Monday, November 30, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
November 25, 2009
Join Enough's John Prendergast and 60 Minutes
This coming Sunday, November 29, CBS’ 60 Minutes - the most successful broadcast in television history - will turn its attention to the scourge of conflict minerals in Congo. Earlier this year, Enough’s co-founder, John Prendergast, accompanied the 60 Minutes team to eastern Congo to investigate the impact that the minerals trade, and particularly gold, has on the conflict. Check your local listings for the proper channel and time.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml
Join Enough's John Prendergast and 60 Minutes
This coming Sunday, November 29, CBS’ 60 Minutes - the most successful broadcast in television history - will turn its attention to the scourge of conflict minerals in Congo. Earlier this year, Enough’s co-founder, John Prendergast, accompanied the 60 Minutes team to eastern Congo to investigate the impact that the minerals trade, and particularly gold, has on the conflict. Check your local listings for the proper channel and time.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Amalgamated Metals Corporation
Global Witness names British firms dealing with Congo rebels
By Tom Parry on Jul 21, 09 07:58 AM in Congo
THE chain that links violent militia in the Congo to the pin-striped suits of the City of London is revealed in a new report today.
FDLR troops march in Democratic Republic of Congo.jpg
Campaign group Global Witness has identified two British firms as buying minerals that are funding armed groups and fuelling the bloody ongoing conflict that has already killed millions.
One is Amalgamated Metals Corporation (AMC), the parent company of THAISARCO, the world's fifth-largest tin-producing company.
THAISARCO's main supplier is Panju, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which sells tin ore, coltan and gold from mines controlled by the main rebel group the FDLR, made up of extremists behind the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Among the main shareholders of AMC are Victor Herman Sher, Geoffrey Charles Leacroft Rowan and Giles Robbins, all of whom have appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List.
The other British firm identified by Global Witness is Afrimex, a small trading company located in Middlesex.
Campaigners claim Afrimex was found to be in breach of Office for Economic Development guidelines for buying from suppliers who made payments to rebels, but has continued trading with them.
For Global Witness, the report, called 'Faced with a gun, what can you do?', is further evidence that the British government has to clamp down on companies who deal with those involved in the DRC conflict.
It says mine ownership is carved up between the national Congolese army and the FDLR Hutu militia, who share the spoils of the trade.
Director Patrick Alley said: "The British government is the largest bilateral aid donor to the DRC and a key diplomatic player. Its failure to hold British companies to account is undermining its own efforts and allowing one of the main drivers of the conflict to continue unchecked.
"We have asked the government countless times to pay more attention to the role of minerals in fuelling the conflict, and yet it seems that they are more concerned with protecting their companies' economic interests."
Despite a recent UN-backed offensive, the FDLR has been accused of escalating its use of rape, forced labour and torture to subdue the already terrified people of the Eastern Congo jungle.
It controls access to valuable minerals like casserite and coltan, which are used to make mobile phones and computers.
Commenting on the recent increase in violence against civilians blamed on the FDLR, Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in the DRC, said: "The offensive against the FDLR was supposed to bring peace to eastern Congo, but our survey shows people are living in constant fear of violent attack.
"This suffering is not inevitable. It is happening because world leaders have decided that collateral damage is an acceptable price to pay for removing the FDLR. But as the people we met can testify, that price is far too high."
By Tom Parry on Jul 21, 09 07:58 AM in Congo
THE chain that links violent militia in the Congo to the pin-striped suits of the City of London is revealed in a new report today.
FDLR troops march in Democratic Republic of Congo.jpg
Campaign group Global Witness has identified two British firms as buying minerals that are funding armed groups and fuelling the bloody ongoing conflict that has already killed millions.
One is Amalgamated Metals Corporation (AMC), the parent company of THAISARCO, the world's fifth-largest tin-producing company.
THAISARCO's main supplier is Panju, based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which sells tin ore, coltan and gold from mines controlled by the main rebel group the FDLR, made up of extremists behind the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Among the main shareholders of AMC are Victor Herman Sher, Geoffrey Charles Leacroft Rowan and Giles Robbins, all of whom have appeared on the Sunday Times Rich List.
The other British firm identified by Global Witness is Afrimex, a small trading company located in Middlesex.
Campaigners claim Afrimex was found to be in breach of Office for Economic Development guidelines for buying from suppliers who made payments to rebels, but has continued trading with them.
For Global Witness, the report, called 'Faced with a gun, what can you do?', is further evidence that the British government has to clamp down on companies who deal with those involved in the DRC conflict.
It says mine ownership is carved up between the national Congolese army and the FDLR Hutu militia, who share the spoils of the trade.
Director Patrick Alley said: "The British government is the largest bilateral aid donor to the DRC and a key diplomatic player. Its failure to hold British companies to account is undermining its own efforts and allowing one of the main drivers of the conflict to continue unchecked.
"We have asked the government countless times to pay more attention to the role of minerals in fuelling the conflict, and yet it seems that they are more concerned with protecting their companies' economic interests."
Despite a recent UN-backed offensive, the FDLR has been accused of escalating its use of rape, forced labour and torture to subdue the already terrified people of the Eastern Congo jungle.
It controls access to valuable minerals like casserite and coltan, which are used to make mobile phones and computers.
Commenting on the recent increase in violence against civilians blamed on the FDLR, Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in the DRC, said: "The offensive against the FDLR was supposed to bring peace to eastern Congo, but our survey shows people are living in constant fear of violent attack.
"This suffering is not inevitable. It is happening because world leaders have decided that collateral damage is an acceptable price to pay for removing the FDLR. But as the people we met can testify, that price is far too high."
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
DR CONGO: Urban Water Supply Needs Attention - IPS ipsnews.net
DR CONGO: Urban Water Supply Needs Attention - IPS ipsnews.net
Posted using ShareThis
DR CONGO:
Urban Water Supply Needs Attention
Emmanuel Chaco
KINSHASA, Nov 17 (IPS) - Kinshasa's population needs an estimated 700,000 cubic metres of water per day. The Régie de distribution des eaux (REGIDESO) produces only 425,000 cubic metres - vast neighbourhoods like Kitokimosi and Mpasa receive almost none of this water.
The situation in other parts of the country is similar if not worse.
"In total, only 22 percent of Congolese have access to drinking water, while the average in sub-Saharan Africa is around 60 percent," says Frank Bousquet, from the World Bank's Urban Potable Water Supply Project (known by its French acronym, PEMU).
"The lack of drinking water poses a significant threat to public health and it is the poor who pay the heaviest price for this inefficient service. They pay seven times more for a litre of water than they would if water services operated properly."
Jean-Pierre Kajangu, from the health economics programme at the School of Public Health at the University of Kinshasa says the situation is serious. "It's not just the health of residents of Kitokimosi and Mpasa, but the whole population of Kinshasa is at risk," he said.
"The water from wells and rivers gives rise to many health problems for us as women," says Sophie Nkeyi, who sells fish in the Kitokimosi market, "because we use it to bathe, to cook, to wash our clothes which we cannot even iron for lack of electricity."
She and her ten-year-old daughter are forced to visit the doctor regularly. "The doctor prescribes antibiotics and de-worming medicine against infections and intestinal parasites which we are exposed to by the water in rivers and pools" she told IPS.
Lydia Panzu says that, because of the physical strain of fetching water, she has suffered back problems for the past three years. "Back problems, neck problems, because I go back and forth two or three times a day, down into the valley to the river and back, each time with around 20 litres of water on my head,"the 16-year-old told IPS.
Short of resources
REGIDESO's technical and finance departments say the utility's poor performance is linked to its aging infrastructure.
"A key example is the Lukunga waterworks, with a capacity of 48,000 cubic metres a day, and which serves a million residents in two districts of Kinshasa. It was built in 1939 by the colonial powers and has not been substantially refurbished to this day," says David Ekwanza, director of exploitation at REGIDESO.
The lack of maintenance is a direct consequence of a shortage of financial resources. "And this lack of finances is principally due to the fact that government departments - who are the largest consumers - do not pay their monthly water bills," says Polycarpe Kabangu, head of finance at REGIDESO.
"These departments include government offices, the official residences of certain highly-placed politicians, public enterprises... who owe around 3.5 million dollars each month, representing 40 percent of the businesses' accounts, causing enormous financial difficulties, and making it impossible to rebuild the infrastructure and supply water across the city of Kinshasa as well as delaying payment of salaries to staff."
PEMU proposes to sustainably increase access to water in urban areas, in improve the water company's technical and financial effectiveness.
The project will focus on three things: "the restoration of financial viability; the creation of conditions for dynamic management which will transform this public enterprise into a social entity designed to increase managerial autonomy; as well as the renewal and upgrading of facilities in the three centres most likely to generate the revenue needed to restore balance and help support secondary centres."
Louise Yemba is tired of hearing promises about bringing water to Mpasa. "I think we need a project better than the others launched by the World Bank in DRC and whose effects have been limited to the Bank publicity."
The human rights activist from Mpasa doubts the project will be executed. "Or it will be badly carried out because of the poor quality of governance in the country and the paralysis of Congolese civil society - which must become aware of the role it has to play in putting pressure on the World Bank and the government to support all Congolese who don't have access to water," Yemba says.
Patrice Musoko, the coordinator of the Congolese Association of Consumers of Food Products, agrees that citizen action is the key.
"Civil society must put effective pressure on the government to reduce these arrears and pay their bills and allow REGIDESO to maintain its infrastructure and supply the neighbourhoods which are not yet served in Kinshasa. Civil society must also follow up to be sure that the money paid is effectively used to these ends."
But in a country still struggling with the effects of a series of armed conflicts and the breakdown of effective government, it will not be an easy task.
Posted using ShareThis
DR CONGO:
Urban Water Supply Needs Attention
Emmanuel Chaco
KINSHASA, Nov 17 (IPS) - Kinshasa's population needs an estimated 700,000 cubic metres of water per day. The Régie de distribution des eaux (REGIDESO) produces only 425,000 cubic metres - vast neighbourhoods like Kitokimosi and Mpasa receive almost none of this water.
The situation in other parts of the country is similar if not worse.
"In total, only 22 percent of Congolese have access to drinking water, while the average in sub-Saharan Africa is around 60 percent," says Frank Bousquet, from the World Bank's Urban Potable Water Supply Project (known by its French acronym, PEMU).
"The lack of drinking water poses a significant threat to public health and it is the poor who pay the heaviest price for this inefficient service. They pay seven times more for a litre of water than they would if water services operated properly."
Jean-Pierre Kajangu, from the health economics programme at the School of Public Health at the University of Kinshasa says the situation is serious. "It's not just the health of residents of Kitokimosi and Mpasa, but the whole population of Kinshasa is at risk," he said.
"The water from wells and rivers gives rise to many health problems for us as women," says Sophie Nkeyi, who sells fish in the Kitokimosi market, "because we use it to bathe, to cook, to wash our clothes which we cannot even iron for lack of electricity."
She and her ten-year-old daughter are forced to visit the doctor regularly. "The doctor prescribes antibiotics and de-worming medicine against infections and intestinal parasites which we are exposed to by the water in rivers and pools" she told IPS.
Lydia Panzu says that, because of the physical strain of fetching water, she has suffered back problems for the past three years. "Back problems, neck problems, because I go back and forth two or three times a day, down into the valley to the river and back, each time with around 20 litres of water on my head,"the 16-year-old told IPS.
Short of resources
REGIDESO's technical and finance departments say the utility's poor performance is linked to its aging infrastructure.
"A key example is the Lukunga waterworks, with a capacity of 48,000 cubic metres a day, and which serves a million residents in two districts of Kinshasa. It was built in 1939 by the colonial powers and has not been substantially refurbished to this day," says David Ekwanza, director of exploitation at REGIDESO.
The lack of maintenance is a direct consequence of a shortage of financial resources. "And this lack of finances is principally due to the fact that government departments - who are the largest consumers - do not pay their monthly water bills," says Polycarpe Kabangu, head of finance at REGIDESO.
"These departments include government offices, the official residences of certain highly-placed politicians, public enterprises... who owe around 3.5 million dollars each month, representing 40 percent of the businesses' accounts, causing enormous financial difficulties, and making it impossible to rebuild the infrastructure and supply water across the city of Kinshasa as well as delaying payment of salaries to staff."
PEMU proposes to sustainably increase access to water in urban areas, in improve the water company's technical and financial effectiveness.
The project will focus on three things: "the restoration of financial viability; the creation of conditions for dynamic management which will transform this public enterprise into a social entity designed to increase managerial autonomy; as well as the renewal and upgrading of facilities in the three centres most likely to generate the revenue needed to restore balance and help support secondary centres."
Louise Yemba is tired of hearing promises about bringing water to Mpasa. "I think we need a project better than the others launched by the World Bank in DRC and whose effects have been limited to the Bank publicity."
The human rights activist from Mpasa doubts the project will be executed. "Or it will be badly carried out because of the poor quality of governance in the country and the paralysis of Congolese civil society - which must become aware of the role it has to play in putting pressure on the World Bank and the government to support all Congolese who don't have access to water," Yemba says.
Patrice Musoko, the coordinator of the Congolese Association of Consumers of Food Products, agrees that citizen action is the key.
"Civil society must put effective pressure on the government to reduce these arrears and pay their bills and allow REGIDESO to maintain its infrastructure and supply the neighbourhoods which are not yet served in Kinshasa. Civil society must also follow up to be sure that the money paid is effectively used to these ends."
But in a country still struggling with the effects of a series of armed conflicts and the breakdown of effective government, it will not be an easy task.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tantalum Memorial from London 2008
Tantalum Memorial” 2008
a new artwork by Harwood, Wright, Yokokoji
“Tantalum Memorial” is a series of telephony-based memorials by the artists group Harwood, Wright, Yokokoji, to the people who have died as a result of the “coltan wars” in the Congo. The installation is constructed out of electromagnetic Strowger switches – the basis of the first automatic telephone exchange invented in 1888. The title of the work refers to the metal tantalum, an essential component of mobile phones
The movements and sounds of the switches are triggered by the phone calls of London's Congolese community as they participate in “Telephone Trottoire” – a concurrent project also built by the artists in collaboration with the Congolese radio program “Nostalgie Ya Mboka”. The precisely poised movements and sounds of the switches create a sculptural presence for this otherwise intangible network of circulating conversations. In “Tantalum Memorial”, Harwood, Wright, and Yokoji weave together the ambiguities of globalisation, transnational migration and our addiction to constant communication.
The “Coltan Wars”
Since August 1998 there have been 3.9 million deaths and over 361,000 refugees created by the so-called “coltan wars” in the Congo region. Coltan ore is mined for the metal tantalum - an essential component of mobile phones and other communication devices that is now coveted by dozens of international mining companies and warring local militias. Although the conflict has continued up to the present day it remains almost entirely unknown outside of Africa.
Almon Strowger
Almon Brown Strowger was born in Penfield near Rochester, New York. An undertaker by profession, he believed that the wife of a rival undertaker who worked at his local telephone exchange was routing customers through to her husband. His automatic telephone exchange made it possible to call someone directly instead of going through a human operator. The invention, patented on the 10th March 1891, is thought responsible for the conceptualization of modern telephone networks. His switches were in service until the 1990s when they were replaced by digital technologies made from tantalum.
“Telephone Trottoire”
“Telephone Trottoire” is a “social telephony” network aimed at the Congolese community in London, approximately 90% of whom are refugees or asylum seekers. In the Congo, where free speech has been censored for over forty years, people spread information while standing on street corners – by “radio trottoire” or “pavement radio”. Produced by the artists in collaboration with the Congolese radio programme “Nostalgie Ya Mboka”, “Telephone Trottoire” calls people up and invites them to pass around stories or topical news items over their phones.
“Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction” was the first version in this series, commissioned for the Zero1 Biennial “Superlight” show at the San Jose Museum of Art, May 10th - August 31st, 2008. “Tantalum Memorial – Residue” was the second in the series, this time utilizing a 1938 telephone exchange rescued from the old Alumix factory in Bolzano, Italy. This was also the site of Manifesta 7 - the European Biennial of Contemporary Art, 19th July to 2nd November, 2008.
”Phone Wars” was made in collaboration with the Science Museum in London. This version triggered their old rack of strowger switches using the phone calls from a telephony project created with students from the John Roan School in Greenwich. By working with Congolese asylum seekers the young people recorded messages exploring the question of “where does your mobile phone come from?”
In February 2009 “Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction” was shown at the UKS Gallery, Oslo as part of "Trapped in Amber". In Summer 2009, the installation will travel to Chalkwell Hall in Southend-on-Sea, Essex where it will launch the new centre for international arts organization Metal.
In 2009 “Tantalum Memorial” won the transmediale.09 award in Berlin.
“Tantalum Memorial – Reconstruction” is A FUSE Commissioned Residency for the 2nd Biennial 01SJ Global Festival of Art on the Edge, ZERO1, CADRE Laboratory and the Lucas Artists Program, Montalvo Arts Center.
“Tantalum Memorial – Residue” was commissioned by Manifesta7 (courtesy Manifesta7).
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
