There seem to be a lot of French-language pieces cropping up on our feeds of late. In this one, we read via the website of Radio Okapi - the radio station set up the UN force in DR Congo (MONUSCO) and Swiss NGO Hirondelle to provide impartial news in that country - how artisanal miners have been pushed out of Banro’s Mukungwe concession in DRC’s South Kivu province (French).

While Banro apparently authorized artisanal work there during the exploration period, artisanal miners - who in this region have organised a representative committee that possesses written agreements with Banro dating back to 2012 - are now upset to have been excluded from the province.

Despite the signing of these commitments, in 2013 the Congolese government banned all artisanal mining activity in the Mukungwe concession, on the basis that the site was exclusive to Banro.

Despite a number of meetings, confusion now reigns, with miners having expected to be allowed to continue to work. The dispute has gone to third party mediation and, according to the article, “all agree that the government should now help the updating of the roadmap and the endorsement of the commitments made… by each party.”

The chief of staff of the government’s Provincial Minister of Mines, Albert Mulikuza Mudukwe, promised to convene "an imminent meeting with all parties concerned."

"We need to update the roadmap and execute it,” he said. The roadmap assumes the implementation of commitments signed in good faith and deliberately by all stakeholders. The commitments shall hold the status of law for those who signed them,” Mulikuza said.

Sounds like a fairly clear end could be in sight. Though that sentence does have a sort of Last Words ring to it, doesn't it?.

ENDS

IMAGE of artisanal miner in South Kivu from Vice's Guide to Congo at https://www.vice.com/vice-news/the-vice-guide-to-congo-1

https://radiookapi.net/economie/2014/07/22/sud-kivu-les-exploitants-artis...