OpEd: Conflict Minerals

Conflict Minerals: A Cover For US Allies and Western Mining Interests?

By Kambale Musavuli and Bodia Macharia (Friends of the Congo)

As global awareness grows around the Congo and the silence is finally
being broken on the current and historic exploitation of Black people
in the heart of Africa, a myriad of Western based prescriptions are
being proffered. Most of these prescriptions are devoid of social,
political, economic and historical context and are marked by
remarkable omissions. The conflict mineral approach or efforts
emanating from the United States and Europe are no exception to this
symptomatic approach which serves more to perpetuate the root causes
of Congos challenges than to resolve them.

The conflict mineral approach has an obsessive focus on the FDLR and
other rebel groups while scant attention is paid to Uganda (which has
an International Court of Justice ruling against it for looting and
crimes against humanity in the Congo) and Rwanda (whose role in the
perpetuation of the conflict and looting of Congo is well documented
by UN reports and international arrest warrants for its top
officials). Rwanda is the main transit point for illicit minerals
coming from the Congo irrespective of the rebel group (FDLR, CNDP or
others) transporting the minerals. According to Dow Jones, Rwanda's
mining sector output grew 20% in 2008 from the year earlier due to
increased export volumes of tungsten, cassiterite and coltan, the
country's three leading minerals with which Rwanda is not well
endowed. In fact, should Rwanda continue to pilfer Congos minerals,
its annual mineral export revenues are expected to reach $200 million
by 2010. Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Herman Cohen says it best when he notes having controlled the Kivu
provinces for 12 years, Rwanda will not relinquish access to resources
that constitute a significant percentage of its gross national
product. As long as the West continues to give the Kagame regime
carte blanche, the conflict and instability will endure.

According to Global Witnesss 2009 report, Faced With A Gun What Can
you Do, Congolese government statistics and reports by the Group of
Experts and NGOs, Rwanda is one of the main conduits for illicit
minerals leaving the Congo. It is amazing that the conflict mineral
approach shout loudly about making sure that the trade in minerals
does not benefit armed groups but the biggest armed beneficiary of
Congos minerals is the Rwandan regime headed by Paul Kagame.
Nonetheless, the conflict mineral approach is remarkably silent about
Rwandas complicity in the fueling of the conflict in the Congo and
the fleecing of Congos riches.

Advocates of the conflict mineral approach would be far more credible
if they had ever called for any kind of pressure whatsoever on mining
companies that are directly involved in either fueling the conflict or
exploiting the Congolese people. The United Nations, The Congolese
Parliament, Carter Center, Southern Africa Resource Watch and several
other NGOs have documented corporations that have pilfered Congos
wealth and contributed to the perpetuation of the conflict. Some of
these companies include but are not limited to: Traxys, OM Group,
Blattner Elwyn Group, Freeport McMoran, Eagle Wings/Trinitech, Lundin,
Kemet, Banro, AngloGold Ashanti, Anvil Mining, and First Quantum.

The conflict mineral approach, like the Blood Diamond campaign from
which it draws its inspiration, is silent on the question of resource
sovereignty which has been a central question in the geo-strategic
battle for Congos mineral wealth. It was over this question of
resource sovereignty that the West assassinated Congos first
democratically elected Prime Minister, Patrice Lumumba and stifled the
democratic aspirations of the Congolese people for over three decades
by installing and backing the dictator Joseph Mobutu. In addition, the
United States also backed the 1996 and 1998 invasions of Congo by
Rwanda and Uganda instead of supporting the non-violent, pro-democracy
forces inside the Congo. Unfortunately and to the chagrin of the
Congolese people, some of the strongest advocates of the conflict
mineral approach are former Clinton administration officials who
supported the invasions of Congo by Rwanda and Uganda. This may in
part explains the militaristic underbelly of the conflict mineral
approach, which has as its so-called second step a comprehensive
counterinsurgency.

The focus on the east of Congo falls in line with the long-held
obsession by some advocates in Washington who incessantly push for the
balkanization of the Congo. Their focus on Eastern Congo is
inadequate and does not fully take into account the nature and scope
of the dynamics in the entire country. Political decisions in
Kinshasa, the capital in the West, have a direct impact on the events
that unfold in the East of Congo and are central to any durable
solutions.

The central claim of the conflict mineral approach is to bring an end
to the conflict; however, the conflict can plausibly be brought to an
end much quicker through diplomatic and political means. The so-called
blood mineral route is not the quickest way to end the conflict. We
have already seen how quickly world pressure can work with the
sidelining of rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and the demobilization
and/or rearranging of his CNDP rebel group in January 2009, as a
result of global pressure placed on the CNDPs sponsor Paul Kagame of
Rwanda. More pressure needs to be placed on leaders such as Kagame and
Museveni who have been at the root of the conflict since 1996. The
FDLR can readily be pressured as well, especially with most of their
political leadership residing in the West, however this should be done
within a political framework, which brings all the players to the
table as opposed to the current militaristic, dichotomous, good-guy
bad-guy approach where the West sees Kagame and Museveni as the
good-guys and everyone else as bad. The picture is far grayer than
Black and White.

A robust political approach by the global community would entail the
following prescriptions:

1. Join Sweden and Netherlands in pressuring Rwanda to be a partner
for peace and a stabilizing presence in the region. The United States
and Great Britain in particular should apply more pressure on their
allies Rwanda and Uganda to the point of withholding aid if necessary.

2. Hold to account companies and individuals through sanctions
trafficking in minerals whether with rebel groups or neighboring
countries, particularly Rwanda and Uganda. Canada has chimed in as
well but has been deadly silent on the exploitative practices of its
mining companies in the Congo. Canada must do more to hold its mining
companies accountable as is called for in Bill C-300.

3. Encourage world leaders to be more engaged diplomatically and place
a higher priority on what is the deadliest conflict in the World since
World War Two.


4. Reject the militarization of the Great Lakes region represented by
AFRICOM, which has already resulted in the suffering of civilian
population; the strengthening of authoritarian figures such as
Ugandas Museveni (in power since 1986) and Rwandas Kagame (won the
2003 elections with 95 percent of the vote); and the restriction of
political space in their countries.



5. Demand of the Obama administration to be engaged differently from
its current military-laden approach and to take the lead in pursuing
an aggressive diplomatic path with an emphasis on pursuing a regional
political framework that can lead to lasting peace and stability.



To learn more about the current crisis in the Congo, visit
www.friendsofthecongo.org and join the global movement in support of
the people of the Congo at www.congoweek.org



Kambale Musavuli is spokesperson and student coordinator for Friends
of the Congo. He can be reached at kambale@friendsofthecongo.org



Bodia Macharia is the President of Friends of the Congo/ Canada. She
can be reached at bodia@friendsofthecongo.org

60 Minutes CBS: CONGO GOLD

Watch CBS News Videos Online

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

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."

DR CONGO: Urban Water Supply Needs Attention - IPS ipsnews.net

DR CONGO: Urban Water Supply Needs Attention - IPS ipsnews.net

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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.

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).

UN Reduces Support to DR Congo Army