Africa

Cracking down on ‘conflict minerals’

The deadliest conflict since World War II, in which 5.4 million people have died and 200,000 women have been raped, rages far from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where murderous militias are battling for control of valuable minerals such as tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold — minerals essential to the worldwide production of consumer electronics. Congolese, in other words, are dying in extraordinary numbers for our cellphones and video games, digital cameras and laptop computers.

Most consumers are unaware that these gadgets often have their beginnings in Congo’s torment. Not only are militia-controlled mines the cause of continuing warfare, but they are hellish places to work. Much of the mining is done by local villagers forced into labor against their will — and, in some cases, by enslaved children — with few or no safety measures or precautions taken.

The international community has imposed a series of arms embargoes and sanctions in an effort to weaken the militias; the U.N. Security Council recently extended its embargo. High-powered weapons, however, remain readily available, and violence is undiminished. It’s time to turn to the businesses that profit from Congo’s “conflict minerals” and to figure out a way — as was done with conflict diamonds — that they can certify which mines in Congo are operating legally and safely. A handful of companies have voluntarily begun to research and take steps on the issue, including Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., Dell Inc. and Motorola Inc. They deserve encouragement, but individual corporate efforts are not a sufficient substitute for national policy.

Two bills pending in Congress could start the process. A House bill is aimed at the middlemen — the smelters — that receive raw minerals from Congo and neighboring countries they’re routed through. Under the bill, smelters — most of which are located in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia — would have to agree to be audited in order to export to the U.S. And after two years of auditing, they would have to certify whether their products contain conflict minerals. A Senate bill would require publicly traded companies to disclose the origins of the minerals they use and, if the source is Congo or a neighboring country, the name of the mine.

Both bills raise questions, such as who would do the auditing and how the certification process would work. But the fact that legislation is pending in Washington already has put pressure on mine officials in Africa, according to human rights activists. It won’t be easy, but certifying minerals as “conflict free” can be done. We did it with diamonds. We can do it with minerals, too.

This Los Angeles Times editorial was published December 15, 2009.
– PeaceMeal, Jan/February 2010

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Sudan’s young endure ‘unspeakable’ abuse

Children in Sudan are press-ganged, coerced to join armed groups, raped and used as forced labor or sex slaves, according to a new report compiled by six humanitarian groups. The report, “Sudan’s Children at a Crossroads,” concentrates mainly on Darfur, where a conflict has been raging for four years, and southern Sudan, emerging from 20 years of war.

“Children in Sudan continue to endure some of the most inhumane treatment found anywhere in the world,” according to Kathleen Hunt, chair of the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict. “Despite the end of the war in the south and recent signs of hope for a strengthened peacekeeping force in Darfur, many Sudanese children are not faring any better than they were four years ago,” Hunt said.

In Darfur, most rebel and militia groups recruit children, including the pro-government Arab militias known as the Janjaweed, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Army. Sudan’s government armed forces have also recently incorporated children from other armed groups into its ranks

While reports of rape and maiming are prevalent in Darfur, Sudanese girls from other areas have been forced into prostitution or into domestic service in and out of Sudan. Boys as young as 4 or 5 years old “have been trafficked to Arab Gulf countries to work as camel jockeys and beggars,” Watchlist said.

Education is also a horror in many parts of the country, with the south having the lowest rate in the world of only 25 percent of youth in school. Some children walk for two hours to school and untrained teachers work for low or no pay.

Francis Mading Deng, a former Sudanese foreign minister, U.N. envoy for displaced people, and now a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said that children and civilians could only be spared through a political solution to the ongoing conflict.

– edited from Reuters Limited
PeaceMeal, July/August 2007

UN warns of Darfur catastrophe

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called the conflict in Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. An estimated 400,000 people have been killed since the current conflict began, and at least 2 million others displaced from their homes. The refugees are now having spill-over effects on neighboring Chad and the Central African Republic as well.

The crisis in Darfur is the most violent and bloody period in a long history of turbulent relations between three African nations – Chad, Libya, and Sudan, which have fought more than 40 years for control over the central Sahara and the savanna grasslands in the greater Chad basin. There are also ethnic (Arab/non-Arab) and sectarian (Muslim/Christian) aspects to the conflict.

The current violence broke out in February 2003, when rebels from minority tribes took up arms to demand an equal share of national resources. This prompted a heavy-handed crackdown by the government in Khartoum and the Janjaweed militia.

The new United Nations humanitarian chief, John Holmes, has warned of the “crying need” for political action to bring peace to Sudan’s Darfur region. In a report to the U.N. Security Council, Mr. Holmes said it was time for politicians and concerned leaders in Sudan to stop playing “protracted games with each other, with little or no thought to the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens, whom the international community meanwhile keeps alive.”

Mr. Holmes warned that the poor security situation was putting at risk efforts to help the population, even with 13,000 aid workers now operating in the region. “Despite its scale and success in sustaining millions and saving literally hundreds of thousands of lives, the Darfur humanitarian operation is increasingly fragile,” Holmes said, in the light of recent attacks on aid workers. “If things do not get better, or if there were more serious incidents involving humanitarian workers, some organizations could start to withdraw and the operation could start to unravel. Then we could face a rapid humanitarian catastrophe ....”

Holmes told the Security Council that aid workers had been “physically and verbally abused, offices and residences raided and personal belongings stolen.” He blamed both government forces and rebels for violations of international law and widespread human rights abuses.

“Meanwhile, politicization and militarization of [refugee] camps have become a fact of life, creating a future time bomb just waiting to go off,” he warned.

The Sudan government has rejected pressure for a U.N. peacekeeping force to end the bloodshed in Darfur. It has allowed in weak African Union peacekeeping troops, five of whom were killed April 1 by unknown gunmen. A top A.U. official said they “can no longer cope with the dangers in Darfur” without the help of U.N. troops.

– edited from a U.N. Press Release, Media With Conscience, The Associated Press and Sudan Tribune
PeaceMeal, March/April 2007

Save Darfur is an alliance of over 100 faith-based, humanitarian and human rights organizations: www.savedarfur.org

PlanUSA provides emergency aid for Sudanese children. See: www.planusa.org and search for “Darfur”.

Darfur’s fleeting moment

by Anthony Lake and Francis Fukuyama

Washington – For three years, despite the official rhetoric and the growing public support for bold international action to end the first genocide of the 21st century, Darfur has largely remained a neglected tragedy. Until now. With the signing of a peace agreement in Nigeria on May 5, Darfur, in western Sudan, faces a new and more hopeful prospect. Although two of the main rebel groups did not sign the accord, the Sudanese government and the largest insurgent faction did.But as recent fighting between the rebel factions makes painfully clear, this significant achievement is only a window of opportunity that could close soon, leaving Darfur still more gravely afflicted. If the agreement does not quickly produce tangible progress toward peace, including protection for Darfur’s people from both the government-backed janjaweed militia and the rebels, more than diplomatic momentum will be lost. Deepened anger and despair could provide fertile ground for the seeds of military conflict and even terrorism, as demonstrated by Al Qaeda’s recent threat to take jihad to Sudan.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously passed a resolution on May 16 supporting the peace agreement and created a team to prepare for a peacekeeping mission that will take over from the African Union force in Darfur. President Bush’s support of the peace process deserves applause, as does Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick’s leadership at the negotiating table. To seize the moment, the Bush administration should go beyond calling for urgency at the United Nations in planning a peacekeeping force. It should also give the government of Sudan a brief time in which to accept such a force. Sudan has said it would do so once there was a peace agreement, but has waffled in recent statements. It must be held to its words.

Mr. Bush should now get ready the logistics, intelligence, and headquarters assistance that the United States could provide to such a force. Showing we are prepared to act quickly should help persuade the United Nations to move smartly itself.

President Bush could also join President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, who was instrumental in pushing through the peace agreement, in personally soliciting pledges of troops for a United Nations force. And Washington should make it clear that if Sudan refuses to accept a United Nations force, we will press NATO to act even without the consent of the Sudanese government — including a no-flight zone to ground the Sudanese aircraft that have provided support to the murderous janjaweed.

Recent sanctions by the United States and the United Nations against four Sudanese men involved in the genocide are a step in the right direction, far more expansive measures should be taken against the high-level propagators of genocide based in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, if they block a U.N. force. Beyond multilateral sanctions, the United States could work with countries where Sudanese officials have assets or hope to travel to impose penalties on them.

Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis grows more desperate. As the needs grow, money to meet them has dwindled. The World Food Program is cutting daily rations to Darfurian refugees in half — to a dangerous 1,050 calories a day. UNICEF is being forced to scale back its operations, including its nutritional programs for children. The president has asked Congress to increase food aid to Sudan by $225 million. That request must be put on a fast track.

At the United Nations World Summit meeting last September, the United States and other participating governments agreed that the international community has a responsibility to protect innocent civilians when a government is unwilling or unable to do so. A failure of international will has allowed Darfur to bleed into another year of rape, slaughter, and starvation. Only strong leadership and resolute action can save lives before this moment of hope is lost.

The many Americans who have voiced their outrage at the dithering of the international community should and can act as well as speak — by contributing to humanitarian organizations like UNICEF, the International Rescue Committee, and Doctors Without Borders.

Anthony Lake, a professor at Georgetown University, was a national security adviser to President Bill Clinton. Francis Fukuyama, a professor of international political economy at Johns Hopkins, is the author of “America at the Crossroads.” Their op-ed contribution is edited from The New York Times, May 21, 2006.

– PeaceMeal, May/June 2006