Installations de traitement dans la mine de Tenke Fungurume, l'une des plus grandes mines de cuivre et de cobalt au monde, dans le sud-est de la RDC. Photo : Emmet Livingstone/AFP via Getty Images

Les pays africains ont perdu le contrôle au profit de sociétés minières étrangères : les trois étapes qui ont permis cela

Depuis les années 1990, les sociétés transnationales en tant que propriétaires et gestionnaires de grands projets miniers sont redevenues la force dominante.
GettyImages. Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images

Leçons tirées de la 10ème épidémie de la maladie à virus Ebola en RDC: la population serait mieux informée qu'on le pense

La gestion internationale des épidémies, consiste parfois à céder leur contrôle à un groupe d'experts étrangers qui possèdent une compréhension superficielle d’une région très complexe.
Bisimwa Hardy, 22, emerges from a shaft at Luhihi in South Kivu with a bag full of stones destined to the crusher to separate the stone from the gold. Photo by Guerchom Ndebo/AFP via Getty Images

Small‑scale gold miners in DRC challenge the view that they can’t cut it

As a dynamic and mechanising form of production, artisanal mining is in more direct competition with large corporations than is commonly perceived.
The large public health apparatus assembled to fight Ebola created more problems. Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images

Lessons from the DRC’s 10th Ebola epidemic: the people may know best

International epidemic management involves ceding to foreign experts who possess, at best, a surface-level understanding of a very complex region.
Rescuers work in Kamituga, South Kivu, at the entrance of one of the mines which collapsed following torrential rains trapping dozens of artisanal miners in September 2020. Photo by Stringer/AFP via Getty Images

How large miners and states stifle local capital and innovation in DR Congo

The mass privatisation of mining and the turn to foreign direct investment has created conflict with small-scale miners.
A worker walks near the Congolese state mining company Gecamines’ in the southern province of Katanga. REUTERS/Jonny Hogg

The DRC is revisiting its mining code. Why reform is long overdue

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has scheduled its 15-year-old mining code for review. The country must ensure reform that benefits its people.
There are shortcomings in celebrity led campaigns against “conflict minerals” such as the one in which US actress Robin Wright is involved. Robin Wright's instagram

The problem with Western activists trying to do good in Africa

The relationship between advocacy organisations based in Western capitals and their marketed constituency of marginalised and disadvantaged African groups is tenuous. What then, is the goal?
Ben Affleck championed the piece of legislation requiring companies reporting to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose their use of ‘conflict minerals’ originating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Reuters/Yuri Gripas

What’s missing from celebrity activism in Africa? The people

Celebrities help make causes known to larger audiences and can be effective in obtaining pledges from policymakers. Yet their simplified advocacy messages can lead to ineffective or harmful policies.

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