Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts

Issue No. 29                        September 2-8,  2001                    Quezon City, Philippines

Real Cellphone War Rages Elsewhere - in Congo

Everytime you buy a mobile phone, you could be adding revenues to fuel one of Africa’s bloodiest wars – in Congo. There, a bloody war has been raging over the past years – not over a border territory or a military junta. It’s about the control of coltan – a valuable metal without which your cell phone won’t work.

BY Bulatlat.com

Millions of mobile phone subscribers in what is known as the “text capital” of the world – Philippines – are up in arms against plans of four telecom giants for a free text messaging cutback. But they also have to look elsewhere where the real cell phone war is happening – in Congo.

A civil war has been raging in eastern Congo over at least the past two years. The war pits the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and other African states such as Rwanda, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Uganda. Also involved is a self-proclaimed US honorary consul and American banks.

The fighting has killed 250,000 people and a million people in east Congo. It has also caused a wildlife crisis in eastern Congo where about 15,000 elephants have been butchered for miners’ food in Garamba Park alone. Not only the population of elephants but also that of gorillas and okapis has dwindled.

The fight is not over a border territory or about a government. The war is over the control of a big black hole on the edge of the town of Manono which contains vast reserves of tantalum ore, a rare valuable black metal used to make coltan capacitors for mobile telephones. Exceptionally resistant to heat and cold, coltan is valuable as a coat for electronic components not only in mobile phones but also military aircraft and PlayStations.

Australia and Canada used to supply most of the coltan that is required for the needs of the burgeoning mobile industry. There were also reserves in Brazil and Nigeria. But the price of the commodity has increased in recent years as the world supply declined.

Cheaper in Congo

By late 2000, the price of a kilo of average-grade coltan was US$200, a United Nations report said last April. The report also said that the “Rwandan army could have made $20 million per month, simply by selling the coltan that, on average, intermediaries buy from the small dealers at about $10 per kg.” This is substantial enough to finance Rwandan’s war efforts.

Eighty percent of the world’s tantalum deposits is believed to be in Africa – and 80 percent of  these can be found in eastern Congo.

Here, the Rwandan army has increased its coltan revenues that is made easy by “the passive role” by private companies that transpor coltan. The US Citibank was named in the UN report as one of such companies involved in bankrolling coltan shipments.

“The self-proclaimed US honorary consul and staff in various embassies played a role in boosting coltan trade,” the UN report continued.

The UN also named the Rwandan army commander in Congo, Brig. Gen. James Kabarebe, as one of the chief profiteers from coltan.

With the increased coltan trade, the Congolese have been reportedly enlisted as “convincible labor” to mine coltan, gold and diamonds on behalf of rebel or government armies. Young men 12-18 years of age are recruited to dig as an “army of development.” Some of them are actually released prisoners, pressed into service in exchange for reduced sentences; some were formerly refugees. And none of them are likely to own cell phones.

Expensive food, prostitutes

The British newspaper, The Guardian, reports that coltan mines are spread across eastern Congo – in  forest clearings or deep pits. In the forests, miners live in thousands to a camp with expensive food and prostitutes, all under the eye of the Mayi-Mayi traditional warriors who control the mines.

The Mayi-Mayi, the Guardian says, control most of the fruitful mines in the Kahuzi-Biega national park.

In another account, the New Scientist reports that the export of tantalum is in the hands of one company, SOMIGIL. In fact, the Congolese rebel army is said to be financed by this company.

On the other hand, the two biggest processors of tantalite are Cabot Performance Materials and C. Starck of Goslar, Germany, part of the Bayer Group.

In recent months, the price of coltan has fallen sharply. Under international pressure, the Belgian airline Sabena promised not to ship the mineral from Kigali to Brussels.

Nokia, Motorola and other mobile phone producers now insist that their suppliers no longer use coltan from Congo. But the digging in eastern Congo goes on and nobody believes that the cell phone producers are telling the naked truth.

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