The Congo

I always love good news for the world especially hope for Africa because I am an African. I read an article in the Foreign Policy Magazine with some relatively good news about Congo. I'll start with telling you all about what's currently happening in Congo. According to John Prendergast;

"Congo's conflict, the world's deadliest since World War II, is not really a war -- it's a business based on violent extortion. There are numerous armed groups and commercial actors -- Congolese, Rwandan, and Ugandan -- that have positioned themselves for the spoils of a deliberately lawless, accountability-free, unstable, highly profitable mafia-style economy. Millions of dollars are made monthly in illegal taxation of mining operations, smuggling of minerals, and extortion rackets run by mafia bosses based primarily in Kinshasa, Kigali, and Kampala. The spoils are tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold, minerals that go into laptops, cell phones, MP3 players, and jewelry stores in the West. Armed groups use terrifying tactics such as mass rape and village burning to intimidate civilians into providing cheap labor for this elaborate extortion racket."

The good news is that shoppers are beginning to put pressure on the companies selling mobile phones, laptops, MP3 players, and other electronic devices, along with jewelry retailers, to stop using the conflict minerals mined in eastern Congo.
The more people applying pressure to the companies the better because if consumers demand conflict-free electronics products and jewelry strongly enough, just as they do green products and fair trade products, big companies can place downstream pressure to clean up the supply chain for these minerals.

Secondly the U.S. Congress, can make a difference by passing legislation to require conflict-free components in all electronics products. Two pieces of draft legislation, the Conflict Minerals Trade Act in the House and the Congo Conflict Minerals Act in the Senate, do exactly that. President Barack Obama's administration could go even further, improving on the Kimberley Process (a certification agreement meant to stop the export of blood diamonds) by kick-starting negotiations for a global arrangement to certify conflict-free minerals. The Congolese, Rwandan, and Ugandan governments also have a role to play: They can commit to independent monitoring and auditing of the mineral supply chain, finally allowing transparency to replace secrecy in the regional mineral sector.

I know a lot still needs to be done but I believe any change for the better.. is better than nothing. I'll try to keep you all posted on the situation and any new bits of reading I've done!!