DRC PLEDGES ADVANCES IN MINING TRANSPARENCY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KINSHASA 000880 SIPDIS DEPT. PASS TO USTR E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2015 TAGS: ECON EMIN EPET EFIN CG SUBJECT: DRC PLEDGES ADVANCES IN MINING TRANSPARENCY Classified By: W. Brafman for reasons 1.4 b/d. ¶1. (C) Summary. Vice - President Jean-Pierre Bemba has inaugurated the DRC's participation in an international effort to promote transparency in extractive industries. Bemba claims real commitment to promoting mining industry transparency, but his actions may be merely politically motivated. Several countries and the World Bank support the DRC's participation in the initiative. However, the Ministry of Mines questions Bemba's motivation for EITI participation. End Summary. ¶2. (U) Bemba launched the DRC's participation in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) at a World Bank-funded conference in Kinshasa on May 11 and 12. EITI, an initiative that UK PM Tony Blair announced in September 2002, aims to increase transparency in transactions between government and extractive companies to improve governance and reduce conflict, corruption and poverty. Corruption and other illegal activity, such as smuggling, have permeated the DRC's mining industry since independence. Bemba announced at the May conference that a temporary working group will form within fifteen days to select representatives of private and public enterprises, government, and civil society who will comprise a permanent working group. The permanent working group will develop a plan to implement the EITI measures. EITI measures include the industries' publishing their payments to government and government's publishing its actual receipts. Both the payments and revenues are then subject to an independent audit. ¶3. (C) A DFID economist who is a liaison with EITI told Econoff on May 20 that Bemba's commitment to EITI and his motivation for launching it are uncertain. The DFID economist also said that U.S. support and involvement will be sought, although he did not yet know of specific requests. He said that other diplomatic missions, including France, Belgium and Canada, have expressed support for DRC's participation. He noted that the World Bank has expressed interest in further supporting the initiative, at least by supplying consultative experts, if the DRC demonstrates commitment to the process. ¶4. (C) Minister of Mines Ingele Ifoto told Econoff on May 16 that the GDRC is not ready to participate in this initiative and that it should originate as a grassroots, non-governmental initiative. Beyond that, Ifoto questioned Bemba's commitment to the initiative. ¶5. (C) Comment: Ifoto belongs to a different political faction than Bemba and is often at loggerheads with the Vice-President; thus, his comments are unsurprising. That said, Bemba is indeed likely to be more interested in trying to garner credibility and political support, particularly within the international community, than in promoting transparency. Nonetheless, Bemba's commitment to this initiative provides a useful lever to obtain greater transparency in the DRC's traditionally murky mining industry transactions. End Comment. MEECE