9 January 2007
In an op-ed about the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the Boston Globe, authors John le Carre and Jason Stearns criticized the unfavorable mining contracts signed between several international companies and Gecamines, the Congolese state-owned copper company, as a threat to the country’s prospects for lasting peace and development.
An independent legal audit of two such contracts showed that the benefit for the country would be minimal at best from the one-sided deals. In their op-ed, le Carre and Stearns summarize the audit’s findings: “For a minimal return, [the transitional government] has signed away millions - if not billions - of dollars' worth of copper and cobalt for 35 years.”
The authors were also critical of the World Bank’s involvement in the mining industry, questioning its emphasis on the privatization of the country’s mineral resources as a driver of economic growth, as well as the Bank’s apparent reluctance to use its leverage to help ensure that the DRC’s mineral wealth benefits the Congolese people.
As reported in a Financial Times article last week, a World Bank study of three deals signed by Gecamines in 2005 under the transitional government revealed that the contracts were “approved with ‘a complete lack of transparency.’” While the newly elected government is expected to review the three contracts, which are said to account for three-quarters of Gecamine’s copper and cobalt assets, “no substantial changes are expected.”
additional Resources
- Getting Congo's wealth to its people by John le Carre and Jason Stearns, Boston Globe, December 22, 2006 (Globe website)
- Transparency fears lead to review of Congo contracts by Dino Mahtani, Financial Times, January 3, 2007 (FT website)
- World Bank implicated in controversial DR Congo mining contracts, Bank Information Center, November 22, 2006 (BIC website)
- Civil society calls on DRC President to renegotiate disadvantageous mining contracts, Bank Information Center, December 6, 2006 (BIC website)