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Blood Minerals: Rwanda, Burundi cited as transit routes for DRC minerals

By Rwanda News Agency
October 10, 2009

Kigali: With the illicit trade in minerals arming militia groups in eastern DR Congo, campaigners are again demanding that Rwanda and Burundi watch their borders. Officials here however, tell RNA that regional governments are working on a certification mechanism due in January to track the source of these troubled minerals, RNA reports.

The new deadline for a certification mechanism comes after a committee of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) met in Rwanda last week to discuss regulating the movement of minerals.

The development also followed a controversial report by Global Witness, a UK-based advocacy group, which alleged that not enough was being done by the region’s governments to stop the trade in illegally exploited minerals.

Reiterating claims made in the lengthy Global Witness report, officials from the group tell RNA that Rwanda needs to do more because vast amounts of the minerals are going through its borders.

The regional meeting in Kigali was attended by delegates from nine of the 11 ICGLR countries. Sudan and Angora did not attend the meeting.

The high-level conference closed with an action plan for the coming months. Dr. Michael Biryabarema, director of the Rwanda Geology and Mines Authority (OGMR), was elected secretary of the committee.

The action plan’s priorities are to develop a certification process, with a draft ready to be discussed and ratified by January. There was also a commitment to harmonize each country’s policies regarding the mining and exportation of minerals, as well as timber.

A major motivation for the regional encounter was the so-called conflict minerals flowing from DR Congo. Global Witness and other campaign groups say the mines controlled by militia groups like the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), are financing them with millions of dollars - allowing them to maintain a heavy supply of arms.

“The rebellions may start for one reason or another, but the minerals sustain them. So I think the idea is that we need to deny them that resource,” Biryabarema said Tuesday.

The proposed plan to achieve this is for each country in the region to certify their minerals, devaluing illegally mined resources that are not certified.

Tracking the source

“The certification process has two levels. One is just the immediate one of tracking current exports in the system,” said Biryabarema. “The other one is where we go even deeper and define the resource from its source, from the mine.”

Biryabarema, who visited the Congolese border-town of Goma last week, said authorities there are tracking exports in an attempt to stop smuggling. But, he said, tracking the minerals back to the mines is proving to be much harder.

“Minerals are brought into Goma by plane from the interior of the country,” he explained. The minerals are sold by third-party buyers, not directly from the mines, making it nearly impossible to determine with certainty whether the profits are going to armed groups.

“They are not . . . linking the material to where it has come from, especially if it has come from the FDLR, so that’s why the problem stays.”

The ICGLR committee will produce a series of guidelines, but countries will be responsible for developing their own certification process. Rwanda already has a pilot certification program underway.

However, since the ICGLR countries are also working to harmonize policies affecting natural resources, Rwandan officials say they expect the certification programs to all be similar.

“In the end I guess there will be documents which are 99 per cent similar,” Biryabarema said.

He added that harmonization of policies is important because if certain countries have lower duty taxes or less severe penalties for illegally moving minerals, their borders will be more vulnerable targets for smugglers.

‘Rwanda and Burundi: Monitor borders’

Global Witness, in its report, accused British mining giant AMC of buying Congo minerals in total disregard of the suffering the proceeds are causing. The advocacy group also said the region needed to act as a matter of urgency. It has now welcomed the effort launched but urges caution.

“We are aware of the meeting that took place last week,” said Emilie Serralta, a campaigner with Global Witness, in an e-mail correspondence.

Serralta said that while the ICGLR has held numerous meetings and issues many statements on the illegal minerals, armed groups in DRC are still profiting from the trade.

“The development of certification schemes, such as those considered by the conference, may be useful in the long-term, but the gravity of the situation in eastern DRC demands more immediate action,” she said.

Some of Global Witness’s recommendations for countries include tightening controls and inspections of mineral imports, launching investigations of individuals or companies who are suspected of dealing with armed groups in the eastern DRC. Sanctions for offending parties could include prosecution or suspension of trading licenses, the group suggests.

Echoing the previously released Global Witness report, Serralta singled out Rwanda as a country that needs to tighten its borders.

“Neighbouring countries, in particular Rwanda and Burundi, continue to act as the main exit routes for the majority of the minerals produced in North and South Kivu [in the DRC],” she said in the e-mail.

“Stronger action is needed by the governments of the region to cut off the warring parties' access to international trade routes and external networks.”

The Rwandan official Biryabarema acknowledged that some illicit minerals from the DRC may be smuggled into the country’s territory since major trading routes pass through Rwanda. However, he said his visit to Goma last week convinced him that progress is being made.

“What I found out is there’s a strict control system at the border,” he said. “For the movement of materials from Congo to Rwanda . . . I guess now it’s really the work of small [smugglers].”

Getting companies on board

Biryabarema said Rwandan companies initially expressed skepticism at the government’s certification program when it was announced in March. Their major concern was that it would be a costly process.

“Then we began to have companies that were initially skeptical wanting to be on line, because at the end of the day they understand now that the market is more demanding in terms of the source,” he said.

“They are beginning to find out that in the modern world, it’s good to have a good record.”

He added that beyond smuggling, a major challenge for all countries – including Rwanda – will be to monitor the small-scale mining productions that dot the countryside.

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posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 1:01 PM