Sunday, December 30, 2012

Stemming ‘conflict minerals’ trade has failed to rein in Congo militias

FT:  ...minerals trade ... has funded rebel groups for more than a decade. These groups are financed partly by taking over ramshackle mines, running smuggling routes into Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, then wreaking havoc in eastern Congo, often killing and raping civilians...
Companies keen to ensure their minerals are “clean” will buy only tagged material. But the fact that Rwanda is able to export “conflict-free” is a worrying upshot... Rwanda... is accused by UN experts, diplomats and Congo of masterminding, funding and arming a proxy rebellion in eastern Congo, in part to seek out the very material the legislation is meant to safeguard. The UN says Rwandan exports are rising in line with levels of smuggling from Congo, and that smuggling still finances Congolese rebels...

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