NGOs have called on the Bank to investigate two mining contracts between the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) state mining company, Gecamines, and two British Virgin Island-based companies. Under the Bank’s supervision of the mining sector, both agreements were ratified without an international invitation to tender. UK-based NGO Rights and Accountability in Development and two Belgium-based NGOs are also asking for an investigation into the Bank’s programme for restructuring Gecamines. In the early 1990s Gecamines was the most lucrative source of state revenue in the DRC, but it has been stripped of its assets through a number of disadvantageous contracts.
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Investigation demanded into World Bank reform of DRC mining
8 April 2006