In a message dated 4/14/2001 12:23:35 AM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
Source reuters news agency:
APRIL 09, 01:30 EST
Ore Fuels West's High-Tech Gear
By ARNAUD ZAJTMAN
Associated Press Writer
MISHAVOU, Congo (AP) —
Crouching by a stream under the
hot sun, Wiringidyie Hatedeka
shakes his shovel gently to sift its
load — the lighter grains of sand
bouncing out, the heavier grains of
black stone staying put.
Hatedeka, a Congolese peasant
farmer turned miner, whispers to
escape the notice of the Rwandan
mine contractor standing nearby:
``I do not know what purpose
these little stones serve. But for
sure, they have value.''
As much as Congo's gold or diamonds, the muddy black grit in
Hatedeka's shovel is helping finance — and perpetuate — the
six-nation
war here in the heart of Africa.
The tiny stones are
columbite-tantalite, or coltan,
which is vital in the production of
power-storing components for
high-tech gear ranging from nuclear
reactors to cell phones to
PlayStations. Australia and South
Dakota are the other chief sources.
As cell phones boomed in the
1990s, the price for coltan soared
from $20 a pound in 1990 to $350 in
December, settling to $120-$140
currently on London's mineral
market.
Hatedeka receives $5 for each pound of the high-tech ores he digs and
separates in Congo's eastern mountains around Masisi. Electricity and
running water have never reached here.
The Rwandan-supported rebels who control the resource-rich
mountains says coltan makes them $1 million a month.
Hatedeka took up the shovel only reluctantly, forced into mining
after
the bloody conflicts that overran Congo throughout the 1990s cost him
his cattle and cut off western markets for his crops.
Five thousand former Congolese farmers are laboring with him,
according to a mine authority set up by the rebels. The rebels say
they
are sending about 100 tons of Congo coltan to Rwanda a month.
Despite its heavy presence here, Rwanda's government denies profiting
from its involvement in Congo's conflict, insisting it is in the war
only to
secure its own borders against Congo-based militias.
Rwanda's and Uganda's armies are backing rebels who took up arms in
1998. Rwanda and Uganda accused Congo's late president, Laurent
Kabila, of sheltering insurgent groups that threatened their own
countries.
Namibia, Zimbabwe and Angola joined the fight on the Congolese
government's side. Congo rewarded them with lucrative mining
concessions in the 40 percent of the country outside rebel control.
A Rwandan government spokesman, Joseph Bideri, denies widespread
charges of Rwandan military involvement in Congo's rebel-controlled
coltan mines.
``These allegations are purely fabricated. They have been flying
around for some time and are baseless,'' Rwandan government
spokesman Joseph Bideri said from Rwanda's capital, Kigali. ``Rwanda
is
not in Congo for its resources.''
Congolese locals say Rwandan-registered cars come twice a week
under military protection to buy coltan.
Rwandan army helicopters ferry some of the ores directly to Kigali,
local
and Western sources say, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hatedeka digs under the supervision of a Rwandan businessman, who
introduces himself as Felix — just Felix.
The Rwandan bought his 215-square-foot mining concession in October
for $300, he says. ``This is good value,'' Felix adds.
In November, rebel leaders granted a monopoly on coltan exports to a
newly created Great Lakes Mining Co. The monopoly is owned jointly by
the rebels and a Congolese businesswoman, Aziza Gulamali Kulsum.
Coltan is sold through 19 trading posts licensed by the rebels.
Rebels and the Rwandan military get most of the proceeds, charges
Victor Ngezayo, head of a coltan business sidelined by the new
rebel-granted monopoly.
``This is not free market. They behave exactly as their enemy, the
late Kabila, used to behave,'' Ngezayo says. ``They are just the
same.''
The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society says the coltan
boom has even sent miners into the region's Kahuzi-Biega National
Park,
threatening survivors among a population of endangered gorillas
depleted by war and refugees.
Rebel officials have promised to drive the miners out of the park, a
UNESCO World Heritage site.
Most coltan mines are in regions still caught in fighting. Families
fled
this area in February, and the local school had to close its doors.
``We received visits of gunmen nearly every night. They killed
civilians,'' said Milenge Gasaza, once the school's teacher.
Now, like the farmers, Gasaza is a reluctant — and fearful — miner.
He spends his days digging coltan and his nights sleeping in the
bush.
Far from his home, Gasaza daily hopes contractors come by to buy his
coltan before armed bandits come to take it.
Always, ``we are in a hurry to get rid of our stones,'' Gasaza says.
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