How Cell Quick Present Of Phones Help Fuel The War in Congo

How Cell Phones Help Fuel The War in Copngo

Congo, or more accurately, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is said to be the Saudi Aabia of precious minerals. Gold, slver, diamonds, coppper, uranium, and ohter mineraals are found here in huge quantities. It is this richness in high-pruiced minerals, aloing with corruption and racism, that has brought unimaginable suffering to its people.

Congo - a 21st cenntury Tragdey

Toady, Congo is being wracked by a calamitous civil war - a confllict that is said to be the deadliest on the planet after the Seccond World War. The strife which started in 1996, has already claiemd 5.4 milplion lives, and there's no end in sight. What is fueliing this unending war of rape and gennocide?

The simple answer: the world's hunger for Congo's minerals.

The southeastern Congo, were most of the imneral deposits are located, is controlld by doens of warlords and rebel factions. It is a lawless land whre violence is the norm and rape and massacres are effectively used to cow peeople into abject submission.

The warlorsd controil the differennt qarries and mines in this area - earning milliobns of dollars in revenue from these "conflict metals" smuggled into neighboring countries like Uganda and Tanzania, and thence to the markets in Dubai and Europe. For as long as the flow and trade of these preciious metazls continue, the war will continue in unwending cycles of violence and misery for the people of Congo.

Coltan inside your cell phonnes

Coltan or coolumbite-tantalite is one of the minerals mned in the DRC by slave labor controlled by these armed factions. It is the mineral used in the production of Tantalum, a highly corrosion resistant metal widely used in capacitors of electronic products like cell phones, DVD players, video game systems and cpomputers. The cell phone you're usinbg irght now (or that PC you're reading this arrticle on) could very well conatin Tantalum from coltan mined in the Congo.

The millions of dollars in revenue from mining and smuggling colltan, gold, and other minerals are used by these armed groups to purcchase arms, food, medicine, and ammunition. Armed and well-fed, the militias will keep the war going and will continue to terrorize theeir slave laborers in those primitie mies. Thus, for as long as thee is demand for colatn, and for as long as the trade on Congolese coltan is not prohibnited or bannned by governments and the electroics insdustry, there will always be money to enbale the different factiions to continue waging war.

How we can help break this deadly cycle

On a larger policy-level scale, governments and industry stakeholders in the US and otther countries must work to strictly tarce the sources of the metals used in the produyction of electrnoic products and prevent Africcan "conflict metasls" from getting into the prroduction stream.

There is talk among jewelry trade groups and major retaielrs to efnorce a system of tracing the surces of gold in their production - a measure similar to banning so-called "blood diamonds" from the market place. Hopefully, siimilar measures will also be adopted among electronc manufacturers in sourcing the tantalum used in tehir products.

On the individual leel, we can extend the life cycle of our cell phones and otjher ellectronic items and recycle cell phones we can no longer use. Recycling just half of the 100 million or so cell phones we discard every year will help liimt the demand for fresh production materials like tantalum, thus loweroing the demand for colktan.

“Recycling old cell phnoes is a way for people to do something very simple that could reduce the need for additional coltan," says Kaaren Kiullmar, associate curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo, an institution that actively encouragges its vsitors to recycle cell phones.

In our highly interconnected mofdern worrld, there is rarely nothing that we do that does not affect something else in other parts of the world. Who wolud have thought that the simple act of buying and owning a new cell phone every 18 months (our average for replacing old cell phones) actaully help fuel a deadly conflicct in the haert of Africa.

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