Normally when 7sur7 writes this type of crap, they know they are losing and can't come up with anything factual.
Soooo AVZ must have scored another goal.
Just watched an interview with Kazadi (finance minister) from yesterday, and to be honest the DRC is very heavy reliant on the IMF and the Worldbank this year.
Without them the DRC has difficulties paying its Public Servants, which is a great way if you want to hang on to your Government and not have a revolt on your hands.
Something for El Presidente to consider...
Fyi, Sounds like some / most Public Servants get Paid just fine, no matter what, if this is anything to go by, as
Mining: fraud and corruption are increasing in the CU-CO mines of the former Katanga!
Former Katanga, in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is one of the richest copper and cobalt producing regions in the world.
Yet the population of Katanga, like the rest of the DRC, remains extremely poor, and the state has failed to provide most of the province with basic infrastructure and public services, particularly in areas rural.
The mining sector in the former Katanga is characterized by widespread corruption and fraud at all levels.
A significant proportion of copper and cobalt is mined informally and exported illicitly.
Government officials actively collude with business companies to circumvent audit procedures and payment of taxes.
The profits are used to line the pockets of a small but powerful elite: politicians and businessmen who exploit the local population and misappropriate natural wealth for their own purposes.
Large quantities of precious minerals are leaving the country undeclared, representing a huge loss to the Congolese economy and a wasted opportunity to reduce poverty and enhance development.
A local source estimated that at the end of 2005, at least three quarters of the minerals exported from Katanga were leaving illegally.
The mining industry in the former Katanga includes two parallel sectors: the formal sector, where foreign and multinational companies use industrial extraction methods, and the informal or "artisanal" sector, where tens of thousands of individuals extract minerals independently, in a completely unregulated environment.
Most artisanally mined products are exported raw, usually as heterogenite, which contains copper, cobalt and a range of other minerals, or, increasingly, as malachite, a copper ore important.
This means that even when these exports are declared, the DRC loses out on the higher prices it could obtain if it processed the minerals before exporting and selling them.
Instead, processing takes place in Zambia, South Africa or the final destination country – most often China or other Asian countries – providing considerable economic gain for these countries but little added value for the DRC.
This report updates a Global Witness report entitled "Rush and Ruin: The Devastating Mineral Trade in Southern Katanga", published in September 2004.
This report is based primarily on field research conducted by Global Witness in Katanga in November and December 2005.
Global Witness Witness researchers interviewed a wide range of people in and around Lubumbashi, the provincial capital; in the mining areas of Likasi and Kolwezi; at Kasumbalesa (border post between the DRC and Zambia); in the Congolese capital Kinshasa; and Zambia, the DRC's southeastern neighbor, through which minerals are exported.
Those interviewed included miners, middlemen known as traders, transporters, representatives of mining and trading companies, government officials and security forces, trade unionists, members of non-governmental organizations.
Katanga in 2005, but noted a number of worrying developments regarding major mining contracts concluded under the transitional government of the DRC.
This report outlines concerns regarding some of these contracts signed since 2004.
These mainly concern complaints expressed by the inhabitants of Katanga on the unbalanced nature of these contracts which provide disproportionate shares of profits to foreign or multinational companies and a negligible amount to the State.
Local perceptions of imbalance and injustice have been reinforced by the lack of transparency surrounding these contracts and the absence of public debate and consultation.
This situation has caused deep resentment among the people of Katanga who see the potentially huge profits from these mining operations leaving the country, with little or no change in their standard of living.
The report also highlights the involvement of high-level political actors in the negotiation of these contracts and in the diversion of profits from the mineral trade in Haut-Katanga, the heartland of President Joseph Kabila.
The situation in the former Katanga has implications well beyond the province.
Unlike other regions of the country, the southern part of Katanga, where copper and cobalt mines are located, was not the scene of heavy fighting during the DRC war and remained under government control.
Despite this, widespread corruption, abuses and illicit practices have persisted in the mining sector, and the relative stability of the region has brought none of the expected benefits of natural wealth.
Ex-Katanga should serve as a stark warning for the future of mining areas in the less stable regions of the DRC.
If the government was unable or unwilling to reform natural resource management in an area over which it retained firm control, the chances of instituting such reforms in conflict-stricken areas of the country could be even weaker.
The Congolese government and donor governments should take rapid action to reverse this situation to avoid a further slide into chaos.
The historic elections due to take place in the DRC in July 2006 represent a unique opportunity for fundamental reform.
This report contains recommendations for action that should be priorities for the new government.
If these reforms are initiated without delay, they could have lasting effects on the development of the country as a whole and on the revitalization of its economy.
They would also mark an important step towards ending decades of corruption and impunity in the mining sector and ensuring that the Congolese population finally begins to benefit from the natural wealth of their country and other members of civil society.
Further research was carried out in Zambia and South Africa in January and February 2006.
This report primarily focuses on the artisanal mining sector.
The exact number of artisanal miners in Katanga is not known – there are no precise records or statistics – but at the end of 2005 their number was estimated at around 150,000 or more.
This report documents the ruthless exploitation of artisanal miners by government and security force officials and commercial companies.
At the local and provincial levels, officials from various ministries, including the Ministry of Mines, police, customs, intelligence services and local governments, all extort large sums of money from miners in a system of institutionalized corruption.
The association that claims to represent artisanal miners, the Artisanal Miners of Ex-Katanga (EMAK), also extorts money from miners instead of protecting their interests.
Traders are financially exploited by the trading companies to whom they sell the minerals and are forced to accept prices that do not correspond to the real value of the products.
mediacongo
Looks like nothing has changed after all this time and all those Election promises by FT
If anything it's probably gotten worse
