Africa's "Resource Wars" Assume Epidemic Proportions
By <
http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/ilya-kharlamov> Ilya Kharlamov
Global Research, November 26, 2012
africa2
A civil war in Congo may cause big problems for millions of cell phone and
computer users across the globe.
Congo is the world's third largest producer of tantalum used in high-tech
electronics. Even a temporary supply shortage may deal a serious blow to the
electronics industry with far-reaching consequences for other branches. The
situation in Congo is just one example of how regional conflicts may affect
the lives of millions of people on other continents.
Although sparked by a tribal and clan feud, the ongoing bloodshed in that
Central African country is actually a war for mineral resources. This week,
the rebels seized Goma, the biggest city in the mineral-reach eastern part
of Congo, and are poised to fight on with government troops and UN forces
unable, so far, to check their advance. The rebels, who call themselves the
March 23 Movement, or M23, are widely believed to enjoy clandestine support
from neighboring Rwanda and Uganda struggling for access to Congo's mineral
wealth.
Congo has vast and largely untapped reserves of oil, gold, diamonds, copper,
uranium, cobalt and other minerals, including tantalum - a rare-earth metal
used in the nuclear power industry, mobile phones, computers, digital
cameras and other high-tech products. With demand for tantalum growing
faster than supply, fueled by rapidly-developing high-tech branches,
tantalum is becoming more profitable than gold or diamonds. For Congo's poor
neighbors, control over tantalum deposits could mean a chance for an
economic breakthrough and higher living standards. And although producers
have stockpiled sufficient quantities of tantalum, the situation is very
alarming and prompting scientists to look for alternatives.
Analysts draw parallels with Serbia and the Balkan conflict. A Western
project for the independence of Kosovo intended not only to punish the
disobedient Serbia, but also to strip it of a vast portion of mineral
reserves - coal, gold, platinum, bauxites, zinc, nickel and cobalt -
estimated at dozens of millions of tons. Cobalt, for example, is a key
element in renewable energy production.
The recent bloody war in Sudan is seen by some experts as a battlefield
between Beijing and Washington. China has invested and continues to invest
billions of dollars in Africa and made it a priority of its foreign policy.
As a result of the war, Sudan split into two separate states - Sudan and
South Sudan. Last year, the oil-rich South Sudan acquired independence with
the active assistance of the United States. But the Sudanese oil, though
extracted in the south, cannot be transported other than through the north,
which makes oil transit an essential issue with many lances broken over it
already.
As the global population grows at a rate of tens of millions per year, the
task of providing it with energy and staple goods is becoming a top
priority. While for many countries, control over mineral resources is
actually a matter of surviving, for elites it's an opportunity to enrich
themselves uncontrollably. Wars for resources may assume epidemic
proportions.
Received on Mon Nov 26 2012 - 22:05:46 EST
