Cellphones and Computer Chips - Congo

Oh dear, Congo.

This nation has a quite sad history, especially when it comes to it's relations to the west world. Here we have a long history of exploitation, starting with the French and then later with Belgian king Leoplod II. King Leoplod made Congo his own private empire, and I must add it was not a pretty sight. (To read more about that, please check out the book King Leopold's Ghost, by Adam Hochschild).

Because the nation has a large amout of different minerals, like copper and coltan, large companies does it's best to uphold civil war and disorder, just to be able to save money. Coltan is a metal used in cell phones, and Congo is one of the few places that has a lot of it. So why is it that disorder and war is good for these companies?

If the nation was at peace, companies would have to get an expensive licence from the government to be able to harvest the metals, also they would have to give royalties to the local authorities. There are tons of international laws on how this should work, but in Congo, companies are acting just how they like. For example, the Australian company Anvil Mining helped Congo's military to perform a massacre. Anvil Mining gave the soilders trucks and aircrafts, also they sent the soilders food after the attacks. Over 100 people was killed.

Collecting coltan

Years of war has had a huge impact on the people in Congo, of all the conflicts in the world Congo's so brutal that I even have a hard time reading about it, especially when it comes to the women and children. I am gonna spare you from details about this, you probably know a lot about it.


We already know about blood diamonds, what about blood phones and computers!?