Final Report Submitted to the United States Agency for International Development Conflict Timber: Dimensions of the Problem in Asia and Africa Volume III African Cases Authors Murl Baker, Conflict Resolution Specialist Robert Clausen, Forester Ramzy Kanaan, Natural Resources Management Specialist Michel N’Goma, Forester Trifin Roule, Forensic Economist Jamie Thomson, Institutional Specialist Under the Biodiversity and Sustainable Forestry (BIOFOR) IQC Contract No. LAG-I-00-99-00013-00, Task Order 09 Submitted to: USAID/OTI and USAID/ANE/TS Submitted by: ARD, Inc. 159 Bank Street, Suite 300 Burlington, Vermont USA 05401 Tel: (802) 658-3890 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS................................................................................................................... ii OVERVIEW OF CONFLICT TIMBER IN AFRICA .............................................................................................1 DR CONGO CASE STUDY AND APPENDIXES ...................................................................................................7 GABON CASE STUDY ..........................................................................................................................................116 GUINEA CASE STUDY.........................................................................................................................................126 LIBERIA CASE STUDY ........................................................................................................................................137 SIERRA LEONE CASE STUDY...........................................................................................................................151 Conflict Timber: Dimensions of the Problem in Asia and Africa i Volume III Acronyms and Abbreviations ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS General CIA Central Intelligence Agency CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FOB Free on Board GDP Gross Domestic Product GEF Global Environment Facility GFW Global Forest Watch ha hectares HIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome IBC International Business Company IMF International Monetary Fund IRIN UN Integrated Regional Information Networks IRM Integrated Resource Management ITTO International Tropical Timber Organization km² square kilometers m³ cubic meters MT metric tons NGO Nongovernmental Organization OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OTI Office of Transition Initiatives PVO Private Voluntary Organization RIL Reduced Impact Logging RSA Republic of South Africa SADC Southern African Development Community TI Transparency International UAE United Arab Emirates UN United Nations UNCED United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNEP United Nations Environment Program UNICEF United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund USAID United States Agency for International Development Democratic Republic of the Congo ADF Allied Democratic Forces (Ugandan insurgents) ADFL Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberalization of the Congo ANR Agence National de Renseignements APNAC African Parliamentarians Network against Corruption BCD Banque de Commerce et de Développement CARPE Central African Regional Program for the Environment CENADEP Centre National d’Appui au Développement et à la Participation Populaire COSLEG joint venture between Operation for Sovereign Legitimacy (Osleg) from Zimbabwe and Comiex-Congo from the Congo DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo FATF Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering FAZ Forces Armées Zaïroises (Armed Forces of Zaire) ii Conflict Timber: Dimensions of the Problem in Asia and Africa Volume III Table of Contents FDD Forces de Defense pour la Democratie (armed rebel group in Burundi) FNL Forces Nationales de Liberation (armed rebel group in Burundi) GOC Government of the Congo IPF Intergovernmental Panel on Forests IPIS International Peace Information Service IRC International Rescue Committee K/ML Kisangani/Mouvement de Libération (RCD Liberation Movement) LRA Lord's Resistance Army (armed rebel group in Uganda) MLC Movement for the Liberation of the Congo MONUC United Nations Observer Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo NFMP National Forestry Master Plan OCC Office Congolais de Contrôle OFIDA Office des Douanes et Accises (Customs Department) OGEFREM Office de Gestion du Fret Maritime (National Office for Freight Shipments) ONATRA Office National de Transport RCD Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (Congolese Rally for Democracy) RPF Rwandan Patriotic Front SABENA Societe Anonym Belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation Aerienne (Belgian airline) SOCEBO Société congolaise d’exploitation du bois (subsidiary of COSLEG) SPIAF Service Permanent d'Inventaire et d'Amenagement Forestier (key institution in the DRC for remote sensing and GIS techniques) UPDF Uganda People’s Defense Forces ZDF Zimbabwean Defense Forces Gabon BDG Bloc Démocratique Gabonais CEB Compagnie Equatoriale des Bois GoG Government of Gabon PDG Parti Démocratique Gabonais RNB/RPG Rassemblement National des Boucherons/Rassemble pour le Gabon SBL Société des Bois de Lastourville SHM Société de la Haute Mondah SNBG Société Nationale des Bois du Gabon UDSG Union Démocratique et Social Gabonaise Guinea BIAG Banque International pour l'Afrique en Guinee BICIGUI Banque Internationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie en Guinee BIG Banque Islamique de Guinee BPMG Banque Populaire Maroc-Guineenne DNEF Département National des Eaux et Forêts Rusal Russian Aluminum PDG Parti Democratique Guinéen (PDG) RUF Revolutionary United Front SGBG Societe Generale des Banques en Guinee UIBG Union Internationale de Banques en Guinee Conflict Timber: Dimensions of the Problem in Asia and Africa iii Volume III Acronyms and Abbreviations Liberia ACS American Colonization Company OTC Oriental Timber Company RUF Revolutionary United Front SAMFU Save My Future Foundations Sierra Leone MANRF Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Forestry RUF Revolutionary United Front iv Conflict Timber: Dimensions of the Problem in Asia and Africa Volume III OverviewOverview ofof ConflictConflict TimberTimber in in Afric Asiaa Figure 1. Forest Resources in Africa Source: World Resources Institute: Forest Frontiers Initiative OVERVIEW OF CONFLICT TIMBER IN AFRICA Conflict timber as defined in this study occurs in several settings in contemporary Africa. The Conflict Timber Study Team targeted two types of conflict timber incidents: • Conflicts fueled by forest resources, and • Conflicts emerging because of competition over forest resources. This volume contains an in-depth study of conflict timber in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as well as shorter, comparative desk studies of conflict timber in several other countries—among them Liberia. The latter country is clearly the “poster child” of African conflict timber. The country’s president, Charles Taylor, has authorized logging concessionaires to harvest timber which he has then exchanged with external partners to obtain the means of war—light arms, helicopter parts, etc. These transactions have involved both timber sales, typically of raw logs, as well as logs bartered directly in exchange for arms. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been a prominent Liberian barter partner in the recent Conflict Timber: Dimensions of the Problem in Asia and Africa 1 Volume III Overview of Conflict Timber in Africa past. Taylor has used the timber-based military resources he has acquired to maintain his power at home and to pursue wars against Liberia’s immediate neighbors (Sierra Leone, Guinea and, most recently, the Ivory Coast). Although the DRC has by far the largest remaining forest reserves in Africa, logging there might almost be characterized as practically non-existent when compared to deforestation rates in neighboring countries in the West and Central African forestry belt. A comparison of Figure 1 on the previous page and the bar graph that appears in the Appendix 2 of the DRC’s Country Study (Figure A-2.2, “African Timber Exports by Country Since 1988”) highlights the disparity. The recent civil war in the DRC goes a long way to explaining this curious state of affairs, where the country with the greatest forest reserves does the least logging. Eleven main trends affecting conflict timber incidents can be identified in Africa: (1) Major Type I incidents (“trees for conflict”) currently occur only in Liberia and the DRC, a mere two countries out of Africa’s total of 52 (or, in absolute numerical terms, in less than four percent of African polities). A brief glance at Figure 1 reveals why: fewer and fewer countries in contemporary Africa retain enough trees to motivate Type I incidents. Former major West African timber producers, e.g., Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, have severely reduced their stocks over the course of the 20th century, clearing forests both to earn foreign exchange and to accommodate the spread of agriculture and tree crops (cocoa and coffee). Central African states such as Gabon, Cameroon and Congo/Brazzaville have likewise, in recent years, felled much of their standing timber (see DRC Country Study, Figure A-2.2, “African Timber Exports by Country Since 1988,” in Appendix 2). Though much timber remains in Central Africa, those countries continue to authorize accelerated logging pressure on their natural forests. Existing and new