Rebel financing

UN-led attempts to disarm the FDLR in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have failed, according to the latest report from the UN group of experts submitted to the Security Council recently.

The confidential report, leaked to a number of news organizations, said that military and global action was needed to cut off the financing for the Rwandan Hutu rebels.

The recent arrest of FDLR leader Ignace Murwanashyaka and his deputy Straton Musoni by German authorities showed that political networks operating out of Europe existed, said Wolf-Christian Paes, a senior researcher at the German NGO Bonn International Center for Conversion. Not only do these exile networks give commandos to their fighters in Africa, they are also used to enable the financing of the armed groups.

"There are several indications that these exile groups act as a collection point for donations and transfer these funds to Congo in order to pay for military services there, generally of course weapons," Paes told Deutsche Welle.

Resources footing the bill

UN sanctions on exporting arms to eastern Congo are in place. But weapons are not the only problem. The UN report found that illicit mining also played a key role in funding the rebels.

Kai Koddenbrock, research associate from the Global Public Policy Institute in Berlin, said DRC's porous borders made it very easy for minerals to leave the country and move on to regional hubs.

"Gold and cassiterite are also small, so you can basically transport them in your pockets," DRC expert Koddenbrock told Deutsche Welle. "It's impossible to oversee trade in these small minerals."

Paes said the lack of a general embargo also hindered controls.

"Even back when the civil war was in full swing, it was never illegal to buy resources from Congo," Paes said. "It was only immoral and undermined the peace process."

Koddenbrock said certification schemes for these resources were a potential mechanism to control the traffic of natural resources. The German government, for example, is supporting the establishment of such a scheme. But more pressure was necessary, he said.

"I don't think enough financial and political support is given," Koddenbrock said. "Congo and central Africa are certainly not one of the priorities of western governments. But the scale of the problems and the deadliness of the conflict there should make governments invest more in these efforts."

The fragmented structures in Congo made any form of economic coherence very difficult, though, Koddenbrock said.

"Increasing the transparency of this market requires huge money and personnel efforts because you need to know how the conflict works," he said. "That is what it boils down to."

Named but not shamed

Both Paes and Koddenbrock said that "naming and shaming" companies, in the media but also by international bodies such as the UN, were effective.

"This damage to a company's reputation should not be underestimated," Paes said.

However, this has still not kept some of the companies named by the UN as involved in illicit mineral trade from doing business there, such as the Malaysian Smelting Corporation and Thailand Smelting and Refining Company, which belongs to Britain's Amalgamated Metal Corporation.

Gavin Hayman, campaigns director from the London-based NGO Global Witness, said the two companies were "among the persistent offenders."

"They have been named time and time again in reports, yet continue to use suppliers and middlemen who buy from mines controlled by armed groups," Hayman said in a statement.

NGOs have called on UN member states to take more action against companies who trade in minerals from the DRC, including them on the UN sanctions list.

"There has been a shocking lack of action by member states to cut off the finance which armed groups derive from the mineral trade," Hayman said. "To date, no companies, mineral traders or processors have been put on the UN sanctions list, despite abundant evidence that their activities are contributing to keeping armed groups alive."

African responsibility

Paes said that finding a solution to the conflict in eastern Congo also required regional responsibilities, for example by Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda. According to the UN experts, support for FDLR rebels was coming from all of these territories.

"One also has to clearly say that the government in Congo is partly responsible for these events, which the UN report also stated," Paes said.

"The main arms source for the militia is by no means foreign arms dealers, but rather sold to them by the government army," he said. "This shows how little the government in Kinshasa has its own troops under control."

Pessimism not the answer

Despite the expert findings that sanctions were doing little to stop rebel groups, the UN Security Council on Monday extended the arms embargo and related sanctions in the DRC for another year.

The Dutch-Congolese author Alphonse Muambi is quite pessimistic that Congo's problems will be solved.

"DR Congo will never see peace because it is rich in natural resources," Muambi said in his book "You can't eat democracy" published earlier this year.

But Koddenbrock said progress was being made, despite President Joseph Kabila being viewed in a controversial light. Change simply cannot come so quickly, he said. Congo may need another 20 or 30 years.

"We should not succumb to this Afro-pessimism just because there is conflict right now," Koddenbrock said. "It helps to have a little more faith in the capacities of the people in the Congo even though it's hard to do in this situation. I wouldn't go into this clear deterministic thinking that Congo will be the heart of darkness forever because that's how it is usually portrayed. But I'm not sure if this plays a positive role in improving the policies towards Congo by the western community."

Author: Sabina Casagrande
Editor: Rob Mudge