E.S News Room

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has endured 25 years of war, making it the deadliest global conflict since World War II. More than 120 armed groups roam the east terrorizing the civilian population. The United Nations estimates that over six million people have died and millions more displaced by the conflict. Now, people here are facing another rebellion by M23 rebels whose fighters are from the minority Tutsi ethnic group. The Tutsi were the group targeted in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the ethnicity of Rwanda’s president. Rwanda has been accused of funding the group, an accusation they deny.   

This story exposes the shocking truth about the mining of cobalt, a metal crucial to making the batteries in electric cars, laptops and mobile phones. The world’s richest deposits of cobalt are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the poorest countries on earth. It produces around 70% of world output.  This buried treasure has lured hundreds of thousands of Congolese to work in the country’s mines, big and small.  This is a rare insight into a powerful industry which operates a dangerous business with seeming impunity. All of us use the end products.