They say, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words.’ This one speaks volumes on Congo’s foreign-instigated, three-decade-long mineral war’s demand-and-supply chain, the cost of which is the sweat and blood of millions of Congolese!
The DRC annually loses $1 billion in minerals through the Western-backed illicit trade, according to Congolese Finance Minister Nicolas Kazadi, with a human cost that is even higher. More than 6 million Congolese had been klled by 2010, about 7 million had been internally displaced as of last year, sxual assault and child labour runs rampant, and about 500,000 Congolese fled their homes in eastern DRC just in January to avoid the M23 militia’s incursion.
In 2007, Belgian companies—Trademet, Traxys, SDE, STI and Specialty Metals—operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) exported cassiterite, coltan and wolframite, all minerals used in many ways including in building smartphones. The world’s fifth-largest tin-producing company, Bangkok-based Thailand Smelting and Refining Corporation (ThaISaRCO), owned by the Amalgamated Metal Corporation (AMC) and Afrimex—both British companies—are also among the top buyers of Congolese tin.
These are just a few of the hundreds of companies involved in the illicit trade of minerals in the Congo. Due to a data gap, it is difficult to verify how many companies operate there. Nonetheless, a 2017 Global Witness found that over 200 European and Asian companies, among others, bought minerals from traders known to be in business with armed groups, thus funding the latter and fuelling the conflict in the DRC.
The Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 controls mines in the Rubaya region, generating $300,000 monthly in production tax revenues. Moreover, despite limited mineral reserves of its own, Rwanda is the world’s leading exporter of coltan.
Regardless of the overwhelming evidence against Rwanda for exacerbating the mineral war, Western powers continue to funnel money into Kigali, with more than 40 per cent of the East African state’s fiscal budget coming from foreign aid.
Sources:
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/democratic-republic-congo/faced-gun-what-can-you-do
https://cd.usembassy.gov/statement-of-concern-related-to-certain-minerals-supply-chains-from-rwanda-and-eastern-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-contributing-to-the-ongoing-co
https://africanarguments.org/2024/11/children-and-the-coltan-wars-in-eastern-congo
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/could-fdi-be-rwandas-lifeline-as-donors-pull-the-plug
https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war
https://drcongo.iom.int/en/news/internal-displacement-overview-2024-published
https://www.dw.com/en/dr-congo-people-flee-homes-2025/a-71440536