UN says DRC is looted by her neighbours

12 June 2001

The war in DRC is a "self-financing war," says President Kagame of Rwanda in a UN report (1) that investigates the looting and illegal exploitation of natural resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The report shows in detail how wealth is systematically looted by African politicians, multilateral organisations, international banks and financial institutions. European governments, such as Belgium, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands are also party to this looting, having imported minerals from the DRC.

Neighbouring countries identified by the UN report as the main plunderers are Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, but countries with seaports are also involved.

The UN report analyzes the export trends of Congo's neighbours, and links them to their involvement in the exploitation of Congo's natural resources.In 2000, the report says, Uganda received $1,263,385 from exporting diamonds, despite having no diamond production. In 2000 gold production was 0.0044 tons, but 10.83 tons were exported.

Col-tan - short for columbite-tantalite, an ore rich in the element tantalum is, in processed form vital to the manufacture of advanced mobile phones, jet engines, air bags, fiber optics and capacitors, the components that maintain an electric charge in the computer chip. In 1999, coltan production in Uganda was zero, but coltan exports were 69.5 tons.

The UN report finds similar evidence in the analysis of Rwanda and Burundi export trends. Despite having "no production of diamond, cobalt, zinc, manganese, and uranium," as the Rwandan authorities say, "in 2000 Rwanda exported diamonds to the value of $1,788,036."

The UN report shows some more discrepancies in the defence budgets of DRC's neighbours. Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabawe have all overspent their military expenditure. The UN report says that the financial means needed to cover this overspending comes from the exploitation of DRC 's natural resources.

Rwanda, for instance, has been trading in coltan. Considering that a kilo of coltan costs about $200, the report has found that the Rwandan army was exporting at least 100 tons per month, so that the military could have made $20 million per month by selling coltan alone.Another way neighbouring countries take advantage of the conflict in Congo, the UN report says, is through the "re-exportation economy." (2)

The report cites the case of Uganda, which has improved its balance of payments by re-exporting natural resources from Congo. The report affirms that the profits from the re-exportation improved Uganda's economic image so that Uganda was able to attract aid from bilateral and multilateral donors.

The UN report concludes that "the conflict has become a "win-win" situation for all belligerents. Adversaries and enemies are at times partners in business, prisoners of Hutu origin are mine workers of RPA, enemies get weapons from the same dealers and use the same intermediaries. Business has superseded security concerns. The only loser in this business venture is the Congolese people"

(1)Report of the panel of expert on the illegal exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo" http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/letters/2001/357e.pdf
(2) As stated in the reports, "the re-exportation economy implies that natural resources imported from the DRC are repackaged as Ugandan natural resources or products and re-exported. That is the case for some gold, diamonds, coltan and coffee exported by Uganda."