Maravi

DR Congo bans mining for mobile phone minerals

COMMENT - What the BBC isn't saying is that the 'rebel groups' are supported by the UK and US governments, and that the 'ethnic hatred' originates from their protegees, the Tutsi dominant Rwandan Army of US trained Paul Kagame, and it's affiliates and stooges like Laurent Nkunda. This is how Coltan makes it's way into western cell phones. Somehow the BBC omits those facts.

DR Congo bans mining for mobile phone minerals
By BBC News
Sat 11 Sep. 2010, 14:30 CAT

Mr Kabila said there was a"mafia" controlling mineral mining in DR Congo Mining in three provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been banned on the orders of the President Joseph Kabila. President Kabila ordered the indefinite suspension during a visit to the mining hub town of Walikale.

The president said he wanted to weed out what he called a "kind of mafia" involved in the mining industry. Control over mining minerals like coltan and cassiterite has fuelled conflict between rebel groups. The minerals are used in mobile phones and computers.

Enforce

The ban covers the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema.

There has been a prolonged conflict there, last monthat least 150 women were reportedly raped by militia members near the town of Walikale.

The conflict is also fuelled by ethnic hatred, a hang-over from the 1994 slaughter of Tutsis in neighbouring Rwanda and Congo's subsequent civil wars.

The BBC's Thomas Hubert in eastern DR Congo says the ban may be difficult to enforce.

UN peacekeepers recently said they had control of the airstrip in Walikale, which is the easiest way out, but people might find other routes to export minerals.

Labels: COLTAN, KEITH HARMON SNOW, LAURENT NKUNDA, NEOCOLONIALISM, PAUL KAGAME

posted by MrK @ 6:32 PM