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UN summit calls for ‘peace through business’ in Great Lakes region
UN and east African regional leaders joined together to call for
greater responsible private sector investment into the conflict-prone
areas of the Great Lakes region during a summit organized by the UN
Global Compact in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 10 June.
“The time to invest is not once total peace and stability have
returned. Targeted responsible investment contribute to peace and
stability,” says East African Community (EAC) Secretary General Richard
Sezibera.
Encouraging private sector involvement in post-conflict areas is a new approach to breaking the cycle of violence - an area traditionally reserved for humanitarian actors and aid agencies. Commercial interests in the Great Lakes’ vast natural wealth - particularly in valuable minerals including diamonds, copper and coltan - have long been understood to be one of the root causes of the region’s instability. According to some estimates, prior to the implementation of the US’s mining transparency reporting laws last year minerals such as tin, tantalum and tungsten - used in computers and mobile phones - generated $185m per year for DRC militant groups. The result has been more than three decades of nearly continuous unrest, particularly in the country’s east.
“Africa’s history is unfortunately replete with stories of societies torn apart by the activities of unruly and irresponsible private investors who often thrive in chaos and make it their business to maintain an environment of fear and lawlessness as part of their investment approach,” Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn claimed at the event.
“It is only by cultivating responsible investment and creating an environment that will encourage such investment that the tendency to thrive in environments that harm will end… and will turn resource curses into tremendous opportunities.”
The thinking behind the ‘business for peace’ paradigm is relatively straightforward: if cycles of violence are fuelled by scarcity and lack of economic opportunity, bringing in businesses and investors as early in the post-conflict transition period as possible will offer locals opportunities that will make militancy less attractive. Likewise, businesses can take advantage of growing demands for goods and services in newly stabilising markets. The approach appears is being championed by the UN, with support from regional leaders, in the aftermath of DRC’s most recent uprising by M23 militants - allegedly tied to the Rwandan government - in the conflict-prone eastern Kivu provinces. A peace agreement was brokered last year.
“Advancing regional economic integration through encouraging responsible investment has been one of my top priorities, and my interactions with heads of state in the region on these have been characterized with universal enthusiasm and sounds support,” says Mary Robinson, the UN’s special envoy to the Great Lakes responsible for overseeing the implementation of the peace framework.
“My message to you is to seize the opportunity and stay engaged,” she added, addressing the private sector representatives in the room. Companies at the conference included multinationals such as Coca Cola and Diageo, as well as SMEs and consultants from across the continent.
But while the idea of bringing opportunity through business to communities devastated by years of violence may be appealing in principle, the obstacles remain immense. The challenges for businesses attempting to operate in DRC echo the refrains of barriers to business across the continent: instability, lack of infrastructure, lack of regional integration, insufficient power supplies, difficulty accessing financing. DRC’s many years of conflict mean that these challenges are more extreme than most. Years of conflict mean that this country, which is larger than the European Union, only has some 2,000 kms of paved roads, for instance. The World Bank ranked the country 183rd out of 189 for ease of doing business in 2014.
Despite these challenges, regional leaders remain bullish on welcoming investors - albeit only of a certain type.
“If the right investors don’t come, then the wrong investors will come, and they will perpetuate the cycle of conflict and instability,” warns Mr Sezibara.
Whether or not the mechanisms to filter such responsible investors out from those who would perpetuate the Great Lakes’ history of conflict are yet in place remains to be seen.
Encouraging private sector involvement in post-conflict areas is a new approach to breaking the cycle of violence - an area traditionally reserved for humanitarian actors and aid agencies. Commercial interests in the Great Lakes’ vast natural wealth - particularly in valuable minerals including diamonds, copper and coltan - have long been understood to be one of the root causes of the region’s instability. According to some estimates, prior to the implementation of the US’s mining transparency reporting laws last year minerals such as tin, tantalum and tungsten - used in computers and mobile phones - generated $185m per year for DRC militant groups. The result has been more than three decades of nearly continuous unrest, particularly in the country’s east.
“Africa’s history is unfortunately replete with stories of societies torn apart by the activities of unruly and irresponsible private investors who often thrive in chaos and make it their business to maintain an environment of fear and lawlessness as part of their investment approach,” Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn claimed at the event.
“It is only by cultivating responsible investment and creating an environment that will encourage such investment that the tendency to thrive in environments that harm will end… and will turn resource curses into tremendous opportunities.”
The thinking behind the ‘business for peace’ paradigm is relatively straightforward: if cycles of violence are fuelled by scarcity and lack of economic opportunity, bringing in businesses and investors as early in the post-conflict transition period as possible will offer locals opportunities that will make militancy less attractive. Likewise, businesses can take advantage of growing demands for goods and services in newly stabilising markets. The approach appears is being championed by the UN, with support from regional leaders, in the aftermath of DRC’s most recent uprising by M23 militants - allegedly tied to the Rwandan government - in the conflict-prone eastern Kivu provinces. A peace agreement was brokered last year.
“Advancing regional economic integration through encouraging responsible investment has been one of my top priorities, and my interactions with heads of state in the region on these have been characterized with universal enthusiasm and sounds support,” says Mary Robinson, the UN’s special envoy to the Great Lakes responsible for overseeing the implementation of the peace framework.
“My message to you is to seize the opportunity and stay engaged,” she added, addressing the private sector representatives in the room. Companies at the conference included multinationals such as Coca Cola and Diageo, as well as SMEs and consultants from across the continent.
But while the idea of bringing opportunity through business to communities devastated by years of violence may be appealing in principle, the obstacles remain immense. The challenges for businesses attempting to operate in DRC echo the refrains of barriers to business across the continent: instability, lack of infrastructure, lack of regional integration, insufficient power supplies, difficulty accessing financing. DRC’s many years of conflict mean that these challenges are more extreme than most. Years of conflict mean that this country, which is larger than the European Union, only has some 2,000 kms of paved roads, for instance. The World Bank ranked the country 183rd out of 189 for ease of doing business in 2014.
Despite these challenges, regional leaders remain bullish on welcoming investors - albeit only of a certain type.
“If the right investors don’t come, then the wrong investors will come, and they will perpetuate the cycle of conflict and instability,” warns Mr Sezibara.
Whether or not the mechanisms to filter such responsible investors out from those who would perpetuate the Great Lakes’ history of conflict are yet in place remains to be seen.
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