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The total mineral wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is estimated to be some $24 trillion - equivalent to the GDP of Europe and the US combined, but this vast region, larger than the whole of western Europe, remains staggeringly poor and underdeveloped. The country's mineral wealth is also the principal cause of the world's worst conflict since World War II. A peaceful DR Congo could transform Africa almost overnight, but is there a way out? M J Morgan reports.
The conflict in Eastern Congo remains as misunderstood, ignored and all but as forgotten as ever. The worst, in terms of loss of life, as well as the longest war of the 20th century, it has been waged for some 20 years and has cost, in the last decade alone, according to the international Rescue Committee, around 4.5m lives (roughly the size of Denmark's population).
This death toll amounts to around 45,000 fatalities a month, making it equal to the most pessimistic estimates of the loss of life caused by the invasion and occupation of Iraq, not too mention substantially more sustained. This represents a mortality rate 85% higher than for the rest of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as a whole. However, a search on Google reveals more than 120,000 articles about Iraq yet less than 25,000 about Congo.
Extraordinary Mineral Wealth
The latest violence is an expression of the greed to exploit DR Congo's extraordinary wealth. Congo's coltan is often identified as a major cause of the fighting. According to official figures, the country produces only 1% of the world's coltan, the colloquial name for the chemically similar columbite-tantalite and niobium ore, used to manufacture capacitors and the country's most profitable export, but the actual share of global coltan output may be much higher. DR Congo possesses some 80%...