Militia attacks still plague DRC's gold industry
October 17, 2005 -- Business Report
Mongwalu, DRC - Just over a week after a violent attack of rape and pillaging in this central African village, locals who mine gold for a living are trying to return to normality.
Inhabitants of Mongwalu, in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, live in fear of a return of the militias who, until recently, controlled their gold mines for years.
"We stopped working for four days (after the attack)," said Ali Kosiembala, leader of dozens of gold washers who sort through the muddy earth in open gold mines. "The militias could have stolen the little we own."
The DRC, under supervision of a UN force, MONUC, is currently engaged in a transition towards holding its first democratic election in 40 years by June 2006, following years of war that have ravaged the resource-rich but poverty-stricken central African country.
The eastern DRC is an unstable region of rival and often anti-Kinshasa militias where violence has claimed more than 60 000 lives since 1999, according to humanitarian groups.
Despite the demobilisation of more than 15 000 militias in the Ituri region in June, small groups of militias are maintaining a reign of terror there.
"We lived through a nightmarish night," Bikilisende Badombo, mayor of Mongwalu, said of events on October 6.
"Militias attacked the centre of the village and the central market. They pillaged stalls and raped women," Badombo said.
The village is waiting for Congolese troops, who are slowly taking control of the Ituri region, to reach and protect them.
For now they are relying on 140 Pakistani soldiers from MONUC who were deployed there in April.
Hundreds of inhabitants ran to the village church after the most recent attack and local stall holders moved nearer to the MONUC camp, which is in the village.
"The day after the attack we arrested 17 people," said Pakistani Major Mohammed Javed of MONUC.
He said that between 200 and 300 militiamen left the village, heading south, after the attack.
Congolese forces dealt with a series of militia attacks in neighbouring Kilo, where there is a major gold reserve, and in the villages of Bambu and Kobu at the end of September.
A Congolese officer told a cheering crowd at Mongwalu's market square that his troops would be there soon.
Gold washers in this eastern village can find around 10 grams (0.35 ounces) of gold on a good day. A gram sells for 10 dollars (8.2 euros) in Mongwalu.
"We hadn't been attacked for months," said Ali Kosiembala. "Most militiamen are now working with us ... because they can no longer impose taxes like before," he said.
The United Nations and Kinshasa are still negotiating with the militiamen, estimated at between 1 000 to 2 500, to disarm and join in the DRC transition government and end the reign of terror in the east.
Many are waiting anxiously for that moment.
South African gold company AngloGold Ashanti has obtained a licence from Kinshasa for the exploitation of a site of 8 000 square kilometres, including Kilo and Mongwalu, but it is holding back from starting work in the region.
"Insecurity is preventing us from carrying out explorations for the moment," said Wayne Lambinon, the company's security chief.
Inhabitants of Mongwalu are also dreaming of the day that they can finally live in peace. - AFP
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