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Contents contributed and discussions participated by Arabica Robusta

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Fact-checking the M23 rebellion - 0 views

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  • The Congolese army is collaborating with the FDLR in their offensive against the M23. This is an allegation to Rwandan government has made, largely in private. There is no hard proof so far to substantiate this.
  • Allegations of anti-Tutsi discrimination are just a pretext for Rwandan meddling. Slow down, this isn't quite so simple. There is no doubt that deep resentment and prejudice persists against the Tutsi community in the eastern Congo. And there have been many incidents of abuse against Tutsi civilians and soldiers over the past years, ranging from summary execution to torture and hate speech. All communities in the eastern Congo have experienced abuse, but the Tutsi perception of discrimination is accentuated given their particular history. This fear and ethnic solidarity is very real. But allegations of anti-Tutsi discrimination are not always well-founded and have at times been manipulated.
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The true cost of your new Christmas laptop? Ask the eastern Congolese | Madeleine Bunti... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...mas-congo-electronic-companies congo coltan human extractive rights industry intervention cellphones corporate enough instability
shared by Arabica Robusta on 19 Dec 10 - No Cached
  • Eastern Congo's hell is an instance of how globalisation generates ungovernable spaces. Where there is a collision of desperate poverty, plentiful guns and a world greedy for natural resources, a brutal chaos results. To combat that, it takes a very tenacious sort of global campaigning – bringing to attention each element of the system and the part it can play in leveraging change – and mercifully, that is what is now finally starting to happen.
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Conflict Minerals Act Compliance Poses Difficulties for Industry | Resource Investing News - 0 views

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  • Arabica Robusta on 14 Nov 10
     
    "HP has run into a challenge common to many industries: when you get to the end of your supply chains, producers can range from large-scale operations, to individual small-scale producers - artisanal mining… HP relied at first on a supplier survey to determine that they were not sourcing materials from areas of concern; while that's far from a perfect solution, it is a start," reported Matthew Wheeland, for Green Biz.
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Undermining development? IFIs' role in extractive industries in disarray (Bretton Woods... - 0 views

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shared by Arabica Robusta on 16 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Debt relief worth over $12 billion for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was delayed as the Canadian government sought to apply pressure in a dispute over mining rights.
  • DRC has spent years shelling out tens of millions of dollars in debt 'repayments' while also implementing economic conditions which make its economy more attractive and 'safe' for foreign investors." Civil society groups are calling for audits to establish whether countries' debts are legitimate, or a legacy of irresponsible lending and undemocratic governance, in which case they should be repudiated. Ironically, in June, the World Bank approved a $50 million grant to improve accountability and transparency in DRC's mining sector.
  • Mining tax contradictions In what could be seen as an attack on the policies promoted by the Bank in the 1990s, a May IMF working paper on Malian mining taxation recommended that the government eliminate tax holidays granted to mining companies, which have meant the state “has not been able to collect its full share of revenues.”  These incentives were traced to Bank influence over the country’s mining codes in 2007 research by civil society network the International Federation for Human Rights (see Update 57). 
  • Arabica Robusta on 16 Oct 10
     
    Debt relief worth over $12 billion for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was delayed as the Canadian government sought to apply pressure in a dispute over mining rights.  At June G8 and G20 meetings, the Canadian prime minister raised the issue of Canadian corporation First Quantum Minerals' contract, which was cancelled by the DRC government (see Update 70), while the Canadian World Bank executive director caused a delay to the board vote on debt relief.  The debt relief package was eventually agreed in July, including $1.8 billion owed to the Bank's International Development Association and $491 million to the IMF.  Director of UK NGO the Jubilee Debt Campaign, Nick Dearden, said that, "The experience of DRC goes to show that debt relief schemes are still operating in the interests of the 'creditors'. DRC has spent years shelling out tens of millions of dollars in debt 'repayments' while also implementing economic conditions which make its economy more attractive and 'safe' for foreign investors." Civil society groups are calling for audits to establish whether countries' debts are legitimate, or a legacy of irresponsible lending and undemocratic governance, in which case they should be repudiated. Ironically, in J
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Congo Resources: The Minerals Are the Problem-Can They also Be the Solution? - 0 views

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shared by Arabica Robusta on 14 Aug 10 - Cached
  • In placing minerals at the center of the conflict, these organizations follow an intellectual path laid out by Paul Collier, a World Bank economist, who argued that the likelihood of a civil war in any given African country depends on the feasibility of rebellion. In his concise formulation, greed, not grievance, lies at the heart of most African conflicts today.
  • Arabica Robusta on 14 Aug 10
     
    In placing minerals at the center of the conflict, these organizations follow an intellectual path laid out by Paul Collier, a World Bank economist, who argued that the likelihood of a civil war in any given African country depends on the feasibility of rebellion. In his concise formulation, greed, not grievance, lies at the heart of most African conflicts today.
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On Cell Phones, Sexual Violence, and Straw Men | Enough - 0 views

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  • Having conducted field research in the Kivus, especially about the role of Congolese civil society groups, she knows a lot about the region and regardless of our disagreements we welcome her perspective. But her recent post, which takes issue with claims that the minerals are directly causing sexual violence, is an egregious and misleading attack on a straw man.
  • Another highly problematic aspect of Texas in Africa’s argument is the call for a data-driven approach to sexual violence. She should know the enormous problems with collecting data on the incidence of rape in eastern Congo. The UN Experts report “a worrying trend that victims of attacks who are discovered to have reported the abuses have often been attacked again in retaliation.” Demanding even more data in such a context could exacerbate these deadly dynamics.
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Do No Harm: A guide for companies sourcing from the DRC - media library - global witness - 0 views

www.globalwitness.org/...or_companies_sourcing_from_the congo coltan human extractive rights cellphones industry intervention enough corporate
shared by Arabica Robusta on 14 Aug 10 - Cached
  • Nobody forces companies to purchase minerals or metals mined in war zones. It is their choice. Those that source minerals or metals originating from eastern DRC need to show the public that they have procedures in place to prevent direct or indirect involvement with serious human rights abuses and other crimes. This is what is called ‘due diligence'. Despite the mounting pressure on companies that use minerals and metals to carry out due diligence, few are actually doing this. Some companies claim that it is too complicated or too difficult for them to do.  Due diligence is a process that all reputable companies understand and employ on a regular basis to address risks ranging from corruption to environmental damage.
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ZCommunications | The Vile Scramble For Loot by Robert Miller | ZNet Article - 0 views

www.zcommunications.org/mble-for-loot-by-robert-miller congo coltan human extractive rights cellphones industry intervention enough corporate
shared by Arabica Robusta on 14 Aug 10 - Cached
  • The offensive failed but Rwanda and Uganda stayed in the Congo to take advantage of the rich resources of the country. They were soon joined by "Burundi, Angola, Namibia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, as well as dozens of home grown militia groups and private armies" who wanted a piece of the spoils. "In 2002 and 2003 ... Rwanda and Uganda, after intense international pressure, decided to withdraw from Congo but each, however, leaving behind dozens of armed groups they had created and trained while occupying the Congo".[12] There are now armed groups all over the DRC, many with different loyalties, all fighting mercilessly to get access to the riches under the ground.
  • The only reason these groups are able to survive is because they control the mines. "The Congo possesses over 80 per cent of the world's reserve of coltan.[17]
  • Once mined, the minerals go from the warlords to the comptoirs. These are trading houses, mainly based in Goma and Bukavu, the capitals of North and South Kivu respectively. The comptoirs buy minerals from all over North and South Kivu, then sell the minerals onto (mostly) foreign companies. Global Witness reports that "officially register comptoirs are required to obtain a licence [sic] from the Ministry of Mines. Thereafter, they are operating ‘legally', at least from a technical point of view
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  • Anglo American Plc appeared in the UN Group of Experts' list of corporations violating OECD guidelines in the Congo. De Beers, which is part of the Anglo American group, made it onto the same list. AngloGold Ashanti, also part of the group, has been accused of exacerbating the conflict in the Congo as well.[66] A War on Want report on Anglo American reports that "in 2005 De Beers returned to the DRC in an exploration agreement with the country's main diamond mining company Société Minière de Bakwanga (MIBA), itself implicated in a number of human rights abuses."[67] De Beers holds 19.56% of the shares in an umbrella group called SIBEKA, which, in turn, owns 20% of the shares in MIBA.[68] Amnesty International reports that "dozens of illegal miners are shot dead in MIBA's diamond concessions every year" and "according to MIBA officials, around 10 to 15 suspected illegal miners are arrested every day at the polygoneconcession". Amnesty described the detainment centers as "virtually uninhabitable".[69] MIBA is owned and controlled, primarily, by the Congolese government. The Congolese army is both a huge part of the conflict and also involved in the exploitation of minerals.
  • The corporations that are involved in fuelling war and violence in the Congo, such as the ones indicated in this report, have made huge profits off it and will not give up easily. The international trade networks involved in the mineral trade from the DRC are so complex that it becomes extremely difficult to track whether minerals have been sourced from the DRC, and whether they have funded rebel groups and fuelled the conflict. The DRC is so rich in resources that it will be very challenging to give companies incentives to stop exploiting them, and these resources are so beneficial to people in rich countries, such as Britain, that it will be difficult to get a strong movement of ordinary people to seek to rectify the crimes: for example, cassiterite is used to make electronic solders, which alone accounted for over 44% of all refined tin usage in 2007[108]; gold is extremely valuable and is at the core of most of the developed economies of the world; and coltan is fundamental to almost all of our electronics, from mobile phones to laptops to cameras to games consoles. But it is definitely possible. Global Witness believes that: A greater international interest in tackling the resource dimension of the conflict and increased sensitivity to criticism on the part of companies and traders may provide a long-waited opportunity for more effective action to break the links between mineral trade and armed conflict in North and South Kivu.[109]
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Pambazuka - Conflict minerals: Cover for Western mining interests? - 0 views

www.pambazuka.org/...60757 coltan congo drc conflict minerals corporations curse development economic extractive international multinational petroleum resource
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  • 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 Congo’s challenges than to resolve them.
  • 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 Congo’s minerals is the Rwandan regime headed by Paul Kagame. Nonetheless, the conflict mineral approach is remarkably silent about Rwanda’s complicity in the fuelling of the conflict in the Congo and the fleecing of Congo’s riches.
  • 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 Congo’s mineral wealth. It was over this question of resource sovereignty that the West assassinated Congo’s 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.
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  • Hold to account companies and individuals through sanctions trafficking in minerals, whether with rebel groups or neighbouring 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.
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AfricaFiles | D R Congo: Natural resource exploitation and human rights - 0 views

www.africafiles.org/article.asp coltan congo rwanda uganda human rights
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  • A number of foreign actors became directly involved in the exploitation of natural resources. The chaos and power vacuum brought about by the 1996 rebellion led to an opportunistic scramble for the DRC's resources. Everyone wanted a piece of the cake. Rebel groups and armies from neighbouring countries all helped themselves, some (such as Zimbabwe) with the blessing of the Congolese authorities, others (such as Rwanda or Uganda) by occupying territory by force or through proxy rebel groups, committing grave human rights abuses in the process
  • A number of foreign actors became directly involved in the exploitation of natural resources. The chaos and power vacuum brought about by the 1996 rebellion led to an opportunistic scramble for the DRC's resources. Everyone wanted a piece of the cake. Rebel groups and armies from neighbouring countries all helped themselves, some (such as Zimbabwe) with the blessing of the Congolese authorities, others (such as Rwanda or Uganda) by occupying territory by force or through proxy rebel groups, committing grave human rights abuses in the process
  • Companies and individual traders who were prepared to trade in natural resources produced in these conditions, or to trade with groups with notoriously bad human rights records, can also be considered to have contributed to, or even enabled, these human rights abuses. In some cases, they were directly implicated.
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  • Province Orientale Province Orientale held even greater promise in terms of natural resources. With its diamond fields, gold mines, vast expanses of forests with valuable timber and barely explored oil reserves, Province Orientale was, in some ways, the biggest prize.
    • Arabica Robusta
      Arabica Robusta on 14 Aug 10
       
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