Bukavu (R. D.

Congo)

Committee of the Federation of

Solidarity with Black Africa
http://www.umoya.org
 Africa?
Congo? War?
COLTAN ...?
   and ...
YOUR
MOBILE
Where is the Democratic Republic of Congo?
What is the relationship with my cell phone?
 Democratic Republic of
Congo

Population : more than

70 million
Life Expectancy: 47 years.
Area : 2,340,000 km²
Capital : Kinshasa
President : Joseph Kabila

The biggest mineral reserves.

80% of the world reserves of:
coltan.
 What is Coltan ?
• The white gold.

• Coltan is an abbreviation of
the minerals columbite and
tantalite
Col + tan = coltán

• It is very rare in nature.

• It is a strategic resource,
essential to the development
of new technologies.
 What is it used for?
For the manufacture of:

    Cell phones, GPS,

satellites, guided weapons,
plasma televisions, video
game consoles, portable
computers, PDA’s, MP3
players, space rockets,
missiles, electronic games,
cameras ...
 Where do you find coltan?
• Thailand 5 %

• Brasil 5 %

• Africa 80 %

• Australia 10 %
Who gets rich with coltan?
Let us go to see a mine...
 How is coltan extracted?
• The work methods are
similar to those of the gold
of the American West of the
nineteenth century.
 The coltan worker
A good worker produces
1kilo coltan per day.

Average salary of a Congolese

worker
$ 10 per month.

Wage of a coltan worker

$ 10 to $ 50 per week.

The recent boom in technology has caused the price of coltan to

shoot up to $ 500 per kilo. Companies like Bayer, Nokia and Sony
are competing.
 Who works in these mines?
- Young farmers and ranchers who allow
their land to be exploited
- Refugees from war.
- Prisoners of war.
- Thousands of children, whose body can
easily crawl in underground.
And they always monitored by soldiers.
 The consequences of this situation
• Forests and fields turn into
swamps.
• Boys and girls do not go to
school.
• Many diseases: lack of drinking
water, malnutrition, contagions,
grueling work, AIDS ... and all
lead to death.
• Armed groups control mining.
• Each kilo of coltan is mined at the
cost of lives of two small children.
• Many children and young people
die because of terrible landslides.
 Other consequences of this situation

• Thousands of forced
displacements

• Thousands of people
fleeing their homes

• Millions of refugees

• Adult violence on
women and girls
 The impact on the land
• To extract coltan Congo National
Parks have been invaded.

• Coltan workers work from dawn to

sunset.

• They sleep and eat in the wilderness

of the mountains.

• They do not cultivate their land.

• The elephant population has

decreased by 80%.

• The gorilla population has decreased

by 90%.
 Who funds these disasters?
• A United Nations report
denounced the exploitation of
Congo's natural resources.

• There exist reports that show

that Rwanda, Uganda and
Burundi are involved in
trafficking of coltan in Congo,
and that these countries use the
profits from the high prices to
continue their wars.

• It is estimated that the

All countries involved in these
conflicts deny exploiting the
natural resources of Congo.
Rwandan army receives at
least $ 250 million in 18 months
by selling coltan, even though
Rwanda has no coltan.
Why should they stop the war?
Renowned multinational
companies such as:
Nokia
Ericsson
Alcatel
Apple
Nikon
Bayer ...

…are reported in the UN

report as "looters“.
They finance wars and
support corrupt
governments
 Why not stop the wars?
• Because the main producers of computers, mobile phones,
video games ... do not want them to stop
• With the consent of the governments and the media are
careful not to talk about it
• If the wars continue, they will no longer do business with
coltan? What does it matter if they have caused over 5
million deaths?
 What can we do?
INFORM THE WORLD BETTER.

• DENOUNCE this reality.

• SPREAD what is already known.

• Do you need a cell phone every

year?

• Do we need to waste so much?

• Why throw away what is not used?

• Give away your unused phone.

• Leave used sets at the collection

points for recycling.
 And you?… And me?…
Keep yourself
informed, spread what
you know
• Youtube.
• SMS.
• Facebook.
• Twitter…
Tell your friends, your parents, your acquaintances...

A future without poverty and marginalization also

depends on You!
 To conclude…

• Congo, an immensely rich country lives

in poverty.

• Congo is bled by corporate greed in

collusion with governments.

• Our progress and our comfort is at the

expense of their poverty.
I DO NOT WANT MY MOBILE PHONE
TO PAY FOR A WAR