Accès Humanitaire

    The well-known Mines Thematic Working Group (GTT Mines) of the South Kivu Civil Society, did not miss the opportunity to present an advocacy note to the Minister of Mines in DRC staying in Bukavu in the Province of South Kivu.

    This is essentially advocacy on the illegal exploitation of ores in the Mwenga territory of South-Kivu. An exploitation made by foreign subjects (Chinese in majority). The note of the GTT Mines bears the subject: « The Plundering of mining resources by Chinese subjects in the territory of Mwenga in South Kivu ».

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    LaPrunelleRDC.info save you from the explanatory statement by giving you exclusively the main lines of this plea of the GTT Mines presented to the Minister by Blaise Bubala in front of distinguished guests in Bukavu.

    « Your Excellency the Minister;

    Due to widespread poverty and the lack of an economic alternative, the territory of Mwenga is invaded by artisanal mining, which creates conflicts of cohabitation between the holders of mining rights and the communities that own the land.

    « … THE ELITES WHO CONTROL MINING COOPERATIVES AND IN COMPLICITY WITH CHINESE OPERATORS… »

    Artisanal mining employs tens of thousands of young people from the territory and neighbouring provinces and forms the backbone of the local economy.

    The mining reform of 2018, made the choice to force artisanal operators to group in cooperatives in accordance with the OHADA uniform act on cooperative societies.

    This legislative choice reinforced the Congolese Government’s desire to see artisanal mining develop into a small mine and thus contribute to the creation of a middle class.

    Long before that, civil society organizations had decried the control of mining cooperatives by social, political and sometimes military elites.

    Today the phenomenon seems to crystallize through the contracts between the elites who control mining cooperatives and in complicity with Chinese operators who engage in the exploitation of minerals both in the rivers they pollute and divert thanks to their dredges but also on land destroying fields and crops using mechanized means and the misuse of mercury and other chemical processes including the residues are dumped into the rivers, making it dangerous for communities and their livelihoods.

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    For several months, there has been an increasing presence of Chinese subjects who, under the cover of mining cooperatives, expropriate the inhabitants of their fields, destroy their crops sometimes under the protection of elements of the armed forces and the police; thus creating the conditions for a social explosion.

    One question remains in the collective memory, that of knowing:

    1. Is there a document by which banro has renounced its rights to these perimeters granted to it by the Congolese government?
    2. The scope allowing these Chinese subjects to operate in Mwenga relates to what nature of exploitation?
    3. Is there a law that allows foreigners to work in the craft sector?
    4. Is the convention between foreign subjects and « Cooperatives » above the law to the point of not respecting the rights of communities and environmental protection standards?
    SHAREHOLDER AUTHORITIES AND COUNSELS OF THE SAME COMPANIES OR COOPERATIVES
    Your Excellency the Minister;

    He will remind you that in the territory of Mwenga there is systematic looting under the blessing of several national and provincial authorities, who happen to be shareholders and lawyers of these same companies or cooperatives, which pushes them to embark on an unprecedented barbarity.

    Several compatriots have been arrested and tortured by the military who provide security for these companies in violation of the Mining Code. The most recent cases are those of: MUKULUMANYA KAGIKWA, RIZIKI KILAY Village Chief, MUZINDIKWA NYAMATOMWA, LUUSU MUSEME, MAYAKA MANGAIKO, KIGOMBE KAKISINGI, who were arrested and tortured to the point that some lost the use of their members and civil society actors, MAOMBI MUSAGI and PAPY BESANA arrested, tortured and abducted to be taken to the Nyamunyunyi military camp in Kabare territory.

    This bleak picture leads us to make the following recommendations:

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    To the Government of the Republic:
    • To clarify the status and mode of exploitation of Chinese groups operating in the territory of Mwenga (if their activity concerns research or exploitation; and then it is artisanal, semi-industrial or industrial exploitation? and draw the necessary legal consequences);

    « PUNISH ALL OFFICIALS WHO ARE ALLEGED TO HAVE BEEN GUILTY OF EMBEZZLEMENT AND CLEAR VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE MINING CODE »

    • To enforce the Mining Code with regard to ineligible persons in the mining sector, including elements of the FARDC;
    • To order the opening of legal proceedings on the destruction of the environment and violations of human rights, including disturbances of enjoyment by the populations of the territory of Mwenga;
    • To severely punish all elements of the armed forces and/or the national police, regardless of their status, who have allegedly engaged in illicit activities, including the protection of Chinese subjects in the field of mining;
    • To ensure compliance with the requirements of the mining code relating to the exercise of mining activity in the DRC,the obligation for the holders of mining rights to negotiate and sign the specifications under CSR,
    • To expel from the territory of Mwenga and the DRC, all Chinese subjects not in compliance with Congolese legislation in accordance with the texts on the subject.
    To the Provincial Government of South Kivu:
    • To expedite and make public the results of an investigation on the ground in relation to the illegal behavior engaged in by these Chinese subjects with the support of certain Congolese political, police and military operators.
    • Punish all officials who are alleged to have been guilty of embezzlement and manifest violations of human rights and the mining code.

    In command of the Armed Forces of the DRC and the National Police:
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    • Conduct uncompromising investigations into the role played by certain officers in the commission of acts violating the mining code and in the violation of human rights;
    • To bring before military justice any man in uniform, whatever his rank, on whom there may be serious indications of guilt in violations of human rights and the mining code;
    • To replace/transfer all officers and/or troops whose reputation is already tarnished by involvement in the illegal exploitation of minerals in the territory of Mwenga;

    To the Congolese Environment Agency
    • To ensure strict compliance with the provisions of the Mining Code and the law on fundamental principles relating to the protection of the environment, in particular with regard to the production and validation of environmental and social impact studies as well as environmental and social management plans;
    • De proposer à la sanction les titulaires des droits miniers d’exploitation qui ont failli à leurs obligations environnementales et sociales.
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    To civil society organizations:
    • To continue their support to communities and the denunciation of all human rights violations in the mining sector;
    • To scrupulously ensure the integrity of its interventions with communities by privileging the best interests of the latter.
    At the Chinese Embassy
    • To repatriate, without delay, all Chinese subjects staying illegally in the territory of Mwenga;
    • To ensure that all social and environmental damage caused to the population of the Mwenga territory is repaired.

    South Kivu Civil Society Mines Thematic Group (GTT Mines)

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