26 International Alert Maniema
<strong>The</strong> complexity <strong>of</strong> <strong>resource</strong> <strong>governance</strong> <strong>in</strong> a context <strong>of</strong> state fragility: An analysis <strong>of</strong> the m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g sector <strong>in</strong> the Kivu h<strong>in</strong>terlands 27 Chapter 2: Maniema (Ken Matthysen & Gérard Nimpagaritse) 2.1 M<strong>in</strong>erals <strong>in</strong> Maniema After be<strong>in</strong>g jo<strong>in</strong>ed to the Kivus for 22 years, Maniema prov<strong>in</strong>ce was detached and re-established <strong>in</strong> 1988. 62 <strong>The</strong> prov<strong>in</strong>ce was sub-divided <strong>in</strong>to seven territories: Lubutu and Punia <strong>in</strong> the north, Kailo and Pangi <strong>in</strong> the centre, and Kabambare, Kasongo and Kibombo <strong>in</strong> the south. Maniema covers 132,500 km 2 – or 5.6 percent – <strong>of</strong> the DRC’s surface area. 63 In 2008 OCHA estimated its population at about 2.25 million. 64 Maniema is rich <strong>in</strong> rivers and three-quarters <strong>of</strong> the prov<strong>in</strong>ce is covered by forest. <strong>The</strong> Congo River runs from the south to north, dra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the water <strong>of</strong> its tributaries spread throughout the prov<strong>in</strong>ce. 65 Maniema used to have an important agricultural sector, produc<strong>in</strong>g rice, maize, manioc, peanuts and bananas, 66 but successive wars have had a devastat<strong>in</strong>g effect on Maniema’s agricultural production. Maniema also has considerable m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g potential. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the Congolese government, the prov<strong>in</strong>ce’s sub-soil is the country’s fourth richest after Katanga, Prov<strong>in</strong>ce Orientale and Eastern Kasaï. <strong>The</strong> most important m<strong>in</strong>erals found are cassiterite, wolframite, coltan, gold and diamonds. 67 Artisanal m<strong>in</strong>eral extraction took <strong>of</strong>f <strong>in</strong> the colonial era. As a rich t<strong>in</strong>-m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g zone, Maniema attracted several Belgian private companies such as the Empa<strong>in</strong> Group’s Symeta<strong>in</strong> and Cobelm<strong>in</strong>es. 68 As production rose throughout the 1940s and early 1950s, the companies scaled up to <strong>in</strong>dustrial exploitation, fuell<strong>in</strong>g a further rise <strong>in</strong> production that lasted until the end <strong>of</strong> the 1960s, when several deposits were close to depletion. In 1976, the Société M<strong>in</strong>ière et Industrielle du Kivu (Som<strong>in</strong>ki) was created, merg<strong>in</strong>g several companies (<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g MGL, Cobelm<strong>in</strong>es and Symeta<strong>in</strong>) <strong>in</strong> which the Zairian state held a 28-percent stake. 69 None <strong>of</strong> Som<strong>in</strong>ki’s shareholders showed real <strong>in</strong>terest or confidence <strong>in</strong> the company 70 , partly due to the isolation <strong>of</strong> Maniema’s m<strong>in</strong>es, and the company was unable to withstand the global t<strong>in</strong> price crash <strong>of</strong> 1985. 71 Further crises <strong>in</strong> 1987 and 1991 led Som<strong>in</strong>ki to conf<strong>in</strong>e its operations to the commercialisation <strong>of</strong> m<strong>in</strong>erals extracted from its concessions by artisanal m<strong>in</strong>ers. Som<strong>in</strong>ki, however, paid the “creuseurs” very little for their ore, reduc<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>centives and caus<strong>in</strong>g further falls <strong>in</strong> output. Industrial exploitation has still not revived although many exploration permits have been issued. M<strong>in</strong>eral exploitation <strong>in</strong> Maniema rema<strong>in</strong>s exclusively artisanal. <strong>The</strong> prov<strong>in</strong>ce’s m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g sector has been further thrown <strong>in</strong>to disarray by the wars the country has suffered. <strong>The</strong> few exist<strong>in</strong>g production figures <strong>in</strong>dicate that m<strong>in</strong>eral production has been ris<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> recent years. This is due to the grow<strong>in</strong>g number <strong>of</strong> artisanal m<strong>in</strong>ers, who have been encouraged by improved security s<strong>in</strong>ce 62 Maniema prov<strong>in</strong>ce existed as a sole entity from May 1962 until President Mobutu’s centralisation programme <strong>in</strong> December 1966. T. Turner (2007) <strong>The</strong> Congo wars: Conflict, myth & reality. London: Zed Books p. 78. 63 UN Development Programme, Prov<strong>in</strong>ce du Maniema, pr<strong>of</strong>il résumé: Pauvreté et conditions de vie de ménages, March 2009. 64 International Alert, <strong>The</strong> role <strong>of</strong> the exploitation <strong>of</strong> natural <strong>resource</strong>s <strong>in</strong> fuell<strong>in</strong>g and prolong<strong>in</strong>g crises <strong>in</strong> the Eastern DRC, January 2010, p. 12. 65 UN Development Programme (2009), op. cit. 66 K. M. Donatien, Les transformations des relations économiques dans les zones de conflit Nord-Kivu et Maniema, UNDP, January 2004; RDC M<strong>in</strong>istère du Plan, Monographie de la prov<strong>in</strong>ce du Maniema, March 2004, pp. 41-42. 67 RDC M<strong>in</strong>istère du Plan, op. cit. 68 International Alert (2010), op. cit. 69 Gregory Mthembu-Salter, Social and economic dynamics <strong>of</strong> m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Kalima, DRC, Institute for Security Studies, April 2009, p. 2. 70 Ibid, p. 3 71 International Alert (2010), op. cit.