42 International Alert Southeastern Orientale
<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 43 Chapter 3: Bafwasende and Mambasa (Filip Hilgert & Rachel Perks) 3.1 M<strong>in</strong>erals <strong>in</strong> Bafwasende and Mambasa Orientale prov<strong>in</strong>ce occupies 503,239 km 2 and comprises 22 percent <strong>of</strong> the nation’s land surface. It has a population <strong>of</strong> 6.6 million (12 percent <strong>of</strong> the total population) and an average 4.7 people per household. <strong>The</strong> adm<strong>in</strong>istrative capital is Kisangani and there are four districts (Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, Tshopo, Ituri). Some 75.5 percent <strong>of</strong> the population lives <strong>in</strong> poverty, with an average monthly household <strong>in</strong>come <strong>of</strong> US$25. Agriculture (cassava, planta<strong>in</strong>, rice) is the ma<strong>in</strong> livelihood for 84 percent <strong>of</strong> the population, and there is a history <strong>of</strong> grow<strong>in</strong>g c<strong>of</strong>fee, cocoa and palm oil for export. Animal husbandry and fish<strong>in</strong>g are other important activities. 149 M<strong>in</strong>erals play an important, though largely <strong>in</strong>formal, economic role for a significant amount <strong>of</strong> the population. While large-scale m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g has historically played a central role <strong>in</strong> the economy <strong>of</strong> the eastern part <strong>of</strong> Orientale prov<strong>in</strong>ce, most m<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g today is artisanal and small-scale. This chapter does not look at m<strong>in</strong>e sites across the entire prov<strong>in</strong>ce; 150 but focuses just on those <strong>in</strong> the least-known areas border<strong>in</strong>g North Kivu, namely southern Bafwasende territory (Tshopo district) and Mambasa territory (Ituri district). <strong>The</strong>se h<strong>in</strong>terlands ma<strong>in</strong>ly service the trad<strong>in</strong>g towns <strong>of</strong> Butembo, Beni and Bunia, and the m<strong>in</strong>erals extracted from them <strong>in</strong>clude gold, diamonds, cassiterite, coltan and wolframite. Diamonds Though an important source <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>come and revenue across the country, diamonds will not be treated <strong>in</strong> depth. Despite the strides made <strong>in</strong> the Kimberley Process, sizeable amounts <strong>of</strong> diamonds cont<strong>in</strong>ue to be exported illegally from the prov<strong>in</strong>ce, but diamond production and exports fell sharply between 2008 and 2009, <strong>in</strong> value and <strong>in</strong> volume, as a result <strong>of</strong> the global f<strong>in</strong>ancial crisis. 151 CEEC figures for the first five months <strong>of</strong> 2010 show a further decrease <strong>in</strong> production compared to 2009, but a 32 percent <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> value. 152 In Orientale the crisis has led to the abandonment <strong>of</strong> the majority <strong>of</strong> the diamond sites, the bankrupcy <strong>of</strong> most diamond négociants and a large shift by artisanal diamond m<strong>in</strong>ers <strong>in</strong>to gold. Gold <strong>The</strong> 2009 CEEC Orientale activity report declared 86.829 kg (US$2,134,547) <strong>of</strong> gold bought and “sealed” with<strong>in</strong> the prov<strong>in</strong>ce 153 . Compared to 2008 (16.618 kg for US$336,315) this was an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> volume <strong>of</strong> 422.5 percent and an <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> value <strong>of</strong> 534.69 percent. To provide context for these figures, the entire DRC legally exported only 123 kg <strong>of</strong> gold <strong>in</strong> 2008, for an estimated five tonnes <strong>of</strong> production. 154 CEEC Orientale attributes the the large rise <strong>in</strong> production <strong>in</strong> 2009 to the <strong>in</strong>flux <strong>of</strong> many former diamond m<strong>in</strong>ers <strong>in</strong>to gold, and especially the open<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> two <strong>of</strong>ficial comptoirs <strong>in</strong> Bunia (COPED and OKIMO/MIKUBA) and the subsequent <strong>in</strong>stallation <strong>of</strong> a CEEC <strong>of</strong>fice. In fact, over 96.5 percent <strong>of</strong> the total <strong>of</strong>ficial gold production <strong>of</strong> the prov<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>in</strong> 2009 was declared <strong>in</strong> Bunia, and the rema<strong>in</strong>der by just one comptoir <strong>in</strong> Kisangani (Abner Congo 149 UN Development Programme (2009) ‘Prov<strong>in</strong>ce Orientale. Pr<strong>of</strong>il Résumé’, op. cit. 150 See IPIS natural <strong>resource</strong>s map <strong>of</strong> Prov<strong>in</strong>ce Orientale, with accompany<strong>in</strong>g report by S. Spittaels and F. Hilgert, ‘Mapp<strong>in</strong>g conflict motives: Prov<strong>in</strong>ce Orientale (DRC), March 2010, at http://www.ipisresearch.be/mapp<strong>in</strong>g_orientale.php. 151 Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Direction Prov<strong>in</strong>ciale du CEEC, Synthèse du rapport d’activités 2009, from 244,160.44 carats (US$16,864,069) <strong>in</strong> 2008 to 96,666.94 carats (US$4,927,901) <strong>in</strong> 2009, a decrease <strong>of</strong> 60.41 percent <strong>in</strong> production and 70.78 percent <strong>in</strong> value. 152 36,666.57 carats (US$2,159,026) <strong>in</strong> January–May 2010, and 40,176.52 carats (US$1,634,730) <strong>in</strong> January–May 2009. Over 38 percent <strong>of</strong> production comes from m<strong>in</strong>es just north <strong>of</strong> Kisangani (Lubuya Bera collectivity), and 25 percent from Bafwasende territory. 153 <strong>The</strong> Prov<strong>in</strong>cial Division des M<strong>in</strong>es 2009 annual report has only 62.79389 kg (US$1,556,441.24). 154 ‘RDC, Exploitation d’or, une perte sèche de près de 70 millions USD suite à la fraude’, Radio Okapi, 13th July 2009.