CONGO: Warring parties target mineral-rich heartland. Financial Times, October 24
By Mark Turner in Nairobi
The 12-week-old conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo looks set to become a battle for the country's diamond and copper-rich mineral heartland, as rebels prepare to push southwards and regional forces supporting President Laurent Kabila shore up the southern capital, Lumumbashi.
Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia vowed at a summit this week to quell the country's Tutsi-led rebellion after rebels captured Mr Kabila's eastern stronghold in Kindu, and have sent in substantial reinforcements over the past two days. "We will not allow [Congo] to fall into the hands of those who have invaded it. Never, never," said Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president. But rebels claim they are prepared for a long, difficult war, and have named Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of Kasai province, as their next objective.
Diamond fields around Mbuji-Mayi produced 17m carats of diamonds in 1997 out of a global total of 117m carats, worth between $300m and $350m. Congo was the fourth largest producer after Australia, Botswana and Russia last year, but instability recently prompted De Beers, the diamond giant, to pull out of Mbuji-Mayi.
Katanga province further south straddles one of the world's principal copper-cobalt belts, but a dearth of investment meant that 1997 copper production stood at 37,000 tonnes out of a world total of over 9m tonnes. This was less than 10 per cent of Congo's production in the 1980s. Cobalt production stood at just over 3,000 tonnes last year.
Despite the current unrest, mining consortia such as Kolwezi Tailings, Kolwezi Group West and Congo Mineral Developments - a 50-50 joint venture between America Mineral Fields and South Africa's Anglo American - are still talking to the government about developing the region.
Regional foreign and defence ministers are due to meet in Lusaka on Monday to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis, but given the failure of other initiatives over the past two months, hopes are not high. The conflict has already dragged in Chad, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda and Rwanda, and there are reports of Sudanese involvement. Fears are growing that the rebellion could precipitate the continent's first serious inter-regional war, especially if Congolese loyalists decide to target directly Uganda and Rwanda, which they accuse of supporting the rebellion. The United Nations has urged all parties not to take action which would lead to escalation.
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