ouest, University of Quebec dissertation, Montreal, 2007
Vested interests and complex networks behind the DRC fighting
This is not an ethnic conflict
Last month, General Laurent Nkunda, the rebel leader in North Kivu, put aside his usual ethnic rhetoric to demand the renegotiation of all the contracts signed between the DRC government and Chinese companies. There is nothing ethnic about the fighting currently ravaging Kivu; like the earlier wars of 1996- 97 and 1998-2003, this conflict has to do with the way in which vested interests are exploiting the immense natural resources of the eastern DRC.
The DRC is rich in rare minerals and is believed to possess 60% of known global reserves of coltan, 10% of copper, 30-40% of cobalt, 10% of niobium and 30% of diamonds (in the Kasai region alone), as well as some of the world's potentially most significant gold reserves.
International environmental regulations now require the use of tin, rather than lead, to solder electronic printed circuits. The most important tin ore is cassiterite, and its exploitation is supplanting coltan in North and South Kivu, where other attractions include gold and the methane found in abundance beneath Lake Kivu, on the DRC's border with Rwanda. The small independent miners who extract all these minerals are just the first link in an illegal trade from which various local businessmen, mercenaries, truckers and casual customs collectors take their cut. But the real beneficiaries are the western brokers at the end of the supply chain. And inevitably there is a flourishing trade in weapons, flowing in the opposite direction.
It is hard to establish which of the foreign companies active in the region are doing best out of the militarised looting of the DRC. Most of them operate behind the cover of subsidiaries and take advantage of tax shelters where banking secrecy shields them from investigation.
The South African company Metal Processing Congo (MPC) has long played a leading role in this contraband trade (1). And foreign companies seem unconcerned tha t competition between them stirs up conflicts between factions on the ground. During the second Congo war (1998 - 2003), the MPC competed with the Canadian Banro Corporation for gold and tin deposits controlled by the Kivu Mining Company (Sominki) (2), which was itself fighting with the forces of the country's president, Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Dominic Johnson and Aloys Tegera write: "At least three parties are contesting the same mining interests, and each relies upon a different political ally: that is the situation inherited from the transitional government that held power in Kinshasa in 2003. Two years later there is no sign of resolution. On the contrary, the conflict in the mining regions has continued" (3). Further north, Uganda has forged a series of contradictory alliances on the ground. During the two previous wars it contributed significantly to the political destabilisation of the north-eastern DRC, "while continuing to profit from [the region's] natural resources" (4). Another Canadian company, Barrick Gold, supported by the South African AngloGold Ashanti, took over the main mining concessions during the first Congo war. In Ituri, where the vast Kilo-Moto goldfields are situated, the Canadian company Heritage Oil owns an oil concession that extends into Uganda. Since last month, armed confrontations between pro-Uganda rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army and DRC government forces have driven out humanitarian workers. The situation is further complicated by the presence, in the south-eastern province of Katanga, of the Chinese companies China Railway Group, Sinohydro and China Eximbank. Last April, Chinese investors beat off intense competition and paid Gécamines, the DRC's state-owned mining company, $9bn for an interest in a series of mining projects worth $80bn. The controversial agreement has been attacked as unconstitutional, too advantageous to the Chinese, a risk to public debt, and for its lack of transparency. But Gécamines' Ca nadian head, Paul Fortin, obstinately defends it.
Foreign interests now exercise crucial direct and indirect control over the DRC's natural resources, either through concessions or agencies. The various armed groups and neighbouring states act as surrogates giving the foreign companies access to resources or securing concessions on their behalf.
Yet many journalists continue to talk about the region's "ethnic wars" without ever examining the economic stakes. When the fighting prevents them from exploiting their concessions, the mining companies can rely upon the crisis to encourage speculation in their shares on the financial markets. Since the present troubles began in 1996, shares in these companies, especially those most involved in prospecting, have risen with every public announcement.
First Quantum Minerals, Katanga Mining (formerly Balloch Resources) and the Lundin Group all made staggering profits after signing one-sided contracts during the 1990s. The economic journalist Nestor Kisenga has described their treatment of the DRC as "like picking up a crude painting in a flea market for peanuts, then selling it to a gallery for its real value as a masterpiece" (5).
Most of this speculative activity is carried out on the Toronto stock exchange. About 60% of the world's mining companies - not all necessarily Canadian - are quoted there. Canadian law affords the industry significant tax breaks, incentives for investors in the mining sector, lax controls on insider trading, and no serious requirement for companies to explain how they came by their profits. Between 2001 and September 2004, the Toronto stock exchange's TSX Venture index - which favours mineral prospecting companies - showed that the value of share transactions rose from $800m to $4.4bn (6).
The government is prepared to support the Canadian mining industry's foreign activities at any cost. It claims to be protecting the public interest on the grounds that the nation's savings (pension and growth funds) are pegged to the industry. Despite many serious allegations of crimes and abuses in the Great Lakes region, Canada has conducted no recent political or legal investigation into the activities of any mining company. The country has turned itself into a legal haven for the industry.
Over the past few years, the World Bank has encouraged producer states to introduce mining codes that favour private companies. The stated aim is to allow international competition to breathe life into these debt-ridden economies. But dizzying levels of consumption in the developed world are the real motive behind the race for resources - and the wars that ensue. International institutions' pious calls for good governance and for business to live up to its "social responsibilities" seem entirely inappropriate.
Delphine Abadie, Alain Deneault and William Sacher are members of the collective Ressources d'Afrique and authors of Noir Canada: Pillage, corruption et criminalité en Afrique, Écosociété, Montréal, 2008
(1) "Under-Mining Peace: The Explosive Trade in Cassiterite in Eastern DRC", Global Witness, Washington, 2005.
(2) The Congolese government and Banro are majority shareholders (respectively 28% and 36%) in Sominki.
(3) Dominic Johnson and Aloys Tegera, Digging Deeper: How the DR Congo's mining policy is failing the country, Pole Institute, Goma (RDC), 2005.
(4) International Crisis Group, "Congo Crisis: Military intervention in Ituri", Africa Report, no 64, Nairobi, New York, Brussels, June 2003.
(5) "Mines: des milliards de boni pour le 'quatrième pillage'", Congolité, 25 July 2006.
(6) Fodé-Moussa Keita, Les sociétés minières canadiennes d'exploration et de développement du secteur de l'or: les impacts de leurs activités en Afrique de l'Ouest, University of Quebec dissertation, Montreal, 2007
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