blood diamonds and africas armed conflict summary review

These three are commonly found in electronics products. We focused on eastern Congo because it has high rebel activity, high levels of conflict and is well-known for its mineral deposits, mainly gold and the ‘3T minerals’ – tin, tungsten, and tantalum. Linking extraction modes to local conflict

They should be secured, as the industrial sites are, with the help of the Congolese mining police and army to ensure less violence.

Our findings highlight a need for more security measures at artisanal mining sites. But we also saw that the expansion of industrial mines triggered riots and also increased violence against civilians. By contrast, when industrial mining was established there were fewer. In the case of artisanal mines, when mineral prices rose there were more battles between armed groups over the mines. We found that artisanal and industrial mining had different impacts. In our recent study, we looked at how two events – changes in world prices of minerals and a surge in industrial mining – affected local conflict in eastern Congo between 20. It has close relations with national elites but only provides a few jobs to low-skilled workers. Industrial mining is mechanised practised by large, often international, companies. It provides working opportunities for up to 20 million people in Africa alone. Doing so means policymakers can direct interventions towards reducing conflict.Īrtisanal mining generally refers to the manual extraction of minerals. Examples include the “blood diamonds” that were used to finance armed groups in Sierra Leone and Liberia.īut existing research makes no distinction on how the two main types of mineral extraction – artisanal and industrial mining – affect conflict. This is because minerals are prized by rebel groups and are a source of their financing. Strong evidence links the mining of minerals to local conflict in several African countries.

Blood diamonds and africas armed conflict summary review