Posted on 9-8-2004
Three
US Companies Complicit In Civil War
Friend of the Earth-United States (FoE) and the UK-based group
Rights and
Accountability in Development (RAID) filed a formal complaint
with the
U.S. State Department today against three American companies.
In October
2002, a United Nations (UN) Panel of Experts accused the companies
of
helping to fuel the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC).
The Panel named Cabot Corporation, Eagle Wings Resources International
and
OM Group, Inc. as having violated the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) “Guidelines
for Multinational
Enterprises,” a set of international standards for responsible
corporate
behavior.
FoE and RAID filed an official complaint today because the State
Department, which has oversight for determining whether U.S.
companies
have breached the OECD Guidelines, has declined to undertake
an
independent investigation into whether these companies might
have
contributed to the war in the DRC.
“If the State Department refuses to conduct an independent
investigation,
a troubling message will be sent to U.S. companies. They’ll
know that
they can get away with helping to finance violent conflict and
human
rights abuses without any repercussions,” said Colleen
Freeman, policy
analyst with Friends of the Earth. “We ought to know whether
American
companies contributed to one of Africa ’s deadliest wars
so it doesn’t
happen again.”
The Panel’s three-year investigation found that sophisticated
“elite
networks” of high‑level political, military
and businesspersons, in
collaboration with various rebel groups, intentionally fueled
the conflict
in order to retain control over the country’s vast natural
resources. The
Panel implicated many Western companies for directly or indirectly
helping
to fuel the war.
In its final, October 2003 report, the Panel said that no further
investigation was required into the activities of Cabot, Eagle
Wings and
OM Group. But the Panel did make clear that “resolution
should not be
seen as invalidating the Panel’s earlier findings with
regard to the
activities of these actors.”
“Now that a formal complaint has been submitted, the U.S.
government, as a
signatory to the OECD Guidelines, is obligated to examine whether
breaches
have occurred,” said Patricia Feeney, director of RAID.
“Clearly there
are many unanswered questions that the State Department must
examine. The
conduct of the U.S. companies has to be measured against internationally
agreed standards in a transparent process – not behind
closed doors.”
Boston-based Cabot Corporation allegedly purchased coltan from
the DRC
during the war. While Cabot has denied these allegations, a
report by the
Belgian Senate states that Eagle Wings Resources International
had a
long‑term contract to supply Cabot with coltan. Current
Deputy
Director of the Department of Treasury, Samuel Bodman, was CEO
and
Chairman of Cabot from 1997-2001.
Trinitech Holdings is the holding company for Ohio-based companies,
Eagle
Wings Resources LLC and Trinitech International, Inc. Eagle
Wings
Resources International (EWRI) is a joint venture between Dutch
company,
Chemie Pharmacie Holland BV (CPH) and Trinitech Holdings. The
Panel
asserts that EWRI received privileged access to coltan sites
and captive
labor because of its close ties to the Rwandan military. The
Panel has
accused the Rwandan regime of mass-scale looting, systemic exploitation,
and the organization of an elite network centrally located in
the Rwandan
Defense Department, set up specifically to exploit the DRC’s
natural
resources.
Ohio-based OM Group’s joint venture with a Belgian national,
George
Forrest, Groupement pour le Traitement des Scories du Terril
de
Lumbumbashi, Ltd. (GTL) is accused by the Panel of deliberately
ignoring
technical agreements that provide for the construction of two
electrical
refineries and a converter for germanium processing in the DRC
from the
“Big Hill” project. Instead, semi‑processed
ore from the mine was
shipped to OM Group’s processing facility in Finland ,
thereby robbing the
state mining company, Gécamines, of millions of dollars
in revenue. At
issue is whether the complex corporate structure was intended
to deny
Gécamines the benefits of the future sales of minerals
with significant
commercial potential at a time when the country was at war and
there was
no functioning government or mining ministry to protect the
interests of
Gécamines and by extension, the Congolese people.
Separate to the Panel’s allegations concerning the Big
Hill project, a
recently released World Bank environmental report raised concerns
about
the exploitation of radioactive minerals from concessions owned
by
Gécamines, such as the Shinkolobwe uranium mine. There
is evidence that
Societe pour le Traitement des Scories du Terril de Lubumbashi
(STL) – a
company created by GTL in 1997 – processed radioactive
minerals to obtain
cobalt at the company’s plant in Lubumbashi , which is
situated close to a
hospital. The Belgian Senate concluded that airborne and waterborne
pollution could not be discounted. At issue is whether the measures
in
place at OM Group’s plant in Lubumbashi were sufficient
to prevent
radioactive contamination of the Congolese workforce and whether
the local
population was exposed to unacceptably high risk of pollution
from the
operations of the plant.
“It has been nine months since the United Nations published
the Panel’s
final report and so far the only serious attempt to respond
to the Panel’s
allegations has been made by Belgian judges investigating money
laundering
and illicit arms transactions linked to the trade in coltan
and diamonds
by Belgian companies and banks. In South Africa , the courts
have also
started to uncover assets held in the names of senior Congolese
political
figures as a result of breach of contract lawsuits brought by
businessmen
against the DRC Government,” said Feeney.
The basis for the complaints is RAID’s report entitled
“Unanswered
Questions: Companies, Conflict and the Democratic Republic of
Congo .”
|