142 Scarcity and Surfeit
disaggregate the role rebel political messages have carried and what precise
impact they have had on coffee production.
Direct manifestations of the role of coffee in the conflict have come to light
in recent years. A United States agency report found that due to foreign
exchange reserves shortfalls, the government had mortgaged future coffee
production (tea, cotton and sesame were also mentioned as mortgaged) as
payment for arms and munitions for the war. This desperate action came as
the Hutu insurgency escalated and regional economic sanctions bit, depriv-
ing the government of hard currencies with which to procure arms.123 The
suspension of international financial assistance since 1993 ensured that the
only remaining source of government foreign exchange was the export of cof-
fee and, to a small extent, that of tea. The escalation of the war and regional
economic sanctions frustrated the government's efforts to get the reduced
coffee production to the world market.
More recently, a UN report unearthed evidence to the effect that coffee
from the DRC is being smuggled to Burundi where it is mixed with and
exported as Burundi coffee.lZ4 The UN report, undertaken to investigate the
illegal exploitation of the DRC's natural resources and other forms of wealth,
has firmly focused the limelight on the regional network of smugglers and
illicit traders and their role in the continuation of the conflicts in the Great
Lakes region.
Specific Areas of Conflict
The foregoing discussion points to two levels of conflict, direct and indirect.
Indirectly, the conflict arising from the relatively low earnings of the primary
producers in relation to other players in the sector is subtle because of the
relative ignorance of farmers about the export price for coffee and the com-
plicated payment system administered by the state.lz5
At the direct level, there are two forms of conflict. One, the diminishing
land space imposes the temptation to return to subsistence and/or food agri-
culture. Because it is illegal to uproot coffee trees, farmers are faced with a
situation where they place little emphasis on the production of coffee while
concentrating on food crops. Additionally, scarce land increases the pressure
on land resources, leading to environmental deterioration, made worse by
inadequate government investment in the sector and the continuing civil
war. The other form of conflict, briefly discussed above is the politicisation
of the coffee subsector and its role in prolonging the conflict.lZ6
Land and Land-related IssuesThe problem of land scarcity and the unsustainable population growth in the
Great Lakes region generally, but in Burundi and Rwanda in particular, and