COLLECTED BY CHINATUNGSTEN - DEC. 24, 2012 - AS the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) searches for a political answer to the M23 DRC rebels and other conflicts in the region, technocrats are shifting focus to tightening the noose on illegal mining.
This comes after it was established that mineral trafficking was the major factor abetting political instability in the region as its proceeds are used to fund rebels.
The ICGLR has set goals to cut the links between incomes from minerals and the financing of illegal armed groups in the region, ICGLR deputy executive secretary, Ambassador Vincent Mwanda, said.
Passed in 2010, the ICGLR measures call for transparency in the mineral sector, which would involve certification of ores to show their origin. Member states also ought to have a whistle-blowing mechanism against mineral traffickers, maintain a database of minerals in the region and formalise artisanal mining.
According to Mwanda, certifying exporters' ores would help to trace their origin and distinguish acceptable minerals from those illicitly acquired to fund crime.
We shall be able to tell legal minerals from those acquired in conflicts. This will increase credibility of minerals and make them competitive on the international market.
Mwanda made the remarks during a recent international conference on Mining for Sustainable Economic Development in Bujumbura, Burundi. The conference was organised by Germany agency GIZ and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
However, the campaign against mineral trafficking has put Uganda's mineral sector under threat as the Government crawls to implement regional guidelines.
Mwanda decried the fact that of the 11 countries, only Rwanda and DRC had implemented the regional anti-illegal mining measures despite its likely immense benefit.
In Uganda, the process to domesticate the regional guidelines is still dragging on, two years down the road.
As a result, Uganda's mineral exports have dwindled after about 10 mineral companies suspended operations due to absence of certification.
According to Grace Nakku, the assistant commissioner for mines in the energy ministry, gold and the 3Ts -Tin, Tungstern and Tantalum -are the most affected ores.
