Coltan - Roots Of Congo Atrocities & War Lie Inside Your Cell Phone

[hatrack]

ONE hundred feet beneath the green slope of a steep hill in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a man lying flat on his front in a narrow tunnel chips at a rock face with a hammer and chisel. After two hours, drenched in sweat, he tugs on a cord tied to his waist and is pulled back to the surface, carrying with him a 30kg sack of raw columbium-tantalite ore. Some mines use child labour, often for no pay at all.

Few people have heard of this rare mineral, known as coltan, even though millions of people in the developed world rely on it. But global demand for it, and a handful of other materials used in everything from mobile phones to soup tins, is keeping the armies of Congo's ceaseless wars fighting. More than 80 per cent of the world's coltan is in Africa, and 80 per cent of that lies in territory controlled by Congo's various rebel groups, armed militias and its corrupt and underfunded national army.

Despite Friday's ceasefire summit in Nairobi and diplomatic visits to Congo by earnest international politicians and diplomats, there will be no peace until the economic forces driving the conflict are addressed, experts warn.In 2007, 428 metric tonnes of coltan, worth around €2.4m, was exported from North and South Kivu, according to the provincial ministry of mines. But these figures are notoriously inaccurate, and take no account of smuggled minerals.

There is nothing illegal in buying or using coltan, despite concerns that some of profits help fund Congo's many armed groups. All of the big electronics manufacturers say that they make every effort to ensure that they use products are from legitimate mines. But it is impossible for customers to know for sure that the tantalum in their mobile phone, DVD player or desktop computer did not come from a rebel-held mine in Congo. Buyers say that ore from these mines is mixed with that from legitimate mines. There is no equivalent of the Kimberley Process, the international system used to certify that diamonds are from conflict-free areas.

EDIT

http://www.independent.ie/world-news/africa/mobile-phones-link-to-bloody-congo-conflict-1529936.html

Global Witness said Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu provinces were rich in cassiterite (tin ore), gold and coltan, with trade in such minerals underpinning a decade of conflict and human rights abuses. "Short-term diplomatic initiatives will not produce lasting peace unless the underlying causes of the conflict are addressed," it said in a statement from its London headquarters.

"The economic benefits of fighting a war in this region remain one of the central motives of the warring parties."

Coltan, or colombo-tantalite ore, is used to make pinhead capacitators that are essential parts in cellphones and other consumer electronics. One-third of the world's estimated coltan reserves are in Congo.

Global Witness said: "Almost all the main armed groups involved in the conflict, as well as soldiers of the national Congolese army, have been trading illegally in these minerals for years, with complete impunity." It urged "stringent due diligence" on the part of manufactuers who should refuse to buy minerals found to passed through the hands of armed groups.

EDIT

http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/cellphone_demand_stoking_congo_conflict_561513

[seemslikeadream]

1. The Lost World War

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=442682#443213


The war on Iraq is not the only war in the world and it is not the only war being fought for our material benefit. Western consumers’ seemingly insatiable demand for mobile phones, laptops, games consoles and other luxury electronic goods has been fuelling violent conflict and killing millions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). By Erik Vilwar.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is possibly the most mineral rich place on earth – though this has proved a curse to the people of the Congo. The Congo holds millions of tons of diamonds, copper, cobalt, zinc, manganese, uranium (the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were built using Congolese uranium), and coltan. Coltan, a substance made up of columbium and tantalum, is a particularly valuable resource – used to make mobile phones, night vision goggles, fiber optics, and micro-capacitors.

What is Coltan?
Coltan looks like black mud, but is three times heavier than iron and only slightly lighter than gold. It is found in abundance in eastern Congo and can be mined with minimal equipment. Coltan is vital to the high tech economy. Wireless electronic communication would not exist without it. The ‘mud’ is refined into tantalum – a metallic element that is both a superb conductor of electricity and extremely heat-resistant. Tantalum powder is a vital component in capacitors, for the control of the flow of current in miniature circuit boards. Capacitors made of tantalum are found inside every laptop, pager, personal digital assistant, and mobile phone.1 Tantalum is also used in the aviation and atomic energy industries. A very small group of companies in the world process coltan. These include H.C.Starck (Germany, a subsidiary ot Bayer), Cabott Inc. (US), Ningxia (China), and Ulba (Kazakhstan). The world’s biggest coltan mines are in Australia and they account for about 60% of world production. It is generally believed, however, that 80% of the world’s reserves are in Africa, with DRC accounting for 80% of the African reserves.2

The human costs of this conflict have been horrific. According to the UN, up until last September, in the five Eastern provinces of DRC alone, between 3 and 3.5 million people had died directly because of the war. 4 Many were killed and tortured but most died of starvation and disease. The destruction of farms has resulted in malnutrition and starvation. Millions of people have been forced from their homes. Years of war have led to a social environment in which men abuse women on a staggering scale and children become instruments of war, forced to work in mines and conscripted into armed forces. Surveys in Butembo found that 90% of people were living on less than 20 cents a day and only one meal. 5

http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/newsletter/issue13/issue13_part3.htm


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=566995

Expelled Congo Diamond Miners Tell of Terror
Posted by seemslikeadream on Wed May-19-04 04:55 PM

By David Lewis
TEMBO, Congo (Reuters) - There were ups and downs, but for the most part, Papi Konde, a stocky 36-year-old Congolese, said he had enjoyed his eight years digging diamonds in the rich mines of northern of Angola.

He had no immigration papers or license, but the $100 a month he paid in "taxes" kept the authorities off his back. He and his partner struck it lucky several times, bought two cars, owned a house and even stashed away some spare cash.

"Then suddenly my life turned to hell," Konde said, sheltering from the afternoon sun under a tree with hundreds of fellow illegal Congolese miners forced out of Angola over the past few days.

"It was the Angolan army. They came to our house and stole all the money we had. They shot my business partner and raped his wife in front of me. I just had to run for it," he said in Congo border town of Tembo.

Konde said he and hundreds of colleagues left Lunda North, one of the world's richest diamond deposits some 375 miles north of the Angolan capital Luanda, and had to walk hundreds of miles before eventually crossing the swollen Kwango River, which flows along the border with Congo.

more
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=5179754