National Second Place Winner
Kensey Berry
Pulaski Academy
Little Rock, Arkansas
Coordinators: Bill Topich, Ginger Kidd

Colonialism and disrupted transition into the capitalist-driven world are often cited as the most significant commonalities among international conflicts. The causal chain must be traced back further, however, in an attempt to divulge the true root of these conflicts: natural resources.¹ During the age of colonialism, when global powers in search of infinite treasures vied for resource-rich territories, the indigenous, colonized peoples were often barred from establishing a rudimentary infrastructure; since the government was out of their hands, they were not able to manage their own resources, and often found themselves forced into poor working conditions. This disrupted development prompted conflict in areas such as Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),² and study of these two cases indicates that to prevent such conflicts in the future and to establish systems of fair, peaceful development, the global community must stress revenue and circumstantial transparency in the mining industry.

Papua New Guinea (PNG)—Bougainville

Credit an abundance of minerals for giving the island of Bougainville a rich colonial history.³ From 1972 to 1989, the multinational corporation Bougainville Copper Limited extracted copper, gold, and silver from the island, totaling approximately 44 percent of PNG’s exports over that period.⁴ Relations between the locals and the mining company were far less than amiable, and the government of PNG did little to mediate: there was no incentive for the government, which owned a portion of the company, to require any export data from the mine or to intercede when the natives of Bougainville were left landless.⁵ Limited alternatives necessitated that many of the locals embitteredly accepted jobs working in the mine. As copper prices began to fall in the mid 1980s, the company increased production while tightening its budget to compensate. Eventually, a combination of confiscated land, pollution, and mistreatment led to complaints from the population.⁶ Lack of adequate response evoked a violent rebellion by the local residents.

The Bougainville Rebel Army (BRA) was formed in opposition to the mine; in 1989, they began to take hostages and execute provincial officials.⁷ A media release by Bougainville Copper Limited states: “Mine production was suspended on 15 May 1989 because of attacks on employees. . . . It became necessary to evacuate all remaining company personnel from Bougainville in early 1990.”⁸ What began as a dispute concerning mining royalties quickly escalated to a violent, nine-year civil war.

Because PNG maintained a policy of strict confidentiality during this time, even going so far as to establish a no-fly zone over the island and forbid access to media, humanitarian organizations, and tourists,⁹ much ambiguity surrounds the Bougainville conflict. Created to combat the secessionist movement, the Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF) was at times sent to Bougainville on specific operations, but their main instruction was vague: to control rebel forces.¹⁰ Reports claim that the central government was unaware of the troop’s actions on the island and that the forces took advantage of the lack of accountability.¹¹

Amnesty International subtitled its report on the Bougainville conflict “The Forgotten Human Rights Tragedy” and detailed for the international community a broad scope of appalling human rights violations. Soon global powers began pressuring PNG to end the conflict in Bougainville; peace became a significant political issue for the citizens of PNG and a treaty, signed in 2001 promising autonomy, was finally enacted in 2005. The mine has never been reopened and the natives are content to live peacefully atop untapped treasure.

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Much like the conflict in Bougainville, civil war and years of turmoil can be ultimately attributed to the DRC’s resource wealth. King Leopold of Belgium, who referred to the area as the “magnificent African cake,”¹² was the first in a string of foreign rulers. The overwhelmingly impoverished southeastern DRC, now known as Katanga, was once a competitive copper-producing region, second only to the United States,¹³ but the output has fallen dramatically in recent years due to domestic conflict and lack of management. Gecamines, the state mining company, went from producing an average of 470,000 tons of copper a year in the mid 1980s to producing 14,000 tons in 2005.¹⁴

A closer look at the infamous Shinkolobwe mine illustrates the condition of the state’s mining industry as a whole. The areas surrounding the Shinkolobwe mine fell to ruins after it was flooded and barricaded by the Belgian government in 1956.¹⁵ The local workers knew of no alternate sources of income, so uranium, the easiest mineral for artisanal workers to extract, began to be traded extensively.

Much of the DRC’s mineral wealth is being squandered by illicit operations. UN reports say that mining concessions are “used to finance warring factions and line the pocket of corrupt officials.”¹⁶ Warlords, military leaders who operate outside government control, act as the middlemen for the transport of heterogenite to trading houses, where a portion is processed; trucks, railcars, and airplanes then deliver a combination of raw and processed ore to buyers without the government ever seeing the profits. The DRC has tried to integrate warlords into the government’s military, but the proposition is unappealing compared to the profits they make working illicitly. The DRC has stationed police units at abandoned mines to prevent illicit operations; however, the troops are not paid sufficiently, and corruption is commonplace. The main beneficiaries of this process are thus not the laboring miners, but, rather, the warlords, corrupt officials, neighboring countries, and foreign conglomerates.

Security problems in Katanga range from social instability to outbreaks of Mayi-Mayi violence;¹⁷ in 2004, for example, a mine owned by Anvil Mining in northern Katanga was attacked by militia said to be a funded by a senior government official.¹⁸ Since then, mining licenses issued during years of conflict have come under scrutiny. Complete control of the mining industry is still far from reality, but the DRC committed in 2005 to working in conjunction with other countries to initiate a program to better manage resource development.¹⁹ While the effects of this commitment are not yet evident, eventually this innovative program could prove key to ending the internal conflicts of DRC.

Resolutions

PNG and DRC share more than a wealth of natural resources: they share stories of local populations with few job opportunities and poor working conditions, they share gross mismanagement and ambiguous profit schemes, and they share histories of conflict. It is clear that governments with vested interests—PNG with a portion of the mining company, DRC with corrupt government officials—cannot be counted on for the creation of transparent profits for the good of the local population. Deceptive statistics concerning mine royalties evoked violent conflict in Bougainville as did the corrupt trading system in DRC. The creation of an unchecked police force (PNGDF) and the abandoning of mines, too, did little to create conditions that appease local populations and avoid conflict.

Transparency provided by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Amnesty International, on the other hand, indirectly led to the end of the Bougainville conflict, thus proving that peace is viable with clear revenue publication. Though these are different countries with different minerals and different colonial histories, both had to make the transition out of colonialism to managing their own natural resources, and both have shown the benefits (in PNG, autonomy for Bougainville; in DRC, renewed commitment to halting warlord activity) from pressures from the international community.

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), launched in 2002 by British prime minister Tony Blair, provides such pressure. EITI, whose stated purpose is to ensure resource revenue contributes to poverty reduction, is a coalition of governments, companies, civil society groups, investors, and international organizations setting a “global standard for companies to publish what they pay [for resources] and for governments to disclose what they receive [for the trade].”²⁰ If a government voluntarily commits to the program, it agrees to enforce the participation of all mining companies operating within their borders. By using reporting templates and economic sanctions, the EITI also aims to strengthen accountability, endorse good governance, and promote greater economic, social, and political stability.

Current supporters of the initiative include Global Witness, Katanga Mining Limited, Rio Tinto,²¹ and over twenty countries around the globe.²² This third party would also regulate any direct government involvement in "private" enterprises and encourage use of resources rather than their abandonment in the name of peace. In the DRC, transparency would expose corrupt government officials and foster more local stability as opposed to the export of resources and profit. A focus on transparency distinguishes EITI from any former development program, and this focus is just what transitioning states need: in the cases of PNG and DRC an emphasis on transparency would spell profit for governments and local populations alike.

The success of EITI would exponentially benefit the global economy and human rights around the world. Instead of warlords raking in profits from local resources, governments and locals would see the benefits. The strategic importance of Tony Blair’s innovative program must be recognized and, the international community should take the advice of the British: mind the gap between mine resource conflicts and transparency.

Endnotes

1. “Seccessionists in Papua New Guinea Say British, South African Mercenaries in Action,” Agence France-Press, March 3, 1997. Database online, available from Hartford Web Publishing.

2. Michael Klare, “The New Geography of Conflict,” Foreign Affairs (June 2001). Database online, available from Global Policy Forum.

3. Bougainville is a Pacific island lying 1,000 kilometers from PNG’s capital, Port Moresby, and only 20 kilometers from the Solomon Islands. Its population is roughly 156,000. It is currently the largest of the Solomon Islands with an area of approximately 3,600 square miles.

4. Bougainville Copper Limited, Annual Report 2003 (2004), p. 2.

5. Bougainville Freedom Movement, “Bougainville Fights for Freedom,” May 16, 1996. Database online, available from Hartford Web Publishing.

6. “Mining in Papua (New Guinea),” TED Case Studies, American University (2006), p. 2.

7. Amnesty International USA, “Bougainville: The Forgotten Human Rights Tragedy,” February 26, 1997, p. 16.

8. Bourgainville Copper Limited, “Chronology of Events.” Accessed November 13, 2007.
http://www.bougainvillecopper.com.pg/events.htm.

9. Amnesty International USA, “Bougainville: Peace Talks Must Address Human Rights.” June 1997, p. 1.

10. “Secessionists in Papua New Guinea Say British, South African Mercenaries in Action.”

11. Amnesty, “Bougainville: The Forgotten Human Rights Tragedy,” p. 4.

12. Ben Laurence. “Mining Firms Face Congo Crackdown,” Sunday Times (London), October 21, 2007, Business sec., p. 12.

13. “Rush and Ruin,” Global Witness (September 2004): 9.

14. Laurence, “Mining Firms Face Congo Crackdown.”

15. “Rush and Ruin,” p. 14.

16. Laurence, “Mining Firms Face Congo Crackdown,” p. 2.

17. Mayi-Mayi refers to any militia group active in the Second Congolese War and the years of turmoil that followed. The term includes forces led by resistance fighters, tribal leaders, and warlords.

18. “Rush and Ruin,” p. 8.

19. “Under-Mining Peace,” Global Witness (June 2005): 32.

20. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, EITI Summary (London: 2007), p. 1.

21. Rio Tinto is a resource conglomerate criticized for its involvement in the Bougainville conflict. The cooperation has since tried to eliminate its reputation for poor human rights neglect, but many consultants argue that no sustainable changes have been made.

22. The United States, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom are EITI’s leading contributors. Their primary duties include pressuring countries to participate and ensuring that comprehensible information explaining the program reaches companies and people of resource-rich states. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Report of the International Advisory Group (London: 2006), p. 3.

Bibliography

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