Assignment:
1. How is the “informal” conveyed within in your city? Illustrate key informal/formal differences in spatial use through evidence provided in local newspaper, blog, or website insights. Map some aspect of this “informal”/”formal” dynamic with AfricaMap and/or Google Earth. Provide screen shots.
In attempting to understand the informal sector in Bangui and the CAR, I can across the complexities of the current diamond industry. According to Gridneff, U.S. Geological Survey cites CAR as ‘the world’s 12th-biggest producer of diamonds… in 2012.” There are as many as 100,000 subsistence miners and 600,000 people, about 13 percent of the country’s population, depend at least partly on mining for their income, according to IPIS (International Peace Information Service). About 30 percent of the country’s diamonds and 95 percent of gold leaves the country secretly, according to IPIS (Bloomberg).
Diamonds can be found across the country and have been exploited since colonial times. In 1960, after independence, the government liberalized the mining industry and opened the mines to everyone (Bloomberg). Mining companies have repeatedly tried to extract diamonds on an industrial scale and largely failed because the deposits are alluvial, spread thinly across two large river systems (International Crisis Group).That has led to a dominant informality in the mines for several reasons. The international crisis group reports high government taxes on the diamond transactions, government closure of diamond exporting companies as well as political conflict for the rise of informality in the diamond sector.
Voice of America and Bloomberg report that diamonds and diamond territory has played a role in the recent conflict in CAR were armed groups have asserted their authority over mining zones and manage and control those zones while extorting the informal ‘artisanal’ miners. ‘For Seleka militias, control of diamond production was a key grievance against [recently ousted President] Bozize, who in 2008 sought to create a monopoly over the domestic market for his relatives and members of his ethnic group, according to the International Crisis Group, a Belgian-based think-tank. In May 2013, as the Seleka took control of Bangui, Kimberley Process regulators banned CAR diamonds from world markets, an attempt to keep the gems from fueling further violence.’ (Voice of America)
Sources;
"Dangerous Little Stones: Diamonds in the Central African Republic." - International Crisis Group. N.p., 10 June 2011. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
Dietrich, Christian. "Diamonds in the Central African Republic: Trading, Valuing and Laundering." ReliefWeb. N.p., 13 Jan. 2003. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
Gridneff, Ilya. "Blood Gold Flows Illegally From Central African Republic."Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 8 Mar. 2015. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.
KOURA, BAGASSI, and MIKE ECKEL. "In Central African Republic, Diamonds Fuel A Cycle of Violence and Poverty." Voice of America. N.p., 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
1. How is the “informal” conveyed within in your city? Illustrate key informal/formal differences in spatial use through evidence provided in local newspaper, blog, or website insights. Map some aspect of this “informal”/”formal” dynamic with AfricaMap and/or Google Earth. Provide screen shots.
In attempting to understand the informal sector in Bangui and the CAR, I can across the complexities of the current diamond industry. According to Gridneff, U.S. Geological Survey cites CAR as ‘the world’s 12th-biggest producer of diamonds… in 2012.” There are as many as 100,000 subsistence miners and 600,000 people, about 13 percent of the country’s population, depend at least partly on mining for their income, according to IPIS (International Peace Information Service). About 30 percent of the country’s diamonds and 95 percent of gold leaves the country secretly, according to IPIS (Bloomberg).
Diamonds can be found across the country and have been exploited since colonial times. In 1960, after independence, the government liberalized the mining industry and opened the mines to everyone (Bloomberg). Mining companies have repeatedly tried to extract diamonds on an industrial scale and largely failed because the deposits are alluvial, spread thinly across two large river systems (International Crisis Group).That has led to a dominant informality in the mines for several reasons. The international crisis group reports high government taxes on the diamond transactions, government closure of diamond exporting companies as well as political conflict for the rise of informality in the diamond sector.
Voice of America and Bloomberg report that diamonds and diamond territory has played a role in the recent conflict in CAR were armed groups have asserted their authority over mining zones and manage and control those zones while extorting the informal ‘artisanal’ miners. ‘For Seleka militias, control of diamond production was a key grievance against [recently ousted President] Bozize, who in 2008 sought to create a monopoly over the domestic market for his relatives and members of his ethnic group, according to the International Crisis Group, a Belgian-based think-tank. In May 2013, as the Seleka took control of Bangui, Kimberley Process regulators banned CAR diamonds from world markets, an attempt to keep the gems from fueling further violence.’ (Voice of America)
Sources;
"Dangerous Little Stones: Diamonds in the Central African Republic." - International Crisis Group. N.p., 10 June 2011. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
Dietrich, Christian. "Diamonds in the Central African Republic: Trading, Valuing and Laundering." ReliefWeb. N.p., 13 Jan. 2003. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
Gridneff, Ilya. "Blood Gold Flows Illegally From Central African Republic."Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg, 8 Mar. 2015. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.
KOURA, BAGASSI, and MIKE ECKEL. "In Central African Republic, Diamonds Fuel A Cycle of Violence and Poverty." Voice of America. N.p., 15 Dec. 2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2016.
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