Congo’s Agony: West And African Proxies Rape Mineral Riches

More pressure needs to be placed on Rwanda’s Kagame and Uganda’s Yoweri 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

[Global: Africa]

As global awareness grows around the Congo and the silence is finally being broken on the current and historic exploitation of Black people in Central Africa, a myriad of Western based “prescriptions” are being offered.

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.

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 in Congo and crimes against humanity:
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/163/28685.html

Rwanda’s role in the perpetuation of the conflict and looting of Congo is also clear: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6047744.ece

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, even though Rwanda is not well endowed with these minerals.
http://www.ipisresearch.be/dbpdfs/IPIS_Briefing_31December2008_6January2009.pdf

In fact, should Rwanda continue to pilfer Congo’s minerals, its annual mineral export revenues are expected to reach $200 million by 2010. Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Herman Cohen summed 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.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/opinion/16cohen.html

As long as Washington, Paris and London continue to give the Kagame regime carte blanche, the conflict, bloodshed and instability will endure.

According to Global Witness’s 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. The “conflict mineral” prevention advocates shout loudly about making sure that the trade in minerals does not benefit armed groups while ignoring the biggest armed beneficiary of Congo’s minerals—the Rwandan regime headed by Paul Kagame.
http://www.globalwitness.org/fwag/

Nonetheless, the “conflict mineral” prevention people are remarkably silent about Rwanda’s complicity in the fueling of the conflict in the Congo and the fleecing of Congo’s 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 Congo’s 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.
http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/reports/index.php

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 Western countries, including the U.S. and Belgium, promoted the assassination of 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. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1805546.stm

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.

http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/intlrel/hfa72638.000/hfa72638_0f.htm

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 rearranging of his CNDP rebel group in January 2009, as a result of global pressure placed on the CNDP’s sponsor, Kagame of Rwanda.

More pressure needs to be placed on leaders such as Kagame and Uganda’s Yoweri 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” versus “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:

Join Sweden and the Netherlands in pressuring Rwanda to be a partner for peace and a stabilizing presence in the region.
http://www.afrol.com/articles/32047

http://www.rnanews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=713&Itemid=27

The United States and Great Britain in particular should apply more pressure on their allies Rwanda and Uganda to the point of withholding foreign aid if necessary.

http://bistandsaktuelt.typepad.com/files/gerard-prunier-about-drc.mp3

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/7948535.stm

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
http://www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=12063

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 II.

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 Uganda’s Museveni who has been in power since 1986 and Rwanda’s Kagame; and, the restriction of political space in their respective 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

Musavuli is spokesperson and student coordinator for Friends of the Congo. He can be reached at [email protected]

Bodia Macharia, President of Friends of the Congo/Canada can be reached at [email protected]

Please post your comments directly online or submit them to [email protected]

Editor’s Note: Feel free to forward this column to every elected official, especially in the U.S. Congress, and to your friends.
  
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”

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