In Congo, Diamonds are Whose Best Friend ?

This was my first trip to Mbuji Mayi. I knew it as Congo’s city of riches: the diamond mecca of the country. But whatever I expected is not what I found.

white diamonds_open air merchant
Diamond merchant at open air market in Mbuji Mayi.

I flew south, over savanna towards Mbuji-Mayi , capital of Kasai Oriental, a Province whose northern half is forest and important to us because there are still significant bonobo populations along the Lomami River. These bonobos, closest relatives to both chimpanzee and man, are being hunted.

baby bonobo
This baby orphan is at Lola Ya Bonobo, the bonobo orphanage in Kinshasa.

The purpose of my trip: convince the authorities to support our conservation effort.

What I found in Mbuji Mayi:

1. An administration willing and ready to listen, though not much invested in the forest. Both governor and vice-governor started with careers as parallel-market diamond dealers – now politicians. The governor was cordial and correct.

with the governor of Kasai Oriental
The governor of Kasai Oriental in the room where he held audiences.

2. Those who listened attentively, however, were from the north, those who call the forest their first “home”. Fifty-one merchants, deputies and government advisers came to hear my presentation and they all stayed afterward for an entire two hours of questions and answers. Their concern was heartening.

getting ready to present
Getting ready to present in Mbuji Mayi.

3. But Mbuji Mayi, itself, was less heartening. It has a layered diamond economy and the top layer – the only layer that could openly enter the global economy - is bankrupt.

Here is some back ground information I looked up on returning to Kinshasa:

A third of the world’s industrial diamonds come from Mbuji Mayi. After World War II, it was the number one producer worldwide, all diamonds coming from a single giant industrial mining company, MIBA, whose mining properties cover 45 hectares.

The official diamond operations
A picture of the MIBA field site from a distance.

A website maintained by a group of MIBA’s ex-workers states impressively that “to produce one gram of diamond, it is necessary to extract, transport and process 3,200 kg of sand and gravel.

Soon after the recent war, MIBA closed down its mining efforts. They are still closed. All diamond mining in Mbuji Mayi is now artisanal… “à la wild west”.

The slide in official production started in 1973 when then-president/autocrat Mobutu Sese Seko nationalized MIBA. A few years later 20% of shares were returned to the original company, but the downward spiral was never completely arrested.

In 1974 production was 12,990,558 carats. In 1999 production was only 4,732,480 carats. Fraudulent exports throughout the 1990’s are thought to be worth two to three times the value of official exports – and worth a stunning six times the total budget of DRCongo.

Then came Kabila’s war. MIBA lost 135 million US dollars to the war effort.  Blood Diamonds.  Starting in August 1998, the government claimed 30-40 per cent of MIBA earnings, regularly taking hold of millions of US dollars.

With that bit of background what I saw and heard in Mbuji Mayi makes more sense:

When I stopped at MIBA headquarters and asked for permission to visit their operations, it was politely denied. The very professional chef of operations explained: “Not today. Not a white person. They shot and killed a thief last night — this is frequent . And the place is full of military and police.” Besides, there were no “operations” as such, mining was at a standstill, new investment was needed.

the life of this town was MIBA the diamond industry
Club MIBA is not the hopping place it once was…

All the nicest houses in town were built for MIBA personnel, there was a large MIBA supermarket and a MIBA sports club and swimming pool, all waiting for new investment.

But there were other things to see: the action was at the outdoor diamond market. Row upon row of diamond sellers. They put up with my camera assuming I was a potential buyer.

open air diamond buyers
There were many rows of these small-scale open-air diamond merchants.

I couldn’t help but wonder how many of these had been mined clandestinely on the MIBA concession.
I was told that the outdoor market was only for diamonds from 0.5 up to about 4 carats.

diamonds and bushmeat _MbujiMayi
The open-air diamond market was just next to the open-air food market. Bushmeat, of course, was for sale.

The class just above the open air market for these artisanal gems was the indoor dealers… Here I was casually told that they deal with 30-50 or more carats, including gem quality stones. I did not venture into any of these shops. That was beyond my class.

Mbuji Mayi -- diamond buyer's office
Both diamonds and dollars adorn the wall of this up-scale diamond merchant.

To answer my question: there are plenty of friends of diamonds in Mbuji Mayi – all men – and regularly some lose their lives for diamonds, perhaps tangled in electrical wire around the MIBA concession, or perhaps shot by MIBA’s guards, or perhaps a shoot-out between themselves. Many of the gem’s friends live at bare poverty level and maintain hope of something better as soon as they find that 30 carat stone.

Lomami Portraits 2: Forest Flutist in the Center of Congo

Friday, 24 April. Arrive in Bene Kamba. (Notes from John’s journal.)

We arrived well after dark, and set up tents by flashlight. The villagers gathered. Like PolePole, where we slept the night before, Bene Kamba has about 20 households, tiny clearing in a vast forest. Exhausted, I left Dino explaining our mission and crawled into my tent, zipped it shut and immediately fell asleep.

I woke sometime deep in the night. Silence, but for a simple melody. I had to get my bearings. “I’m on my sleeping mat, in my tent, in a tiny village along the Lomami” But the melody persisted. I realized it must be a flute. The wonderful rills filled the still night.

ready to listen-but skeptical
Skeptical, but ready to listen.

Saturday, 25 April.

In the morning we were all thinking of other things. The villagers gathered on the roughly hewn benches of the barraza or pulled up rattan stools. Dino led the village meeting. He does a great job. In response to the inevitable statement: “All we know how to do is hunt, we have no other livelihood.”, he reminds them of facts all the elders know already. Without hunting seasons the wildlife will disappear. In fact, other parts of the forest are already “empty”. Many eventually admit that regulation is overdue. The forest needs to recover and only closing it to hunting will allow that.

That afternoon as we were breaking camp, I remembered the flutist. I asked who made the night music and a young man stepped forward. Smiling shyly he showed me his home-made bamboo flute with five finger holes. We walked together to the dugout. His name : Jolice.


Jolice’s own world of music along the Lomami.

As the boat was loaded, and amid the chatter and shouts, Jolice stepped to the side and played a little serenade.  He continued as we pushed off. The melody followed us out over the water.

flutist of the Lomami
Certainly, an artist. This still was taken just before the video above.

Lomami Portraits 1 : John’s Trip North through the Center of Congo

Wed 22 April.  Chombe Kilima to Camp Bonobo-a 40 km trek. (Notes from John’s journal)

We left Chombe Kilima  at 7:30, 25 of us, and all of us carrying loads.  A real caravan.

Among our cast of characters was Ebembe Kotelema, his name translates from Lingala as “the standing dead”.  He is a pygmy from Equateur Province.

He has a terrible hangover
Ebembe Kotelema collapsed at the rest stop.

Somehow, during Congo’s recent bloody rebellion, in 2002-3, he was part of the infamous militia locally labeled “Effacer le Tableau”.  The name was coined in the Ituri Forest where they “erased” whole villages.  They are accused of rape, murder and even cannibalism.

Ebembe  did confirm that he was in the Ituri, on the Mamabasa-Mungbere Road.  How he ended up in Chombe Kilima, where we recruited him as a porter was a story too long to get on the trail, especially since he hardly spoke Swahili.

Ebembe had fallen way behind by the time we reached our first rest stop west of Falanga, the first of two punishing savanna islands we had to cross.   Ebembe finally came stumbling through the trees, dripping sweat, and looking every bit his nom de guerre.  He claimed dire hunger, said he could not proceed without something to eat.  This was greeted with much laughter.  The day before Ebembe had been nine sheets to the wind with local moonshine.  Someone tossed him a couple packs of biscuits which he immediately wolfed down.

a few Glucose biscuits help
Glucose Biscuits work wonders.

Mpaka asked him about his experience as a rebel fighter in the Ituri Forest.  “Did you eat some of your brothers there?” he asked, taunting him with the accusation made by a local Bishop that the “Effacer” ate pygmies.  Straight-faced, Ebembe denied the charge.   “No”, he said earnestly, “I was in a different part of the forest.”

Revived by the Glucose Biscuits Ebembe shouldered his pack and arrived at Camp Bonobo well before most of the caravan, including me.

A First Step towards Law and Order in Congo’s Central Forests

11Apr09_attendance
On 11 April 2009, the day before Easter, there was a meeting of chiefs in Kindu.

This is the meeting. We planned for months ahead of time. We invited 100 people, including all the local chiefs of Maniema Province within the critical “conservation zone”, but many more came. 144 came.  (note: a Province is like a state in the USA and Maniema is one of three provinces we have been exploring for the TL2 project)

This is a meeting about which we ask ourselves “Was it successful beyond our expectations?” or “Was this success a mirage, soon reversed?”

Two key chiefs listened carefully
The chief of the Bangengele (woman on left) and the chief of the Balanga are present.

How will we know if it is reversed? Simple: By the continuing flow of bonobo carcasses to market; by the continuing bicycle loads of dried red colobus, until there are no more; by the failure to observe the no- hunting season.

John telling it as he saw it
John tells it as he saw it: the scale of hunting, the impact of hunting.

This is a meeting “we” planned, but who is “we”? Not just John, me and the TL2 team leaders, this includes the very competent, Stanislas, director of cabinet for Maniema’s Environment Minister.  Dir.Cab. is what everyone calls him; Dear Cob is what John writes one evening after sharing a slow bottle of wine with Stanislas at our Kindu base.

sharing notes with the Dir Cab
Sharing notes with the Dir.Cab. at lunch break on the 11 April 09.

“We” includes the Reverend Cosma Wilungula, head of Congolese Parks, who opened the meeting with a prayer, gave a moving speech, and closed the meeting with another prayer. “We” means the governor, the vice-governor, and the environmental minister. “We” means Salumu, the TL2 Maniema base manager, who welcomed participants as they arrived by bicycle and dugout.

ADG pasteur Wingulwa Balongelwa Cosma
The head of National Parks addressing the gathering.

This meeting is a success if the “we” who are supporters of a bonobo forest along the Lomami becomes a bigger and bigger “we” as the word moves back through the villages and chiefdoms.

What is the word?
1. No more hunting of protected species : bonobos, elephants, red colobus monkeys, black and white colobus monkeys, …
2. No hunting in all of Maniema province during six months that will start in June 2009 and will be repeated each year.
3. No hunting ever, in a part of forest along the Lomami River that will become a protected area.

This meeting’s first indication of success came as one chief after another stood up and said “I do”,each in their local language, “I do support a protected area”.

Chef de secteur Ambwe
The chief from Ambwe says “I do agree”.

Esu tokwimidia leseii liso lé lokonda toomba nama. (Kilanga)
Tomomie waje lodia yeso wachunge nyima. (Kingengele)
Tuimenye base ko beka kesanga ke kokombelela nyama lii mokonda wito. (Kisongola)

Pirogue at Lokando
Most chiefs came by dugout or by bicycle. This dugout is at Lokando on the Lualaba River.

Then the chief from Ambwe closed his forest to all hunting for a year. And I have just heard that the same happened in a collective of the Bangengele.

meeting with the chiefs
A meeting with some of the top chiefs and authorities after the general gathering.

And what we know is that now is a critical time to stay engaged, to monitor to encourage….