Congo mining ban's success is limited
Early last month 颁辞苍驳辞鈥檚 President Joseph Kabila issued a full export ban on all minerals mined in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, and Maniema. In his latest field dispatch from the region, Enough鈥檚 Goma-based field researcher Fidel Bafilemba discusses the impact of the ban amid speculation that it will soon be lifted.
On the effectiveness of the ban, Fidel writes:
The stated objectives of Kabila鈥檚 ban 鈥� starving rebel groups of resources and demilitarizing the mining sector 鈥� have not been met, and in the absence of more effective measures to achieve these objectives, security and the economy in eastern Congo will worsen before they improve.
But the rebel groups in the region certainly aren鈥檛 the only threat to security, as Fidel explains:
Congolese army involvement in the mineral mining and trafficking and the misappropriation of troops鈥� pay and operational funds continue to put civilians at risk, allow the proliferation of local and foreign armed groups, and impede investment and reconstruction. In the meantime, the continuing activities of foreign rebel groups provide a pretext for external intervention by 颁辞苍驳辞鈥檚 neighbors, which inevitably results in violence against civilians and the pillaging of 颁辞苍驳辞鈥檚 resources.
To improve conditions in the region, the Congolese government needs to work with international actors to develop a certification system with provisions for traceability and independent audits and to undertake meaningful security sector reform.
In two appendices to the dispatch, Fidel provides a list of the mines in the region with notes about what types of minerals are found in each, which armed groups are in control, and how the mines link to smuggling routes. He also includes a list of estimated taxes levied on the trade in mineral-rich Walikale.
Read the full field dispatch .
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