Несмотря на опасность со стороны смертоносных вооруженных группировок, бродящих по сельской местности, Джудит Кахиндо каждый день в одиночку ходит на свою уединенную плантацию какао в раздираемом войной регионе Северное Киву на востоке Демократической Республики Конго.

Северное Киву в основном богато колтаном и другими полезными ископаемыми, которые подпитывают боевые действия, опустошающие регион в течение последних трех десятилетий.

С января повстанческая группировка М23 захватила обширные территории, в том числе столицу Гому.

Но дальше на север, в Бени, какао, цены на которое взлетели на мировом рынке за последние два года, также разжигает насилие.

Массовые убийства, совершенные повстанцами Объединенных демократических сил (АДС), которые присягнули на верность группировке «Исламское государство», привели к тысячам погибших и в течение многих лет не позволяли фермерам, выращивающим какао, получить доступ к своим плантациям.

«Мы возделываем наши поля из страха быть убитыми, потому что какао так желанно, будь то повстанцы или даже наши солдаты», — сказала Кахиндо, вдова с восемью детьми, прорубая себе путь через запутанный лес с помощью мачете.

Производство какао в ДРК остается относительно незначительным и составляет чуть более одного процента от мирового производства.

Контрабанда

But that is still enough to attract the attention of various armed groups in Beni who fuel smuggling networks to neighbouring Uganda, according to those involved in the sector.

 

Национальное управление сельскохозяйственной продукции Конго – это центр активности во время сезона сбора урожая какао. Фото: PHILÉMON BARBIER / AFP/Источник файла: AFP

"If there wasn't cocoa in abundance in Beni, the war would already have finished," said Kahindo.

The ADF are not the only threat to people in the area.

"There are people who are taking advantage of the terror caused by the ADF to steal," said Colonel Mak Hazukay, the Congolese army spokesman in the area. 

Even before the emergence of the ADF in the 2000s, the region was already plagued by attacks from the "sangabalende" –- criminal groups that specialised in cocoa theft and smuggling, said Richard Kirumba, Beni civil society president.

Kirumba also said that some Congolese soldiers deployed to protect people from the ADF actually tax cocoa traders or loot abandoned fields.

Stolen cocoa is often trafficked through cross-border smuggling networks.

"The criminals sell the cocoa as it is. They just cut it, remove the husks that protect the beans and then sell it directly," said Frank Ndinyoka Kabeya, a cocoa buyer and a member of the Union of Traders of Agricultural Products in Congo.

Unwary buyers risk being stopped by police. But checks are lax in a country where corruption is endemic, according to NGO Transparency International.

On Beni's streets cocoa beans heaped on tarpaulins can be seen drying in the sun and are mainly sold to "small buyers", circumventing certification processes, said Karim Sibenda, an agricultural engineer at a local chocolate factory.

Органический

At the National Office of Agricultural Products of Congo (ONAPAC), which is responsible for certifying the quality and origin of cocoa for export, there is a buzz of activity during the harvest season.

 

Конголезские производители обвиняют Уганду в дестабилизации рынка. Фото: PHILÉMON BARBIER / AFP/Источник файла: AFP

Tonnes of beans with a vinegary scent are piled up in the warehouse, where employees fill and stamp canvas bags destined for export.

Company employee Agee Mbughavinywa, who buys and certifies agricultural products, said cocoa producers are identified by a code to ensure traceability. 

The bags of cocoa beans are then mainly exported to Uganda, like other agricultural goods in the region.

Since the end of 2021, the DRC authorised Ugandan troops to operate in the region and fight the ADF alongside the Congolese army.

Their presence has been vital in securing vital trade routes and increase exports, ONACAP said.

But this rapprochement between Kinshasa and Kampala has sparked fears in the cocoa market.

"Ugandan buyers are destabilising the sector, they come with cash in hand and impose their prices on producers," said ONACAP's Beni director.

"They don't look at the quality, they take everything and export it under a Ugandan label, this is hampering the country's economy," she said.

In Beni, traditional farming methods and particularly fertile soil allow for the production of organic cocoa.

But the violence is also threatening its organic status. The European Union recently threatened to no longer recognise the label on local products, as insecurity prevents certification by inspectors.

Industry stakeholders fear that could encourage fraudulent exports of Congolese cocoa as Ugandan.