Sunday, March 27, 2011

Congolese Mining Reform

Congo-Kinshasa: New Rules for Miners

Kinshasa — Various stakeholders in the Democratic Republic of Congo's mining sector have signed a code of conduct designed to reduce fraud and increase transparency in an industry that has played a key role in the armed violence that has ravaged the east of the country for years, but there is still concern about illegal mining and the military's role.

The adoption of the code coincides with the lifting of a mining ban slapped on the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema by President Joseph Kabila in a purported effort to rid the industry of the "mafia-like networks" that run much of it. It also comes before stringent legislation against the importation of conflict minerals due to be introduced by the US in April.

About 1.7 million people are displaced in DRC, mostly because of conflicts involving domestic and foreign armed groups in the east, a region rich in minerals such as gold, coltan, lithium, cassiterite and wolframite. Armed groups, including the DRC national army (FARDC), are heavily implicated in the industry.

"Shortly after President Kabila's [ban], we started taking measures aimed at ending the massive fraud that is rampant in eastern Congo's mining trade. We have deployed agents to trace minerals from digging areas to export locations and to label and certify them, so we can allow the mining trade to resume," Minister of Mines Martin Kabwelulu said at the end of a four-day seminar on the new code of conduct.

The seminar brought together national and regional government officials, representatives of artisanal miners, mineral buyers and traders, as well as civil society groups, all of whom signed up to the code.

Key measures include:

- All artisanal miners and mineral traders must obtain permits from provincial governments;

- Miners must sell only to authorized buyers. Such buyers must operate premises of solid construction;

- Selling within sites of exploitation is prohibited;

- Miners can work only in authorized areas;

- Minerals must be traded for domestic or foreign currency and must not be bartered;

- Traders must disclose their accounts to provincial mining officials and provide full contact details of their customers;

- A prohibition on the employment of children in mines; and

- Civil society groups will sensitize local populations about the new measures.

"Many trading posts closed after President Kabila banned the minerals trade in eastern DR Congo, so we have been waiting for this moment. We reached a point where our lives became harsh and we no longer had any other source of income," Bagalwa Basimine, a representative of a group of minerals merchants in South-Kivu province, told IRIN on the sidelines of the seminar.

DRC officials say the nature of the industry as was deprived the country of millions that could have been spent on development projects: whereas the provincial governments in North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema earn on average US$100,000 a year, minerals smuggled to Rwanda and Burundi, they claim, earn those countries between $5 million and $10 million a year in tax revenue, according to South Kivu Governor Marcellin Cisambo.

"With these new regulations, people involved in mining will have to work with local authorities," said Paluku Kahongya, governor of North-Kivu Province. He added that anyone found to have links with armed groups would be excluded from the mining sector.

"If in a given area there is no health centre, they will have to work together to sponsor one; if there is no water supply, they have to fund one; if there is no school, they will sponsor the construction of schools since children living in areas where they dig for minerals have the right to attend school," he said. Both governors and traders are to invest in social development projects under the new rules.

Policing the military

Many are sceptical that the new regulations will successfully control armed groups and stop illegal mining. While the regulations have provided a list of requirements for different actors involved, they exclude a number of important groups mentioned in a report on illegal mining and armed groups submitted to the UN Security Council in November 2010 [ http://www.scribd.com/doc/44370265/Final-Report-of-the-Group-of-Experts-on-the-DRC-Nov-26-201 ].

"The code represents everyone who is supposed to be in the mining sector," Gregory Mthembu-Salter, a consultant for the report, told IRIN. "The people left out are people who are in the mining sector and shouldn't be. Obviously that's the armed groups and the FARDC. The Group of Experts has identified criminal networks in the FARDC and their illegal involvement in mining as one of the major threats to security in the affected provinces."

According to the report, this involvement extends to illegal taxation at mining sites, protection racketeering and coercive control and looting of mining areas.

The involvement of the army in mining, particularly those integrated into the military from rebel groups, has been a source of concern for some time. In September 2010, Kabila said he would move several battalions from the Kivu provinces, where soldiers are involved in mining, to other parts of the country.

Kabwelulu said additional measures had been put in place to prevent soldiers from mining. "The role of the army and other security services is to protect the country and pacify it in a post-war state. The army, police and security services have already been notified of the new regulations. Any soldier caught trading minerals is breaking the law and this means he should be punished."

But Annie Dunnebacke of Global Witness claims little has been done by the government to dislodge the military from the mines and that elements in the military tightened their grip on the mineral trade while the ban was in place. "Members of the national army make tens of millions of dollars per year through extortion at mine sites and along mineral transportation routes. Competition over control of the region's mineral wealth has become an incentive for all warring parties to keep on fighting," she told IRIN. Witnesses and human rights groups said government soldiers were sending young men into mines to dig up minerals for them shortly after the ban was introduced.

Mthembu-Salter said the situation could be improved if more stringent measures were put in place for soldiers caught mining. "The FARDC could commit to providing security at mine sites, but not being involved in any mining activities. Now an indication of seriousness in this regard might be for the military justice system to make some headway in their prosecutions of soldiers who have been caught doing this."

Aqua Paradox

Congo-Kinshasa: In Water-Rich Nation, 50 Million People Lack Clean Water to Drink - UN
(http://allafrica.com/stories/201103230168.html)


An estimated 51 million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - or three quarters of the population - have no access to safe drinking water, even though the country holds over half of Africa's water reserves, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a new study released today.

The country's troubled legacy of conflict, environmental degradation, rapid urbanization and under-investment in water infrastructure has seriously affected the availability of drinking water, UNEP said in the study, unveiled to coincide with World Water Day.

UNEP was among several participants at an event in the capital, Kinshasa, staged by the National Water and Sanitation Committee, which brought together government representatives, development partners, financial institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and researchers to discuss steps to address the DRC's water challenges.

Speaking at the forum, UNEP's DRC Programme Manager, Hassan Partow, said the study confirmed that despite recent progress, including water sector reforms, the scale of the challenge means that the country will not be able to meet its water targets under the UN-set Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which calls for reducing by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015.

The DRC would have to supply an additional 20.3 million people with safe drinking water by 2015 even to meets its national development goals, which are significantly below the MDGs water target, according to UNEP.

"Since peace was brokered in 2003, the Government has gradually managed to reverse the negative trend in water coverage that has plagued the DRC since its period of conflict and turmoil", said Mr. Partow. "This represents an important achievement which should be applauded."

"However, the stark reality is that the DRC has one of the fastest urbanization growth rates in the world and this is not being matched with adequate water and sanitation service delivery," he added.

Based on extensive fieldwork and stakeholder consultations across the country, the UNEP study found that inadequate water and sanitation delivery in the DRC's rapidly expanding urban centres is due to insufficient, aging and overloaded networks, combined with the degradation of critical water sources and watersheds, such as the Lukunga and N'Djili catchments, which provide millions of people with drinking water in Kinshasa.

According to the study, entitled "Water Issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo - Challenges and Opportunities," in addition to major infrastructure improvements, an investment of approximately $70 million over a five-year period is required to help strengthen the water sector.

UNEP recommends innovative strategies such as community-managed water supply systems in urban fringe areas and low-cost technical solutions, including communal tap areas and rainwater harvesting.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), meanwhile, drew attention to an estimated 37 million rural residents in DRC who risk contracting disease because they have no alternative but to draw untreated water directly from rivers or lakes that are likely to be contaminated.

"A child living in a Congolese village is four times more likely to drink contaminated water than someone in town. Yet, all children have equal right to survival and development of which drinking water is a vital component," said Pierrette Vu Thi, the UNICEF representative in DRC in a statement to mark the World Water Day.

More than 2 million Congolese children under the age of five, or one in five in that age group, are regularly sick with diarrhoea, according to figures from the country's department of health cited by UNICEF.

"The fact that we are unable to provide each family clean drinking water is an affront," said Ms. Vu Thi. "Too many children die because we do not respect our responsibility, and their deaths are ignored," she added

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

False Flag or Seeds of Revolution?

27 February 2011 Last updated at 10:36 ET

From BBC Africa (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12591259)

DR Congo: Six killed in 'coup bid' against Kabila


Six people have been killed in an attack on a residence of the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

An "unidentified group of armed men" attacked the residence of President Joseph Kabila in the capital, Kinshasa, a government spokesman said, describing the raid as an attempted coup.

Mr Kabila's guards killed six of the men, the spokesman said.

Joseph Kabila took power in 2001 after his father, President Laurent Kabila, was assassinated.

He was later elected in his own right.
Plagued by violence

In 1998, DR Congo was plunged into a war in which more than five million people died - the deadliest conflict since World War II.

The conflict formally came to an end through a peace deal in 2003, but the east of the country is still plagued by army and militia violence.

"We have witnessed a coup attempt," said Information Minister Lambert Mende, according to Reuters news agency.

"A group of heavily armed people attacked the presidential palace. They were stopped at the first roadblock."

President Kabila was not in the building at the time of the attack at 1330 local time (1230GMT), Mr Mende said.

In addition to the six men killed, several others were detained, he added.

On 15 January, parliament backed a proposal by Mr Kabila to reduce presidential elections from two rounds to one.

The change means the winner can claim victory with less than 50% of the vote.

Presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in November 2011.