Final Statement from the workshop on the role of the media and civil society in the exploitation of media and civil society

Final Statement from the workshop on the role of the media and civil society in the exploitation of the natural resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo

We, the Civil Society Organizations of the DRC Natural Resources Network, and the Media from Kinshasa, Bas-Congo, South-Kivu, Orientale Province, Kasai Oriental and Katanga, met on April 18 and 19 in the Halle de l'Etoile in Lumumbashi to discuss "The Role of the Media and Civil Society in the Exploitation of the Natural Resources of the DR Congo" with the following objectives:

1. to network the Media and other Civil Society activists concerning the RDC's natural resources;
2. to raise the consciousness of the Media and other Civil Society activists on the same question;
3. to define strategies for collaboration;
4. to support lobbying action in the West.

After reviewing the various reports from national and international organizations, particularly the report of the United Nations Panel on the Illegal Exploitation of the DR Congo's Natural Resources, the report entitled "The State vs. the People: Governance, Mining and the Transitional Regime in the Democratic Republic of Congo" in Fatal Transactions (NiZA website), the report from the Special Parliamentary Commission, the Lutundula Commission, whose mandate was to examine the economic and financial validity of contracts signed during the wars of 1996 and 1998, which indicated the irresponsible management of Congolese natural resources by the public authorities.

This bad management was seen particularly in:

1. the signing of one-sided contracts;
2. the exploitation of children in the mines;
3. the degradation of the environment and ecosystems;
4. corruption in the terms of the deals;
5. lack of respect by the mining companies for the normal social responsibility expected from them; etc.

Considering that the paradox of immense potential wealth side by side with the poverty of the population constitutes a real scandal characterising our country, where more than 70% of the people live below the poverty line with an income of about 80 cents per person per day, so making the DR Congo 167th in a list of 175 countries, according to the last UNDP report on human development ;

Convinced of the important and essential role that Congolese natural resources should play in the lasting development of the DR Congo and the struggle against poverty ;

Anxious to work towards a transparent management of natural resources for the benefit of the local community, particularly for the public treasury in general, as well as a fair and healthy exploitation;

Convinced of the need to fight against any other opposing views, particularly in this electoral period;

Faced with the laxity and complicity of public authorities and some international players in the management of natural resources on the one hand, and, on the other, with the impunity enjoyed by some shady customers, who have been physically and morally implicated in the looting of Congolese natural resources;

We have made the following resolutions:

1. To denounce all those physically and morally implicated in the looting of natural resources in the DR Congo;
2. To insist that Parliament does not procrastinate, but includes the examination and adoption of the report of the Lutundula Commission in the agenda for the present session;
3. To insist that the Attorney General launch an investigation into all those physically and morally implicated in the looting of Congolese natural resources;
4. To alert international institutions to the need to bring sanctions against all multinationals operating in the Congo who participate in the looting of Congolese natural resources;
5. To denounce the mining and forestry policies of the World Bank which support pauperisation;
6. To beg the people not to vote for anyone implicated in the looting of resources.

Announced at Lubumbashi, April 19, 2006

Participants:

1. The African Association for the Defence of Human Rights, Katanga Chapter, ASADHO, Katanga
2. The New Dynamic Union, NDS, Katanga
3. The Combined Organisation of Ecologists and Friends of Nature, OCEAN, Kisangani
4. Journalist In Danger, JED, Kinshasa
5. The National Centre National to Support Development and Popular Participation/Natural Resources Network, CENADEP/RRN, Kinshasa
6. The Action Group for the Organization of Mine Workers GRAERN, Kasai Oriental,
7. Katanga Community Radio, RCK, Katanga
8. Congo National Press Union, UNPC, Katanga
9. Radio Buena Muntu, Kasai Oriental
10. Radio Mwangaza, Province Orientale
11. Radio Maendeleo, Sud-Kivu
12. The Katanga Association for Women in the Media, AFEMEK, Katanga
13. Radio Ntemo, Bas-Congo
14. The Association des Community Radio Stations, ARCO, Katanga
15. Oasis Radio/Television, Katanga
16. The Panos Institute, Paris-Kinshasa
17. NiZA, Holland