Mobile Phone: Coltan In and Beyond the DR of Congo

Civil War

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Congo received its independence from Belgium in 1960, leaving a politically and economically poor country with civil war breaking out soon after. The Congolese people are made up of around 200 separate ethnic groups. These ethnic groups generally are concentrated regionally and speak distinct primary languages. During Mobutu's rule, discrimination, economic degradation, and campaigns against the Tutsi people increased. The influx of Hutu refugees from the Rwandan conflict in 1994 only exacerbated existing ethnic tensions. Ethnic hostilities, primarily in the eastern part of the DR of Congo, led to the civil war that broke out in 1996. Rwanda and Uganda entered the conflict in 1998 to back a Congolese Tutsi rebel movement. The conflict in the the DR of Congo quickly erupted into a six nation conflict when Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Angola intervened in support of the government. The United Nations Security Council deployed 50 UN military observers and 5000 troops in January 2000 to the area but the fighting continues today with atrocities committed by all sides.

Source: Zone Libre 2002

Since 1998 more than 3 million people have been killed in this conflict and millions more have become refugees.

There are two groups of perpetrators- on one side are the Congolese government and its supporters. On the other side are two rebel groups, backed by Ugandan, Rwandan and Burundese troops. . In 1998 Congolese rebel forces, backed by Rwanda and Uganda, seized eastern Congo and moved into strategic coltan mining areas. The rebels have not only fought the government forces and each other but driving farmers off their lands and attacked villages in order to control the mining areas. Part of the income earned from mining coltan goes to military groups and thus finances the civil war. The Rwandan Army for example was soon making an estimated US$20 million a month from coltan mining. The coltan makes its way out of the mines to "trading posts" which are taxed or controlled by the rebels. Foreign traders then buy the mineral and ship it abroad, mostly through Rwanda.

Participants in the war

 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC):

Hutu Interhamwe militia - mostly from Rwanda and responsible for 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda
Former Hutu members of the Rwandan military - also responsible for 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda
Mai Mai - group of traditional Congolese local security forces
- These groups operate inside the DRC supporting the government "often as guerillas operating inside territory held by antigovernment forces" (U.S. State 2001)

 Libya - provides arms and logistical support but no troops

 North Korea - sent advisors to train government troops

 Rwanda - supports Congolese Rally for Democracy based in Goma (RCD/Goma) and Congolese Rally for Democracy based in Bunia (RCD/Goma); majority Tutsi

 Uganda - supports the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC); mainly non-Tutsi

 Burundi - fights against various Hutu groups based in the DRC that are against the Tutsi-led Burundi government

 Angola - supports the government of the DRC

 Namibia - supports the government of the DRC

 Zimbabwe - supports the government of the DRC

 Sudan - supports the Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF); Ugandan expatriates against the government of Uganda