Digging For Peace
Private Companies and Emerging Economies in Zones of Conflict
International Fatal Transactions Conference 2008
Venue: Deutsche Welle, Bonn, Germany
Time: Friday and Saturday, 21 - 22 November 2008
(Steering Group Meeting: 23 November 2008)
Contact: International FT Secretariat, Frederiek Biemans (frederiek.biemans@niza.nl),
Phone: +31(0) 20 520 62 10
This conference is co-funded by the European Union. The contents of this conference is the sole responsibility of Fatal Transactions and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.
- The audiorecordings of the panels as well as pdf files of the speakers' PowerPoint presentations are now online. They are both available on the program page.
In addition, you can access the speakers' biographies by clicking on their name. - Picture Gallery
- Conference report
- brief 38: Lena Guesnet, Jolien Schure, and Wolf-Christian Paes (eds.)
Digging for Peace
Private Companies and Emerging Economies in Zones of Conflict
Introduction
The context in which resource extraction is taking place is changing with its impact mostly felt in African developing countries. Large mining investors and multinational corporations start their explorations in resource-rich countries that are at times recovering from years of violent conflict and struggling to keep up a fragile peace. Institutional donors talk about ‘responsible resource management’ as a possible solution for dealing with conflict potential and stimulating positive development. At the same time, new actors such as China have entered the resource market closing large mining deals that change the landscape of the African resource sector.
This year's Annual Fatal Transactions Conference will take place in Bonn from 21 - 22 November 2008. Fatal Transactions member BICC (Bonn International Center for Conversion) will be hosting this two-day event. BICC is an independent, non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting peace and development through the efficient and effective transformation of military-related structures, assets, functions and processes. One of BICC’s fields of expertise is research on the link between commercially exploitable resources and the outbreak and continuation of armed conflicts in Africa.
The conference “Digging for Peace: Private Companies and Emerging Economies in Zones of Conflict” will offer a platform for analysing the current status quo of resource extraction in (potential) conflict areas by presenting case studies of current hot spots in Africa such as Chad, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although companies increase their efforts in positively engaging in post-conflict dynamics, they often are also part of the problem as they become an actor in the conflict instead of a promoter of peace. Fatal Transactions wants to analyse this problem and discuss possible interventions by companies and governments alike to address the issue.
Recently, the most prominent group of mining companies entering the African resource and mining market has been coming from China. Therefore, the emerging role of China in Africa’s resource extractive business will be the main topic of the second day of the conference. China’s role in Africa has become a popular subject amongst academics, NGOs and policy-makers. Fatal Transactions, however, argues that the debate poorly addresses the possible long-term effects of Chinese investments in Africa on security and stability. Do Chinese investments pose a threat to African peace and stability or will they contribute to sustainable economic growth? Another question is whether there is a role for European companies, civil society and governments in this up-and-coming South-South relationship.
International experts, together with conference participants will discuss the topics outlined above.
RSS Feed