Congolese Community Demonstration

by John Lannon Thu Dec 04, 2008 18:37

The situation is quite desperate in the eastern part of the DR Congo at the moment. Fighting has continued in the North Kivu province despite a ceasefire declared by the armed group, the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) at the end of October. Over one million people, most of them women and children, have been displaced by this fighting; most are in a terrible situation, without adequate food, water, medical supplies or shelter. And there are continuing reports of unlawful killings of civilians, forced recruitment of soldiers (including children who are being kidnapped to bolster numbers amongst the various militia), sexual abuse of women and children on a horrific scale, and other human rights abuses.

Global Witness, a UK-based NGO, described the conflict as follows in a submission to the UN Security Council:

"The conflict which has been tearing eastern Congo apart is a complex conflict, with a multitude of actors and causes. International attention has tended to focus on its political and ethnic dimensions. But the economic dimension is also extremely important, as it is economic opportunism, among other things, which has enabled some of the most violent armed groups to survive. Eastern Congo is an area rich in minerals – in particular, cassiterite (tin ore), gold, coltan and wolframite. The desire to gain or maintain control of these mines has been a central motivating factor for all the main warring parties."

Global Witness quite rightly point out that MONUC, the UN peacekeeping force in the region, should be given the mandate and the means to stop armed groups from using natural resources as a source of financing. They also add that companies should refuse to buy or trade in minerals which benefit armed groups and military units.

Many of the goods made using these minerals end up in our homes and workplaces, so in one way or another we are all implicated in the suffering of the Congolese people.

Some useful sources of information on the conflict:

* Amnesty International briefing on what's happening in North Kivu (eastern DRC): http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR62/014/2008/...n.pdf

* International Crisis Group page on conflict in DR Congo: http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=2829&l=1

* Global Witness page on DRC conflict: http://www.globalwitness.org/pages/en/democratic_republ....html

I also recommend an excellent Human Rights Watch report entitled "We Will Crush You" which documents the Kabila government's use of violence and intimidation to eliminate political opponents in the DR Congo. Its at http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/11/25/we-will-crush-...you-0.

by Sarah - Amnesty International Thu Dec 04, 2008 22:15

There is a vigil in Galway tomorrow Dec 5th at 5.00 pm shop street (outside lynches castle) to show solidarity with the Congolese and call for the Irish Government to use its voice at the UN to ensure that the 3000 extra troops that have been authorised for deployment to Monuc (the UN force already deployed in DRC) are sent immediately and are properly resourced. All welcome.

by Sarah - Amnesty International Thu Dec 04, 2008 22:15

There is a vigil in Galway tomorrow Dec 5th at 5.00 pm shop street (outside lynches castle) to show solidarity with the Congolese and call for the Irish Government to use its voice at the UN to ensure that the 3000 extra troops that have been authorised for deployment to Monuc (the UN force already deployed in DRC) are sent immediately and are properly resourced. All welcome.

by Donal O'Kelly Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:46

Thanks to John Lannon for his information on Eastern Congo, and the links he suggests. Coltan, used in mobile phones, is one of the minerals for which armed forces, and their international corporate accomplices, are fighting to control in Eastern Congo.

A century ago, rubber was the resource that caused untold suffering for Congolese civilians. King Leopold of the Belgians, in particular, ran a brutal regime of slave labour to extract rubber for enormous gains to him and to Belgium. Roger Casement played a crucial role in ending the rubber slave labour system in Congo when he published his report to the Foreign Office in 1905.

Besides the armed forces in eastern Congo, who are the international corporations making gains from the extraction of coltan today? Does anyone know has there been any study done? Or anything in progress?

by John Lannon Wed Dec 10, 2008 13:39

Donal's questions in relation to international corporations role in the plundering of the DR Congo are very important. Coltan, along with gold and cassiterite (tin oxide) are the "blood minerals" of the DR Congo.

According to Carina Tertsakian of Global Witness, minerals like coltan go through a whole chain of buyers, traders, companies and middlemen. There are tens of thousands of people working as miners in eastern Congo; some of the mines are controlled by the rebels, and some by the army. There are also civilians digging in the hope of finding a few francs by selling what they find to buyers who come to the mines. These civilians might be found by militia groups and taken over, resulting in forced labour - often with young boys involved.

In a recent contribution at http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20081112-colta...wanda, Tertsakian said:

"The minerals from these mines are bought by various Congolese businessmen and sold on to traders, known as "comptoirs", in border towns. The minerals leave the country in raw form through neighbouring cities, and then travel to other countries where they are processed. This happens in many places, for example, Malaysia. It's then bought by various foreign and multinational firms. I couldn't say for a fact that big IT and mobile phone companies like Nokia are buying products directly from these armed rebel groups. But I can say that I don't know of any company that verifies and carries out checks about the origin of their supplies. These firms should absolutely be aware of where the product has come from, but they don't ask any questions."

Global Witness are sifting through statistics about exports to find which companies are buying the minerals and from where. Its not an easy task but hopefully they will be able to work back along the supply chain. And hopefully we'll have a report from them in due course.