Many people have heard about conflict in Liberia and Sierra Leone funded by the diamond trade, but the issue of conflict caused by minerals that are in common electronic items like mp3 players, cellphones and computers is much less talked about. Buying these items that contain these conflict minerals indirectly fuels conflict in Eastern Congo. Minerals from Congo are shipped to suppliers in Malaysia, Thailand, China and India. These suppliers buy the same minerals from other areas and then mix them with the cheaper ore from Congo. These suppliers then sell the processed ore to electronic companies all over the world, who use them to make laptop computers, cameras and other things. Although many big companies like apple and motorola have announced they will not buy these conflict minerals, it is difficult for them to tell which minerals are from Congo and which are not because minerals from Congo do not have to be certificated. Rebels in Congo control mines that generate hundreds of millions of dollars from sells of the minerals. Since 1998 more then 5.4 million people have been killed in the conflict.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/27/news/international/congo.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009032715
Excellent post! Very interesting considering we will be talking about some of this tomorrow in class!
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting to see. I would asssume major suppliers like apple and motorola would opt for the cheapest goods regarding the fact that they were produced by Congo. That's a pessimistic thing to say though. This topic is something I'd like to learn more about.
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