tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post938684765874319107..comments2024-02-24T06:10:42.255-08:00Comments on Congo Siasa: Changing Congo's ConstitutionJason Stearnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11454449854081540397noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-9603241736450842502010-04-07T07:12:03.147-07:002010-04-07T07:12:03.147-07:00Sorry, I'm too computer illiterate to figure o...Sorry, I'm too computer illiterate to figure out how to move these comments to the other post.Jason Stearnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11454449854081540397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-58619538792289482392010-04-06T15:24:23.263-07:002010-04-06T15:24:23.263-07:00Jason--
Perhaps you can migrate this exchange ove...Jason--<br /><br />Perhaps you can migrate this exchange over to the post it references, now that you've put it back up?<br /><br />Anyway, the question your piece leaves a-begging is what you think about the effectiveness/wisdom of the conflict mineral movement, such as it is, and of the specific bills moving thru Congress.David Aronsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09530153464205125811noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-25602827563003883602010-04-05T09:03:23.082-07:002010-04-05T09:03:23.082-07:00Emin -
Thanks. The post is back up, I had to mak...Emin - <br /><br />Thanks. The post is back up, I had to make some minor edits, some of which address your points. <br /><br />First, yes, it is difficult to figure out how much of the conflict is due to what. The proximate causes, however, are clear - refugees, state collapse and local struggles over citizenship and power. Minerals didn't really figure in a big way in the early days of the AFDL, certainly not in the Kivus, and it isn't clear to me that the MNCs needed a war to get at the big mining concessions in Katanga and Kasais - the sector was in the process of being privatized under Kengo wa Dondo, albeit slowly. <br /><br />Not to be misunderstood: I certainly do think that minerals have contributed to prolonging the conflict and that they have played a huge role in the conflict since at least 1998. But the conflict centers around many issues.<br /><br />I agree with you that it is difficult to reform the mining sector so that revenues can be directed towards state construction and service provision, given all the entrenched interests. That is really a question of transforming the logic of governance in the region.Jason Stearnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11454449854081540397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1209670742820403516.post-26902754461343959992010-04-01T16:45:55.638-07:002010-04-01T16:45:55.638-07:00Jason--
Did you take down the five myths article? ...Jason--<br />Did you take down the five myths article? Can I comment anyway on the first myth, about the war not being mostly about minerals?<br /><br />First, let me say: It's amazing for me to have watched how this observation went from being marginalized to ridiculed to conventional wisdom to stale bread. <br /><br />Second: There's a sense in which you are right, but I'm not sure whether it's a deep sense or a trivial sense. Nothing as complex as a war can be reduced to a single cause. But the abundance of small-scale, artisanally exploitable mines helps explain why the eastern Congo is such a mess, compared to, say, Katanga--or Central Niger, for that matter. cf Paul Collier's work.<br /><br />Third, I'm not entirely sure that the minerals weren't there from the start: I remember hearing rumors back in 97, when the AFDL was still handing out visas to the territory it controlled with Disney Lion King motifs on them, that even then some people were murmuring about strange minerals used for secret high-tech purposes. Some of these were the same people who were whispering about hidden massacre sites, which we also found hard to believe. (And which we then fought tooth and nail to get acknowledged.)<br /><br />Finally, I'll reiterate what I've written earlier: even though I think minerals are a critical part of the explanation for the war, I remain uncertain that they can ever be instrumentalized or harnessed for peace. <br /><br />Anyway, for what it's worth: as our understanding of the war(s) grows ever more complex and involuted, there is still something to be said for the straightforward. If there were no minerals in the Kivus, the place probably wouldn't be at peace, but it wouldn't be Nick Kristof's favorite new cause, either.David Aronsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09530153464205125811noreply@blogger.com