Blood Minerals? Why The Democratic Republic Of Congo Is Suing Apple

-Analysis-

PARIS — I wouldn’t want to spoil your Christmas gift shopping, but this is a matter that concerns us, not-so-innocent consumers. The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo filed a lawsuit this week in France and Belgium against Apple, the maker of iPhones and other computers.

The motive? The use by Apple, but this also applies to other brands, of minerals from the east of the DRC, where multiple wars are raging — which makes the origin, the conditions of the extraction and marketing of these minerals opaque.

The phenomenon is far from new; John Le Carré wrote a novel about it, “The Mission Song,” in 2006, as he sought inspiration after the Cold War. And the Congolese approach closely resembles the famous 1990s campaign aimed at curbing diamond smuggling by armed groups, with the striking slogan: “Blood diamonds.”

Here, it’s not diamonds, but “blood minerals” that are at issue; as well as the complex situation in eastern DRC, where millions of people have died in recent decades.

Crisis in Rwanda

A major producer of three minerals (tin, tantalum and tungsten) used in the manufacturing of smartphones and computers, Kinshasa claims that Apple is “complicit” in the plundering of resources by armed groups in eastern DRC. Apple denies this and asserts that it controls the traceability of all its supplies.

Its real target is Rwanda.

The case is complex and has the feel of a billiards game. Because while the Congolese government is suing Apple, its real target is Rwanda, its neighbor to the east. Rwanda is indeed involved in the unrest shaking eastern DRC — this is confirmed by UN reports — and all mediation attempts have failed so far, including this week’s summit in Angola, which was canceled.

Rwanda supports an armed group, the M23, which is very powerful in eastern Congo. Kinshasa accuses it of plundering mineral resources and exporting them via Rwanda. Hence the accusation directed at the recipient, Apple.

It is not even certain that Congo genuinely seeks to have Apple condemned. First and foremost, it aims to pin the blame for the crisis on Rwanda and to shift attention away from its own neglect in this region far from the capital, Kinshasa.

Silent voices

Because this crisis has many faces. One of them falls under the responsibility of the Congolese authorities: the illegal exploitation of all the minerals from the eastern Congo’s subsoil, under scandalous social and environmental conditions. Videos have been circulating for years showing child labor, manual extraction and working in the mud, at the service of questionable middlemen.

The responsibility of irresponsible consumers.

At regular intervals, Congolese and international NGOs denounce these working conditions, but their voices are rarely heard. The lawsuit by the DRC could have the boomerang effect of bringing all the facets of the Congolese mineral scandal into the public eye: foreign interference as well as the absence of social regulations, the responsibility of both governments and companies that turn a blind eye.

And, at the end of the chain, the responsibility of irresponsible consumers. I didn’t want to ruin your Christmas — well, maybe just a little bit.