In the Eye of the Storm: Rebel Taxation of Artisanal Mines and Strategies of Violence

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (10) ◽  
pp. 1968-1993
Author(s):  
Mario Krauser
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resource ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Fundamental Question ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Persistent Violence ◽  
Mining Population

According to the resource curse theory, persistent violence in developing areas results from rebels’ ability to finance warfare with natural resource revenues. Surprisingly, this overlooks the complexities of raising revenue from a mobile mining population that values security as well as income. The literature thus neglects a fundamental question: what are the incentives of rebel groups to prevent or perpetuate conflict in mining areas? This paper delineates a rational to both increase and decrease violence. Protecting a mine should allow rebels to extract taxes in return. Simultaneously, to maintain this demand for security, rebels may need to destabilize the wider area. The hypotheses are tested with novel data on rebel taxation at over 3’000 artisanal mines in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Supporting the hypotheses, the results show that rebel-taxed mines appear exempt from violence nearby but imperiled at the perimeter.

scholarly journals Investigating the Potential of Radar Interferometry for Monitoring Rural Artisanal Cobalt Mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 9834
Author(s):  
Chloe Brown ◽  
Anna Daniels ◽  
Doreen S. Boyd ◽  
Andrew Sowter ◽  
Giles Foody ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
P Value ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
The Impact

Greater awareness of the serious human rights abuses associated with the extraction and trade of cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has applied increasing pressure for businesses to move towards more responsible and sustainable mineral sourcing. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) activities in rural and remote locations may provide heightened opportunities to conceal the alleged human rights violations associated with mining, such as: hazardous working conditions, health impacts, child labour, child trafficking, and debt bondage. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of the Intermittent Small Baseline Subset (ISBAS) interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) method, teamed with high temporal frequency Sentinel-1 imagery, for monitoring ASM activity in rural locations of the “Copperbelt”, the DRC. The results show that the ISBAS descriptive variables (mean, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum) were significantly different (p-value = ≤ 0.05) between mining and non-mining areas. Additionally, a significant difference was found for the ISBAS descriptive variables mean, standard deviation, and minimum between the different mine types (industrial, surface, and tunnels). As expected, a high level of subsidence (i.e., negative ISBAS pixel value) was a clear indicator of mine activity. Trial activity thresholds were set for the descriptive variables mean (-2.43 mm/yr) and minimum (-5.36 mm/yr) to explore an ISBAS approach to active mine identification. The study concluded that the ISBAS method has great potential as a monitoring tool for ASM, with the ability to separate mining and non-mining areas based on surface motion values, and further distinguish the different mine types (industrial, surface, and tunnel). Ground data collection and further development of ISBAS analysis needs to be made to fully understand the value of an ISBAS-based ASM monitoring system. In particular, surrounding the impact of seasonality relative to longer-term trends in ASM activity.

scholarly journals IS THE CURSE OF NATURAL RESOURCES OCCURING IN INDONESIA?

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
Joko Tri Haryanto
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Quadrant Analysis ◽  
Natural Resource Curse ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
East Kalimantan ◽  
Massive Number ◽  
Early Indication

Theories explain the occurrence of natural resource curse phenomenon as a the conditions in a country has an abundance of mining sector but unsustainable patterns of development. In case of Indonesia, several studies conducted to measure natural resource curse also occurs during decentralization era. Therefore, this research conducted by analyze the performance of APBD in mining areas. By using share analysis, the highest area is East Kalimantan Province, while the lowest is NTT Province. Meanwhile, from growth, the highest area is West Java and the lowest category is Banten Province. From the quadrant analysis, four areas are in the quadrant I, seven areas in quadrant II, six areas in quadrant III and most areas in quadrant IV. This massive number of mining areas in quadrant IV shall inflict a serious note for the Central Government, could be an early indication of the emergence of natural resource curse in Indonesia.  

scholarly journals Regulating the old game of smuggling? Coltan mining, trade and reforms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 497-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claude Iguma Wakenge ◽  
Dennis Dijkzeul ◽  
Koen Vlassenroot
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Close Relationships ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
Conflict Minerals ◽  
The Social ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Artisanal Miners

AbstractThis article examines the smuggling of coltan into and out of artisanal mining areas in northern Katanga where the ITRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi), a policy on conflict minerals, tries to improve transparency in trading tin, tantalum (coltan) and tungsten. The article approaches smuggling from a sociology of economic life perspective, closely examining how and why artisanal miners and mine-based middlemen (négociants) helped smugglers (hiboux) in the trafficking of coltan. The findings indicate that the social networks in which miners and mine-basednégociantsare embedded allow the miners,négociantsand smugglers to maintain close relationships and to breach official regulations, but miners and mine-basednégociantsalso rely on the same networks to cheat in their dealings with the smugglers. This article concludes that, rather than considering coltan mining areas to be ‘enclaves of regulations’, understanding and addressing smuggling at both local and broader contexts call for a comprehensive, more contextualised approach.

scholarly journals When Disasters Hit Civil Wars: Natural Resource Exploitation and Rebel Group Resilience

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasutaka Tominaga ◽  
Chia-yi Lee
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Natural Resource ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Rapid Onset ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Funding Source ◽  
Resource Exploitation ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Rebel Group

Abstract Existing literature on the relationship between natural disasters and conflicts provides mixed findings. In this article, we argue that whether natural disasters hurt rebel group resilience depends on their funding source and the mode of resource extraction. Rebel groups that obtain their funding from natural resources are more susceptible to natural disasters because this funding source could be easily disrupted by rapid-onset disasters. How rebel groups exploit natural resource wealth also conditions the effect of natural disasters on rebel group resilience. Rebel groups that depend on extorting resource production, despite having a seemingly stable revenue stream, are more likely to face funding cuts after a severe natural disaster. In contrast, rebel groups that rely on smuggling natural resources, due to a higher level of flexibility and mobility, are more likely to survive natural disasters. We test our arguments using data on armed groups, natural disasters, and rebel contraband, and the results of the logit models with interaction terms support our hypotheses. Our findings bridge the environmental conflict literature and the resource curse literature, and offer important policy implications.

scholarly journals A Violent Peace

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-56
Author(s):  
Alexandra Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Internally Displaced Persons ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
The Government

Since 2003, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has enjoyed only a tenuous peace. For the past decade, a period spanning two official wars and years of continued violence, the only constant division has been between those who have guns and those who do not. The transitional government, established in 2003, brought the main rebel groups from the Second Congo War into the government, a move to stabilize the intertwined political and military conflict. However, a constantly shifting web of armed groups continues to operate in the DRC, particularly in the northeast. The alliances sometimes cross borders. In this very fluid conflict, identifying the aggressor, the allegiance of certain fighters, or the location of a group of refugees or internally displaced persons fleeing conflict can change almost monthly. Despite five years since “peace,” national elections, and the presence of the most expensive current United Nations peacekeeping operation, the DRC remains destabilized and has seen no drastic improvement.

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