Thread by @GI_TOC

📒 In the latest issue of our East and Southern Africa Risk Bulletin, our lead story looks at the new wave of violence in #Zimbabwe’s #goldmining sector. 🇿🇼⛏️
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🗺️ The map below shows incidents reported Nov 2019-Jan 2020 in the Zimbabwean media over the past few months, but the real number of dead and injured is likely to be higher:
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🔴 The violence has been high throughout 2019: the Zimbabwe Peace Project has reported that, August-October 2019, there were 129 murders linked to mining in and around Kadoma alone 👉 bit.ly/2RCWtJW
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...This includes:

⛏️🚔Deaths of miners at the hands of police

🔥Violent clashes between armed gangs over mining areas and gold ore finds

💥The deaths of citizens caught in the crossfire.

❓What is driving this? Why is it so violent, and why now?
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Since 2015, the Zimbabwean government has begun decriminalizing artisanal #goldmining. 🇿🇼⛏️🚫🏛️
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...Key to this is the state gold buyer, FPR, began buying gold on a ‘no questions asked’ policy.

👉 It has had a dramatic effect on Zimbabwe’s gold take, as small-scale mining has begun to outpace large-scale producers.
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Bringing small-scale producers into the formal gold sector is a laudable aim, but the ‘no questions asked’ policy has created a free-for-all, as criminal groups can exploit #goldmining in the knowledge that their gold will find an easy route to the legal market.
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Added to this, leading members of the ruling ZANU-PF are reportedly linked to illegal mining groups, offering protection to mining gangs in return for support and #goldmining profits 💸

This has made a perfect storm for the volatile, violent market we see today.
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🔴 See this issue of the #RriskBulletin📒 for the full story and sign up here to receive future updates of the Risk Bulletin: ⬇️ globalinitiative.net/esaobs-risk-bu…