The M23 rebels are among the other rebel groups and Congolese army who have been accused of extorting money from locals to pay their soldiers. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

By Taylor Toeka Kakala
GOMA , Mar 15 2013 (IPS)

On the way to his fields, Denise Mambo, a resident of Kitshanga, North Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, stops at a rope laid across his path.

“No one is allowed to go past this rope without paying the ‘lala salama’,” a Congolese army (FARDC) sergeant known only by the nickname Django tells IPS.

The “lala salama”, Swahili for “sleep in peace”, is an illegal tax often imposed by the army and rebels in the eastern DRC battlegrounds of North and South Kivu, Maniema, Katanga and Eastern provinces — and particularly in the Ituri region in the northeast.

Initially, “lala salama” was the name of a radio programme broadcast by Kisangani-based Radio Liberté, in northeastern DRC, in 2000. At the time, the programme was run by an officer belonging to a Congolese political grouping allied to Uganda, which accused Rwanda and its allies within the DRC of causing the country’s misfortunes.

Now “lala salama” is more about money than ideology.

Each person on their way to harvest their fields must pay a tax of one dollar or an equivalent of two to three kilogrammes of harvested crops to the men posted at the informal checkpoints. This illegal tax is sometimes called a “security contribution.”

“Sometimes the army and the militia will start fighting just to control a market or a path leading to the fields,” Jean Ngoa, the traditional leader for Kitshanga, North Kivu, told IPS.

The armed groups have also levied a tax parallel to the local authority taxes in market places. The tax ranges from 20 cents to 10 dollars, depending on the quantity of a vendor’s merchandise. This money is payable on market days, usually twice a week, and mirrors the rates of local authorities, who also collect them at similar times.

Ever since the failed integration of former rebels into the Congolese army in 2009, which led to the M23 rebellion or army mutiny in April 2012, the civilian population has become one of the main sources of income to feed the FARDC, armed rebel groups, and Rwandese militia such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.

Today, all five provinces of eastern DRC abound with militia, and thousands of civilians have been victims of looting, rape and murder, according to Juvenal Munubo, a parliamentarian for Walikale, North Kivu, and a member of the National Assembly’s Committee for Defence and Security.

“But civilians are also subjected to unbearable financial exploitation,” he told IPS.

General François Olenga was appointed chief-of-staff of the FARDC in November 2012, following accusations in a United Nations report that his predecessor, General Gabriel Amisi, was selling arms to the rebels. Olenga acknowledged the inefficiency of the army and tried to reassure his troops. “I will personally make sure that every soldier receives his pay,” he promised at the time.

Although army chiefs say the average salary of a soldier increased from 10 to 60 dollars a month between 2006 and 2013, soldiers say their pay is inadequate and irregular. Civilians have been the easiest prey for racketeering.

“If we are lucky enough to receive money, we get 60,000 dollars to pay one thousand men, including officers,” Captain George Sakombi of the 810th regiment in Masisi, North Kivu told IPS.

“We were in an army with no pay,” Lieutenant-Colonel Vianney Kazarama, the spokesperson for the M23 rebels who took control of Goma during November 2012, told IPS. The M23 rebels are from the former National Congress for the Defence of the People, which signed a peace accord with the Congolese government in March 2003.

The “lala salama” tax has encouraged the creation of armed groups. In North Kivu, for example, between 2008 and 2013, the number of armed groups increased from 12 to 25, according to civil society organisations. In South Kivu, the number of armed groups has risen from 11 in 2008 to some 20 in 2013.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a teacher from the market town of Kashuga, North Kivu told IPS that his village was attacked 12 times between April and July 2012 by the Congolese armed forces, the rebel Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo, and the M26 group. The latter is a new rebel group, which is demanding the full implementation of the March 2009 peace accord between the government and the Congolese Patriotic Resistance, which is now a political party.

“When they took over Kashuga, the M26 forced every person over 13 years to pay 1,200 Congolese francs (just over a dollar),” he said. The tax is called “rengera buzima”, which means “protect life” in Kinyarwanda, the local language.

Unlike the “lala salama” where no one asks for proof of payment, “the M26 militia go through the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps, schools and churches to force everyone to show their ‘rengera buzima’ receipts,” the teacher said.

Even small shopkeepers in Karachi’s crowded marketplaces are not safe from extortion. Credit: Zainub Razvi/CC-BY-SA-2.0

By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI, Sep 24 2012 (IPS)

The cost of doing business in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi is steep. Surviving the climate of impunity now requires more than bags of protection money – it also calls for a stoutness of heart.

“Kidnapping for ransom and extortion have become the norm here, not an exception,” a 50-year-old factory owner in Karachi told IPS. He considers himself lucky that he pays a “protection” bribe of 50,000 rupees (528 dollars) every month when others around him are forced to pay much more.

The extortionists, locally called the ‘bhatta mafia’, are often young men between 18 and 30 years old, wielding state of the art ammunition. They have the support of four major political parties – the ruling Pakistan People’s Party, the Awami National Party, the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) and the Haqiqi.

Recently, the Taliban have also been demanding a slice of the Karachi extortion pie.

The bhatta epidemic started about three years ago, according to Anjum Nisar, former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

Nisar told IPS that the problem was initially concentrated in a few of Karachi’s industrialised zones like Korangi and SITE, but has now engulfed the whole city including shopping areas and marketplaces and become “quite uncontrollable”.

Not only factory owners and big industrialists but also small shopkeepers are at the mercy of blackmailers.

There are three or four ways employed to extort money, shopkeepers located in the city’s wholesale market for automobile spare parts told IPS. The fear factor is so intense that most were even afraid to speak, let alone identify themselves on the record.

“It starts with one phone call where they demand a ridiculous amount. Then they give you information about where your kids study and their regular haunts. If you resist, you will either get shots fired on your shutters or a brand new bullet sent to you along with a note saying, “this will be used either on one of your employees or even you”,” explained one of the shopkeepers on condition of anonymity. Those gathered around nodded in silent agreement.

“Because you know these threats are real, you negotiate and come to a mutually agreed amount,” a white-haired store owner on Tariq Road, one of the most popular market places in Karachi and home to over 2,000 shops, multi-storey plazas, showrooms and offices, told IPS.

“(The bribers) have got guts, they even leave messages on your cell phone; if you go to the police to trace the number, the latter usually tell you to pay up,” he added incredulously.

“And it’s not just the police, who are under-resourced anyway; even ministers or members of parliament, many of whom are known to us on a personal level, tell us it is best to settle,” interrupted his neighbour, adding that the “extortion epidemic” is now beyond anyone’s control.

Shopkeepers at the Plaza, the biggest auto spare parts marketplace in the city, say they pay anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 rupees (roughly 50 to 100 dollars) annually to each gang. There are over half a dozen gangs, all of whom operate under the umbrella of some political party or another.

“There are also random telephone calls ordering us to whip up anywhere between 200,000 to 500,000 rupees (2,000 to 5,000 dollars) within a few days’ notice,” a business owner at the Plaza told IPS.

Several others told IPS the mafia has devised a myriad ways to extort money.

“They kidnap you, make you call your family from your phone and ask them to arrange for a certain sum of money in two hours. These are speedy kidnappings and you are released within a few hours,” said a bearded man who appeared to be in his late fifties.

He refused to be identified, saying it was too dangerous. “These young men are very clever and may just come to me with this article asking why I dared to speak,” he explained.

“Our young men have found an easy way of making money,” added his friend, also requesting anonymity. “I’d say a few are educated, but what they earn (through this racket) is more than a fresh business graduate could earn in a month. And the kick they get out of holding a TT (semi-automatic) pistol, using filthy language and scaring the daylights out of people gives them a certain power they wallow in.”

According to Nisar, massive unemployment could be a factor. “About three million people entering the job market each year are unable to find employment,” he said.

“As a result these young job seekers turn to illegal ways of making easy money.”

National impact

Karachi, a sprawling city of 18 million, is the country’s economic hub, accounting for 95 percent of Pakistan’s foreign trade and contributing 30 percent of national industrial production.

“Pakistan is losing between 1.3 and two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) annually due to the energy crises and an ineffective law and order apparatus,” said Nisar, citing financial ministry statistics.

“A tax base of less than 9.5 percent, coupled with the highest interest rate for the private sector in the region (roughly 13 to 14 percent), has ruined the investment climate completely,” he lamented.

Now, extortionists are sapping the city’s economic potential even further. Compared to the economic performances of other countries in the region, the impact of lawlessness on Pakistan’s economy is startling.

“In 2002 Vietnam’s exports totalled two billion dollars; by 2012 that had increased to 80 billion dollars. South Korea was way behind us in 1965 and they used our economic model. Look at them now — their exports have reached 550 billion dollars. India’s exports are worth 300 billion dollars. We’re so well endowed both with natural as well as human resources and yet our exports amount to less than 24 billion dollars,” Nisar pointed out.

He said the cost of doing business in Karachi was much higher than doing it in other cities in the region. “We pay through our noses for private security for our factories and families – the 30,000 police deployed in the streets are just not enough to manage the city’s 18 million residents. In addition, the insurance rates have also gone up.”

The former president of Pakistan’s Automobile and Spare Parts Importers and Dealers Association, 53-year old Arshad Islam, has one solution on his mind: “Make Karachi weapon-free and these gun-toting young men will come to their senses.”

He also suggested the imposition of a night curfew. “This will act as a deterrent, as many lootings take place in the night,” he told IPS.

Until those measures are implemented, “we have demanded that the government give us licences to keep weapons,” Nisar said.

At a recent meeting called by the chief minister of the Sindh province, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, the inspector general of police and officials of intelligence agencies briefed local politicians and businessmen on the law and order situation and claimed they were not even equipped to trace the phone calls made by blackmailers.

But residents and victims of the wave of extortion are not convinced.

“I cannot believe the government machinery cannot deal with this plague, which is going on right under their noses. If our intelligence agencies can dig up and hand over hard-core militants, surely these criminals, who are very visible, can be easily caught?” a shopkeeper on Tariq Road exclaimed.

(END)