Democratic Republic of Congo and Conflict Minerals
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) an ongoing civil war for the past fifteen years has been funded directly by the illegal selling of earth minerals. This problem has been ongoing because of the various military groups and rebel groups fighting over minerals in this profitable region. In the DRC, coltan and other earth minerals are being stripped from the country by unjust militarization. The military groups, involving neighboring countries as well as military factions of the DRC and domestic military groups, are selling off the DRC’s natural resources thus bringing about a ongoing civil war in the region. The conflict is centered around the trade and mining the scarce mineral coltan which is used in electronics around the world.
In a effort to solve this ever-growing problem, there needs to be action to stop funding the war over the battle to control these highly sought after minerals. The people that work in these mines as well as the entire population of DRC should benefit from these minerals.. Third party oversight, that is independently funded should work with the Congolese government to strengthen state capacity, promote legal mineral trade by providing incentives, create transparency by publishing the supply chain and links to local and regional actors and mapping cells in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to ease the militarization of the earth minerals, specifically Coltan. There has not been enough to address this complex war economy.
In the region of the DRC, there are many issues involving who owns the land in certain regions because of the unstable government. Both Rwanda and Uganda, which neighbor to the East, claim to own some of the land in the Eastern DRC because of its highly profitable mining capabilities and the history of warring factions between ethnic groups in this region. There are various claims to the land ownership and is known as an ‘ethnic territory’ which has not been properly decided in the history of the DRC. The dispute over the territories has been an enormous strain on the entire region (Huggins 1).
King Leopold II ruled the DRC as his own private property in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. The Congolese were suppressed heavily during this time by separating land and putting different ethnic groups above one another and giving certain land to one group. He was heavily abusive to the people in this region and caused intense pain and suffering in this region. It is estimated that during this period in time ten to fifteen million Congolese were murdered in his quest for wealth in this region (Blood in the Mobile). Following this surpressed time, the Belgium's colonized the region until the 1960’s when the DRC gained independence (Huggins 30).
Today, there are many groups that are still fighting over the control of these resources. The main groups of this conflict are Democratic Forces for Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), Mai Mai Cheka Militia, Congolese Amry, and the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) (Bafilembaf, Benne, and Pendergast 4). A huge issue with these military groups is that they fight for takeover of specific mines in the Eastern DRC which creates confusion on who is controlling mines illegally. These mines are extremely dangerous and taxed heavily by the military groups. Entering and exiting the mines, there are militia that are heavily armed and force citizens to pay to enter and exit the mine. These militia groups change quickly for who is in charge of the mines and processing the minerals (Blood in the Mobile).
The United Nations has the largest peacekeeping mission in the DRC because of the tumultuous civil war in the region. This conflict has been ongoing for the past fifteen years and has taken an estimated five million lives. There is a direct linkage between the mining and selling of minerals that directly profit the armed actors, the Congolese government, and businesses that are in need of these minerals to make their product (Hege and Sterns 8). This linkage needs to be changed in order for consumers to stop financing a war that is causing a loss of lives and promoting illegal practices with terrible working conditions.
There is a push from many organizations to have a certification process of the mines and have a legal system to extract the minerals that are brought to market. This would require the bags of minerals to be labeled conflict-free through the distributors on the supply chain (Hege and Sterns 3). This will be a major reform in this conflict once the more pressing issues of human rights issues and the militarization of the minerals are addressed. The current system has heavily relied on the fact that there are many military groups inflicting violence against the Congolese in the Eastern DRC. The continuous corruption in this region has sustained this system in place that is pumping money and weapons directly into the problem that is creating more problems for the area and mines. For this system to work, the international community needs to be a united front on this issue. This solution costs an enormous amount of money and reliable agents that individual countries cannot lend or be able to support the needs to implement this system (Reaymaekers, Koen 70). This process would take too much time and resources and would not directly address the issue of the military groups controlling mines.
Another solution is to strenghten the local insistutions in place such as the Customs Agency, Ministry of Mines and Mining Police to be able to have enough power to overturn the rebel forces. Global Witness, a non governmental organization, has done extensive research in this particular realm of the problem in the DRC. The problem with this solution is that the central government in the DRC is weak and is extremely susceptible to further political manipulation, corruption, and intimidation of rebel forces and military units (Hege and Sterns 6). The Congolese government needs assistance to be able to secure and enforce their constitutional mandates against the rebel forces in order to bring about stability in the region. A third party oversight that worked directly with the Congolese government would help strengthen credibility in the region by making the government more forceful. This would create cooperation and credibility with the citizens and their government. The Congolese government is trying to regulate things that it does not have the capacity alone to regulate. Within the Minstry of Mines, workers also work with companies to be able to mine in the Eastern DRC. They are using the corporate side and the government side to have the capability to do illegal actions in order to profit from their mineral trade while leaving their citizen to suffer under consistant violence and awful working conditions (Blood in the Mobile).
Problems in developing countries with rich resources which permits funds in off-shore accounts or in the pockets of government officials. The Congolese government has difficulty in regulating their own military forces from illegally mining areas that are closed. Recently, a General in the North Kivu region, who was sent to suppress the rebels and secure the local people but instead took over the mine from a rebel group and then ran the mine for profit. Instead of the profit benefiting the state it went into the pocket of the general in charge (Fessy 2). Inherent contradictions because the current President Joseph Kabila of the DRC ordered a ban on mineral mining in the Eastern DRC because of rebel groups that control the trade.
There is no local support of the government because of this cycle of corruption. The military forces are solely there to protect the local people but have not done so. This harsh sanction banning mineral mining in certain regions by President Joseph Kabila has caused more problems than solutions (Reaymaekers, and Koen 45). The issues raised with the ban is that the military has corruption within itself. The military does not have the capability to enforce such a sanction on the rebel groups. Corruption exists in the government’s branch of the ministry of mines while having their foot into the corporate side of the mineral trade.
A breeding ground exists for sexual assault, murder and child enslavement as a result of mining areas being controlled by the rebels or the military. These military groups send the minerals along the supply chain illegally and untaxed into other regional economies. They in turn melt the illegally obtained minerals and are used as raw materials in electronic devices. The government’s failure to properly regulate the mines the rebels and the military result in wholesale atrocities being committed against workers and their families in the extraction of the minerals. (Funai, Gilpin, and Morris 3).
The government needs to be in complete control of the military in order to implement the government’s goals in trading conflict-free minerals. Because of the corruption and the ineffectual current structure of government a third party with support from the international community is needed to make needed changes. The third party institution would need to designate a part of the organization to sanction individuals that are not in compliance with the government’s constitution including the DRC’s own military forces. (Reaymaekers and Koen 175). This would strengthen the state capacity and give creditability to Congolese people in support of their government ending the atrocities brought about by military forces in its own army.
This third party institution should be independent and able to act quickly to sanction the illegal activities within the military with imposing fines or withdrawing licenses for mining. This mandate would be backed by the UN Security Council and would submit reports back to the Congolese government, to the UN Security Council and other donors involved. This would begin on a small scale starting with the most corrupt mining areas and then expanding to other regions of the country (Hege and Sterns 5).
In the Eastern DRC, there is confusion on exactly where the mines are and what forces are in control of these mines. In order for the government to move forward and create transparency with the Congolese people and businesses who profit, a mapping cell which clearly and effectively labels the areas must be developed in this region. This would allow companies to track the exact origin of these minerals and the operations of the mines. Identifying all military and rebel groups who are exploiting this region would allow all of the NGO’s and the government to be on the same level to regaining control of the region and ending the violence.
In attempts to formalizing the mineral trade, there should be legal trading centers set up in select towns with the Congolese government. In addition, these trading centers would provide incentives for trading minerals in a legal way. This would promote legal trading of minerals to facilitate the strengthening of Congolese institutions. The benefits in complying with the international standards would outweigh the costs of continuing the current violent status. “The international architecture needed to bring transparency and accountability to the minerals trade in the Great Lakes region of Africa is taking shape in the form of U.S. legislation, a U.N. Security Council resolution, and an emerging norm for due diligence on purchasing minerals. These are enormous accomplishments, but unless these standards are accompanied by an international certification process with independent monitoring and enforceable penalties on the ground, as well as comprehensive reform of the Congolese Army, they will do little to end the conflict minerals trade in Congo or bring a measure of security and genuine economic opportunity to the lives of Congolese civilians” (Sullivan, Enough Project 1).
The international community needs to come together to finance the solution to this ongoing problem. The mineral trade and military exploitation directly effects the international market and specifically electronic companies. Many NGO’s such as Global Witness and Enough Project are pushing international electronic companies to publish their supply chain of the minerals that are used to make metals. The UN has released a list of companies that are involved in the conflict and retrieve their minerals from this region. This has insufficient to force the companies to modify their practices. In the film, Blood in the Mobile the director Frank Piasecki Poulsen urges Nokia, the world’s largest cell phone company to publish their supply chain in attempt to start creating transparency and addressing the issue to the source. Nokia has known about this conflict for eleven years and has taken any significant action to change their practices which directly funds a war based upon the trade of these sought after lucrative minerals.
There has been work done to address this problem and it has not gone unnoticed by the international community. This trade has not been regulated and it has continued to cause atrocities to the people of Congo. It is difficult because of varying military groups and the interests of neighboring countries that ties into ethnic land ownership and past afflictions brought about by colonization. There needs to be more transparency on every aspect of the process to create a lasting solution. The Congolese government itself needs to be able to sustain what is implemented by the international community and the third party oversight. Without the cooperation of the Congolese government these solutions cannot be implemented.
