Natural Resources and Violent Conflict - WaterWiki.net

follow the money 201Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States (UNSecurity Council 2000; see also Montague 2002).In addition to coltan, illicit trade in cobalt, coffee, diamonds, gold,and timber contributed to what is sometimes referred to as Africa’s“first world war,” in which the death toll approached 4 million inthree years; of these, coltan is the most lucrative. 30 Rebel forces andarmies from neighboring states funded their operations through fullfledgedcommercial operations in coltan, thus helping to prolong theconflict.The Congolese civil war enabled cross-border security forces andbusinesses to play a critical role in resource exploitation. The coltanmining areas in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic ofCongo have no significant roads and minimal employment opportunitiesother than mining. As a result, coltan mining was a central meansof obtaining food and other supplies from the military forces occupyingthe area. Profits earned from Congolese coltan financed a largepart of Rwanda’s military budget. For example, according to the UNpanel of experts, after Rwandan army soldiers took control of amine near Kasese, they awarded a single firm the right to commercializethe ore. The company paid approximately $1 million per month tothe Congolese Assembly for Democracy (RCD), a rebel movement. By2001, the RCD controlled a near-monopoly on the exploitation ofcoltan through the firm, which reportedly paid the RCD $10 per kilogramof exported coltan until the RCD abolished the monopoly late inthe year.The UN expert panel has provided the most detailed informationand analysis available on the logistical mechanisms used to exploitnatural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo (UN SecurityCouncil 2000). The panel’s report describes the specific militaryforces controlling the coltan, individuals transporting it from easternDemocratic Republic of Congo, and various commercial middlemenand ultimate purchasers of the coltan. The mechanisms described includeelaborate multiparty transactions involving false documents oncountry of origin. However, the report does not specify the financialmechanisms used to pay for the complex logistical transactions (UNSecurity Council 2000, par. 79–82). Notably, these are likely to involvenot the Democratic Republic of Congo itself, but its neighbors.The country has not had a modern financial system for some time.According to the head of its central bank in late 2001, it is still commonpractice for those in business in the Democratic Republic ofCongo “to eschew regular banking channels to transfer funds from,say, Kinshasa to Lubumbashi. Packing the cash in a suitcase and catchingthe next flight could save a wait of 30 days.” 31 Throughout the civil