DRC: Government finally publishes mining review

The Congolese government, in the wake of the Carter Center press release on March 10, 2008 and at the end of a five-day mining conference in the Congo, published the final report of the mining contract review, which was initiated in April 2007. The report indicated that the government launched the review process to make certain that Congo's mineral wealth benefit the people of the Congo. In order to achieve this goal the government had to review 61 existing mining contracts and establish a process for rectifying the abusive contracts. Deputy Mines Minister Victor Kasongo noted "that none of the contracts met international standards of contracts."