The Carter Center welcomes recent steps taken by the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to advance the review of natural resource contracts negotiated during and immediately following its deadly years of conflict. The government's effort to inform companies of problems in the contracts and invite them into a process to address these problems is a promising development that merits international support.
Billions of dollars worth of natural resource contracts were concluded by the DRC before any elected government was in place to lend them legitimacy. The agreements were made without independent valuation. Many lack basic provisions to insure that mining companies fulfill their limited obligations or protections against pricing practices to insure that companies acknowledge the real benefits of their operations. In a time of extraordinary prices in the metals market, there are almost no provisions to ensure an equitable sharing of windfall profits with the country.
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