Committee of the Federation of Solidarity with Black Africa 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 It is very rare in nature. It is a strategic resource, essential to the development of new technologies. Col + tan = coltán

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 Rwandan army receives at least $ 250 million in 18 months by selling coltan, even though Rwanda has no coltan. All countries involved in these conflicts deny exploiting the natural resources of Congo.

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