coupures 14-15 mai 2007 (eng)

Women at War
Women and girls victims of rape in conflict zones around the world
Populations that are displaced as a result of conflict face reproductive health challenges that require existent service delivery models to be adapted to suit their needs, especially those of women and girls. In many parts of the world, women and girls in conflict zones find themselves victims of a silent war that infringes on their sexual and human rights. According to statistics, 80 percent of the approximately 37 million refugees and displaced persons globally are women and children, yet little funding and programming goes into addressing their requirements. A UN report titled "The Shame of War: Sexual violence against women and girls in conflict," released in early 2007 says that "of all the abuses committed in war, rape is one specifically inflicted against women." "The brutality and viciousness of the sexual attacks that are reported from the current conflicts in Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Iraq and Sudan, and the testimonies from past conflicts in Timor-Leste, the Balkans and Sierra Leone are heartbreaking," writes Yakin Ertuk, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, in the foreword to the report. "Girls and women, old and young, are preyed upon by soldiers, militia, police and armed thugs wherever conflict rages and the parties to the conflict fail to protect civilian populations." The victims are often afraid to report their rape due to social stigma and shame, threat to personal security, or simply because there are no services available. As the report notes, women and girls lose their family and community after experiencing rape due to feelings of shame and discriminatory attitudes. Their only option may be further victimization through sexual exploitation, such as prostitution. A major condition for the well-being and development of women and girls is their ability to exercise control over their sexual and reproductive lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes sexual health as a state of physical, emotional, mental and social wellbeing in relation to sexuality; and not merely an absence of disease, dysfunction, or infirmity. It implies pleasurable and safe sexual experiences that are free of coercion, discrimination, and violence. For women and girls in conflict zones, the consequences of rape are many: sexually transmitted infections and reproductive health problems, unwanted pregnancy, fistulae, maternal mortality, and HIV/AIDS, says the report. Female sexual vulnerability poses a grave public health problem during conflict and post-conflict periods. Women and girls in conflict areas have a myriad of reproductive health needs that policymakers at national and international levels need to take into account in the design of programs. Programs may involve working with community leaders, men's and women's groups and the military to sensitize about the need to prevent the problem of sexual violence. Women and girls need to be empowered to be able to protect themselves from becoming victims of sexual violence through economic empowerment and access to reproductive health services. As Theresa McGinn succinctly puts it, "Understanding the ways in which refugee women's reproductive health problems are both similar to, and different from, those of women in settled populations can help policy makers and programmers." Women and girls in conflict zones must have access to medical treatment, including access to drugs that can prevent sexually transmitted infections, psychosocial and legal support and access to abortion services to terminate forced pregnancies. With conflicts popping up in every corner of the globe, there's need for more public discussion about how to bring much needed reproductive health and psychosocial support services to women in conflict areas.
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FEATURE-Congo lake's deadly gases could be hidden blessing
12 May 2007 10:18:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Joe Bavier
LAKE KIVU, Congo, May 12 (Reuters) - The blue-green waters of Congo's Lake Kivu conceal a deadly invisible mixture that could trigger a fiery disaster or be a blessing in disguise for the 2 million people who live around its shores.
Dissolved into the cold bottom waters of the lake, which straddles a part of Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern border with Rwanda, are huge amounts of highly combustible methane gas and five times as much more carbon dioxide.
Lake Kivu lies just 15 km (9 miles) from the active Nyiragongo volcano. If forced out by volcanic activity, the methane in the waters would ignite, causing massive explosions above the surface of the lake, experts say.
At the same time, a vast cloud of carbon dioxide would drift over surrounding land, smothering all life in its path and engulfing the nearby city of Goma.
"If there's ever a volcanic eruption at the level of Lake Kivu, or if there's an eruption that starts naturally in the city of Goma and spills a large quantity of lava into the lake ... the two gasses could find a way out," Mathieu Yalire of Goma's Volcanological Observatory told Reuters.
"That would be the beginning of a regional catastrophe."
Researchers recall the 1986 disaster at Cameroon's volcanic Lake Nyos, when a lethal gas cloud erupted out of its waters and killed more than 1,700 people. Similar "killer lake" gas clouds have occurred at another lake in Cameroon and also in Indonesia.
If the same were to occur in Lake Kivu, scientists say the surrounding population of around two million people would be at risk.
Although experts view this as a "worst case" scenario, they say the possibility of such an event is growing.
In 2002, an eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano sent a river of lava through the centre of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, spilling molten rock into the lake.
Scientists say Nyiragongo is becoming more and more active, pushing up the risk factor.
"We're lucky we haven't received enough lava in the lake so far to provoke that kind of (gas) release," said Yalire.
But he added: "There's a recent study that shows that, in the last 30 years, the amount of methane has increased by 15 percent in Lake Kivu. That is a lot. And it's worrying".
ENERGY POTENTIAL
But Congo's Oil Minister Lambert Mende Omalanga said the methane gas in the lake could be tapped to generate electricity, and this would also reduce the danger of a deadly gas release.
"There is an economic benefit in the industrial extraction," Mende Omalanga said.
The minister said Congo hoped to open bidding soon by foreign investors to participate in gas extraction deals.
Across the lake, neighbouring Rwanda was already finalising a project to build a plant to convert the methane into power.
In March, Congo and Rwanda agreed a joint protocol aimed at increasing cooperation in commercial gas development.
"We have enormous energy problems in the Great Lakes region," Mende Omalanga said.
"Goma alone requires 20 megawatts of electricity, and the dam we are using now is struggling to keep up," he added.
Gas-powered electricity generation would boost Congo's attempts to rebuild its shattered infrastructure after decades of mismanagement and a 1998-2003 war and accompanying humanitarian crisis that killed around four million people.
Many parts of the vast, mineral-rich former Belgian Congo have no access to electricity, and even major cities suffer from regular blackouts.
Yalire said any process that reduced the lake's lethal gas content would be welcome.
But above the lake's shimmering surface, many local inhabitants seem almost oblivious of the danger.
As the sun sets over the surrounding mountains, fisherman Paul Mulume waits to set out for another night's work.
"I spend every night on the water ... I've been doing that for 10 years," the 28-year-old said.
"But I don't trust the lake."
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Congo delays start of mining contract review
14 May 2007 19:36:00 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Joe Bavier
KINSHASA, May 14 (Reuters) - A government review of mining contracts in Democratic Republic of Congo due to begin on Tuesday has been delayed until early June, Deputy Minister of Mines Victor Kasongo said on Monday.
Congo, which holds a tenth of the world's copper reserves and a third of its cobalt, suspended all negotiations on future mining deals on March 27, pending the completion of the review.
A shake-up of the sector had been widely expected since President Joseph Kabila took office in December after winning the mineral-rich central African state's first democratic elections in more than 40 years.
"It's been delayed by 15 days," Kasongo told Reuters on Monday. "It's just logistical matters that are responsible for the delay. We should still finish on time."
The deputy minister said the review's structure was already in place and the panel would be aided in its work by legal and financial consultants from the U.S.-based Carter Center and Switzerland's Companie Benjamin de Rothschild.
Congo's cabinet has yet to give the official go-ahead to the plan but that is expected to come at a meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Interest in Congo from international mining companies has soared since last year's successful elections, supervised by the largest U.N. peacekeeping force in the world.
The polls were aimed at ushering in a new era of growth and stability after a devastating 1998-2003 war and years of chaos and corrupt rule.
Most of Congo's mining contracts were agreed during the war or under a three-year transitional government, which included the various factions from the six-year conflict.
Many of the deals have been heavily criticised both at home and abroad for not conforming to international norms.
Soon after taking office, Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu told Reuters that he was prepared to ensure mining deals were legal and served the interest of the Congolese people.
"It shouldn't make investors nervous," Kasongo said. "At the end of the day, we will present what needs to be done to the contracts, and there will be negotiations. We'll do our best to get it done as soon as possible."
Companies operating in Congo's fast-expanding mining sector include the world's largest diversified miner BHP Billiton and the world's third-biggest gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, as well as U.S. major Phelps Dodge, recently purchased by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.
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Rautenbach Company Hits Back at Congo
By John Kaninda14 May 2007 at 10:41 AM GMT-04:00
JOHANNESBURG (Business Day) -- Mining house Central African Mining and Exploration [AIM:CFM] (Camec), a UK-based copper producer, has rejected accusations by Democratic Republic of Congo's mines ministry that its corporate governance standards are below par, and hinted at a conspiracy.
It was reported last week the Congolese were probing Camec operations after being asked by South Africa to help arrest shareholder Billy Rautenbach.
The report quoted the Congolese mines vice-minister as accusing the company of practices "not in alignment with international corporate governance standards."
Camec said that at recent meetings with Gecamines, the country's state mining company and main copper producer, and the ministry it was praised for its investments and for creating facilities that benefited the Congolese people.
Rautenbach is a former Gecamines chief. In February last year, he sold copper-cobalt assets in Katanga province to Camec, mainly in return for shares, according to Mineweb.
Camec said it had made a significant contribution to Congo after its $150 million investment in the Luita copper-cobalt metallurgical facility in Katanga. The facility, 20% owned by Gecamines, employed more than 3,000 people.
Camec said it had a "very strong relationship" with its partners, and always adhered to best practice in line with international corporate governance standards.
The company said it believed the mines ministry's comments might be linked to a commercial dispute concerning Camec's 50%-owned Mukondo concession area and its acquisition of shares in publicly listed Canadian company Katanga Mining.
Katanga Mining last week announced a special shareholders rights plan to ward off a takeover by Camec, which announced it had gained control of 17 million shares in Katanga, a stake of 22%, and had an agreement to buy another 7.7%, Mineweb reports.
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Shoe on the other foot as Africa chides Wolfowitz
14 May 2007 11:53:24 GMT
Source: Reuters
By C. Bryson Hull
NAIROBI, May 14 (Reuters) - The scandal hanging over World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz has damaged his ability to preach against corruption in Africa, but Africans say the bank's anti-graft message must remain whether he stays or goes.
The bank is due to give its final decision on Tuesday on Wolfowitz's future, which is now clouded over a pay and promotion deal he approved for his companion, World Bank Middle East expert Shaha Riza.
In Africa, where Wolfowitz is the public face of an institution that campaigns against corruption and nepotism, he is both loved and hated by ordinary Africans.
Newspaper cartoonists have taken delight in lampooning his situation and many papers have had editorials calling for his resignation.
"Those who think corruption is the exclusive domain of Africa must now rethink that view. It is something that happens everywhere," said Celestin Kabuya, a political scientist at the University of Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo.
"It is unfortunate for the institution, for its credibility, and for its effectiveness in the future."
While many African nations depend on money offered by the bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), many citizens see them as instruments to impose Western policies and further hamper development by saddling them with huge debts.
Wolfowitz has focused a lot of his attention on Africa, pushing a message that leaders there must provide accountable governments and fight corruption -- for decades synonymous with African regimes.
"Wolfowitz should resign because the World Bank is in the habit of coming to Africa with its baggage to impose good governance on us and at the same time to fix up cosy relationships with the leaders," said Nicaise Moulombi, a member of Gabon's advisory Economic and Social Council.
"DEMORALISING"
World Bank and IMF involvement with kleptocratic governments in the past like those of Nigeria's Sani Abacha or Congo's Mobutu Sese Seko has long bred African scepticism about their motives and effectiveness.
"If he doesn't resign -… that will have the effect of endorsing the attitude of African heads of state who run their countries like private businesses," Moulumbi said.
Members of the bank's 24-nation board have told Reuters a majority want him to resign over the high-paying promotion for his girlfriend, which has paralysed the bank in a morale crisis and raised questions over his fitness to lead it.
"This scandal is demoralising for developing countries which were making superhuman efforts to fight against corruption in Africa," said Fitzgerald Dagba, an unemployed 27-year-old in Cotonou, Benin.
Kenyan anti-corruption campaigner Mwalimu Mati said the bank under Wolfowitz had done a good job fighting graft, by viewing it as a barrier to development and making a country's efforts against it a benchmark for aid.
"The Wolfowitz problem is of less concern to me than whether the bank will generally live by its own rules," in deciding if he had broken them, Mati said.
Others said it was a personal matter that did not reflect badly on the bank.
"It is not institutional. It is not as if everybody in the bank is going around doing favours to their girlfriends," said Udo Udoma, a Nigerian senator who helped negotiate Nigeria's $18 billion Paris Club debt write-off in 2005.
At least one man said he could not blame Wolfowitz.
"This is an act unworthy of a man of his position, even though emotions are difficult to control. Personally, I forgive him because when it comes to women, men are weak," office worker Amadou Coulibaly said in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagoudougu. (Additional reporting by Estelle Shirbon in Abuja, Mathieu Bonkoungou in Ougadougou, Joe Bavier in Kinshasa, Samuel Elijah in Cotonou and Antoine Lawson in Libreville)
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Chinese firms face new reality of DRC mining

Joe Bavier Likasi, Democratic Republic of Congo
Just a few months ago, flatbed trucks, pickups and even a creaking bicycle streamed up to a concrete-block hut, bringing bags of copper and cobalt ore from the mines of southern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).The shelter is a buying depot for JMT Mining SPRL, one of dozens of informal collection points for ore exported for processing to feed China's demand for industrial commodities.But since taking office in February, DRC's government has been on a mission to bring order to a chaotic mining sector, starting by clamping down on exports raw ore for processing abroad.Moise Katumbi, the governor of mineral-rich Katanga province, closed a checkpoint in Kasumbalesa, the main export route to neighbouring Zambia and beyond, vowing that, in future, all ore must be processed in Katanga."[The mining companies] are keeping the money and sending it overseas," said Katumbi, who, under a new mining code, will see 40% of all revenues remain in his province."Show me even one toilet that has been built with that money."Though later loosened to allow the export of mineral concentrates, the ban on the export of raw ore still stands."Nothing is getting out," said Bill Wang, who oversees the JMT Mining depot, said in an interview. "I'm sitting at home now."Wang, proud to have been among the first Chinese people to arrive in Likasi, at the heart of the mining region, used to purchase 30 tonnes of copper ore and 10 tonnes of cobalt ore daily at his two buying counters.Now, his company is setting up a furnace to process the ore, a move that would allow it to resume exports. Wang expects it to be completed in July. Other Chinese firms are considering setting up their own processing plants.ChaosChina's demand for industrial commodities drew scrutiny in the DRC, where miners work in dangerous, unregulated conditions and where some foreign companies paid no mining rights.An estimated 150 000 people work in Katanga province's informal mining sector, often in mines without reinforced galleries or ventilation. Accidents and deaths are common.The sector grew out of the slow decay of once-huge state miner Gecamines under the late Mobutu Sese Seko and flourished during the chaos created during the DRC's 1998 to 2003 war.Today, it is fuelled by rising copper and cobalt prices on the world market and booming demand from emerging economies.That demand led to an invasion of buyers, with hundreds of Chinese people lining the dusty roads leading to Katanga's mining zones."The Chinese have a huge appetite for low-grade cobalt, so they fell upon the Congo when Gecamines fell apart, and they enjoyed the pleasure of being able to get it at any price," said Nick French, a cobalt trader at SFP Metals in London.China uses around 15 000 tonnes of heterogenite -- the ore from which cobalt is extracted -- per year, SFP estimated, mainly in batteries for mobile phones and laptops. Pure cobalt metal sells on world markets for more than $30 per pound ($66 000 per tonne), its most expensive in more than a decade.For ore containing 5% cobalt, Wang paid $500 per tonne and up to $2 000 per tonne for 13%.Those kinds of prices have, in a short time, made the Chinese popular with the local diggers."The other buyers will give you 100 francs [around $0,18] per kilogram, and you have to wait a day," digger Jacques Mayonde told Reuters at a Chinese-run depot at the foot of a giant mountain of Gecamines' tailings near the town of Kambove."With the Chinese you're OK. They pay 500 francs (about $0,90). You come, they weigh it, and you get your money right away."The arrangement has worked well for Wang and other Chinese brokers. But lately they've hit a few snags.The companies that hold legitimate concessions say informal mining is essentially theft, and ore bought by the Chinese constitutes stolen goods.Following Congo's first democratic elections in more than four decades last year, many are now beginning to launch industrial mining operations. The informal sector's days could be numbered as big Western miners like FreeportMcMoran -- encouraged by the successful elections -- protect their investments."It used to be a buyer's market, and now it's a Congolese seller's market," SFP's French said."It's more difficult to get heterogenite because it's in stronger hands now." - Reuters
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