Just a mention:
- There are now some news reports that the export ban of minerals will be lifted by October 15;
- Eleven African countries have now adopted the certification system of minerals proposed by the International Conference for the Great Lakes – they are supposed to implement the system within the next year. This is good news, although the system relies on each country carrying out the certification themselves – in the Congo, this will be the ministry of mines and ITRI, a tin industry body. They have several pilot projects just starting up, but they are relatively few and to my knowledge just indicate the origin of the minerals, not whether military are present in the mine or along the trade routes.
- The OECG conference on drafting guidelines for companies involved in the Congo minerals trade just finished in Nairobi. Let’s see what they came up with.