Claude Monet, Houses of Parliament

“The air was dark above Gravesend, and farther back still seemed condensed into a mournful gloom, brooding motionless over the biggest, and greatest, town on earth.” (Conrad 9)

“They—the women I mean—are out of it—should be out of it. We must help them stay in that beautiful world of their own, lest ours get worse” (Conrad 47)

Auguste Renoir, The Luncheon of the Boating Party

“The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much” (Conrad 12)

King Leopold II of Belgium.He “owned” the Congo during his reign as the constitutional monarch of Belgium. After several failed colonial attempts in Asia and Africa, he settled on the Congo. He “bought” it and enslaved its people, turning the entire country into his own personal slave plantation.http://www.walkingbutterfly.com/2010/12/22/when-you-kill-ten-million-africans-you-arent-called-hitler/

Congo, the Brutal History

Congo has become a never-ending nightmare, one of the bloodiest conflicts since World War II, with more than five million dead.

DR Congo's armed groups                                                                      

Armies:•FARDC: DR Congo's national army•Monusco: UN peacekeepersForeign rebels:•FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda): Contains some remnants of perpetrators of 1994 genocide in Rwanda•FNL (National Liberation Forces): Burundian rebels, mainly in South Kivu•ADF (Allied Democratic Forces): Ugandan-led, based in Rwenzori mountains, North KivuCongolese rebels:•M23: Formed from soldiers who mutinied in April - many once members of the CNDP rebel group. UN says Rwandan-backed with different factions under control of Gen Bosco Ntaganda and Col Sultani Makenga•FDC (Congo Defence Front): Fought FDLR rebels early this year•APCLS (Patriotic Alliance for Free and Sovereign Congo): Operates in Masisi area west of Goma•FRPI (Patriotic Resistance Forces of Ituri): Operates in Ituri Province near Uganda borderMai Mai - term for armed community groups:•Mai Mai Raia Mutomboki: Has fought both FDLR and FARDC•Mai Mai Gedeon: Allied to separatists in southern Katanga province•Mai Mai Yakutumba: Operates on shores of Lake Tanganyika•Mai Mai Sheka - also known as NDC (Nduma Defence of Congo), led by Gen Sheka NtaberiMain source: UN Group of Experts, June 2012

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Thursday approved the creation of a unique new combat force that is to carry out "targeted offensive operations" to neutralize armed groups in conflict-torn eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.The 15-member Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution establishing the so-called intervention brigade - the first time the United Nations has created such a unit within a traditional peacekeeping force - as part of the existing 20,000-strong U.N. force in Congo, the U.N. Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, known as MONUSCO.It says MONUSCO will "carry out targeted offensive operations through the Intervention Brigade ... either unilaterally or jointly with the (Congo army), in a robust highly mobile and versatile manner ... to prevent expansion of all armed groups, neutralize these groups, and to disarm them.“ 3/29/13

The U.N. has labeled the DRC, Africa's second largest country, as the "rape capital of the world" because of the pace and scope of the use of rape as a weapon of war by proxy militia gangs fighting for control of Congo's easily appropriable and highly valuable natural resources, destined for sale in Europe, Asia, Canada and the United States. (http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/27/opinion/congo-war-ignored-vava-tampa)

These weren't just violent acts of war, but part of a strategy. You had situations where multiple people were raped at the same time, publicly - a whole village might be raped during the night. In doing this, they hurt not just the victims but the whole community, which they force to watch.The result of this strategy is that people are forced to flee their villages, abandon their fields, their resources, everything. It's very effective. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21499068)

The mortality rate in Congo is 57 percent higher than the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, the survey found. Particularly hard hit were young children, who are especially susceptible to diseases like malaria, measles, dysentery and typhoid, which can kill when medicine is not available. In one village in North Kivu Province, a hot spot of continued fighting, three women of the 20 households surveyed had lost two children each in the 16 months covered by the survey period, Dr. Brennan said. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/23/world/africa/23congo.html?pagewanted=all)

So what does all this have to do

with me?

Rare Metal Fueled African "PlayStation War"July 11, 2008

After it is refined, coltan becomes a bluish-gray powder called tantalum, which is defined as a transition metal. For the most part, tantalum has one significant use: to satisfy the West's insatiable appetite for personal technology. Tantalum is used to make cell phones, laptops and other electronics made, for example, by SONY, a multi-billion dollar multinational based in Japan that manufactures the iconic PlayStation, a video game console. And while allegations of plundering coltan from a nation in desperate need of revenue seem bad enough, the UN also discovered that Rwandan troops and rebels were using prisoners-of-war and children to mine for the "black gold.“ (http://www.towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1352/1)

Who are the primary exploiters of Coltan in the Congo?Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and their proxy militias are the primary exploiters of coltan in the Congo. In an 18 month period Rwanda made $250 million as a result of exploitation of coltan in the Congo. Although Rwanda and Uganda possess little or no coltan, during the period of the war in the Congo, their exports escalated exponentially. For example, Rwanda's coltan export went from less than 50 tons in 1995 to almost 250 tons in 1998. Zero cassiterite was transported from the Congo to Uganda in 1998, however by 2000 151 drums were transported. (http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/resource-center/coltan.html)

The United Nations notes in its 2001 report on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources in the Congo that"The consequences of illegal exploitation has been twofold: (a)massive availability of financial resources for the Rwandan Patriotic Army, and the individual enrichment of top Ugandan military commanders and civilians; (b) the emergence of illegal networks headed by either top military officers or businessmen.“(http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/resource-center/coltan.html)

Foreign Corporate exploitationAlthough the countries mentioned above directly exploit coltan, foreign multi-national corporations have been deeply involved in the exploitation of coltan in the Congo. The coltan mined by rebels and foreign forces is sold to foreign corporations. Although, the United Nations in its reports on the Congo do not directly blame the multi-national corporations for the conflict in the Congo, the United Nations does say that these companies serve as "the engine of the conflict in the DRC." (http://www.friendsofthecongo.org/resource-center/coltan.html)

Rwandan troops and rebels were using prisoners-of-war and children to mine for the "black gold."“Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms.” Oona King, British politician

http://towardfreedom.com/home/content/view/1352/1