Although gold has been mined in the Ituri and Haut Uélé regions of Orientale Province for over 100 years the last eight years have witnessed scenes of human atrocities beyond imagination. Numerous foreign military and militia groups have occupied the region and ruthlessly fought over control of the gold fields attacking civilians in the process. This has in turn resulted in unspeakable human atrocities including massacres, ethnic slaughters, executions, gang rapes, beatings, torture and slavery. More than 60,000 people are believed to have died due to direct violence in this part of Congo alone. The militia employed indentured labour to work in the mines without regard for conventional mining practices leading to the collapse of numerous underground and surface gold mines. The catalogue of human rights abuses have been documented by the NGO Human Rights Watch in their report ‘The Curse of Gold’ and the UN Security Council has also written numerous reports on the plunder of the Congo’s natural resources.

Today the area is still has around 200,000 artisanal gold miners trying to eke out a living from gold mining. The mines look like scenes from some Hollywood epic with thousands of refugees, ex-combatants, soldiers, teachers, farmers and men, women and children all toiling in the muddy pits in the desperate hope of finding a few grains of gold. The whole area is like the ‘Wild West’ and is full of imported guns, drugs, prostitutes and other social problems. AIDS prevalence is unbelievably high, rape, domestic violence, alcoholism and crime is endemic in all the mining villages and principal towns. There is no formal government and the UN forces are just about managing to maintain a fragile peace. The social tensions are high and everywhere you look there are blatant reminders of the depths that humanity sunk to only a year or so ago.

However, there are companies and NGOs that are trying to make a difference. Kevin D’Souza was recently asked by the a major mining company and an American NGO called PACT (funded by USAID) to undertake a mission to this war torn and ravaged area to determine what could be done to help the impoverished communities and how the companies could help, and work with, the artisanal miners. He was tasked with devising pragmatic actions that could deliver immediate benefit to the communities and also help towards long-term stability and the co-existence of large scale mining with artisanal mining. His solutions also have address issues many complex and inter-related issues including social exploitation, child labour, health and safety, gold trading, and environmental protection.

Kevin’s two week mission took him to some exceedingly remote areas of the Congo to enable him to witness first hand the complex problems that the people of the area the face daily. He visited numerous mines and communities and spent time talking with village chiefs, local priests, NGOs, orphans, teachers, doctors, womens’ groups, the UN and many other stakeholders to try and understand the real issues and hopefully determine some workable solutions that could really make a difference to the lives of the miners and their communities. A comprehensive report has been submitted to the key mining companies and will be shared with other key stakeholders and donors. It is hoped that some of the recommendations will be implemented in the near future with Kevin continuing as a key independent advisor to help bring some form of sustainable development to the forgotten people of this part of the Congo.