Western commerce still feeds the war in Congo

[Bantu_Kelani]

MASSACRES IN CONGO TAKE PLACE ALL DAY, EVERYDAY OF THE YEAR, CLOSE TO RWANDA MASSACRES, WHICH IS JUST AS MUCH IGNORED!!  WHAT HAVE ORDINARILY LOUD POLICYMAKERS SAID ABOUT IT? ANY SIGNIFICANTLY INCENSED EDITORIALS IN "BIG" MEDIA PERHAPS?? THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT...SELECTIVE INDIGNATION AND COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.

NO ONE CARES ABOUT WHAT GOES ON IN CONGO, IT'S REALLY THAT SIMPLE!!

B.K



--------------------------------

Tristram Hunt and Oona King
The Guardian

Early next week a French-led contingent of multinational troops will pull out of the Congo town of Bunia after barely three months of peacekeeping. Thankfully, some high-level diplomacy at the United Nations by the secretary general, Kofi Annan, has secured a replacement force to serve a further year in an attempt to end the regional conflict which since 1998 has claimed more than 3.3 million lives.

But while efforts are rightly focused on seeking a truce between the Hema and Lendu militia groups, and urging an end to Ugandan and Rwandan interference, western diplomats might also think about getting their own houses in order. In an uncanny repetition of western intervention in the region that dates back to the 19th century, complicit multinational corporations and unknowing - or unthinking - western consumers have contributed to the regional conflagration.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is an area cursed by an abundance of natural wealth from gold through diamonds and timber to oil and even the mobile-phone mineral coltan. Foreign companies, happy to cut deals with military commanders, have sustained the conflict by exploiting natural resources with near-total disregard for human rights or long-term development. In turn, when we use our phone, give a PlayStation to a teenager, or buy a diamond for a loved one, we too risk being an unwitting accomplice.

Since King Leopold II of Belgium first decided on Congo as a suitable site for his imperial ambitions in the 1870s, the west's role in the region's history has constituted an almost apocalyptic rape of resources and people.

It was under the guise of the International African Association and with the assistance of that criminally overrated explorer, Henry Morton Stanley, that Leopold II carved out his territory. Local chiefs were forced to hand over vast tracts of land in exchange for cloth, beads and a couple of bottles of gin. But unlike France or Britain, Leopold was never interested in the geopolitics of Africa - he wanted the riches.

To begin with, it was ivory. Trading posts were established along the Congo river manned by Belgian military officials with strict targets for collection rates. Armed with the gun and the chicotte (a whip made of hippo skin), they quelled local villages, who pressganged tens of thousands into railway construction and liquidated any resistance.

Then came rubber slavery. With the demand for bicycle and car tyres growing in the west, the wild rubber trees of the Congo basin became a goldmine for Leopold. Whole villages were taken hostage to ensure men went into the jungles to tap trees. Villages that refused were massacred en masse and hands hacked off as evidence of orders carried out. Brussels always had a good eye for bureaucracy. Every bullet needed to account for every smoked limb. The "savage" African custom of mutilation - seen to such horrendous effect in Sierra Leone and Rwanda - owes much to the introduction of Belgian bureaucratic rigour.

The forests and rivers of Congo became a killing field as King Leopold's officers destroyed a civilisation with the racial determination of Nazi death camp commandants. And as Adam Hochschild has shown in his masterful book, King Leopold's Ghost, it was no surprise that it was in this "heart of darkness" that Conrad found his Kurtz. Was the prototype Guillaume Van Kerckhoven, who paid his soldiers 2d for every human head they brought him during military operations, or perhaps Leon Rum, who surrounded his garden with severed African heads and thought himself, like Kurtz, "an emissary of science and progress"?

By the time world opinion finally woke up to Leopold's atrocities, the Congo Free State had been stripped of its wealth, some 10 million people slaughtered in one of the worst genocides in history, and an entire cultural tradition extinguished. The west, of course, hadn't finished with Congo, deciding later in the 20th century to support the brutal kleptocracy of General Mobutu for some 30 ruinous years.

Today a familiar pattern continues. A UN panel of experts recently concluded that foreign interests sustain the current war by illegally subsidising militias, in return for gold, diamonds, cobalt, coltan and other loot. Vast quantities of the country's natural wealth are shipped out illegally, leaving behind an impoverished population that is often pressganged into labour or, literally, pillaged and raped. The conflict has witnessed some of the worst sexual violence in history, and is dubbed Africa's first world war: millions of casualties, and 18 million people with no access to services of any kind - no clean water, health, education, transport, or housing.

A wave of bloodletting earlier this year sparked fears of a Rwandan-style genocide. Renewed attempts to broker peace have now, thankfully, led to a transitional government headed by the young Joseph Kabila - son of Laurent - and the promise of an enhanced UN peacekeeping force. But history runs rings round Congo. Back in 1960 it had the dubious distinction of being the first country in the world to host a UN peacekeeping force. So what's new?

Well, for a start, the UN might finally have some power. Next month, the UN mission, Monuc, will increase from just over 2,000 to approximately 8,000 by the end of September. Of course, it needs more. If it had the same troops-to-land ratio as in Kosovo, Congo would have 10 million peacekeepers. But Monuc's new power - a mandate authorising active intervention to protect civilians, rather than its former observer status - does mark significant progress. It is a departure from the UN's dark days in 1994, when it walked away from the Rwandan genocide only to return some months later to hang curtains around 800,000 corpses and accidentally provide sanctuary for the murderers regrouping in Congo, thus preparing the ground for today's conflict.

Since the arrival of the French-led international force, including a British contingent, Bunia, the town where daylight robbery and murdering militias went hand in hand, has been demilitarised. But a large number of the population are displaced in the surrounding countryside, too terrified to return. The British government has so far increased humanitarian assistance this year to £16m. But Congo also needs protection from exploitative western interests. It needs an extension of controls on diamonds and other minerals; the enforcement of OECD guidelines for multinational businesses; an effective small-arms embargo; and stricter conditionality on assistance to other regional governments linked to Congolese resource exploitation.

As Congo knows from its past, UN peacekeepers are not enough. Only good governance and economic transparency will drain the illegal swamp of economic and military networks that have, throughout its history, conspired in crimes against humanity.

Tristram Hunt teaches history at Queen Mary, London. Oona King MP is chair of the all-party group on the Great Lakes and genocide prevention.

http://www.trinicenter.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=482

[kristine]

Global Businesses Profit from Congo War, Groups Charge
Tue Oct 28, 9:31 AM ET  Add World -  

Jim Lobe, OneWorld US

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct 28 (OneWorld) -- A dozen major international human rights and develoment groups are calling on the UN Security Council to press the United States and other western governments to launch immediate investigations into the involvement of multinational corporations based in their countries in profiteering from the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (news - web sites) (DRC).
 

The appeal--by such groups as Human Rights Watch (HRW), Friends of the Earth (news - web sites) (FoE), Oxfam, and the International Human Rights Law Group--charges that multinational corporations (MNCs) have developed "elite networks" of key political, military, and business elites to plunder the Congo's natural resources during a five-year conflict that has caused the deaths of more than three million people--the highest civilian death toll of any war since World War II.


Given the key role played by MNCs in fueling and perpetuating the many-sided conflict--by purchasing the natural resources from the warring parties or their middlemen, according to the groups--the companies' activities should be thoroughly investigated and, where appropriate, sanctioned, the groups argue.


"The Security Council can no longer ignore clear evidence linking the exploitation of resources to the war in the Congo," they said in a joint statement.


"It must insist that member states hold the companies and individuals involved to account, including companies based in Western countries. Business must demonstrate its commitment to change the way it operates in conflict situations," the groups said.


The groups' appeal comes on the eve of the final report of a Panel of Experts that was established by the UN in 2000 to study the illegal exploitation of the DRC's abundant natural resources.


The Panel has so far published three reports, the last one in October, 2002. In that report, it found that 85 companies had violated international norms, including the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises promulgated by the Paris-based Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in connection with their purchase of key natural resources from parties engaged in fighting in the DRC.


In particular, the Panel called on governments to place financial restrictions on 29 of the companies and impose travel restrictions and other sanctions against more than 50 specific individuals.


The OECD, to which all western industrialized countries belong, has specific procedures for processing complaints against western-based companies that violate its various codes of conduct by referring such cases to National Contact Points (NCPs) for investigation and possible sanctions. In the United States, the NCP is Wesley Scholz, based at the Office of Investment Affairs in the State Department.


In January, 2003 the Security Council approved a resolution strongly condemning the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the DRC and demanding that all governments act immediately to end those abuses.


The war, which has featured the intervention of the militaries of half a dozen neighboring countries, as well as a multiplicity of internal factions, has wound down over the past year, thanks mainly to UN- and South Africa-led negotiations resulting in the withdrawal of most foreign forces. Some internal parties, backed by foreign sponsors, have continued to battle for control of several mineral-rich parts of the country.


Of the 85 companies named in the October 2002 report, eight, including Cabot Corporation, Eagle Wings Resources International, Trinitech International, Kemet Electronics Corporation, OM Group (OMG); and Vishay Sprague, are U.S.-owned.


When the report was issued, the U.S. representative, Richard Williamson, pledged that his government "will look into the allegations against these companies and take appropriate measures [and] not torn a blind eye to these activities."


But, in a memo released Monday, FoE charged that the Bush administration has failed to take any meaningful steps toward investigating, let alone sanctioning, any of the companies.


On the contrary, both the United States and other OECD members have successfully pressured the Panel to remove from its final report the names of the companies registered in their jurisdictions or to declare that such cases have been resolved, according to the groups.


In the U.S., Scholz has argued that the OECD Guidelines do not apply to the U.S. corporations named in the October report because they were not directly involved in the DRC, but only purchased resources through their parties. But the groups insist this is far too narrow an interpretation of the OECD's code, which notes that parent companies or retailers have an obligation to ensure that the principles contained in the Guidelines are observed by their suppliers and sub-contractors.


While the Panel's final report does not provide specifics, according to FoE, Cabot, Kemet, and Vishay Sprague all appeared to have had "supply chain" relationships with parties in the DRC to obtain coltan (columbo tantalite), which is used in the production of sophisticated electronic equipment, particularly cellphones.

 



Cabot, whose CEO and chairman from 1992 until 2001 was the current deputy director of the Commerce Department (news - web sites), Samuel Bodman, is the world's largest refiner of coltan, according to FoE. It noted that Cabot, which sells processed tantalum to both Kernet and Vishay, said in response to the Panel's October 2002 report that it had taken measures to ensure that it is not obtaining coltan from the DRC.

The Panel also found last October that Eagle Wings had received privileged access to coltan sites and captive labor through its contacts with the Rwandan military, which controlled coltan mining areas in eastern DRC during much of the war. It specifically recommended placing a travel ban and financial restrictions on three of the company's managers. The company is a joint venture of Trinitech International Inc. and the Dutch-owned Chemie Pharmacie Holland.

The OM Group was named by the Panel as having reaped considerable profit from its joint venture, in which it holds percent stake, with a Belgian national, George Forrest and the DRC's state mining company, Gecamines, by ignoring agreements that required it to build two refineries and a converter to process germanium in the DRC. Instead, it shipped semi-processed ore from its "Big Hill Project," one of the most profitable mining operations in the DRC, to a processing plant in Finland. OMG has insisted that it has not violated any OECD guidelines.

"It is not just the Security Council but also the governments of member states that must live up to their responsibilities," the NGOs' statement said. "They must conduct open and transparent investigations using the OECD process or other judicial procedures to clarify the role that companies have played in the conflict in Congo."

Other groups that signed the appeal include Britain's Christian Aid, Fatal Transactions, Global Witness, the International Human Rights Law Group, the International Peace Information Service, the International Rescue Committee, OECD Watch; Pax Christi Netherlands; Save the Children UK; and a number of Congolese human rights groups.

[kristine]

multinational corporations:

The Panel has so far published three reports, the last one in October, 2002. In that report, it found that 85 companies had violated international norms

Cabot Corporation, Eagle Wings Resources International, Trinitech International, Kemet Electronics Corporation, OM Group (OMG); and Vishay Sprague, are U.S.-owned.  

The OECD, to which all western industrialized countries belong, has specific procedures for processing complaints against western-based companies that violate its various codes of conduct by referring such cases to National Contact Points (NCPs) for investigation and possible sanctions. In the United States, the NCP is Wesley Scholz, based at the Office of Investment Affairs in the State Department.  

http://www.state.gov/e/eb/ifd/c9787.htm

Eagle Wings
The company is a joint venture of Trinitech International Inc. and the Dutch-owned Chemie Pharmacie Holland.  

Belgian national, George Forrest

http://w1.cabot-corp.com/index.jsp
http://www.trinitechholdings.com/index.cfm
http://www.motionnet.com/cgi-bin/search.exe?a=sc&no=5178
http://www.omg.org/
http://www.vishay.com/company/

While the Panel's final report does not provide specifics, according to FoE, Cabot, Kemet, and Vishay Sprague all appeared to have had "supply chain" relationships with parties in the DRC to obtain coltan (columbo tantalite), which is used in the production of sophisticated electronic equipment, particularly cellphones.  

sophisticated electronic equipment, particularly cellphones.  

particularly cellphones.  

cellphones.

[kristine]

major international human rights and develoment groups

Human Rights Watch (HRW)   http://www.hrw.org/

Friends of the Earth    http://www.foe.co.uk/

Oxfam  http://www.oxfam.org/eng/

International Human Rights Law Group  http://www.hrlawgroup.org/

Britain's Christian Aid  http://www.christian-
aid.org.uk/news/media/pressrel/030515p.htm

Fatal Transactions  http://www.niza.nl/detail_page.phtml?lang=en&lang_help=en&nav=e4aintro&page=ftintro

Global Witness  http://www.oneworld.org/globalwitness/

the International Peace Information Service  http://info.coe.int/Einiras/zipis.htm

the International Rescue Committee    http://www.theirc.org/

OECD Watch download required

Pax Christi Netherlands

Save the Children UK
CENADEP  use search engine such as google for translator

RASHOSKI use search enging such as google for translator

Who are these agencies and are/can they help....

[Ayinde]

Britain must confront shameful trade that ruins Congolese lives

By Anneke Van Woudenberg
31 October 2003

A few weeks ago, in a quiet corner of a hotel in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, a militia leader told me that 6,000 of his armed men had recently taken control of a gold mine in the north.

He reckoned that he could sell 5kg of gold from his new mine for $50,000 (£30,000). He said it would be traded for guns. According to countless reports, those guns, in turn, are used to massacre civilians. Human Rights Watch has documented many of these attacks where men, women and children are brutally killed, raped or mutilated.

The drive to control the DRC's vast mineral wealth has been a prime motive for the war. Multinational companies and the DRC's neighbours are accused of profiteering from the war, yet the UN Security Council has taken no action. The war has left more than three million people dead in the past five years.

The DRC is blessed ­ or in this case cursed ­ with some of the world's largest diamond reserves, rich gold fields, as well as huge reserves of cobalt and coltan (a mineral used in laptops and mobile phones). All the warring parties have exploited these reserves to finance their military operations and buy weapons, often committing serious human rights abuses in the process. A peace process has begun but the deadly business practices persist.

Companies in Britain are among the 85 accused of ignoring fundamental principles and international standards of good practice as laid down in the Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which spell out how companies should behave. And Britain has failed to investigate even one of them.

Britain has also failed to confront the DRC's neighbours, Uganda and Rwanda, who have funded and supported Congolese rebel groups. In the decade before Ugandan troops arrived in the DRC, for example, Uganda exported few diamonds but, once Ugandan soldiers were on the spot, it sold diamonds abroad worth millions of dollars. Rwanda multiplied its exports of coltan in the same way.

Uganda and Rwanda have now pulled their troops out of the DRC but they have reportedly kept their economic links with the warlords. It is precisely this murky trade that destroys Congolese lives and undermines hope for the peace process.

Looking the other way guarantees continued profits for a few and continued horror for the many.

Anneke Van Woudenberg is a senior researcher on the Democratic Republic of Congo for Human Rights Watch

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=458965

[Bantu_Kelani]

So many ills, so much suffering, degradation and slaughter ...

B.K