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<TD class=update width="81%">Saturday, 28th November 2009</TD>
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<TD width=19><A href="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14093&email&article=23084"></A></TD>
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<TD width=22><A href="http://www.newtimes.co.rw/print.php?issue=14093&print&article=23084"></A></TD>
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<TD class=lead_title colSpan=2>UK, Holland move to combat trade in conflict minerals</TD></TR>
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<TD class=lead_title colSpan=2>BY JAMES KARUHANGA</TD></TR>
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<DIV>The United Kingdom’s Department of International Development (DfID) and the Dutch Foreign Ministry have commissioned a research to explore mechanisms of increasing transparency in minerals trade within the Great Lakes Region, <EM>The New Times</EM> reports. </DIV>
<DIV>A London-based specialist consultancy – Resource Consulting Services (RCS) is currently undertaking research on the minerals traded in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi.</DIV>
<DIV>According to a statement released recently in London, the research, which is funded by the two European countries, is being carried out to develop a strategy on how to strengthen transparency in the regional cross-border trade in the region.</DIV>
<DIV>“The aim is to better understand the origin of minerals, reduce corruption at the point of export, and increase the fiscal benefit to the DRC.” reads part of the statement <BR>“Building on RCS’s authoritative research on the link between eastern DRC’s conflict dynamics and the minerals trade, the project will develop a strategy to ensure that DRC minerals benefit the population rather than fund military groups”</DIV>
<DIV>Several reports have indicated that renegade groups operating mainly in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, have been illegally exploiting minerals, especially Coltan, Cassiterite, Gold and Tin to fuel conflicts. </DIV>
<DIV>The groups include the ragtag Ex-FAR Interahamwe or Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), considered to be the root cause of the region’s conflict and resultant human catastrophe.</DIV>
<DIV>The terrorist group is made up of architects of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.</DIV>
<DIV>A UN Group of Expert’s Report on FDLR activities in the DRC has bared open, in detail, a vast international criminal network linked to the FDLR. It includes Spanish charities, Ukrainian arms dealers, corrupt officials and even secret North Korean weapons shipments.</DIV>
<DIV>The report says that companies are buying minerals from FDLR-held territories in eastern DRC while middlemen are smuggling millions of dollars in minerals mainly to the Middle East every year. </DIV>
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