These days we are greeted with a lot of “good” news. Our government has been actively carrying out geological surveys and we now know for certain that we have fossil fuel and uranium. People are euphoric. There’s a renewed hope among the majority that these mines will solve all our problems. We have hit the jackpot, so goes the collective thinking. In our collective euphoria, we haven’t asked what we ought to be asking: Will we be mining happiness or will these recently discovered mines add more to our collective misery?
Not trying to be a doomsayer, but imagine a scenario: we go about commercially mining the resources. Then, as the work nears completion, refineries or airstrips built to transport the raw products, suddenly the government of the day is toppled. The previous government is corrupt to the core and the one that replaces is not only corrupt but brutal. Armed outfits are formed overnight and they take control of the mines. Foreign governments and actors that do not want us to exploit the resources or those who want to buy those on the cheap covertly support armed outfits controlling the mines.
Other external actors move in and create and support more armed outfits. And while all this is happening, major political parties squabble over who gets to form the government and increasingly depend on armed outfits controlling the mines for financial support. Ethnic tensions are highlighted and the country finds itself in a never-ending civil war. The armed outfits and external actors encourage this trend as it will keep the government and the security forces occupied, thereby letting them carry out illegal mining. We may even hear of a country that has no uranium becoming the world’s major exporter of uranium. While many parts of world use the uranium from Nepal to light themselves up, we ourselves would be living in the dark.
That is not all. Travel restrictions will be placed on our youth and remittance will suffer. The economy will be destroyed and the youth, with nowhere to turn to for employment, will join armed outfits. Most of the country will be ruled by extremist forces and warlords with their own militias.
Wars will break out between the armed outfits and suddenly a country that is the sixth largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions will find peacekeepers of other countries in its territories. A country that could have been the richest in the region becomes one of the poorest and most violent.
Far-fetched? Think again.
More or less the same thing has already happened to many African countries, for example Sierra Leone, which has suffered much because of its diamonds. The 11-year-long civil war from 1991 to 2002 killed more than 50,000 people; a million were displaced and countless mutilated over who got to control the diamonds. Similarly, the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is because of its natural resources including uranium, rubber, zinc, gold and copper. According to BBC, “ the billions of pounds those minerals have generated have brought nothing but misery and death to the very people who live on top of them, while enriching a microscopic elite in the Congo and their foreign backer” (DR Congo: Cursed by its natural wealth, Oct 9, 2013).
If we do not learn from the mistakes of African countries, we are bound to repeat them and very well become another Sierra Leone or DRC.
Department of Mines and Geology grants permission to 156 mining...
Path to prosperity
To avoid the resource-curse of African countries and mine happiness instead of misery, the government should immediately make the areas with mines restricted zones. No photography or filming should be allowed and it should impose no-fly zones over the mines. The people living near the mines should be relocated by offering them generous packages. No outsider, whether a Nepali national or a foreign national, should be allowed even in the vicinity of the mines without government clearance. Once the area is cleared of human settlement, the government needs to think of how to go about exploiting the resources.
Instead of relying on outsiders or private firms for funding, we need to fund mining on our own through public-private partnership. Those living in the region with mines must be given the majority share and 90 percent of whatever we get from exporting raw or finished products should be spent on the development of the region. Once the locals feel that they own the mines and once they are getting money, they will be disinclined to join illegal outfits that are eyeing the mines. Also, the happy locals can be a source of intelligence. They can notify the government of any suspicious activities thus making it easier to nip the troublemakers in the bud.
While it may take some time for the government to decide on the best course of action regarding money, one thing it can do right away is stop the small firearms and assault rifles from entering the country. Broader and better surveillance of our borders is a must because the weapons for existing or potential rebel groups don’t come in caches. One or two firearms a day can make things really ugly after a year or two. And usually it’s the mines that rebel groups, homegrown or supported by external actors, want to control.
Denying them of their AK-47s from this day onward, spending more on border surveillance, intelligence and training and equipping our security forces need to be done right away if we are to avert a major catastrophe in the not so distant future. Similarly, no political parties, if they want the country’s good, should indulge in extreme ethnic politics or encourage people to take up arms for yet another revolution, if we are to avoid a mining misery. Beginning this very moment they should be pressing the government to strengthen—and abide by its commitments to—independent judiciary and free press. This will ensure that any wrongdoing concerning the mines will be punished.
From water, fossil fuel, semi-precious stones, minerals including uranium, we have them scattered all over Nepal and with public private partnership, strong security forces, responsible political parties, these resources can be a force for good if we exploit them right. Otherwise these same resources will make Nepal miserable, more miserable than it already is.
By the way, the uranium used in the bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki came from Shinkolobwe, a town in the DRC.
trailokyaa@yahoo.com
