Untitled - Greenpeace

36
CARVING UP THE CONGO
That forestry officials are reduced to
conducting such a paperwork exercise on a
post-moratorium title shows just how far the
DRC is from enforcing the rule of law in
its forests.
Timber from ITB is imported into European
countries including Belgium, France, Italy and
Portugal. Interholco (Danzer’s trading branch)
is a client of ITB.
NST ‘ENJOYS THE PROTECTION
OF TOP POLITICAL AUTHORITIES’
FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT
Even when the DRC’s rank-and-file forest
officials have the will to control the logging
industry, high level political interference can
block the establishment of the rule of law, as
the case of Sodefor shows.
‘As for the legality of the
forest concessions granted to
your company by my
ministry, I can but confirm it.
In closing, I ask you to
proceed with your company’s
new investments programme
without giving in to panic,
because the protection of the
Government of Transition is
afforded to you.’ 179
Anselme Enerunga, Minister
for the Environment of the
DRC, letter to Sodefor,
20 December 2004
admitted to Greenpeace that because they are
so poorly and irregularly paid they are
dependent on logging companies. 181 The result
is that, according to these forestry officials,
Sodefor declares a much lower timber
production volume than it actually logs.
Officials could not prove this, however, since
the company refuses to grant officials access
to relevant logging documentation in the
course of an inspection.
Timber from Sodefor is imported into
European countries including Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy and Portugal. 182
Has NST been rewarded
for its wartime contribution?
Soforma (part of the NST group) is one
example of a company with alleged wartime
logging titles. According to Conflict timber, a
report commissioned by the US Government
aid agency USAID:
Sodefor is subsidiary of the NST group, which
overall holds many millions of hectares of
rainforest (see pp82–85). In May–June 2006
and January 2007, Greenpeace visited a
number of communities in Bandundu Province
close to logging sites operated by Sodefor and
talked to local people and officials. On more
than one occasion forestry officials alleged
that the company was ‘protected’ by the
authorities. For example, north-east of
Bandundu, officials complained of their total
lack of control over Sodefor:
‘We have had orders from the authorities not
to carry out inspections … They enjoy
protection at the highest level.’ 176
Other local authorities told Greenpeace a
similar story: ‘Sodefor is protected in Kinshasa,
and we lack resources. We do nonetheless
manage to carry out inspections and produce
reports, but Kinshasa just marks them not to
be followed up.’ 177 A forestry official in
Bandundu also felt that Sodefor had links with
the upper echelons in Kinshasa and was ‘totally
protected’. 178
‘Like the Minister, I confirm
the legality of all the forest
concessions granted to you
and ask you to proceed with
new investment planned in
this field in order to
contribute once again to the
reduction of poverty in our
country.’ 180
Abdoulaye Yérodia Ndombasi,
Vice President of the DRC,
letter to Sodefor,
26 January 2005
‘During the last Rwandan-Ugandan invasion of
the DRC, the Kabila Government requested
that logging companies cut timber for export
in reserve forests in Bas Congo Province [and]
split the proceeds 50/50 with the DRC
Government. The Government’s share
reportedly went to help finance the war effort
… Since 1999 – in the middle of the civil war –
… concessions were [awarded] in three forest
reserve areas (Ezini, Lukfwe and another)
where logging normally was not permitted …
Two logging companies carried out these
operations: MALBA and SOFORMA … Our
source believed that after the 50/50 split all
other taxes and levies that normally apply …
were suspended for wood harvested in this
operation … Wartime logging in those three
concessions should have produced … a total
value of $17-36 million.’ 183
The forestry service in Bandundu has no
vehicles, leaving the staff dependent on the
logging companies for transport. Moreover,
almost all personnel are based in towns rather
than at logging sites. Forestry staff have