Conflict Minerals: GAO Tells State, USAID to Create Performance Indicators for Conflict Minerals Strategy

Sep 15, 2020 | Homeland Security Today
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The Department of States (State) says armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to commit severe human rights abuses and to profit from the mining and trading of “conflict minerals”. These minerals include tin, gold, and others that are used to finance conflict in the area. The United Nations (UN) reported in 2019 that state and nonstate armed groups, as well as criminal networks, continued to tax or control mining activities in eastern DRC.15 Armed groups use revenue from the illegal taxation and sale of conflict minerals to survive and to purchase arms and ammunition. The UN also reported that armed groups traffic minerals to neighboring countries, including Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. Some of the nonstate armed groups continue to grow, sometimes recruiting from and expanding to neighboring countries, according to the UN.