First Blood Diamonds, Now Blood Computers?

Men mined for tin ore in a pit in eastern Congo that is part of a lucrative operation controlled by renegade soldiers. The fighters extort and tax at will. Johan Spanner for The New York Times

From Time Magazine:

When the film Blood Diamond came out in 2006, people were startled at the alleged origins of the precious stones from areas of bloody conflict and began asking whether the jewels on their fingers cost a human life. Will consumers soon find themselves asking similar questions about their cell phones and computers?

In a report released earlier this week, Global Witness claims that multinational companies are furthering a trade in minerals at the heart of the hi-tech industry that feeds the horrendous civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). (Global Witness is the same nongovernmental organization that helped expose the violence that plagues many of the sources of diamonds.) However, the accused companies, with varying degrees of hostility, deny any culpability, saying Global Witness oversimplifies a complex economic process in a chaotic geopolitial setting.

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My Comment: Like oil .... these valuable resources have become a magnet for corruption and greed to flourish in a third world environment .... but to blame the availability of these resources for causing Africa's problems is a point that I disagree with.

Diamonds and precious metals are also mined in countries like Canada and Australia .... but we do not have the civil wars, slave labor markets, and the environmental destruction that African countries have. Africa's problem has always been a problem of tribalism, ethnic hatreds and animosities that goes back centuries, and a culture of corruption on all level of governments. Take away the precious metals from the equation, Africa's problems and conflicts will still be the same.