DR CONGO: Multinational mining companies searching for gold in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo are fuelling rape, ethnic slaughter and torture, according to a report published yesterday by Human Rights Watch.
Its investigators accuse mining companies of benefiting from links with armed rebels guilty of systematic human rights abuses. The report singles out Anglo-Gold Ashanti - part of the international mining conglomerate Anglo-American - which it says has offered tacit support to one of the bloodiest armed groups in Ituri, in the northeast of DR Congo.
Much of the region remains beyond the control of a transitional government established in the capital, Kinshasa, two years ago. Gold mines around the town of Mongbwalu are in the hands of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front. Its fighters killed 100 women and children in a single massacre during 2003, as it closed in on a gold field close to the town.
Fighting for the gold field claimed the lives of at least 2,000 civilians, according to the report by Human Rights Watch. The New York-based campaign group says it has evidence that Anglo-Gold Ashanti staff made payments to rebel officials and gave commanders access to the company's vehicles.
Anneke Van Woudenburg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the country's gold should be a blessing rather than a curse. The company denied backing the rebels but admitted its staff had made unauthorised payments to the group.