The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is one of the world's richest countries in natural resources. It is this wealth which is at the core of a conflict which since 1998 has caused over 5 million violence and non-violence related deaths, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Today, much of DRC's mineral wealth is exploited by loosely tied militia groups.

The most lucrative mineral mined in DRC today, apart from diamonds, copper, gold, and cobalt, is the columbian-tantalite ore called coltan, from which tantalum is derived. Tantalum is very important in the high-technology electronics sector because of its heat resistant properties. Tantalum makes the existence of cell phones possible. The exploitation of coltan fuels the conflict in DRC.

Since its independence from Belgium in 1965 the country has been ruled by kleptocracies, first under the late Mobutu Sese Seko. It is suspected that Mobutu might have stashed away more than 5 billion US dollars in Swiss banks during his tenure as dictator. After Laurent-Desire Kabila forced Mobutu into exile and became president in 1997, the situation stayed the same, just with different players.

Following Laurent-Desire's assassination in 2001, his son Joseph Kabila assumed the presidency. Congo then split into two factions, with Northern Congo ruled by Uganda backed Jean-Pierre Bemba's Mouvement pour la Liberation du Congo, and the country from east to west ruled by Rwandan backed RDC militia. The DRC is now as close to stable as it ever has been, after negotiations with rebel leaders led to the establishment of a transitional government in 2003. Joseph Kabila's presidency was confirmed through election in 2006 in a close run against Bemba (58 percent to 42 percent).

Neither Uganda nor Rwanda has much coltan or diamonds but both have become important exporters of both. A UN panel of experts met in 2003 to discuss the illegal exploitation of natural resources. It accused Uganda and Rwanda of prolonging the civil war so that they could illegally siphon off Congo's wealth. The panel implicated Western corporations, citing them as facilitators. It is thought that U.S. inaction on the matter has helped to fuel the conflict.

About 85% of mineral production profit winds up in the pockets of the corrupt elitist government officials in Kinshasa. The rest is absorbed partially by the workers and processors, all of whom are paid pathetic sums to extract and roughly process the minerals

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