[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 25 (Thursday, February 14, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1047-S1049]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            CRISIS IN CONGO

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise to raise the awareness of my 
colleagues to an issue. I will be putting in a bill on it and hope to 
attract their attention.
  I have worked on Africa for some period of time. A humanitarian 
crisis of incredible proportions is taking place in many places in 
Africa. We need to do more, and a lot more people are doing more.

  I think we are at a moment where Africa is becoming a focus in both 
Europe and the United States, left and right; for economic reasons, the 
Chinese are going in very aggressively; for militant Islamic reasons, 
people are coming in trying to penetrate into the continent.
  One of the first things we need to do to be able to grow the 
continent and allow people there to develop some sort of standard of 
living, some sort of quality of life and to be able to live, is to get 
the conflict out. One of the key things we need to go at in reducing 
the conflict is getting the money out of the conflict. We have had some 
success about this in the past.
  A decade ago, people were talking about blood diamonds in Western 
Africa and getting those out of the trafficked portion, out of the 
commodity business, and getting them into legitimate means of commerce. 
Out of that, we reduced the money into the conflict, and, as a result, 
had a substantial impact on the conflict and reducing the conflict in 
Western Africa.
  I wish to show a picture to my colleagues, many of whom I think 
probably are not aware of what it is. This is coltan. It is a booming 
commodity that is in this item. I realize, and I hope my colleagues, 
particularly the Senator from West Virginia, will allow me to show 
this, what should not be on the Senate floor, but to show this for 
purposes of demonstration of what this is doing and why it is 
important.
  This is a BlackBerry. Cell phones used to get hot when people would 
use them for a period of time. They tried to figure out what can we do 
to try to cool them down. They found a substance called coltan that 
they were able to transition into tantalum. It now carries the current 
in this electronic equipment. It doesn't get hot. Eighty percent of 
Africa's coltan comes out of Congo. Eighty percent of the world's 
coltan comes out of Africa, and most of this comes out of a conflict 
region in Eastern Congo.
  I believe most of this is funding a good portion of the conflict in 
Eastern Congo, where 1,500 people a day are dying because they cannot 
get access to medical care, they cannot get access to water, they 
cannot get access to food--because of the conflict. And the conflict is 
funded by this stuff: It is funded by coltan.
  There is a long history of what has been taking place in Congo. Many 
people remember reading such books as ``The Heart of Darkness'' and 
``King Leopold's Ghost'' and about the raiding that has taken place in 
Congo for a century. Unfortunately, we are in the latest chapter of 
that conflict.
  In Joseph Conrad's ``Heart of Darkness,'' Conrad describes King 
Leopold's colonial project of the Democratic Republic of Congo, then 
known as Congo Free State, as ``the vilest scramble for loot that ever 
disfigured the history of human conscience.'' Solely for the purpose of 
extracting a very precious manufacturing resource of the day--and that 
resource was rubber--King Leopold seized Congo and exploited the local 
population by turning it into a slave colony. During his 24-year 
tyranny of Congo Free State, 13 million Congolese died. Leopold's 
legacy lives on in the coltan mining processes of today.
  That is chapter one.

[[Page S1048]]

  Chapter 2: In November of 1965, Lieutenant-General Mobutu seized 
power of Congo, then known as Zaire, in a bloodless coup. During his 
32-year dictatorship, he consistently exploited the natural resources 
of then Zaire. He evaded international humanitarian human rights 
standards, and by the mid-1980s, Mobutu's personal fortune was 
estimated at 5 billion U.S. dollars.
  The end of the Cold War brought internal and external pressure upon 
Mobutu for a democratic transition. In 1997, with the support of 
Burundi, Uganda, and the Rwandan Tutsi Government, Laurent Kabila and 
his forces pushed Mobutu out of Government in a full-scale rebellion.
  A repetitive pattern of alliances made and broken began, and by 1998 
Kabila's former allies in Uganda and Rwanda had turned against him. In 
2001, Kabila was assassinated.
  While he succeeded his father and took charge of the country in 2001, 
it was not until November 2006 Joseph Kabila was democratically elected 
as the Congolese President. However, his control of Congo is limited. 
Today in the mineral-rich eastern region of Congo, violent thugs from 
at least four factions wage near constant war for control.
  Chapter 3: Sadly, 100 years later, Conrad's statement about the Congo 
was not only astute but prophetic. The corruption and exploitation of 
natural resources in the Congo has never stopped but has moved from 
hand to hand and moved from one resource to another; from rubber to 
diamonds, from diamonds to gold, from gold to coltan.
  The issue of conflict coltan--so we are calling it ``conflict 
coltan'' and ``conflict commodities''--is not new. The coltan rush hit 
in the late 1990s, as the consumer electronic industry figured out we 
have a problem, we have to solve this, and coltan arrived to the 
rescue. By December of 2000, a pound of coltan was worth as much as 
$400.

  In 2001, a panel of experts for the United Nations went to eastern 
Congo and wrote a report on their findings concerning the illegal 
exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth. The U.N. 
report documents the rebel groups' use of forced labor, illegal 
monopolies, and civilian murder in their high-stakes game to extract 
these valuable resources.
  I wish to show you a picture.
  This picture was taken in 2007 of some of the mining techniques of 
this coltan in the coltan rush. You can see a child here, in a very 
shallow mine, using a hammer and a pick to dig out coltan.
  What is taking place is, many of these rebel groups will overrun a 
village, scatter the men, go directly to the coltan area, taking the 
women and children, and then start the extraction of coltan, to mine it 
and put it on the backs of people to carry it out at $400 a pound.
  The U.S. Geological Survey has identified that most of the coltan 
mining in Congo is ``artisan.'' According to the U.N. report, most 
coltan mining is done by poor people, and many of them are children.
  These novice miners, who are often held against their will, sift for 
coltan in riverbeds or dig it out of abandoned mines.
  A report issued by the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International 
Studies, a review in 2002, found that the ``supply chain'' of coltan is 
extensive and distorted. The SAIS review report states that Rwanda and 
Uganda were directly or indirectly appointing local rebel faction 
leaders and field commanders to serve as conduits for illicit trade 
originating from the occupied territories of eastern Congo. The war 
appears now to be self-financing.
  Rebel movements were motivated by economic incentives rather than the 
pursuit of political ideals.
  Middlemen were then hired to form relationships with clients. They 
then facilitated transactions between those who controlled the 
resources and foreign corporations without the question of legitimacy.
  At the time of the U.N. report of 2002, 34 foreign companies were 
identified in importing minerals from the Congo via Rwanda.
  The war in Congo officially ended in 2003 with a signed peace 
agreement between the Congolese Government and the rebels.
  Yet, at the same time, rebel factions still controlled the east, and 
there was no centrally elected government in Congo. Rwandan and Ugandan 
soldiers were still attacking territories in the provinces of Ituri and 
the Kivu across the boarder in eastern Congo.
  With the election of President Kabila in 2006, it was reported that 
neighboring governments withdrew their troops from Congo.
  But now chapter 4. The story continues. The U.N. and SAIS reports I 
have cited were published in 2001 and 2002 respectively. However, these 
pictures I am showing you were taken within the last 12 months.
  The current fighting in eastern Congo--there was a peace agreement 
recently signed, and then it was broken 2 days ago--involves renegade 
GEN Laurent Nkunda and his group, the National Congress for the Defense 
of the People, the Mai-Mai rebels, the Hutu extremists, and those loyal 
to the Congolese Government.
  Now, if all these names can seem a bit blurring to people, at the 
bottom line, I hope you can remember two factors here: 1,500 people a 
day dying because of this; $400 a pound for coltan, financing this 
death and destruction daily.
  After the release of the U.N. report, we saw companies within the 
high-tech industry respond to the report by asking suppliers to certify 
that the tantalum--that is what coltan is processed into--tantalum they 
were purchasing did not originate from the eastern region of DRC.
  These same companies stated that without certification they would not 
buy from the region of Central Africa. They were requesting that their 
tantalum be ``conflict free'' and from legit sources, and I applaud 
their efforts. Today, we know that most of the world's tantalum is 
supplied by Australia. That is the processed coltan. But now where does 
Australia get the coltan and these companies get the coltan?
  Recent reports state that the channel in which coltan was once being 
smuggled out of Congo is still alive and active. And in this chain of 
supply and demand, one simple bad actor involves us all.
  Recent reports state that Rwanda and others are using the war in 
Congo to continue the exploitation of coltan. Once it is extracted, we 
are told, it is then sent down to Australia, where it is mixed with 
Australian coltan--where 20 percent of the world's coltan comes from--
before being processed into tantalum. Processed tantalum is then traded 
among countries and private companies on the international market.

  But as some private companies and some foreign countries are not 
required to produce public records of their tantalum trade, tracking 
exact amounts is extremely difficult to obtain.
  Australia, specifically, has a confidentiality clause for private 
companies that purchase their tantalum. So we do not know. From 2002 to 
2005, Australia accounted for 54 percent of the world's tantalum. 
Unfortunately, it is impossible to say with any certainty that the 
tantalum supply coming out of Australia is conflict free.
  While we know this exploitation continues today, as it did 10 years 
ago, and we see the immense difficulty in tracking it, we will not turn 
a blind eye to this.
  I met with people from the consumer electronics industry today to 
tell them we are going to focus on this because if this can defund the 
conflict so people can live free and be able to survive--get some clean 
water, get some health care, get some food--then we need to go at this. 
We should not fund this conflict. We should not be buying the product 
if it is coming from conflict areas. We should be able to certify that 
is the case.
  I commend to my colleagues a recent report from the International 
Rescue Committee entitled, ``Mortality in the Democratic Republic of 
Congo, An Ongoing Crisis.'' This was released on January 22 of this 
year, citing that 1,500 people a day are dying. In this report, we 
learn that since 1998, 5.4 million people have died in Congo--5.4 
million. These deaths can be directly or indirectly attributed to the 
ongoing conflicts in the region, which can be attributed to the 
exploitation of natural resources, primarily coltan mining.
  Death comes at the butt of a gun and with the bite of a mosquito. 
There casualties stem from the violence of this

[[Page S1049]]

brutal ongoing war, which has marred the country for the past 10 years, 
and from the resulting displacement of the Congolese. When you flee for 
your life in these areas of Congo, there often is no other town or 
village in which to take shelter.
  When you ask a Congolese about becoming displaced, their response to 
you is: Which time? They flee into the bush for months at a time with 
only the clothes on their back and a child in their arms.
  Senator Durbin and I went to Congo together 2 years ago. We saw some 
of the impact.
  Chapter 5. I want to show you a specific story here, a heartbreaking 
story of one young boy and his family.
  This is a picture of a 3-year-old boy. He is one of the millions of 
victims of displacement and malnourishment. His family fled into the 
jungle from a rebel group that had burnt their village to the ground in 
the North Kivu Province in the eastern part of Congo. They lived in the 
jungle and had been constantly on the move. Food became scarce, and 
meals became as sporadic as two to three a week.
  When his mother brought him and his younger brother to the local 
health clinic, they were immediately referred to an international 
humanitarian organization in the area. There, this young boy was 
diagnosed with malaria. They immediately began his treatments, which 
his small, frail body rejected.
  His doctors then discovered he had been eating that which his mother 
could gather in the jungle and only once every 3 to 4 days. Due to lack 
of nutrition, he was anemic. As they started his anemia treatment, his 
body began to shut down; he rejected the oral and IV treatments.
  This 3-year-old passed away within 8 hours of first being diagnosed--
minutes after this photo was taken. He is one of the millions of 
victims from this raging, complex conflict. As the IRC reports, the war 
is having direct and indirect impact on these deaths. While a small 
portion is dying directly from the conflict--bullets, bombs, and rifle 
butts--the majority are dying from malaria, malnourishment, diarrhea, 
and poor neonatal care.

  While children under the age of 5 make up 19 percent of the 
population in the Congo, they comprise over 47 percent of the deaths in 
the recent mortality study. Nineteen percent of the population under 
the age of 5, 47 percent of the deaths in Congo.
  The national rate of mortality is 60 percent higher in the Congo than 
the average mortality rate in sub-Saharan Africa. Sexual violence and 
rape is also on the rise in the Congo and has become a symptomatic tool 
of war there.
  The U.N. reported 4,500 sexual violence cases had been reported in 
South Kivu the first half of 2007. Most of these cases reported have 
been committed by some of the 6,000 to 7,000 members of foreign armed 
groups operating in the eastern part of the Congo, funded by coltan 
that we purchase to put in our Blackberries.
  The U.N. reported that the Congolese national army, national police 
force, and increasing numbers of civilians were also brutalizing women, 
often during violent clashes with political rivals. Perpetrators are 
now making no distinctions between women and children. The local 
hospital in Goma, Congo, where Senator Durbin and I both visited, a 
hospital named Heal Africa, tells a story of a 13-year-old girl who had 
been raped so viciously by her perpetrators that she couldn't walk for 
2 weeks. She then walked approximately 7 miles to a facility for 
treatment. Her doctors reported her internal injuries were beyond their 
imagination.
  A collapse in infrastructure such as the one we see in the Congo does 
not happen overnight. This is due to an ongoing 10-year conflict which 
has exploited that country, its people, its children. Coltan and other 
natural resources are at the root of that exploitation.
  I want to show another display here. In spite of their sad history, 
the Congo is a beautiful country with resilient people. It is a country 
with so much potential for growth and development. Unfortunately, the 
Congo's story is one of devastation, forced labor, child soldiers, 
rape, curable illnesses left untreated, and deaths of 1,500 a day, as I 
have stated, and all because, all because of--and funded by this--a 
Blackberry that we buy.
  My colleagues can see here in the pictures taken of a very 
rudimentary mine, but a mining operation of coltan in the Congo; rebel 
child soldiers--very common in this part of the world--well armed, 
deadly; a coltan battery, and cell phones.
  Peace agreements call for implementation of a commission to oversee 
the conflict in this region. The Goma peace agreement was signed on 
January 22, 2008. I mentioned that previously, and that has recently 
been broken. The immediate cease-fire of the peace agreement was broken 
the first time within 5 days after it took place. While we must play 
our part, they must play their part as well, and I strongly urge all 
parties in that region to respect their commitments within this 
agreement.
  The peace agreement calls for implementation of a commission to 
oversee disarmament of the Nkunda rebels and the extremist fighters. 
These fighters will either integrate into the Congolese national army 
or demobilize.
  I strongly urge the implementation of these terms. This is another 
step in the right direction for the Congo and its people. However, I 
feel that as long as there is demand for valuable Congolese resources 
and thugs with the power to control these resources, this will not be 
the final chapter of this conflict. It has happened for too long.
  The United States is completely dependent on foreign supplies of 
tantalum, and we admit to this. Both the ``Minerals Yearbook,'' 
published by the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Department of 
Strategic and Critical Material Report to the Congress, coltan, also 
known as tantalum, is classed as a ``critical'' mineral.
  We have come to a point where we cannot live without this mineral. 
However, neither can we ignore nor will we sit idly by while others 
suffer. We need to be responsible as a nation and as consumers. We must 
hold our suppliers accountable.
  In the coming days I will be introducing legislation requiring 
certification of the origin of coltan for all U.S.-based companies that 
use tantalum in manufacturing. It will further require manufacturers 
who use tantalum to have a certificate of origin. All we want to do 
with this is make sure that the coltan, the tantalum we are using, 
comes from legitimate sources. That is all we are asking. As a supply 
chain, the Congolese government can set this up, saying that we 
register and license and saying this is the coltan that is coming out 
of here, coming from legitimate sources. I am fine with that. But we 
want that and we want to know where it is coming from and that is that 
it is not conflict coltan that is used to pay for the suffering of so 
many people.
  We all must be good actors in this chain. With 1,500 people dying a 
day, there is no room for turning a blind eye on this matter.
  American greatness has always been founded on our fundamental 
goodness. We need to be a nation where the strong protect the weak and 
people of privilege assist those in poverty. It says a lot about the 
kind of America we all should work for when we speak out against this 
type of tragedy and commit ourselves to those who are suffering there.
  I will be sending around a ``Dear Colleague'' letter about this. I 
will be happy to supply more information. There are a number of reports 
from the United Nations and from Johns Hopkins that I have been citing, 
and others. We have some photographs of what is taking place presently, 
and I ask simply that if people are going to cause this suffering which 
we completely disagree with, they are not going to do it by us paying 
for it.
  Mr. President, I thank the Chair.

                          ____________________