Congo Tin Trade Needs Tougher Regulation Says Watchdog

Pascal Baguma carries cassiterite stones rich in tin ore in a mineral processing factory at Bukavu in eastern Congo (file photo)A British aid group is calling for the Congolese government to do moreto regulate the country's tin industry. Global Witness says a newindustry initiative to trace the origin of tin supplies from theDemocratic Republic of Congo will fail to break the link between themineral trade and the country's ongoing armed conflict.

In the past few months a bodythat represents members of the tin industry, ITRI, has begun developingproposals to control its supply chain.

In the new initiative,traders and middlemen will be required to complete a set of formsdeclaring the origin of minerals. But the Britain-based watchdogGlobal Witness, which has seen the proposals, says the initiative willnot be effective in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

EmilieSerralta from Global Witness says suppliers will be asked to tick a boxconfirming that no armed groups have been involved in the production ofthe minerals. She says initiatives like this will be pointless ifmechanisms are not in place to verify what people declare in the forms.

"Nowin the context of Congo, filling forms is not the answer," saidSerralta. "I mean you need spot checks to make sure that actually thesituation is as the form is saying or not and it is likely it would notbe."

The minerals trade has for a long time been a source ofrevenue for armed rebel groups in eastern Congo, including theDemocratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which is linked to theHutu extremists involved in the genocide in neighboring Rwanda.

But Serralta says government troops also use force to tax miners and this is not being addressed in the ITRI proposal.

"Forthe moment ITRI as it stands does not recognize that role and that issomething that we pointed out to them and said you need to make surethat the Congolese army is not benefiting, otherwise it is justshifting from one rebel group to the Congolese army," she said.

Thedirector of the London-based risk-analysis group Maplehurst, AlysonWarhurst, says the tin industry in Congo is difficult to regulatebecause mining is not industrialized. According to the World Bank,there are as many as two-million artisanal miners in Congo - just onecontainer load of ore could be sourced from as many as 10,000 miners.

Warhurst says governments and international groups need to be involved in regulating the system.
 
"Theonly way forward, as has been proved by addressing, for example,conflict diamonds - largely successfully - in West and Central Africain the late 1990s, is by businesses, governments, and non-governmentalorganizations working together to understand the chain by whichbusinesses procure these minerals from DRC within supply chains and putin place controls," said Warhurst.

A leading trader on theLondon Mineral Exchange, AMC, recently stopped purchases of tin orefrom Congo after Global Witness accused the trader of buying tin frommiddlemen who deal with rebel groups. AMC said bad publicity wasundermining moves to make sure rebel fighters in eastern Congo do notbenefit from the trade.

The Congolese Mines Ministry says it supports ITRI's monitoring plan.