^[1] By Melissa Pistilli -Exclusive to Tin Investing News ^[2]

Global Witness ^[2], a London-based activist group, says that it has uncovered substantial evidence that the Democratic Republic of Congo army was collaborating with the Rwandan armed militias to exploit gold and tin in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu.

According to Global Witness' researchers, the two groups are operating their own mines and trading with each other. The activist group warns that the long-standing conflict in eastern Congo is likely to continue unless the Congolese army and the rebels halt their mining activities. Last week's fighting in North Kivu should be a wake-up call to the United Nations that if peace is to be achieved here, the economic factors involved in the conflict need to be addressed.

The DR of the Congo is still embroiled in an ethnic conflict that hasn't fully been put to rest since the 1998-2003 war, called "a regional free-for-all over the country's mineral wealth." The mineral-rich eastern provinces were the center stage for the war, and revenues from taxes and the sale of precious minerals from the eastern provinces have long been fuelling finances for the warring parties.

Under UN guidance, the DRC army is supposed to be engaged in a large operation against the Rwandan Hutu Forces démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) militia, whose leaders are accused of involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide before fleeing to the Congo.

The FDLR is the main player amongst the active armed militias in the eastern Congo mineral trade and are responsible for savage human rights abuses, including large scale murder and rape, against the civilian population.

So far, little progress has been made by the DRC army or the UN in disarming the FDLR. "This is in part because the FDLR have consolidated their economic base," said Global Witness Director Patrick Alley ^[3]. "Their trading activities have become an end in themselves." In parts of South Kivu, the FDLR's control of the gold and cassiterite-rich territories of Fizi, Mwenga, Shabunda, Uvira, Walunga remains unchallenged.

Although publicly the DR Congo government has sworn to defeat the FDLR, according to Global Witness, there are various reports of soldiers selling uniforms and weapons to FDLR rebebls. It seems many DRC soldiers are sympathetic with the rebels and allow them to continue their operations.

"This complicity extends to the exploitation of minerals," said Alley. Certain units in the Congolese army are also accused of carrying out mining operations in Mushinga and Tubimbi in South Kivu, and in North Kivu. It is reported that the army's 85^th brigade ^[4] is in control of Bisie, the largest tin mine in North Kivu.

Even worse, there are areas in which the DRC army and the FDLR are exploiting the mineral trade ^[5] together, said Alley. Each control "their own territories, trading in minerals from their respective mines without interfering with each other's activities. They depend on this mutual support to continue the trade." What's most sickening about this situation is that militia groups like the FDLR are using the mineral trade to bypass the UN-imposed arms embargo and fund weapons purchases.

According to Global Witness reports, the DRC army is as much responsible for the degradation of the Congolese people as is the FDLR. The army has been sent into FDLR controlled areas to protect DRC citizens, but instead local people have accused the army of forcing them to work in the mines and extorting money from them. "Residents told us the FARDC (Congo army) are doing exactly the same as the FDLR: taking over mines, forcing civilians to work for them or hand over their mineral production and extorting taxes", said Alley.

Global Witness is calling for gold and tin buyers to refuse purchase of minerals mined illegally by either side. "If it is found that the minerals have originated from a mine controlled by an armed group or an FARDC unit operating illegally, companies should simply refuse to buy them. Otherwise, they risk complicity," Alley said.