Peaceful & lasting solutions to conflict on mining & related issues Located in the Bahunde Chiefdom, Masisi Territory in North Kivu Province, the Rubaya mining area covers several mining sites spread out in the villages of Rugeshi, Kalambairo, Kasura, Luwowo, Gakombe and Muderi of the Karuba and Muderi groups Mr. Matanda. Five of these mining sites are operated by COOPERAMA (Masisi Artisanal Mining Operators Cooperative) comprising more than 3,500 artisanal mining operators. 

Rubaya is a city located in the midst of Masisi hills. While agriculture and livestock used to be the area’s main activities due to Masisi’s exceptional predispositions, mining draw a significant part of manpower from colonial times through the eighties and saw a rebound in the late nineties when coltan prices soared. Agropastoral activities are struggling to develop in the face of mineral extraction activities. Mining has had a devastating impact on local agriculture, the environment, health and other aspects of the socio-economic life of people living in and around the mining square. 

The Bisunzu Mining Company (SMB) operates this area and buys the ores produced by COOPERAMA. For several months, the two sides have been in conflict and accusing each other. 

 

On the one hand, the SMB accuses COOPERAMA of having armed elements among its members, of practising mining fraud, etc.; on the other hand, COOPERAMA accuses the SMB of not paying on time for batches of ore regularly supplied by its members. 

This conflict has hampered mining activities and led SMB to suspend the purchase and export of minerals. 

Initiatives led by local, provincial and national authorities to stem the conflict have not yet achieved sustainable solutions, and the situation remains volatile with the risk of a more dangerous and widespread fire between communities. 

With this third violent episode between COOPERAMA and SMB in 3 years, and beyond the current false truce between the main protagonists of the crisis, it is essential that we deal well with conflict and conduct a well-structured mediation in the short term that must be prepare long-term conciliation actions with sustainable and alternative solutions to single-parent mining economy of the area. This is to prevent the resumption of child labour in the mines and to re-launch alternative activities in the area, as demonstrated by the CRONG studies in 2015 and more recently UNDP on the danger of this mono-economy and destruction of alternative economies in the Zone. In view of past experiences of other mediations, without follow-up or complementary proposals for improving people's living conditions, Cordaid intends to conduct a more inclusive mediation which, from the immediate resolution of the mining conflict, will lay the groundwork for more sustainable prospects for alternative and complementary economic activities. 

 

The Rubaya crisis epitomises the biggest obstacles to lasting peace, cohesion and “healthy economy” in the Kivu Provinces: a merciless infighting between “strong men”, from influential and antagonistic communities, using their political status as a shield, and engaged in zero sum games over the Territory’s wealth (mineral resources and farming land).  

 

 

At a lower level, thousands of families are either the victims of farm evictions or actors of their own destinies, lured by the evocation of “Congolese resources for willing Congolese citizens”. In such a context, a weak central State, itself fragmented by its own divisions and its own clienteles (foreign partners, security officials involved in high flying transactions), can at best attempt some arbitration from afar, or at worst, further fuel the crisis by taking sides with the stronger protagonist (and shift sides from time to time), making it even more difficult for good faith actors on the ground to find a way out of the quagmire of violent rivalries. In order to contribute to the peaceful and lasting resolution of this conflict, Cordaid intends to mediate between stakeholders at the local, provincial and national level with the key objecttives, results and activities below.  

To ensure the sustainability of mediation, CORDAID believes that (i) all the dimensions involved in the conflict need to be addressed in the course of the conflict resolution process (ii) much will depend on an outcome which can be seen by all stakeholders, not as a direct harm to their interests but instead as an acceptable, or tolerable, or least bad, option on the long run (iii) an economic development approach complementary to the mining sector (as it stands now) will need to be clearly considered in the area during and after the mediation process.  

For all these reasons, the following strategy, and means to achieving it, will be essentially geared towards software aspects

1. Understand the dynamics of the conflict, the stakeholders and their respective claims, identify possible solutions and prospects for complementary economic activities.
2. Mediate between the stakeholders around their claims and possible solutions. (not carried out)
3. Provide support for the execution of the agreement (act of commitment) (not carried out) This proposal assumes a reality: there are mineral riches under the surface, as well as exceptional organic (and farming) potential in Rubaya, Masisi. The way these actual and potential riches are exploited, given additional value, shared, redistributed, generating violence and manipulations, considered distinctly depending on which community and which socioeconomic class one belongs to, is prone to profound frustrations, tensions and unresolved conflicts. Even those winning from this situation are not satisfied with it!  

In other words: a viable solution away from the present situation will necessarily include the bulk of vulnerable groups (artisanal miners, under-legal age workers, female suppliers of food and non-food items, children), but also, key protagonists (COOPERAMMA, SMB management teams) and State structures. At this stage, no one can claim to have the right formula for such a miracle to happen