Richard Harris alerted me to this article in The Industry Standard, which reports that the electronic industy may be fueling the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The chips inside your Intel computer, your Nokia and Ericcson phone, etc. are made using tantalum, a heat-reistant powder that comes from the mineral coltan. Demand for the stuff (at $100 a pound) has enabled rebels in DRC to fund their efforts, and the mining is linked to environmental destruction, forced child labor, and killing. "Warring rebel groups - many funded and supplied by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda - are exploiting coltan mining to help finance a bloody civil war now in its third year. 'There is a direct link between human rights abuses and the exploitation of resources in areas in the DRC occupied by Rwanda and Uganda,' says Suliman Baldo, a senior researcher in the Africa division at Human Rights Watch." So what's industry's response? "If we found out our suppliers were getting tantalum from the Congo, we wouldn't kick them out, that would not help," said an Ericsson rep. What responsibility do tech companies have in this case? And what about us?
| Africa | Democratic Republic of Congo | Rwanda | Uganda | Cell Phones |
