DRC: combating illegal trade of minerals

By on November 8, 2010

The arrest of six people claiming to be covered in their activities by local authorities tends to show that mining in the Kivu provinces and Maniema is not fully respected.

While in prohibiting mining in September, Joseph Kabila declared the phenomenon of being the “result of mafia groups’ activities that reinforce the recurrent insecurity. The Head of State denounced the “involvement” of civil and military authorities in the illicit exploitation and trade of the region ores.   The army had conducted operations in the enclave of Walikale where mines are being illegally exploited by armed groups, but also by some military officers including former members of the rebel National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), that rallied Kinshasa in early 2009. Then, in late October, the Minister of Mines has asked the governors of three provinces to proceed to the inventory of the operating sites prior to the lifting of the suspension. This recent arrest explains the reaction of the army again through the military chief military prosecutor in Walikale who has declared that the authorities are currently conducting investigations to trace back this band which claims to enjoy the protection of civil and military authorities and encourage them to commit such acts, the prosecutor said. These initiated investigations to find the culprits seem almost impossible to realise as corruption has gangrened the entire region.

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