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Curse of gold has fuelled slaughter and rape in Congo
By Elizabeth Davies
02 June 2005
The lure of gold is fuelling major human rights atrocities in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch says in a report published today.
Regional warlords and international companies are among those benefiting
from access to gold-rich areas while local people suffer ethnic slaughter,
torture and rape. "Rather than bringing prosperity to the people of
north-eastern Congo, gold has been a curse to those who have the misfortune
to live there," the New York-based group said.
Human Rights Watch alleges that co-operation between one leading gold mining
company, AngloGold Ashanti, and the murderous Nationalist and Integrationist
Front (FNI) has provided "meaningful financial aid and logistical support"
to the FNI leaders, a group responsible for some of the bloodiest atrocities
in the war-torn region.
The report into the investigation by Human Right Watch claims that
AngloGold's links with the FNI have helped the company access the gold
reserves around the rebel-dominated town of Mongbwalu.
It is here that the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups fought for control of the
mines for more than two years, costing the lives of at least two thousand
civilians.
The local population, still in the grips of conflict, is at the mercy of the
armed militia, the report says.
"We are cursed because of our gold," one miner told HRW. "All we do is
suffer. There is no benefit to us."
AngloGold Ashanti denies there is a "working or other relationship with the
FNI" but admits it has on one occasion yielded to militia extortion in
Mongbwalu.
In a statement, the company yesterday said this action was against its
principles: "That there was a breach of this principle in this instance, in
that company employees yielded to the militia group FNI's act of extortion
is regretted," it said. "As soon as it came to our attention, we publicly
acknowledged it, condemned it and said it would not happen again."
"As a company committed to corporate social responsibility, AngloGold
Ashanti should have waited until it could work in Mongbwalu without having
to interact with abusive warlords,"HRW Congo researcher, Anneke Van
Woudenberg, wrote in the report. "Congo desperately needs business
investment to help rebuild the country, but such business engagement must
not provide any support to armed groups responsible for crimes against
humanity."
The area around Mongbwalu, 30 miles north-west of Bunia, capital of the
Ituri province, is still firmly in the power of the FNI and there is little
indication the situation will change soon.
Since war ended in 2003, the Kinshasa government has failed to establish
control of the province where self-styled president of the FNI, Floribert
Njabu, is fully aware of his own power. "The government is never going to
come to Mongbwalu," he told HRW. "I am the one who gave [AngloGold] Ashanti
permission to come. I am the boss of Mongbwalu. If I want to chase them
away, I will."
HRW tracked millions of pounds worth of "tainted" gold which was funnelled
out of the country with the aid of local militia during the war, most of it
ending up in Switzerland.
The report reveals how a Swiss company, Metalor Technologies, bought the
gold from Uganda. In a statement to Human Rights Watch, the company said it
had believed the gold "was of legal origin". It has vowed to never purchase
gold from Uganda again, a move HRW applauds.
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