A EUR 100 million loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the Tenke Fungurume Mine mining project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has proceeded in spite of rampant corruption, human rights violations and social tensions surrounding the copper-cobalt mine's development, according to a new report from the campaign coalition Counter Balance: Challenging the European Investment Bank in collaboration with the Congolese NGO ACIDH [1 ].

The new report, “Soul mining: The EIB‘s role in the Tenke Fungurume Mine, DRC” [2 ], is critical of the numerous contractual irregularities associated with the Tenke Fungurume project, signed during DRC's recent civil war.

Desislava Stoyanova, coordinator for Counter Balance, said: “The contracts for the Tenke Fungurume mining project are extremely disadvantageous for DRC. In contrast to EIB claims for the project, it will not bring benefits that the country might have expected for extracting and exporting cobalt and copper. The main beneficiary of the project will be its promoter, the major American mining company Freeport McMoran, a company that has been barred from receiving Norwegian development funds as a result of its track record of environmental irresponsibility. It's scandalous that the EIB has deemed this project and this company to be fit to receive European public funds.”

Prince Kumwamba, from the Congolese NGO ACIDH that has researched the project on the ground and found extensive evidence of human rights violations suffered by local communities, said: ”The working conditions, particularly for miners working for the subcontractors, violate fundamental international standards. The workers have to work six or seven days a week and they are recruited without contracts. Competition between the different communities is exploited as a means to keep wages as low as possible. Hundreds of families have been uprooted without being re-housed, and the development pledges are not being respected.”

Such conditions have created serious local tensions, notably leading to a violent demonstration in January this year, followed by the arrest of several protesters.

Anne-Sophie Simpere, leading the EIB campaign at les Amis de la Terre in France, said: “The Tenke Fungurume mining project benefits neither local people or the DRC as a whole. Unfortunately this is not an unusual situation. Well-known major studies, including the World Bank's Extractive Industries Review, have shown that in states renowned for governance problems and corruption, investments in the mining sector do not contribute to development. The EIB should never have agreed to support such a project. The EIB should in fact be radically reformed to ensure that it no longer gets involved in this kind of disastrous project. These days Chinese investment projects in Africa are often put under critical scrutiny, yet it's simply bad faith to be so critical when, at the same time, the EU's house bank is showing itself to be equally irresponsible in Africa.”

For more information

Anne-Sophie Simpere
les Amis de la Terre/Counter Balance
Tel:+33 148 51 18 98
Email: as.simpere AT amisdelaterre.org


Desislava Stoyanova, Counter Balance
Tel: +32487617482
Email: desislava AT bankwatch.org


Notes for editors

 

1. The report is available online in English at the Counter Balance website as well as in French. 

2. Background information about the project is available at the Counter Balance website

“Counter Balance: Challenging the European Investment Bank” is a campaign coalition comprising the following European NGOs that have longstanding experience of following the activities of the international development banks: CEE Bankwatch Network (Central and Eastern Europe), Both ENDS (Netherlands), Bretton Woods Project (United Kingdoms), Campagna per la Riforma della Banca Mondiale (Italy), Les Amis de la Terre (France), Urgewald (Germany), Weed (Germany).

Counter Balance's mission is to make the EIB an open and progressive institution delivering on EU development goals and promoting sustainable development to empower people affected by its work.