The international mining companies strip the African continent

The theme of the WEF Africa 2013 was the "Realizing the promise in Africa", to promote the continent's economic growth and speed up the construction of strategic infrastructure in Africa and start the training of African talent to build a green economy "black" that jumps the phase of the old industrial development going directly to the original low-carbon economies, resource-efficient and resilient to climate change that are already severely affecting much of the world's poorest continent.
A future that clashes with a present made of unsustainable exploitation of natural resources which is embodied in the most brutally exploitative in mining.
From the forum WEF in Cape Town has become clear that "The international mining companies strip the African continent by subtracting its governments at least $ 38 billion a year through corrupt practices, tax havens and other gimmicks' and not to denounce are the usual environmental or humanitarian organizations and UN agencies, but prominent leader of the international community, as Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general, Michel Camdessus, former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or Olusegun Obasanjo , former president of Nigeria, that all men some responsibility (sometimes large) for the current situation we have, but which are now part of the working group on Africa author of a report made to the WEF Africa 2013. As reported IRIB: "Not only hundreds of mining companies holding concessions in Africa are companies registered in offshore tax havens, tax evasion but that affects Africa is alarming," according to the working group, "The evasion amounts to at least $ 38 billion each year, a sum greater than the global aid in the development of the continent. "
The worst example is as almost always from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the largest country in Africa where more than ten years fighting an undeclared war pearls resource that has crumbled into guerrilla warlords in the pay of regional powers complicit in multinational . The DRC, despite his boundless mineral resources, is the last country in the ranking of human development and the relationship of the essays points out that "Between 2010 and 2012 the Congo has lost at least $ 1.36 billion of revenue due to the underestimation of mining shares sold to offshore companies. "
It is probably a fraction of what the multinational mining companies have escaped the coffers of the DRC and the country's development, "Given the limitations in the controls imposed by the companies themselves," says the group of experts has launched an appeal to the leaders of the G8 because it deal of this plunder of African resources perpetrated by economic giants who almost always have their headquarters in the city economic and bags of rich countries and emerging markets. Annan, Camdessus and invite Obasanjo African governments to "diversify their sources of income, not limited to the areas of mining or oil, but focusing on the capacities of local industrial development."
But the transition will be very difficult and probably painful: the mining industry has become central to the global economic growth, although it would be able to create long-term positive effects on the economies of developing countries and on the life and society of the poor but resource-rich nations. The same WEF Africa has emphasized that "Although it has the potential to transform the economic prospects of developing countries rich in minerals, governments and communities are putting more and more into question the role of this sector. The debates on the proper allocation of costs and benefits, the growth of nationalization elle resources and conflicts on new projects reflect waning confidence among stakeholders and the lack of effective mechanisms of involvement. This makes Responsible Mineral Development Initiative (RMdl) of the World Economic Forum as relevant as ever.
The Rdmi developed the Mineral value management, a tool designed to enhance mutual understanding of what are called "holistic driver" of the value of mining activities and to provide a means for measuring and communicating the needs and expectations of the various stakeholdersMa the transition appears to be very narrow and the nascent African civil society does not trust corporations that have shown and continue to show a devastating greed that does not stop even in front of a widespread political corruption and war.
Speaking at the session on "Infrastructure Development through Mining" the WEF africa, 2013, the Ugandan Godber Tumushabe, executive director dell'Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment, said: "In the first place, the now dominant narrative of" Africa is in increase "came out from the beginning. But Africa is really on the rise? Or are we talking about "Africa is on the rise"? First, this means that the continent is increasing in terms of population, the youth will have more jobs, which for millions of people in rural areas is not increasing poverty, more children are completing primary education and secondary that mothers have more and more basic care they need. Or instead means that the GDP is increasing, there are more cell phones, the Internet and e-mail users, etc?. And 'this' s "Africa rising" which is coming out in a manner clearly evident from the discussions.
Second, as expected, there was a clear consensus that the presence of minerals and mining discoveries being clearly represent a tremendous opportunity for the continent and its peoples. This agreement is part of the Africa Mining Vision. Third, there is consensus that we must focus on multi-purpose infrastructure projects that will accelerate economic growth and to unlock the potential of the continent, and therefore creating more opportunities and jobs for the citizens of the continent. In addition to these obvious points of consensus, the session brought a number of interesting points that the continent should not lose sight of: the industry should focus on creating opportunities for ordinary people and pearls mining communities. Again, investment in the development of multi-purpose infrastructure projects could increase the potential to realize this aspiration. The private sector should think over taxes and royalties as a way to be relevant to government and citizens. The private sector and the mining companies à should act as a catalyst for multi-purpose infrastructure planning and development. This in light of the fact that some companies have at their disposal greater technical expertise and experience with respect to governments. "
Tumushabe believes that countries can benefit from the ongoing development of the mining industry "are the ones who can quickly develop legal frameworks that facilitate co-ownership of the infrastructure." One thing that is necessary to face the fact that most of the infrastructure projects are expensive and require large amounts of capital that African countries do not have.
"There are a number of multi-purpose infrastructure projects already underway or planned. Think tanks can study and draw lessons from these projects documents and experiences that can inform and improve the design and implementation of such projects. The issue of political risk has been highlighted as one of the main obstacles that could limit the ability of the continent to attract private capital to a level needed to fund infrastructure projects, multi-purpose. There were also two important issues that have not heard emerge from the discussions: first, the discussion seemed to focus so much on public infrastructure on a large scale, but the concept of multi-purpose infrastructure can also be applied to the infrastructure of the community. And the mining companies should build good quality schools, health centers and community centers that could be used both their personal communities. This would increase the participation and ownership of their community projects. Second, there have been discussions about the need to grow and strengthen the local private sector. In many African countries, it is assumed the existence of private entrepreneurship, in most cases, this is not real. As a result, the opportunity offered by the mines could provide a window for the growth of the local private sector, to ensure the full participation of local people in the industry. In the oil and gas industry, this is generally referred to as "local content". I believe the same principle can be applied to the entire mining industry. "