Global Witness says that is has uncovered substantial evidence that the Democratic Republic of Congo army is collaborating with Rwandan armed militias to exploit gold and tin in the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu. The two groups are operating their own mines and trading with each other.
The Congolese government has been unsuccessful in their attempts to clean up the tin sector in the eastern provinces. The hostilities threaten to boil over into war. The army and the rebel group CNDP have fought some intense battles this last week over the country’s mineral wealth.
Exports of cassiterite, the chief tin ore mined today, from the Democratic Republic of Congo will resume on Monday. Dealers in the province of North Kivu and Congolese government officials have been preoccupied with talks the past few weeks over an export tax increase that led to a seven-week strike.
The Association of Exporters of Minerals of North Kivu is expecting a decision tomorrow from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Mines Ministry and Finance Ministry on recent increases in traders’ tax liabilities. In reaction to the tax hike, exporters in North Kivu, responsible for 75% of the country’s tin shipments, halted exports.
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