Conflict Minerals: The Truth Underlying the Systemic Looting of Congo

On Sunday October 16, 2011, Friends of the Congo partnered with Sahara Reporters to launch Congo Week IV and host a live webcast of a Conflict Minerals panel from Congo in Harlem at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem, New York.

This exchange involving Congolese voices is particularly relevant considering that a few days later on October 18th, The Securities and Exchange Commission hosted a panel discussion on the Congo and Conflict Minerals where no Congolese were invited to speak about the affairs of their own country.

The panel discussion at Congo in Harlem, on the other hand, offered a rich dialogue and exchange among Congolese and non-Congolese experts.

Sekombi Katondolo (producer of Blood in the Mobile and founder/director of Mutaani FM), David Aronson (freelance journalist, blogger, author of NY Times article on Conflict Minerals), Steve Hege (current member of the UN Group of Experts on the Congo), Eric Kajemba (founder and director of Observatoire Gouvernance et Paix), and Mvemba Phizo Dizolele (writer, foreign policy analyst and independent journalist) discussed the impact of the Dodd-Frank Conflict Minerals provision on the situation in the Congo.

The conflict minerals debate has reached a fever pitch over the past couple months. Scholars, bloggers, researchers, activists, industry representatives, policy makers and many others have weighed in on this contentious issue of conflict minerals and the upcoming rules to be set by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC will have a panel discussion on Tuesday, October 18, in advance of setting the rules for the conflict minerals provision, section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Law.

Below is a summary of diverse views on the impact of section 1502 of Dodd-Frank:

Interview with Eric Kajemba on Conflict Minerals
By Jason Stearns

How Congress Devastated Congo
By David Aronson

Assessing the Dodd-Frank Act and its chances of success in the Democratic Republic Congo
By Dr. Claude Kabemba

Thoughts About Conflict Minerals
By Jason Stearns

Conflict Minerals in the Congo: Let’s Be Frank About Dodd-Frank
By Mvemba Dizolele

What Conflict Minerals Legislation Is Actually Accomplishing in Congo
By Sasha Lezhnev

Promoting Peace in the DRC: A Look at Section 1502 of the Dodd-Frank A Year Later
by Raymond Gilpin

Digging For Victory: Mining is Congo’s best hope of prosperity but also its biggest worry
The Economist

There was fraud. Even today with the embargo, people export. Fraud has increased considerably.

But there have been other consequences as well, for example, with other aspects of the local economy. For example, in places like Shabunda, people relied on planes to bring them goods and merchandise – rice, sugar, and so on. Those same planes then left with minerals back to Bukavu. But now that the planes cannot transport minerals [due to the export ban and embargo] they don’t fly there with goods any more. So the impact has been huge in many areas.

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