Congo Republic to Close Illegal Logging Operations
2/23/99
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Title: Congo Republic to Close Illegal Sawmill
Source: Reuters Limited
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: February 23, 1999
BRAZZAVILLE - The Congolese government is to close down all illegal
sawmills that process logs stolen from forestry operators in the
north of the country.
"These illegal sawmills are situated on the banks of the River Congo
to the north and south of Brazzaville," government spokesman Francois
Ibovi said on Thursday after a cabinet meeting.
Ibovi said 12,712 cubic metres of logs had been stolen from forestry
operators between June 1997 and April 1998, for a total value of 1.73
billion CFA francs ($2.9 million).
"The majority of the stolen wood, or 77 percent, is smuggled into a
neighbouring country and the rest of it goes to illegal sawmills,"
Ibovi said.
He did not specify the country, but industry sources say much of
Congo's stolen timber finds its way into neighbouring Democratic
Republic of the Congo, across the River Congo.
As a result of timber theft, many forestry operators now export their
logs via the port of Douala in Cameroon.
Each year nearly 100,000 cubic metres of wood from northern Congo
leaves via Douala rather than the Congolese port of Pointe Noire.
This represents a loss in earnings for the Congolese state of more
than one billion CFA francs.
Congo produced 560,000 cubic metres in 1996. The estimate for 1997
was 300,000, lower because of civil war, and no figure is available
yet for 1998.
The government wants to create special surveillance teams from the
ministry of Water and Forests and the police force to combat the
illegal trade in timber.
Congo's forests cover 20 million hectares, of which 14 million are
commercially exploited by around 14 forestry companies. Timber is the
second biggest export earner after oil.