Global Policy Forum

By Karl Vick

A new U.N. report calls for a temporary ban on the purchase of minerals, timber and coffee from parts of Congo occupied by foreign armies, saying the unabated plundering of resources is prolonging a three-year civil war in the Central African country.

"There is a clear link between the continuation of the conflict and the exploitation of natural resources," a panel of experts on Congo's natural resources reported. "It would not be wrong to say that one drives the other."

This week the panel presented a 38-page report to the Security Council recommending a moratorium on imports of diamonds, gold, cobalt, copper and columbite-tantalite, or "col-tan," an ore essential to the manufacture of electronics such as mobile phones and Sony's PlayStation 2.

The report was billed as an update of an April report of the commercial aspects of the Congo war. That report was attacked both inside and outside the United Nations as unbalanced and intemperate, and yet acknowledged as broadly accurate. It sharply criticized Uganda and Rwanda -- which invaded Congo in 1998, citing security concerns -- for using their armed forces to loot diamonds, gold and col-tan. The price of col-tan has since plummeted from a high of $300 a pound earlier this year.

The new report repeats the charges. But this time the U.N. experts devoted most of their attention to Zimbabwe, one of three countries Congo invited to defend it against the invasion. The other two principal allies, Angola and Namibia, appear to have small commercial interests in Congo.

Zimbabwe, however, demanded huge mineral and timber concessions in exchange for sending its military to Congo, effectively ransoming some of the host country's richest resources for decades to come, according to the report. The diamond fields granted to the Zimbabwe Defense Forces are described as the "the last strategic diamond reserves" held by Congo's government. The timber concessions may cover 163 million acres, or 15 percent of Congo's vast territory, according to Global Witness, a London-based resource watchdog group cited in the report.

The report was condemned by government spokesmen for both Zimbabwe and Congo.

"I can tell before reading it that it's guaranteed to be heavily opinionated, false and malicious," said Zimbabwe Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, according to the Panafrican News Agency.

Congo Information Minister Kikaya Bin Karubi drew a distinction between commercial activities by invaders and "countries that came to our rescue."

"Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia are here at the request of the government . . . and in the process we have signed legitimate agreements to go into business ventures," Karubi said on Zimbabwean state television.

A U.S. official, who was critical of the April report, called the new report valuable. "This coalesces the general view that, invited or uninvited, the Zimbabweans have become a major part of the problem," the official said. But he said that the prospect of the Security Council approving even a temporary ban on mineral sales from Congo appeared remote.

The panel also called for the Security Council to establish an independent body to help Congo's President Joseph Kabila, who took office in January following his father's assassination, to "review and revise" resource deals made under pressure. It asked for international support for Congo's efforts to rebuild the government, law enforcement system and other institutions whose decline under longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko left the country a haven for armed groups.

Under the so-called Lusaka peace plan that has brought about a cease-fire monitored by U.N. peacekeepers, Congo's political future will be determined by an "inter-Congolose dialogue." An attempt to conduct that dialogue in Ethiopia last month fell short. The next attempt is tentatively slated to take place in South Africa in January.

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