CHALLENGES 2005-2006:
Congolese Mineral Wealth As Coveted As Ever
Eva Weymuller
MONGBWALU, North-Eastern DRC, Jan 4 (IPS) - A ragged gold miner dives into a
chocolate-coloured pool of sludge, resurfacing minutes later with a handful
of stones containing slivers of gold ore.
He and others like him earn about 150 dollars a month selling the gold
dust that they get by smashing the rocks, to middlemen in the north-east of
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The precious metal is then guarded
by militiamen and ferried across Lake Edward to merchants in Uganda,
according to gold traders in Bunia - the capital of Ituri province, where
Mongbwalu is situated.
In a report issued last year, the New York-based non-governmental
organisation Human Rights Watch noted that Uganda exports 60 million dollars
worth of gold annually, even though the country only produces some 25,000
dollars worth of the metal and records no legal imports. The balance of
Uganda's exports, according to 'The Curse of Gold', is mined by impoverished
Congolese villagers.
"We know that our country's gold goes to Uganda, but why should we care?
Our government does not care about us," says Floriment Lonema, 33, in
Mongbwalu.
The illegal exploitation of the DRC's gold resources is of pressing
concern on the political front, however, as it jeopardises efforts to bring
lasting peace to eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region. Various groups here
are loathe to give up control of and access to the rich Congolese mineral
deposits that were fought over during a five-year civil war in eastern DRC
that ended in 2002, although the area remains unstable.
United Nations officials first sought to highlight this matter several
years ago, accusing various states (including Uganda and neighbouring
Rwanda) of widespread looting of the DRC's mineral wealth.
In addition to deploying troops in the DRC during its five-year conflict,
Uganda and Rwanda also backed various ethnic, Congolese factions. Both
countries used security concerns to justify their actions in the DRC -
Rwanda saying its stability was threatened by the presence of genocide
suspects in eastern Congo.
A number of Hutu militants who helped carry out Rwanda's 1994 genocide
fled to the then Zaire as Tutsi rebels took control of Rwanda in that year.
This laid the ground for Rwanda's first invasion of the Congo in 1996, which
led to the downfall of Zairean leader Mobutu Sese Seko.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his Rwandan counterpart, Paul
Kagame, were "on the verge of becoming godfathers of illegal exploitation of
natural resources" observed a report by a U.N. panel of experts in 2001.
As 2006 gets underway, the illicit trade in gold, tin, timber, diamonds,
coltan and other resources continues, fueled by demand from European and
south-east Asian firms that import the resources from Uganda and Rwanda.
"Our gold is a curse. I lost my family when militias fought for it," says
Pascal Kalabo, 36, a miner who dives into 18-metre deep holes to fish out
gold ore. "And now I have to dig it up so I can live."
An Indian gold trader in Mongbwalu, David Dhal, says gold supply chains
in Ituri are highly organised, and controlled by wealthy businessmen abroad
who make use of local agents.
The 2001 U.N. report listed over 30 companies and individuals in Europe
and Asia that imported the DRC's minerals via Rwanda - and the world body
again pointed the finger at these firms and persons in a later report,
issued 2003. The accused entities swiftly denied the U.N.'s allegations,
however.
"Though you will not find a single company working in Ituri, there are
hundreds of independent agents on the ground working for a single patron,"
says Dhal, adding that pay-offs to customs and border officials facilitate
the illegal export of gold.
Dhal claims that foreign mineral firms prefer to commission agents in
Congo than bring costly mining equipment to a country where ethnic tensions
are always on the verge of exploding into violence. This is despite the fact
that the current way of doing business is said to feed regional instability
(about four million people are believed to have died in the 1998/2002 war).
"Nobody is willing to invest in such an unstable country," he says.
"Using agents is a business model that has worked."
The 2001 U.N. report recommended a temporary embargo on exports of
minerals from Rwanda and Uganda and suspending international aid to the two
countries.
But, governments in the developed world appear reluctant to take any such
action against the two countries. Despite their alleged conduct in the DRC,
Museveni and Kagame have been hailed as forming part of a new generation of
African leaders who are helping the continent make a break with its unhappy
past.
The 2001 U.N. report alleged that mineral exploitation in Congo had
enriched Ugandan army officers and close relatives of President Museveni. In
Rwanda, the mineral exports financed the army, the document said.
Last year's study by Human Rights Watch claimed that neither Uganda nor
Rwanda had taken steps to ensure the legality of their mineral imports, even
after the U.N. allegations.
According to certain observers in the DRC, there will be little pressure
on the international community to cease importing the country's
illegally-mined resources until the Congo's own politicians - some of whom
are also accused of profiting from illicit resource exploitation - take
action.
The DRC is currently governed by a transitional administration under the
leadership of Joseph Kabila. Elections - the country's first in 45 years -
are due before June.
On a more optimistic note, however, the International Court of Justice in
The Hague ruled towards the end of last year that Uganda's invasion of Congo
had been unlawful, and ordered Kampala to pay reparations for illegally
exploiting the DRC's mineral wealth and killing thousands of civilians. A
similar case against Rwanda's invasions of Congo is still pending.
Twenty-nine year old Pascal Busha also sees a brighter future than some
of his fellow miners at Mongbwalu.
"We are exploited, but Congo is a rich country," he says, squatting
beside a red bucket, full of rocks waiting to be smashed. "The rebels have
gone and the elections are coming. This country belongs to the people now."
(END/2006)
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