The Coltan Connection

How demand for a relatively obscure mineral is fueling the unrest in Congo…

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 30 kilogram sack of raw columbium-tantalite ore.

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 the mineral, and a handful of other materials used in everything from cellphones 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 percent of that lies in territory controlled by Congo’s various ragtag rebel groups, armed militia and its corrupt and underfunded national army.

Despite Friday’s ceasefire summit in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, and 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.

Via Telegraph