Rwanda has launched a new mineral export certificate to curb allegations of smuggling of precious metals from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The new export certificate is for all minerals not usually covered by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) export certificate.
The country now has two different mineral export certificates namely the ICGLR mineral export certificate designated for principal minerals of tin, tungsten and tantalum — commonly known as “The 3 Ts” — and the second one for the rest of minerals, including gold.
Government officials say all the country’s mineral exports are traded legitimately, even as a new report by the UN Security Council said that smuggling of minerals from DR Congo, mainly gold, is conducted by its neighbours.
The report said that smugglers in eastern DR Congo in areas controlled by armed groups sold untagged minerals to middlemen, who in turn sold the minerals across the border in Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania.
