Africa Update
Published by MAC on 2006-10-27
Africa Update
27th October 2006
Uder the title "African tribe wins rights to diamond-rich land" in October 2003 we reprinted an article from the London "Guardian" announcing a unique event. A South African tribal community, robbed of its land in the 19th century had won a court battle to regain land and mineral rights to diamonds potentially worth billions of pounds.
The Nama community in Richtersveld are former goat herders , many of whom still live in tin shacks without electricity. Although Johannesburg's constitutional court ruled that the Nama were thrown off their land under racist laws and had a legitimate claim to ownership, the post-apartheid government strenuously resisted surrendering the concessions operated by state-owned Alexkor. Disgracefully, the company itself had argued that the Nama were too uncivilised to own land, while the ANC government claimed that "the greater good was served by sharing the diamond wealth with the nation." (The Guardian, October 13 2006). http://www.minesandcommunities.org/Action/press194.htm
Now, three years later, the community seems to have succeded, with an out of court settlement.. Of course there are other communities still fighting for recognition of its fundamental land rights eslewhere in South Africa. Will they have to wait as long before justice is served?.
The consequences of World Bank-structured privatisation are being felt in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world. The government welcomes foregig investment, claiming it's unable itself to organise the mining industry. And you don't need to ask what the companies think.
But, what of future prospects for the numerous smallscale miners? The government says it doesn't want to wipe out their occupations, and is urging the companies to absorb them into their workforces. However, already two private companies are close to having their contracts annulled because they haven't kept to the rules
Last week we reported the ground-breaking decision by a judge in the DRCongo that former executives of the Anvil Mining company should be tried for "war crimes".
According to two NGOs great pressure is now being applied from within the DRCongo government to intimidate the judge. Readers are asked to support an appeal to ensure that - once again - "justice is served"
Cabinet approves Richtersveld settlement
Sapa
26th October 2006
CABINET has approved the R190m out-of-court settlement reached with the Richtersveld community in its marathon dispute with state-owned diamond miner Alexkor.
"We are pleased to announce that cabinet has approved the settlement reached with the Richtersveld community regarding a land dispute between that community and Alexkor Limited," government communications (GCIS) head Themba Maseko told a media briefing at Parliament today.
The announcement follows cabinet’s fortnightly meeting yesterday.
Maseko said the Richtersveld community, like many others, had suffered an injustice when they were forcibly removed from their land to make way for diamond mining. "In terms of this settlement, the state will facilitate an extraordinary reparation payment of R190m to the community," Maseko said.
Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin would "sign the agreement with the community shortly, which will include safeguards to ensure that the money is used in a way that meets the long-term needs of the community".
Asked whether the settlement included the return of land, Maseko said the settlement "includes the whole package, including mineral rights".
An "entity" would be set up in which both the community and Alexkor would "jointly share".
Maseko said the R190m settlement was a "package" payable in three tranches over three years. The community would also receive other "benefits beyond" this figure.
At a series of meetings last week, members of the Richtersveld community approved a draft memorandum of understanding on the settlement.
The draft memorandum of understanding reportedly also contained a state guarantee for rehabilitation of the areas devastated by Alexkor’s mining operations, including massive trenches, slimes dams which give rise to plumes of fine wind-blown sand, and tips.
It is understood the company town of Alexander Bay is to be in effect transferred to the Richtersvelders, to be run by the Richtersveld local municipality, and that Alexkor will pay rent for accommodation used by its employees.
The community had been seeking the restitution of the land, which lies in a strip along the arid Northern Cape coast, including the town, plus compensation of up to R2,5bn for diamonds removed and environmental damage. It lodged its claim in 1997, and lost an initial roun d in the Land Claims Court.
However, it subsequently won a Constitutional Court ruling that it was in fact entitled to restitution. The case then went back to the Land Claims Court for evidence on the nature and amount of the restitution and compensation.
The court heard extensive evidence from community members and environmental and mining experts. The last hearing of the case was in November last year. Due to resume in May, it was instead postponed to allow for settlement talks. The Richtersvelders’ claim, and the settlement, do not include Alexkor’s off-shore mining operations.
BURKINA FASO
Privatisation threatens small-scale miners
27th October 2006
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55952
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
OUAGADOUGOU, 13 Oct 2006 (IRIN) - Over a decade ago, the western town of Poura reveled in a boom from a government-run industrial gold mine and became known as Petit Paris.
The town quickly lost that reputation after the mine closed in 1999. Now it is known for something else: the hazards of small-scale mining. A cave-in killed at least three miners and injured several others in August.
"We have difficulties preventing people from exploiting the mine," said Theodore Balma, who worked at the mines in Poura for 22 years. "It is dangerous and we know we'll have more deaths, but people are jobless and come from all parts of the country because there is gold there to be exploited."
Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world. Artisanal mining flourished in the country after droughts in the mid-1980's forced farmers to find alternative sources of income. Now close to 200,000 people mine on a small scale to make a living, working on 200 sites throughout the country
They sell the gold for 50 CFA (US $0.10) per gram to the government, making artisanal gold Burkina Faso's third largest export.
Despite the high earnings, the government is attempting to close down mines such as the one at Poura, 120 km west of the capital, Ouagadougou, as it moves ahead with efforts to privatise the mining industry.
"There will be a social disaster if the mine is closed. Everybody depends on it because of a lack of fertile lands," said Youssek Konate, Poura's deputy mayor.
Willing to risk dangers
Emile Nigna, the traditional chief of Poura for the past 60 years, wants authorities to invest in training and reorganising the traditional miners rather than shutting off access to the mine.
"People were exploiting gold here before I was born and they will not go away so easily now that their whole life depends on it. There is enough gold here and people will die if there is no organisation," Nigna said.
The risks of small-scale mining go beyond cave-ins.
A 2001 report by the International Institute for Environment and Development said that mines tend to be in isolated areas where "miners live in poor housing conditions without access to safe drinking water or electricity". It said that many young male workers abuse drugs and alcohol, and that diseases such as meningitis, cholera and HIV/AIDS are rife.
Officials admit that reorganising traditional miners would likely help prevent accidents and otherwise protect the workers, but those familiar with artisanal mining say things are unlikely to change.
"The trend today is to go formal in gold, but we admit that traditional exploitation is a necessary evil that we cannot get away from overnight," said Roger Bouri Zombre, director of traditional mining at the Ministry of Mining, Geology and Quarrying.
He said that since the government began a structural adjustment programme recommended by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in 1991, it has moved toward privatising the industry. The 1997 Mining Code provided incentives for companies, including tax breaks, to invest in mining.
"Since we undertook economic reforms, we realised it is imperative for the government to give up the mining business and only keep its role in controlling, regulating and promoting its activities," said Seka Ky, executive director for the mining ministry. "The state cannot and should not invest in mining, which is a risky sector. It should provide adequate mapping of sites for investors."
High hopes
The government has high hopes for the gold sector to help alleviate poverty and boost employment in the country.
The gold-mining potential of Burkina Faso has been compared to that of neighbours Ghana and Mali, the largest gold producers in West Africa. The London-based Economist Intelligence says gold production in Burkina is set to reach 8,700 kg in 2007 - nearly a six-fold increase from 2005.
This year, the government expects to receive 1.3 billion CFA (US $2.5 million) in annual taxes from mining companies, and foresees the creation of 800 new jobs every year for the next eight years. It also stipulated in its new mining code that companies must invest in community development projects, such as the building of schools, housing and wells.
"Companies have a moral duty and it is in their interest to leave populations with something because the resources we are exploiting are not renewable," said Adama Barry, country representative of Nantou Mining, a subsidiary of Australian AIM Resources and president of the Burkinabe Professional Miners Association.
The government also hopes that eventually the private sector will absorb traditional miners into their fold.
"We do not want this traditional exploitation, but despite legislation we can't eradicate it. We just hope that industrial mining will absorb these workers as this is what they know how to do," said Zombre.
Still waiting
This, however, will depend on whether private companies respect their corporate responsibility.
Officials from the Ministry of Mines and Quarrying have already expressed concern over the privatisation process of the Burkinabe Precious Metal Counters (CBMP), the last remaining government owned-mining operation. It oversees artisanal mining and assures control of gold production in the country.
Zombre says that of the six private counting companies set up to replace the CBMP, two are already close to losing their contracts after they failed to provide an accurate report of their activities.
Meanwhile, the miners in Poura are still waiting to see if their source of livelihood will remain intact. When the government abandoned the gold mine it promised to find an investor and restart operations there by 2005. Negotiations with the only interested party fell through.
"We have been left alone, discouraged," said Mamadou Ouattara, a former worker at the mine who has been waiting for a new investor to come. "Those who could not stand it any longer have gone."
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
ANVIL: URGENT APPEAL
Military Prosecutor in Kilwa Trial Recalled to Kinshasa: Political Pressure Intensifies After Former Anvil Mining Staff and Congolese Military Charged with Commission of or Complicity in War Crimes
by: ACIDH (Action Contre l’Impunité pour les Droits Humains Action against impunity for human rights, and RAID (Rights & Accountability in Development)
26 October 2006
The non-governmental organisations Action contre l’impunité pour les droits humains (ACIDH), Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID) and Global Witness today condemned political interference in the Kilwa trial and appealed to President Joseph Kabila to demonstrate his determination to defend the rule of the law in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The NGOs expressed concern that Colonel Eddy Nzabi Mbombo, a military prosecutor at Katanga’s Military Court (Auditeur Militaire Supérieur près la Cour Militaire du Katanga), may be coming under intense political pressure following his decision to commit three former employees of Anvil Mining Congo and nine members of the Congolese army for trial for the commission of or complicity in war crimes.
In October 2004, after the town of Kilwa had been briefly occupied by a hitherto unknown and ill-prepared rebel movement calling itself the Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Katanga (Mouvement Révolutionnaire pour la Libération du Katanga, MRLK), soldiers of the 62nd Infantry Brigade of the Congolese Armed Forces (Forces armées de la République démocratique du Congo, FARDC), under the command of Colonel Ilunga Ademar, launched a counter-offensive to recapture the town in southern DRC. In the course of the counter-offensive, serious human rights violations were perpetrated against the civilian population.
The indictment (1) names three former Anvil Mining employees: Pierre Mercier, a Canadian national who was the General Manger of Anvil’s Congolese subsidiary, Anvil Mining Congo, and the Deputy General Manager of the Perth-based company, Anvil Mining NL; Peter Van Niekerk, a South African national, Anvil’s former head of Security at the Dikulushi mine; and another South African national identified only as Cedric (believed to be Cedric Kirsten, Anvil’s former Security Manager at Dikulushi, although Anvil has not confirmed this). The three men are accused of having “voluntarily failed to withdraw the vehicles placed at the disposal of the 62nd Brigade in the context of the counter- offensive of [15-18] October 2004 to recapture the town of Kilwa” and of having “knowingly facilitated the commission of war crimes by Ilunga Ademar and his men”.(2) The most serious crime, which was carried out by the Congolese Armed Forces, was the summary execution of twenty men and five women, none of whom, according to the indictment, had taken part in the small- scale rebellion that was the justification for the military’s counter-offensive. In a public reaction, Anvil Mining Limited stated that “the allegations against Anvil Mining Congo sarl and the above mentioned persons are unfounded and without merit.” (3)
For months the Congolese authorities obstructed all attempts to investigate the incident. Nevertheless, investigators from the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the DRC, MONUC, conducted an inquiry. Their report described how soldiers of the 62nd Brigade carried out summary executions, arbitrary detentions, torture, rape and looting on the defenceless civilian population of Kilwa.4
ACIDH, RAID and Global Witness are also calling on Bill Turner, the Chief Executive of Anvil Mining, who paid a visit to the DRC shortly after the military prosecutor’s decision was made public, to cooperate fully with the Congolese judicial authorities in their search to establish the truth about the precise circumstances in which Anvil’s logistical support was provided to the 62nd Military Brigade which facilitated the human rights violations.
Anvil Mining, which has enjoyed the support of Augustin Katumba Mwanke, an influential figure in President Kabila’s party, the Parti du peuple pour la reconstruction et la démocratie (PPRD) and an adviser to President Kabila, who was also on the board of Anvil Mining Congo, failed to make clear in its quarterly reports to the Australian and Toronto stock exchanges the scale and gravity of the human rights violations that had occurred in Kilwa in October 2004. In June 2005, Australian television’s flagship current affairs programme, Four Corners, broadcast a documentary, “The Kilwa incident”, which prompted Colonel Nzabi, with help from MONUC’s Human Rights Division, to conduct an in situ investigation at Kilwa. Despite a singular lack of cooperation from the 6th Military Region, the prosecutor managed to gather sufficient evidence from a range of sources to identify the alleged principal authors. On 12 October 2006 he notified the Military Court of Katanga of his decision to commit for trial nine members of the Congolese Armed Forces and three former employees of Anvil Mining Congo (the Congolese subsidiary of the Australian-Canadian mining company).
The NGOs deplore the fact that while the decision of the Katangan military prosecutor has been hailed by international observers as a milestone towards an end to impunity in the DRC and a critical step towards bringing justice to the people of Kilwa, intense political pressure may be brought to bear on the prosecutor, apparently with a view to obstructing prosecution. It is reliably reported that a few days after the indictment was released, Colonel Nzabi was summoned urgently to Kinshasa where he remains. It is not the first time that pressure has been brought to bear on the military judicial authorities to drop prosecutions of members of the Congolese Armed Forces accused of human rights violations.
In the DRC, a case in which military personnel and civilians are implicated would come before a civilian judge. However, at the present time, only the Congolese military penal code incriminates war crimes and crimes against humanity and it is therefore the military courts which have jurisdiction in these cases.
ACIDH, RAID and Global Witness are calling upon individuals, lawyers’ groups and NGOs who are working for the establishment of the rule of the law in the DRC and for an end to impunity to send messages to the following:
. President Joseph Kabila, a candidate in the second round of the DRC’s presidential elections scheduled for 29 October 2006:
i) Calling upon him to use this opportunity to demonstrate his willingness to defend the rule of law in the DRC;
ii) Respectfully reminding him that in the lead-up to presidential elections, the eyes of the Congolese people and the international community will be on him and expecting him to take appropriate steps against anyone who seeks to pervert the course of justice;
iii) Assuring him that by taking such action, he will demonstrate his determination to put an end to impunity.
Son Excellence Joseph Kabila,
Président de la République,
Palais de la Nation,
Kinshasa-Ngaliema,
République Démocratique du Congo
E-mail: presipp@yahoo.fr
. Bill Turner, Chief Executive of Anvil Mining, calling on the company:
i) To cooperate fully with the Congolese judicial authorities in their search to establish the truth about the Kilwa incident and to bring those responsible to justice;
ii) To provide the military prosecutor (Auditeur Militaire Supérieur) with the full name and contact details of Cedric, Anvil’s former Security Manager who is one of the accused, so that he can provide a statement.
Mr Bill Turner Mr Robert La Vallière
Chief Executive Officer Vice-President Investor Relations
Anvil Mining Limited Anvil Mining Limited
Level 2, 38 Richardson Street 1 Place Ville-Marie
West Perth WA 6005 28th Floor, Suite 2821, Montreal,
Australia Quebec, Canada, QC H3B 4R4
billt@anvil.com.au robertl@anvilmining.com
Fax: 61 (8) 9481 4800 Fax: 001 514 448 6665
.. Military Judicial Authorities in Kinshasa:
i) Calling on the court to resist pressures, threats and political interference, wherever they may originate from;
ii) Expressing confidence that the court will carry out its duty in accordance with the law and international standards for a fair trial and encouraging it to do so.
General Ponde
Auditeur Général des Forces armées de la République Démocratique
du Congo
Auditorat militaire
Avenue CADECO No 350,
Commune de la Gombe, Kinshasa
République Démocratique du Congo
For further information, please contact :
Patricia Feeney Carina Tertsakian
Rights and Accountability in Development Global Witness
Tel: +44 1865 515 982 or +44 7796 178 447 Tel: +44 207 561 6372
38 Norham Road, PO Box 6042
Oxford OX2 6SQ London, N19 5WP
United Kingdom United Kingdom
www.raid-uk.org www.globalwitness.org
Maitre Serge Lukunga Kankolongo
ACIDH, +243 997 025 331
Avenue Des Usines N°317/Coin avenue Kasavubu
Commune de Lubumbashi
République Démocratique du Congo
Tel: +243 9710 8022 or +243 9701 1202
E-mail: acidhrdc@ic-lubum.cd
NOTES:
(1) Décision de renvoi, Colonel Magistrat Eddy Nzabi Mbombo, Auditeur Militaire Supérieur près la Cour Militaire du Katanga, dated 12 October 2006. The indictment charges Colonel Ilunga Ademar and eight other soldiers on various charges related to breaches of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols in connection with events in Kilwa in October 2004 and in Pweto between January and April 2005.
(2) The indictment related to the former Anvil Mining employees reads as follows (verbatim French text): “Avoir, comme auteurs, coauteurs ou complices selon l’un des modes de participation criminelle prévus par les articles 5 et 6 du Code Pénal Militaire ; …en omettant volontairement de retirer les véhicules mis à la disposition de la 62ème Brigade D’Infanterie dans le cadre de la contreattaque lancée du 15 au 18 Octobre 2004 pour reprendre la Cité de Kilwa tombée deux jours auparavant aux mains du Mouvement Révolutionnaire pour la libération du Katanga ; MLRK en sigle ; avec connaissance, facilité la commission par le Prévenu Ilunga Ademar et ses hommes des infractions ci-après non justifiées par les lois et coutumes de la guerre… » Décision de renvoi, pp8-9.
(3) Anvil Mining Limited: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/October2006/18/c9424.html
(4) MONUC, “Rapport sur les conclusions de l’Enquête Spéciale sur les allégations d’exécutions sommaires et autres violations de droits de l’homme commises par les FARDC à Kilwa (Province de Katanga) le 15 octobre 2004, Kinshasa”, undated, released to RAID on 23 September 2005. (The unauthorised translation is by RAID.) Hereafter, “MONUC report”.