Reports this week that clashes between the rebel coalition Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) and Congolese forces have left more than 3,000 people dead in the DRC in less than two weeks shocked me – for two reasons.
Firstly, nothing has changed in the Democratic Republic of Congo since the (once-Ugandan-based) Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) commenced its campaign of atrocities in the DRC and in South Sudan and the Central African Republic as well.
Secondly, nothing has changed in the DRC since our book Bankrupting the Third World was published in October 2015.
In this book, appropriately subtitled How the Global Elite Drown Poor Nations in a Sea of Debt, we devote an entire chapter – appropriately titled Banksters swindling the DRC – to the DRC. We remind readers that in book three of our international thriller series The Orphan Trilogy, our leading man (Nine) has reason to cross Zambia’s northern border into the DRC – previously and variously known as the Belgian Congo, Congo Free State, Congo-Leopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa and Zaire.
Nine’s target is a coltan refinery owned and operated by multinational conglomerate Carmel Corporation. The corporation is a fictitious entity, but the rare metallic ore known as coltan – official name columbite-tantalite – is very real.
A coltan mine in Rubaya, DRC.
This precious ore is found in large quantities in the DRC’s disputed eastern regions. When refined, the result is metallic tantalum, a heat-resistant powder capable of holding a high electrical charge – properties that are essential for the creation of electronic elements known as capacitors.
These capacitors are included in the manufacture of mobile phones, digital cameras, laptop computers and in communications technology generally, making coltan an indispensable part of the burgeoning and extraordinarily profitable communications and technology sectors. Hence its value.
As chance would have it, the DRC is believed to have 70% to 80% of known coltan reserves worldwide. It also has around one third of the world’s known diamond reserves and is rich in other precious metals, too. With reserves of untapped mineral deposits estimated at US$24 trillion, it’s little wonder the DRC is considered by some to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world, if not the wealthiest, in terms of natural resources.
Now here’s the rub: the DRC has been beset by war and is one of the most violent, unstable and poverty stricken nations on the planet.
A CNN report this week refers to this very problem in a report titled “Fighting in Africa’s mineral-rich DRC killed over 3,000 in less than 2 weeks. Here’s how your phone plays a part.”
It’s depressing, but it’s worth a read…
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/12/africa/fighting-drc-congo-minerals-phone-intl/index.html
Bankrupting the Third World – Book 6 in our contentious The Underground Knowledge Series – is available via Amazon as a Kindle ebook and paperback. https://www.amazon.com/BANKRUPTING-THIRD-WORLD-Underground-Knowledge/dp/B08CJNJRQK/
This book is dedicated to the impoverished in forgotten places of the world.
*************************************************************
Morcan Books & Films 