Seven Ways Canada Can Help Africa's Great Lakes Region

By stopping the illegal movement of natural resources, a new UN pact could bring permanent peace to the Great Lakes Region – with Canada’s help.

The illegal exploitation of natural resources has been at the heart of armed conflict in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa. The United Nations Security Council, through its resolutions 1291 and 1304, called for an International Conference on Peace, Security, Democracy and Development in the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). The ICGLR is a process which brings all the countries of the region together to dialogue and agree on strategies to bring peace and prosperity to the region. It groups 11 countries: Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

In December 2006, the ICGLR Heads of State and Government signed a Pact on Security, Stability and Development, which came into force in 2008. One of its main protocols deals with the issue of preventing the illegal movement of natural resources. Partnership Africa Canada (PAC) has participated throughout the ICGLR process as an adviser on natural resource issues. PAC participated in the drafting of the protocol and PAC then drafted a series of recommendations to help take the certification process forward. At the same time, a number of industry and donor-led mineral tracking initiatives began to emerge in the region that targeted certain minerals, such as tin. In April 2010, the ICGLR adopted a proposal developed by PAC for a regional certification mechanism for high-value minerals (coltan, tin, tungsten and gold) and PAC is now working with the ICGLR Secretariat to help implement it. The mechanism will comprise four main elements:

• Chain of custody tracking from mine site to export implemented by national governments prior to export, with successful export applications given an ICGLR Regional certificate, which serves as proof of compliance throughout region.

• Regional Tracking of Mineral Flows via an ICGLR Database (at the ICGLR Secretariat in Bujumbura), with data on regional mineral flows being transmitted to the ICGLR monthly and being stored on a publicly accessible database.

• Regular independent third-party audits, with all actors in the mineral chain being submitted to quarterly audits by independent third party auditors in order to be considered compliant (i.e. those failing audits will be declared non-compliant).

• An independent Mineral Chain Auditor who will monitor the full mineral chain for discrepancies and anomalies arising from data collected in system.

The ICGLR is an important political process that gives the countries of the region the mandate to work together to combat the illegal trade in natural resources. Canada is co-chair of the Group of Special Envoys and Friends of the ICGLR and for many years gave strong political support to this emerging process. The Canadian government and Canadians should continue to support the ICGLR and the efforts of its member countries to deal with the issue of conflict minerals. Canada has a lot of expertise to share in the area of natural resources management and governance. At the legislative level, Bill C-571 on “corporate practices relating to the purchase of minerals from the Great Lakes Region of Africa” has been brought forward in the Houses of Parliament in Canada and it deserves all-party support. But the ICGLR mandate is much wider than minerals management and there is considerable scope for Canadian involvement to help bring a permanent peace to this troubled region.