[LINK] "Obama’s conflict minerals law has destroyed everything, say Congo miners"
From Facebook's Andy I found The Guardian-hosted version of Sudarsan Raghavan's Washington Post article suggesting that the slow certification of Congolese mines as unassociated with conflict mineral mining has wrecked emergent economies throughout central Africa.
When his father could no longer make enough money from the tin mine, when he could no longer pay for school, Bienfait Kabesha ran off and joined a militia. It offered the promise of loot and food, and soon he was firing an old rifle on the frontlines of Africa’s deadliest conflict. He was 14.
But what makes Kabesha different from countless other child soldiers is this: his path to war involved not just the wrenchingpoverty and violence of eastern Congo but also an obscure measure passed by US lawmakers. Villagers call it Loi Obama - Obama’s law.
The legislation compels US companies to audit their supply chains to ensure they are not using “conflict minerals” - particularly gold, coltan, tin and tungsten from artisanal mines controlled by Congo’s murderous militias. It was championed by influential activists and lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, and tucked into the massive Wall Street reform law known as the Dodd-Frank Act.
The law’s supporters said it would weaken the militias by cutting off their mining profits. But the legislation, signed by President Obama four years ago, set off a chain of events that has propelled millions of miners and their families deeper into poverty, according to interviews with miners, community leaders, activists and Congolese and western officials, as well as recent visits to four large mining areas.
As it sought to comply with the law, Congo’s government shut down the mining industry for months. Then, a process was launched to certify the country’s minerals as conflict-free. But the process is unfolding at a glacial pace, marred by a lack of political will, corruption and bureaucratic and logistical delays. That has led foreign companies to avoid buying the minerals, which has driven down prices. Many miners are forced to find other ways to survive, including by joining armed groups. Meanwhile, the militias remain potent threats. “The intention of the law was good, but in practice it was not well thought out,” said Eric Kajemba, director of the Observatory for Governance and Peace, a regional nonprofit group. “This is a country where the government is absent in many areas, plagued by years of war and bad governance, where the economic tissue has been destroyed. The American lawmakers didn’t appear to take this into consideration.” Requests for comment were made to former Democratic Senator Russell Feingold from Wisconsin, a key backer of the conflict-minerals measure who is now US special envoy to the Great Lakes region, which includes Congo. But his office said he was not available. The state department also did not reply to several requests for comment.
As of June, the government had certified just 25 mining sites out of hundreds in South and North Kivu provinces as “green”, meaning there were no armed groups and no children or pregnant women labourers, according to UN monitors. As of October, there were only 11 mines out of more than 900 in South Kivu where minerals were “tagged” conflict-free, said Adalbert Murhi Mubalama, the province’s minister of mines.
When his father could no longer make enough money from the tin mine, when he could no longer pay for school, Bienfait Kabesha ran off and joined a militia. It offered the promise of loot and food, and soon he was firing an old rifle on the frontlines of Africa’s deadliest conflict. He was 14.
But what makes Kabesha different from countless other child soldiers is this: his path to war involved not just the wrenchingpoverty and violence of eastern Congo but also an obscure measure passed by US lawmakers. Villagers call it Loi Obama - Obama’s law.
The legislation compels US companies to audit their supply chains to ensure they are not using “conflict minerals” - particularly gold, coltan, tin and tungsten from artisanal mines controlled by Congo’s murderous militias. It was championed by influential activists and lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, and tucked into the massive Wall Street reform law known as the Dodd-Frank Act.
The law’s supporters said it would weaken the militias by cutting off their mining profits. But the legislation, signed by President Obama four years ago, set off a chain of events that has propelled millions of miners and their families deeper into poverty, according to interviews with miners, community leaders, activists and Congolese and western officials, as well as recent visits to four large mining areas.
As it sought to comply with the law, Congo’s government shut down the mining industry for months. Then, a process was launched to certify the country’s minerals as conflict-free. But the process is unfolding at a glacial pace, marred by a lack of political will, corruption and bureaucratic and logistical delays. That has led foreign companies to avoid buying the minerals, which has driven down prices. Many miners are forced to find other ways to survive, including by joining armed groups. Meanwhile, the militias remain potent threats. “The intention of the law was good, but in practice it was not well thought out,” said Eric Kajemba, director of the Observatory for Governance and Peace, a regional nonprofit group. “This is a country where the government is absent in many areas, plagued by years of war and bad governance, where the economic tissue has been destroyed. The American lawmakers didn’t appear to take this into consideration.” Requests for comment were made to former Democratic Senator Russell Feingold from Wisconsin, a key backer of the conflict-minerals measure who is now US special envoy to the Great Lakes region, which includes Congo. But his office said he was not available. The state department also did not reply to several requests for comment.
As of June, the government had certified just 25 mining sites out of hundreds in South and North Kivu provinces as “green”, meaning there were no armed groups and no children or pregnant women labourers, according to UN monitors. As of October, there were only 11 mines out of more than 900 in South Kivu where minerals were “tagged” conflict-free, said Adalbert Murhi Mubalama, the province’s minister of mines.