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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 11:15 pm
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Results for exploitation of natural resources
5 results foundAuthor: Leggett, Ted Title: Organized Crime and Instability in Central Africa: A Threat Assessment Summary: This study was undertaken to inform programme development efforts in the context of UNODC’s regional programme approach. The Great Lakes region of Central Africa is a region of vast natural resources – and great potential – with a tragic history. Remarkable progress has been made in some countries, while others are only now beginning to find their feet. Many of the problems facing the region stretch back to colonial times, but the current situation is best explained by reference to more recent events. By some estimates, over five million people died during the eight-country conflict known as the Second Congo War which started in 1998, making it one of the deadliest conflicts since World War II. The human impact has been tremendous: communities have been displaced, weapons disseminated, the population traumatized, and the economy decimated. Although the formal hostilities ended in 2002-2003, violence has continued to afflict the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Smouldering grievances, often highly local ones, were again stirred to a blaze. Ethnic tensions in Ituri, a region in Orientale province, stretch back many decades, but violence surged again after the end of the war. The Kivu provinces experienced continuing bouts of extreme brutality fuelled by competition for land and resources, as well as by ethnic grievances. Today, however, the DRC is in a state of transition. Deaths due to disease and malnutrition, tied in part to the displacement caused by violence, continue, but the World Bank estimates that there were only 610 battlefield deaths in 2008. Though no one is declaring victory yet, it appears that the scale of the conflict has substantially declined. The violence that remains, however, is a potent mix of interpersonal violence and the continuing presence of armed groups across the Eastern DRC, much of which is connected to the exploitation of natural resources. The violence is preventing the region as a whole from benefiting from development opportunities that would come with stability. Details: Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2011. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 4, 2011 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Studies/Central_Africa_Report_2011_web.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Africa URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Studies/Central_Africa_Report_2011_web.pdf Shelf Number: 123225 Keywords: Exploitation of Natural ResourcesOffenses Against the EnvironmentOrganized Crime (Central Africa)ViolenceViolent CrimeWildlife Crime |
Author: Fleischner, Justine Title: Deadly Enterprise: Dismantling South Sudan's War Economy and Countering Potential Spoilers Summary: "Deadly Enterprise" is the third in a series of in-depth, field research-driven reports on the dynamics of profit and power fueling war in the Horn, East and Central Africa. Violent kleptocracies dominate the political landscape of this region, leading to protracted conflicts marked by the commission of mass atrocities by state and non-state actors. Enough's Political Economy of African Wars series will focus on the key players in these conflicts, their motivations, how they benefit from the evolving war economies, and what policies might be most effective in changing the calculations of those orchestrating the violence - including both incentives and pressures for peace. Details: Washington, DC: Enough Project, 2015. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: The Political Economy of African Wars: No. 3: Accessed June 7, 2016 at: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/DeadlyEnterprise_121515.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Congo, Democratic Republic URL: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/DeadlyEnterprise_121515.pdf Shelf Number: 139292 Keywords: Exploitation of Natural ResourcesNatural ResourcesViolence |
Author: Agger, Kasper Title: Warlord Business: CAR's Violent Armed Groups and their Criminal Operations for Profit and Power Summary: The two main armed groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) - the ex-Seleka and the Anti-Balaka, along with their multiple factions - make millions of dollars in profits from illicit activities, which support their operations and create wealth for ruthless warlords and business owners. Killings, extortion, and other forms of violence are used to control areas with gold and diamonds throughout CAR, and the groups are deeply involved in this high-value trade in several ways. The two groups also generate income through illicit taxes and "protection money" from civilians, road travelers, businesses, local organizations, and state institutions. Ex-Seleka and Anti-Balaka groups profit from a large illicit minerals trade. They do this directly by the mining and theft of diamonds and gold that they then sell to middlemen. They also profit indirectly by looting, extortion, and predatory taxation of miners and traders. Research presented in this report estimates the total current value of the illicit diamond trade and taxation by armed groups in CAR to be between $3.87 and $5.8 million dollars annually, a sufficient amount in CAR to fund widespread military operations. The majority of the diamonds and the gold are smuggled out of CAR to neighboring countries - mainly Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan - and then on to international markets; a lesser amount is sold on the local market within CAR. Some of the diamonds sold locally are purchased by three Central African diamond buying houses that currently have a total stock of diamonds worth close to $8 million. This domestic diamond trade is not prohibited by the Kimberley Process (KP) suspension of CAR's membership and the decision by KP members to refrain from sending or receiving diamond shipments from CAR that has been in effect since May 2013 and only restricts exports of rough Central African diamonds. Deliberations are, however, underway concerning the possibility of a partial lifting of the KP restrictions. There are concerns that the combination of an inadequate diamond tracing system in CAR and control by armed groups of diamond mines could result in conflict diamonds, which have provided financing for armed groups, entering the KP-approved diamond trade. To counter this danger, any lifting of CAR's KP diamond restrictions should be conditioned on the removal of all armed groups from mining sites, full control of diamond trading markets by U.N. peacekeepers or local gendarmes, and a credible tracing and due diligence system for diamonds bought and sold by Central African diamond companies, including those for export. In addition to natural resource exploitation, ex-Seleka factions in particular have set up efficient tax collection practices. Conservative assessments estimate that different factions within the group collect $1.5 to $2 million annually from illicit road taxation throughout the areas they control in central and eastern CAR. They gain an additional estimated $210,000 to $420,000 in taxation of cattle traders and $200,000 to $240,000 from taxation of coffee traders. Meanwhile, Anti-Balaka groups that roam western CAR collect illicit road taxes, extort money from rural villages, and demand sums that range from $600 to $1,000 as a one-time payment for "protection." Additional research is needed to estimate the total annual profits collected by Anti-Balaka groups through road taxation, looting, and other abusive activities. Details: Washington, DC: Enough Project, 2015. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: The Political Economy of African Wars: No. 2: Accessed June 7, 2016 at: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/Warlord%20Business%20061615.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Central African Republic URL: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/Warlord%20Business%20061615.pdf Shelf Number: 139294 Keywords: DiamondsExploitation of Natural ResourcesExtortionIllicit TradeLootingNatural ResourcesViolence |
Author: Dranginis, Holly Title: Going for Gold: Engaging the Jewelry Industry in Responsible Gold Sourcing in Africa's Great Lakes Region Summary: For thousands of years, gold has represented love, tradition, wealth, beauty, and decadence. In the United States alone, these associations cause the gold jewelry industry to be worth more than five billion dollars annually. Halfway around the world, however, the extraction and smuggling of gold serves as an important means of funding for armed groups and army commanders in the deadliest conflict since World War II. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("Congo"), violent armed actors mine, tax, and smuggle minerals and perpetrate widespread atrocities. Major supply chain reforms by electronics companies, coupled with the Dodd-Frank Act's section on conflict minerals and the beginnings of a minerals certification process in the Great Lakes region of Africa, have led to a marked improvement in the security situation at tin, tantalum, and tungsten (3T) mines in Congo. Over two-thirds of the eastern Congo's 3T mines are conflict-free today. Gold, however, remains a major financial lifeline for armed actors. 98 percent of artisanally mined gold - estimated at between $383 and $409 million in 2013 - is smuggled out of the country annually, and much of that gold benefits armed commanders. Gold sold by armed groups into the global supply chain ends up in various products, including jewelry, which is the main overall end user of gold. Conflict gold thus taints the industry as a whole. Fortunately, jewelry retailers and consumers can play important roles to help end the conflict gold trade and the suffering it causes, together with the actions of governments. Corporate and consumer behavior can lead to increased demand for responsibly sourced, conflict-free gold and promote investment in positive mining initiatives in the region. As the largest end-user of gold, making up around 45 percent of worldwide gold demand, jewelry companies have the ability to increase demand for conflict-free gold from Congo and the region. Resolving the conflict gold problem in Congo and the Great Lakes region will require concerted efforts by a number of actors, including governments worldwide, especially the United States, India, China, the United Arab Emirates, and in the region. International and local civil society actors, mining and refining companies, and artisanal mining groups must also play a role. But leadership by the companies that sell jewelry is an indispensable component to changing market demand to favor enterprises that promote peace and prosperity over those that entrench violence and criminality. The Enough Project has engaged with the largest jewelry retailers in an effort to encourage companies to use their power and resources in more robust, effective ways to support responsible sourcing in Congo and the Great Lakes region of Africa . To highlight leadership opportunities for companies that sell jewelry, Enough surveyed the 14 largest North American jewelry retailers through a detailed questionnaire and direct consultations. Our survey assessed what policies the retailers have adopted and which actions they have taken to counter the use of conflict gold. Details: Washington, DC: Enough Project, 2014. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2016 at: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/publications/GoingForGoldAndAnnex-EnoughProject-Nov2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Africa URL: http://www.enoughproject.org/files/publications/GoingForGoldAndAnnex-EnoughProject-Nov2014.pdf Shelf Number: 139295 Keywords: Conflict MineralsExploitation of Natural ResourcesGoldNatural ResourcesSmuggling of Natural Resources |
Author: Adeba, Brian Title: A Hijacked State: Violent Kleptocracy in South Sudan Summary: On September 12, 2018, the South Sudanese government and the armed opposition signed a peace deal that could potentially end the 5-year-old conflict, if elites exercise the political will required to implement the agreement. The South Sudanese conflict is rooted in the violent kleptocratic system of governance that the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) began building in 2005, after the end of the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). When President Salva Kiir became the chair of the SPLM and the leader of the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan from 2005 to 2011, a network of allies formed and positioned itself to make decisions about the distribution of influence and oil wealth. In 2011, Kiir became president of newly independent South Sudan, and these key allies drafted the Transitional Constitution, which vested immense powers in Kiir's hands that allowed him, for instance, to prorogue (discontinue without dissolving) the national legislature, fire elected governors, and dissolve legislative assemblies in the country's states. The destructive competition over power and access to opportunities for corruption resulted in a slow expulsion of some elites from the center of power and a consequential rise in power of others, dividing the ruling party into two factions, for and against Kiir. Those opposed to President Kiir largely coalesced behind Vice President Riek Machar. South Sudan's oil production was at its height in 2011 when the global prices of crude oil averaged over 100 U.S. dollars per barrel, which allowed the country to pocket a monthly average of 500 million U.S. dollars from its share. When South Sudanese authorities shut down oil production because of conflict with Sudan that had turned violent along the border, production remained suspended for 15 months-between January 2012 and March 2013-quickly creating a significant deficit in a young economy so heavily reliant on oil for its revenues and gross domestic product (GDP). The government's sudden loss of over 90 percent of cash from oil revenues disrupted entrenched patterns of corruption and tested the limits of the violent kleptocratic system, culminating in a bloody conflict in December 2013. This crisis in turn plunged South Sudan into a series of interrelated economic, fiscal, security, political, and humanitarian crises. In South Sudan's system of violent kleptocracy, leaders have hijacked institutions and stoked violent conflict, committed mass atrocities, and created a man-made famine. Amid the chaos of war, the ruling elites ransacked various sectors of the economy. South Sudan's violent kleptocracy has distorted the country's institutions, heaping catastrophic consequences on the national monetary reserve and creating an atmosphere in which too many hands are left to freely and repetitively reach into the public treasury with impunity. Services remain undelivered, business practices undermine the rule of law, and corruption abounds. While poor regulatory mechanisms made it easy to loot the public treasury with little consequence, the ruling elites could have chosen to improve institutions of accountability rather than deliberately dis-empower them. South Sudan's leaders have incorporated corrupt practices inherited from the north-south war into the current government. Without strong and effective institutions in place, military leaders dominate the decision-making processes on public spending to wield both power and money opportunistically. These leaders have abused their positions of power to steal from public coffers, wage war, and enlarge patronage networks. Violent conflict in South Sudan today stems from competitive corruption that has characterized governance since 2005. Leaders use violence as a means of capturing the national economy and budget and to prolong their stay in power for the purpose of self-enrichment. Oil has represented the key prize in South Sudan since independence. The political elites enrich themselves with oil revenues at the public's expense and to the detriment of the economy and ordinary citizens. Nevertheless, the status quo could be different. U.S. policymakers and international partners can now use the power of the U.S. dollar and the international financial system-on which South Sudanese leaders rely almost exclusively - to target these leaders' finances and the networks that enable the violent kleptocracy to continue to harm the South Sudanese people. In September 2017, the U.S. Department of the Treasury initiated a process of holding South Sudan's leaders accountable for the egregious corruption that feeds war in their country. In the wake of the recently concluded peace agreement, the financial pressures enacted by the Treasury Department must continue because the deal itself lacks meaningful stipulations to end the endemic corruption, heightening the potential for a return to conflict. To be fully effective in thwarting the interests of leaders who may choose to violate the latest peace deal, network sanctions, anti-money laundering measures, prosecutions, and enhanced travel bans must be applied in a genuinely concerted and comprehensive manner. It is also crucial to focus on grievances, inequalities, and violence at the ground level. Primarily, the international community and the region should make it clear they stand with the people of South Sudan: implement and aggressively enforce these enhanced measures of financial pressure that can begin to build leverage over the competing elites, and deliver justice and accountability for the many victims of the war to foster long-term stability. There needs to be a greater focus on removing the rewards of competitive corruption by focusing on both South Sudan's decision-makers and the international firms that enable them. The priority should be to monitor these entities and implement the necessary pressures needed to stop them and thereby dismantle the entrenched violent kleptocratic system, which is a prerequisite for lasting peace, good governance, and human rights in South Sudan. Instead of trying to forge comfortable power-sharing agreements, the focus from the region and broader international community must be on creating consequences for bad actors, as this is the only path to a transformed and reformed functional state in South Sudan. These pressures can help deny the leaders material resources used to perpetuate large-scale violence in South Sudan. This pressure also needs to extend in the region. In June 2018, the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Sigal Mandelker, traveled to Uganda and Kenya to deliver a strong message on the need for action against the proceeds of South Sudanese corruption that are laundered into neighboring banking systems. This message must continue to be developed with specific pressures delivered not only by the United States, but also by the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council, European Union, African Union, and regional bodies. Details: Washington, DC: Enough Project, 2019. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2019 at: https://enoughproject.org/wp-content/uploads/AHijackedState_Enough_February2019-web.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Sudan URL: https://enoughproject.org/wp-content/uploads/AHijackedState_Enough_February2019-web.pdf Shelf Number: 154610 Keywords: Exploitation of Natural ResourcesFinancial CrimesPolitical CorruptionViolent Conflict |