By KEZIO-MUSOKE DAVID
The Esat African
August 3, 2009
Rwanda has dismissed claims of a report by Global Witness, a UK-based multinational research organisation, that the country has done little to stop the channelling of minerals allegedly used to fuel insurgency in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Kigali has also faulted Global Witness claims that the continued presence of Rwanda rebels — Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Rwanda, commonly known by the French acronym FDLR — in the Kivu region is largely sponsored by the illegal exploitation of “conflict minerals.” Kigali’s argument is that if this is so, then why isn’t anyone addressing the problem?
FDRL is a predominantly Hutu armed group whose leaders are believed to have participated in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
The Global Witness report published in May 2009, but only made public last month, says that international dialogue and peace talks between the DR Congo and Rwanda have not tackled the economic dimension of the conflict which Kigali has dismissed as baseless.
The report also says that the militarisation of mining in eastern DR Congo is prolonging the armed conflict and that approximately a quarter of Rwanda’s mineral exports in 2008 originated from the DR Congo.
According to the report, “The expansion of Rwanda’s mining sector and processing capacity may prove positive for Rwanda’s economy, but doubts will continue to be cast on the origin of these minerals for as long as Rwanda fails to address the role of Rwanda as a channel and trading post for products which are benefiting the warring parties in eastern DR Congo.”
“Congolese government statistics and reports by the Group of Experts and non-governmental organisations have all demonstrated that Rwanda is one of the main conduits for minerals leaving North and South Kivu … neither the Rwandan government nor mineral trading companies operating in Rwanda are conducting careful due diligence to ensure that this trade is not benefiting any of the warring parties in eastern DR Congo,” it adds.
However Vincent Karega, Rwanda’s Minister of State in charge of mining, told The EastAfrican, that the release of the report is like avoiding the main problem by artificially creating other problems.
“Let us respond to the following questions: There is export of minerals, palm oil, textiles, timber, agriculture products, coffee and import of fuel, food, manufactured goods and more. Which part of trade supports conflicts and which does not? If any sanctions are to be imposed, to whom and how?” Mr Karega asked.
The minister also added that the government of Rwanda does not engage in the mineral trade and that both Congolese and Rwandan business people and foreign investors in both countries trade legally through Customs at the border posts and legal financial systems.
The Global Witness report says that in theory, Rwandan Customs officials check the paperwork accompanying all consignments from the DR Congo, but that the Rwanda government has not been proactive in delving deeper into the origins of the minerals transported across its border.
In response the minister said, “Mineral exporters trade minerals from their motherland and continent with licences from the legitimate and sovereign states. Whether a part of the sales creates wealth for rebels or negative forces present in the DR Congo it does not mean that Rwanda promotes or supports such conflicts because traders in minerals transit their goods into Rwanda.”
Global Witness is an international pressure group that investigates and exposes the corrupt exploitation of natural resources and international trade systems.
The investigations are meant to be used to drive campaigns that end impunity, resource-linked conflict, and human rights and environmental abuses.
The contents of the Global Witness report are the kind that could easily taint an already improving relation between the DR Congo and Rwanda with claims that the Congo government forces are partners with the FDRL rebels in the illegal mining business.
President Paul Kagame of Rwanda recently told journalists that Rwanda was seeking a stronger bilateral economic relationship with the DR Congo which goes beyond mere diplomacy.
During his monthly press briefings in Kigali recently he emphasised that the conflicts in the DR Congo are much more complex with deeper root causes both inside and outside the Congo.
Some of the group’s investigations have had direct and major impacts, such as the International Monetary Fund withdrawal from Cambodia in 1996 over corruption in the logging industry, the imposition of timber sanctions on Charles Taylor’s Liberia in 2003, and the precedent-setting arrest of timber baron Gus Kouwenhoven, in the Netherlands in 2005.
According to sources, this campaign could also be used to promote an international ban on all minerals that are exported from the conflict area of the Kivu region.
About 50,000 inhabitants in that region earn their daily bread from mining activities and could lose their jobs if the report is adopted by the international community.
In parallel, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, a group of 11 states, intends to develop a broader certification scheme which could apply to all minerals and timber produced in the Great Lakes Region.
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