The trade in precious minerals and timber is fuelling armed military groups fighting that continue to cause instability both in the Congo and across the region. That is, according to Monitor, an Uganda-based publication, which reports that trade-in smuggled resources is adding to regional instability in Central Africa.
It comes after the United States government, this week, reported that the trade in illegal minerals was making it increasingly difficult to tame arms flow in the battleground – echoing a United Nations panel of experts and environmental watchdogs, which have raised the alarm on the trade.
“The US remains concerned about the role that the illicit trade and exploitation of certain minerals, including gold and tantalum mined artisanally and semi-industrially in the African Great Lakes region, continues to play in financing the conflict,” the US government said.
“It is clear that some traders, sometimes with the support of various armed groups and security services, are transporting and exploiting significant quantities of Congolese minerals out of the country,” it continued before adding:
“In many cases, these minerals directly or indirectly benefit armed groups and leave the country via Rwanda and Uganda before being transported to the main refining and processing countries,” which, in turn, “facilitate the illicit exploitation and taxation of these minerals, often involving acts of corruption.”
Bloody timber is also a hugely lucrative source of income
However, it’s not just the trade in precious minerals—used in high-tech products, including smartphones—that is causing havoc in the region.
Described as a “conquered province,” Chinese companies are cutting five times the maximum permitted volume of timber and freely cutting outside the timber boundary allowed by the concession. Chinese financial institutions are also profiting from regional deforestation, with banks lending US $554 million to companies involved between 2016 and 2020.
According to Global Witness, the problem is that China does not have a legal mechanism to address imports from deforestation, “leaving an enormous loophole for Chinese importers to exploit.”
“China is reluctant to address deforestation outside its borders,” Global Witness said. At a time when the EU, UK, and US are all looking to introduce regulations that ban products linked to deforestation, China is going in the opposite direction.
In recent years, China has invested heavily in Central Africa—more than 4.2 tons of timber have been exported over the past decade alone, providing a constant supply for China’s booming veneer and plywood manufacturing hubs – responsible for more than 70% of the world’s production.
The Congo Basin’s forest is often called “the second lung of the world”. It is the world’s second-largest rainforest, with 60% of the forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, the logging industry has been beset with governance issues, including corruption, illegal logging and conflict with forest communities.
In 2014, a study estimated that 90% of logging in DRC is illegal, while Wood Central reported that the trade of illicit timber through “exploitative trade routes” has been a significant obstacle to developing a sustainable industry.
The US is pushing to close loopholes to promote regional peace.
According to Monitor, virtually all regional experts agree that the best way to tackle the war in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is to take a holistic approach: “A solid political or democratic approach must accompany economic efforts.”
As a result, the US has proposed and subsequently obtained a “humanitarian truce” from all parties involved in the conflict.
The truce between the DRC and Rwanda, from July 5 until July 19, constitutes “a path marked out for the return of peace”, which has been plagued by conflict for decades, according to DRC Foreign Affairs Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner. However, Minister Wagner warned that “a truce does not mean that we are not vigilant.”
- To find out how China has successfully operated a multi-million dollar illegal logging trade through the Congo, visit Wood Central’s special feature.
