DR Congo " On waves of silver I dreamed of gold 'Till I lost the peace that dreaming gives "

The Cameroon Tribune reports

FCFA 193 Billion Lost To DRC Gold Smuggling

                                                                               DR Congo conflict gold

A UN report for 2013 says corruption enabled gold to be shipped to Illegally Neighbouring countries.

The latest United Nations report Assessing the gold smuggling racket in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, says 400 million U.S. Dollars (about FCFA 193 billion) Was Lost by the country in back in 2013 as the mineral WAS smuggled to East African countries.

The FCFA are Central and West African currencies that are pegged to Euro incidentally not in use in the DR Congo.

According To the East African Review, businessmen teamed up with soldiers and politicians to steal DRC minerals, shipping them out via Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania, with the money used in financing eastern DRC's recurring wars.

The Rift Valley Institute   (RVI ) make some interesting observations on the functioning of FARDC ( Congolese Army ) when it comes to matters economic.

“ Subordinates are obliged to pay regular amounts to superiors, often referred to as rapportage (‘bringing in’)—or, as many Congolese soldiers put it, ‘feeding the horse so the horse feeds you’. Rapportage works as an instrument of control: those failing to submit sufficient revenues are sent to so-called ‘drier zones’, with fewer opportunities to make money. The relationship between commander and subordinate is not one of unrestrained predation, but entails a kind of reciprocity. Just as subordinates are expected to deliver to their superiors, so they too are supposed to provide something in return: protection, advice, mitigation of punishments, promotion, leave, and training.”

The 276-page report by the UN Group of Experts on the DRC armed conflict says, corruption, poor quality of life for Citizens, illegal mineral exploitation and interference from Neighbouring countries, remain major sources of instability in the DRC.

Of course it isn't just gold or for that matter FARDC, again from the RVI:

" Opportunities for profiteering extend far beyond minerals: militias have exploited and traded charcoal, hardwoods, cannabis, fish, and wild animals. In addition, almost all armed groups depend heavily on illegal taxation, usually obtained at road-blocks and markets, and through food collections in villages. Some groups—like the FDLR and the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a Ugandan armed group largely operating in the Ruwenzori borderlands—also cultivate food crops on a large scale, trade consumer items, and have extensive investments in urban areas, owning shops, motor-cycles, and pharmacies. These activities require collaborators within the state and business sectors, evidence of armed groups’ broader social underpinnings."

Kenya and Uganda Have Become Major Exporters of gold since the two countries-have the infrastructure to transporting illegal minerals to   international markets. An Estimated 20 million people in DRC, Uganda and Rwanda, and Kenya to Some extent, depend on the illegal mining of DRC minerals as Their only source of livelihood.

Lets not forget coltan or Rwanda. 

" According to the United States Geographic Survey, Rwanda produced more than 25% of the world’s coltan in 2011, more than what their coltan deposits should be able to provide. Rwandan coltan mining relies on mines in the DRC, some of which are in conflict areas and some of which are not. Of the ten large Rwandan mining companies, only four have taken any measures to verify that their product is not conflict-sourced. Rwanda has also been implicated multiple times in Congolese coltan smuggling by the UN, along with Burundi and Uganda. However, Uganda and Burundi do not report having a coltan industry, so those claims are even more difficult for the UN to verify. It is believed that about half of all Rwandan coltan comes from conflict regions in the DRC."

Charges of gold smuggling against Uganda are not new. Some high-ranking military ounce Officials Were Accused by a UN Panel of involvement in smuggling Congolese minerals and other natural resources. HOWEVER, Uganda says it now HAS mineral processing protocol with the Congolese government and dealings with Congolese gold dealers are above board.

But it isn't the official Congolese gold dealers who are the problem.

Conflict (Blood ) Minerals

The Guardian reports.

"Eastern Congo's poor left

counting the cost of conflict-free

gadgets

US legislation on conflict minerals has generated column inches, but is it hurting the very people it was designed to protect?

A miner in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a handful of tungsten, a mineral used in mobile phone manufacture. Photograph: Kuni Takahashi/Getty Images


There are more mobile phones and other wireless devices in the US than people. Each one probably contains small amounts of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold. This fact, we're told, ties US consumers directly to villagers in the volatile, resource-rich eastern provinces of theDemocratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Our insatiable demand for electronic devices is keeping brutal militia groups in business, goes the now familiar story, and cleaning up the mineral trade is the key to peace. This narrative, simple yet deeply controversial, has provided fodder for newspaper columns and galvanised campus and consumer groups across the US to demand "conflict-free" gadgets. Long-ignored by Washington, it has helped push eastern Congo centre stage."

If only it had pushed the DR Congo to the centre stage. I suspect most in the West couldn't name the countries previous name and couldn't find it on a map.

" In July 2010, a provision (section 1502) was added to the gargantuanDodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, requiring US-listed companies to investigate and disclose whether the tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold used in their products comes from the DRC or a neighbouring country. But now that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally released long-overdue rules to implement what is known in eastern Congo as "Obama's law", the story seems anything but simple.

Analysts and observers are still poring over the SEC's 356-page "conflict minerals" rule, and comments continue to trickle out. But don't expect much celebration. Industry groups will continue to groan about the cost and difficulty of conducting detailed investigations of their complex supply-chains. Others have questioned whether it's appropriate to task the US capital markets regulator with humanitarian and foreign policy concerns."

Obama's law is long overdue and it is appropriate that humanitarian concerns are taken into consideration, for fucks sake are we human ?

" The Enough Project and Global Witness, NGOs that led the charge for "conflict minerals" legislation, have issued relatively cheerless reactions. Both take issue, for example, with the SEC's decision to allow companies to describe the origin of their products as "undeterminable" for two to four years, depending on the company's size. Proponents of this "phase-in" period say it's necessary, given the time and effort required to mount such complex inquiries. Advocates say it's unacceptable, given immediate needs."

Undeterminable looks to me to be a cop out.

" Much seems to hinge on the definition of "manufacturing", and on the judgment of SEC regulators as to who and what is covered by the rules. So far, mining companies and some major retailers that simply affix their brands to third-party manufactured goods appear exempt.

The contrast between the emotive campaigning around "conflict minerals" and the unglamorous work ahead is stark: the SEC's rules are only about disclosure. How much capacity will the agency have to review these reports? How involved will campaigners get in the important but tedious task of monitoring disclosures? This is complex stuff, demanding far more than signing a petition or calling a senator.

Still, few seem to doubt the Dodd-Frank regulations will have an impact on the profits armed groups extract from the mineral trade. But will it end the violence, as promised?

Anything that reduces the income of the armed groups is good but at the same time we need to be aware that the militias will look for other revenue streams and the people in the front line need support.

                                                                                 Photo Virunga National Park

" Critics argue that the focus on cleaning up the mineral trade – in itself, a noble aim – has simplified a complex conflict. In a paper published by the Centre for Global Development earlier this year, Laura Seay, professor of political science at Morehouse College in Atlanta, argued there is no reason to believe that armed groups won't just find other sources of revenue. The idea that they fight because of minerals, or the money they make selling them, is historically inaccurate, she says. Instead, Seay offers a series of reports that suggest Section 1502 has already put entire Congolese communities out of work as companies look for minerals elsewhere."

Why can't those minerals be extracted legally and under license ? Oh that's right  the minerals support militias who prevent orderly exploitation of said minerals, this is chicken and egg stuff.

" If the "conflict minerals" story has put eastern Congo on the international agenda, it has done so at a significant cost, argues Columbia University professor Séverine Autesserre. In exchange for attention, Autesserre says the issue has diverted attention from other key issues: poverty, corruption, land conflicts, the reform of local institutions. It has hindered the search for a comprehensive solution, she argues, leaving us instead with a series of poorly conceived technical responses.

There's little doubt that those who led the charge for "conflict minerals" legislation understood the complexities of the conflict in eastern Congo and few would argue that foreign firms should, however indirectly, continue to bankroll – and profit from – the activities of militia groups. But was it right to simplify the message and use stories of rape and sexual abuse to push it through?"

Yes. it isn't simplification though, it  is the truth and you might not like the truth but you  never hide from it. Rape sexual abuse AND wholesale massacres. Lives dislocated, families destroyed, do not guild this lilly.