US rules on conflict minerals have not reduced violence in Congo, GAO says Reuters

LUBUMBASHI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (Reuters) – A U.S. congressional watchdog found no evidence that a 2012 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) conflict minerals disclosure rule reduced violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it said months in a report.

Armed groups continue to fight for control of gold mines in the eastern Central African country, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in its report.

It also said the rule – which requires some companies to report on their use of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold – likely had no effect in neighboring countries.

“GAO found no empirical evidence that the rule has reduced the occurrence or level of violence in eastern DRC, where many mines and armed groups are located,” the report said.

“GAO also found that the rule has been associated with widespread violence, particularly around informal, small-scale gold mining sites,” it said, adding that gold is the most difficult to track and the most easily smuggled of the four minerals covered by the rule.

Congo is the world’s largest producer of tantalum, which is considered an essential mineral by the United States and the European Union.

The report added that “the SEC disagreed with some of the GAO’s findings and expressed concerns about some of its methodology and analyses.” The GAO said it made some adjustments that did not materially affect its findings.

The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, the GAO said some U.S. companies buying minerals from Congo and its neighbors were failing to meet disclosure requirements.

Bintou Keita, head of the UN mission in Congo, told the UN Security Council on September 30 that M23 rebels in the east were generating $300,000 a month in a coltan mining region they seized earlier this year .