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Regulating the old game of smuggling? Coltan mining, trade and reforms in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 August 2018

Claude Iguma Wakenge ,
Dennis Dijkzeul  and
Koen Vlassenroot
Claude Iguma Wakenge*
Affiliation:
Claremont Graduate University, School of Social Science, Policy & Evaluation, 170 E. 10th Street, Claremont, CA 91711
Dennis Dijkzeul*
Affiliation:
Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochumer Fenster 9B, 44787 Bochum, Germany
Koen Vlassenroot*
Affiliation:
Department of Conflict & Development Studies, University of Ghent, Universiteitstraat 8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
*
Email: claudeigumaw@gmail
Email: dennis.dijkzeul@rub.de
Email: koen.vlassenroot@ugent.be
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Abstract

This article examines the smuggling of coltan into and out of artisanal mining areas in northern Katanga where the ITRI Tin Supply Chain Initiative (iTSCi), a policy on conflict minerals, tries to improve transparency in trading tin, tantalum (coltan) and tungsten. The article approaches smuggling from a sociology of economic life perspective, closely examining how and why artisanal miners and mine-based middlemen (négociants) helped smugglers (hiboux) in the trafficking of coltan. The findings indicate that the social networks in which miners and mine-based négociants are embedded allow the miners, négociants and smugglers to maintain close relationships and to breach official regulations, but miners and mine-based négociants also rely on the same networks to cheat in their dealings with the smugglers. This article concludes that, rather than considering coltan mining areas to be ‘enclaves of regulations’, understanding and addressing smuggling at both local and broader contexts call for a comprehensive, more contextualised approach.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 497 - 522
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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