Congo’s war against Blood Minerals

By Janus Danmole

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is currently establishing a centralized one-stop mining investment agency to streamline Western capital and counter Chinese market dominance. Foreign mining operators faced July 31,2026 deadline to comply with the DRC 2018 mining Code requiring a 10% equity transfer to Congolese nationals (5% to employees, and 5% to other citizens).  For years DRC has been fighting a damaging resource war in its eastern provinces where armed groups and foreign actors exploit critical ‘’blood minerals’’ to fund continuous self-serving violence. The Eastern DRC holds vast deposits of coltan (processed into tantalum for electronics), cobalt, copper, tin (cassiterite), tungsten (wolframite), and gold.

These minerals are vital for smartphones, electric vehicles, aerospace, and green energy technology. Blood= minerals refers to these valuable minerals mined by foreign entities in war zones in DRC where profits from them are used to fund armed conflict, violence and human rights abuses. The term mirrors ‘’blood- diamonds,’’ reflecting how the trade of these natural resources comes at heavy human cost. The most common blood minerals are often referred to as 3TG which stands for tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold.

In its efforts to check the scramble for its minerals by armed groups and control its resources, DR Congo in December 2024 filed criminal complaints against Apple’s European subsidiaries in France and Belgium, accusing the tech giant of using conflict minerals in its supply chain. The country claims that Apple buys contraband raw materials, specifically 3T minerals mined illegally in the conflict-racked eastern region of the DRC and smuggled through Rwanda, then integrated into the global supply chains before ending up in their tech devices.

The legal complaints filed in Paris and Brussels encompass allegations of covering up war crimes, money laundering, handling stolen goods, forgery, and fraud. The lawsuit alleges that local entities like Apple France, Apple Retail France, and Apple Retail Belgium used misleading commercial practices to convince buyers that their product supply chains were ethically clean.

Lawyers representing the Congolese state said that armed groups running artisanal mines commit severe human rights abuses, making Apple complicit through its supply chain. The legal team reportedly asked the Apple CEO, Tim Cook, along with Apple subsidiaries in France, about the potential inclusion of pillaged minerals in the company’s supply chain but did not receive substantive responses.

Apple, however, ‘’strongly disputes’’ the allegations, maintaining that it is deeply committed to responsible mineral sourcing and audits its supply chain. The DRC’s Washington-based lawyer, Robert Armsterdam, described the case as constituting a ‘’first salvo’’ of judicial actions.

Said he: ‘’Color Apple red, not green. It is a trillion-dollar company that must be assumed to know the consequences of its actions. Enough with denials of accountability and hiding the false narrative of supply chain defenses’’. The DRC’s Paris-based lawyer, William Bourdon, said the criminal complaints constitute ‘’a first step towards making one of the biggest players in tech accountable for its policy of endless enrichment at the cost of the most serious of crimes staining African supply chains.’’

Its Brussels lawyer, Christopher Marchand, added that ‘’these complaints filed against Apple are a matter of great public interest at a time European countries, consumers, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are increasing their scrutiny of international supply chains.’’

Computer chips and tech devices require a wide array of minerals and specialty metals. The lawyers said that the scale and duration of the alleged activities of Apple have caused ‘’unfathomable harm and suffering’’ for civilians, fueling violence, and conflict by financing militias and terrorist groups, and contributing to forced child labor and environmental devastation. They also cited investigations by the United Nations, the U.S. State Department and international NGOs such as Global Witness to document the scale of the problem.

Affirming that they have written to the European Commission President, Ursula Von der Leyen, to inform her of the criminal complaints, the lawyers said they have asked for a dialogue on the European Union’s role in working towards accountability and an end to armed violence in sub-Saharan Africa ‘s mineral supply chains.

Alex Kopp, senior campaigner at the Global Witness NGO’s transition minerals team, reportedly said that the Rwanda-backed armed group, M23, for example, is believed to control coltan production in the Rubaya area of DRC. This region supplies about 15 percent of the world’s tantalum. DRC has accused Rwanda of using M23 to control the resource-rich eastern DRC.

But Rwanda dismissed the allegations as unfounded, saying that ‘’this is just the latest blow by the DRC government, which is constantly seeking to divert attention to Rwanda with false accusations.’’ Rwanda government spokes- person, Yolande Makolo, told AFP news agency that DRC’s mineral-rich east has been racked by violence since the 1990s, with tensions worsening since a renewed offensive in late 2021 of Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in the DRC province of North Kivu.

Danmole writes from Kabba.