Africa: CSOs Urged to Enhance Advocacy On Mining Reforms

Bennet Simbeye

28 June 2011

Harare — THE 13th annual strategy meeting of the African Initiative on Mining, Environment and Society (AIMES) has ended here with a call for African civil society organisations to enhance their advocacy on the mining reform agenda.

Under the theme, ‘The African mining reform agenda and regional harmonisation: mobilising for developmental impacts’, the meeting brought together civil society organisations from across Africa to look at critical interventions that would help countries, regions and the continent adopt common mining regimes that effectively benefit citizens.

Leading the calls, Zimbabwean member of Parliament for Gurure Constituency Chindori Chininga said civil society should share ideas and experiences in order to contribute to strategies and programmes at national, regional and continental level.

Mr Chininga, who is also chairperson of the parliamentary committee on mining and energy, said this would be aimed at ensuring that African nations benefitted substantially from their natural resources.

He said Nordic countries had been able to benefit more from the extractive industry and that Africa should seek to benefit from its natural resources.

And a communiqué released at the end of the meeting called for speedy completion and implementation of the harmonisation of existing policies and formulation and adoption of norms which enhanced cooperation.

The 32 civil society organisations attending the meeting urged African governments to improve understanding and quality of the reform agenda and secure maximum support for it while remaining united in their commitment to forge ahead with the reform as an alternative paradigm to mining on the continent.

The organisations were from Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Zambia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Zambia was represented at the meeting by Citizens for a Better Environment (CBE).

Meanwhile, CBE has expressed hope that mining companies would continue to uphold environmental laws in their operations.

CBE environmental officer Belinda Zimba said it was expected of the companies, both old and new, to respect environmental and mining laws.

Ms Zimba said though there had been cases of environmental pollution in the past with major mining companies, there was countrywide expectation that such incidents would be reduced to the minimum.

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