The final 2019 UN Group of Experts report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo came out this week. It confirms that Congo’s eastern neighbor Rwanda remains a haven for smuggling Congolese minerals. KPFA’s Ann Garrison has more.
AG: Congolese minerals have long been smuggled into Congo’s eastern neighbor Rwanda, and into its eastern neighbors Uganda and Burundi. Earlier UN reports said that during the Second Congo War of 1998 to 2003, President Paul Kagame’s government created a “Congo Desk” to organize the direct exploitation of Congo’s natural resources.
Congo is a vast country the size of Western Europe, with unparalleled natural resources. Rwanda is a tiny country the size of Vermont with relatively few. Its per capita income is $773, but Kagame’s wealth and lavish lifestyle surpass those of most African presidents. He travels in a $65 million Gulfstream jet and makes over 50 overseas trips a year.
The new report points out, for one, that Rwanda’s gold export numbers don’t add up. In 2018, Rwanda declared gold exports of 2,163 kg, while the United Arab Emirates officially imported 12,539 kg from Rwanda during the first nine months of 2018.
The report also says that, “In February 2019, during a meeting in Kigali, officials of the Government of Rwanda informed the Group that a new gold refinery (Aldango Ltd.) would officially launch its activities later in 2019. Despite all their evidence of ongoing gold smuggling from Congo to Rwanda, the experts wrote that “the relevant government authorities and supply chain actors should monitor the activities of this company in order to ensure that due diligence standards are implemented.”
After reading the report, Rwandan American economist David Himbara wrote that “Aldango, whose refinery cost $5 million dollars to build, sounds fishy. Who will guard this facade?”
In Berkeley, for Pacifica, KPFA, I’m Ann Garrison.
