What does your iPod, cell phone, pager, and laptop have to do with the crisis in the Congo? A lot, actually. Eastern Congo, where fighting has recently taken a dramatic upswing, is one of the best places in the world to mine Columbite-tantalite, otherwise known as Coltan.
Coltan is a unique metal used in the batteries of small electronics. And as devices like Ipods became more in demand around the turn of the millennium, so too did the demand for Coltan.
This turned out to be more of a curse than a blessing for the people of eastern Congo. competition over Coltan mines between the government of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and a panoply of armed groups in eastern Congo helped fuel a civil war in Congo that has claimed over 4 million lives.
The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting offers a great explainer on the Coltan-conflict nexus in Eastern DRC.
By Olav Kjorven, Assistant Secretary General and Director of Development Policy at the UN Development Program
Something unprecedented happened in China in late October. It may not have been as glitzy spectacular as the Olympics in Beijing over the summer. It did not attract heads of state or world celebrities. But it possibly leave a more lasting imprint on the future of China and indeed the world.
Taoist masters from all over China gathered near the ancient capital of Nanjing to agree on a seven-year plan for climate change action. Anybody with minimal knowledge of China will immediately understand that this is more than a curiosity.
This week, I talk with Kristele Younis of Refugee's International about one of the most under reported stories out of Iraq: the plight of the some 2 million people who have fled Iraq since the outbreak of war in 2003. In the segment below, we talk about the particularly dire situation facing about 3,000 Iraqi Palestinians who have fled to refugee camps in Syria.
by Jana Gastellum, Associate Director, Energy Future Coalition
Among churning financial markets, two international organizations, the United Nations and the International Energy Agency, recently called for green growth as a solution to the current economic crisis.
Last week, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon promoted the UN Environment Programme's call for a Green New Deal. Coupling solutions to poverty, energy security, and the environment, Secretary Ban says,
A solution to poverty is also a solution for climate change: green growth. For the world's poor, it is a key to development. For the rich, it is the way of the future... At a time when the global economy is sputtering, we need growth. At a time when unemployment in many nations is rising, we need new jobs. At a time when poverty threatens to overtake hundreds of millions of people, especially in the least developed parts of the world, we need the promise of prosperity. This possibility is at our fingertips. We have experienced great economic transformations throughout history: the industrial revolution, the technology revolution, and the era of globalization. We are now on the threshold of another -- the age of green economics.
The head of the UN mission in Congo (MONUC), Alan Doss, has a blunt retort to those criticizing the force's performance in the daunting task of controlling the violent powder-keg of eastern Congo.
"We cannot have a soldier behind every tree, in every field, on every road and in every market; it is impossible."And there are a lot of trees in Congo. The problems, of course, are lot greater than an abundance of trees. As I highlighted the other day, MONUC's mandate was crafted over-ambitiously, and this only now coming home to roost. The result is, as Refugees International Advocate Erin Weir opines from Goma, an increasing sense that the MONUC forces on the ground have been "hung out to dry." Ruthermore, there are no shortages of culpable actors in this tragedy, either. In addition to the "alphabet soup" of armed groups in eastern Congo that Change.org helpfully outlines here, Rwanda is playing a large role in the conflict. Former RI Advocate Rick Neal commented:
Rwanda is the key in all aspects of this crisis, and yet amazingly little attention is given to its role and what it should do. When I worked in the region, no one wanted to speak out too loudly against Rwanda for fear of being called an apologist for the génocidaires, and perhaps this still applies.The failures to respond during one hundred days of genocide 14 years ago, unfortunately, are still painfully reverberating.
The final discussion prompt in our week long salon on human rights challenges facing the next administration comes from Cato scholar and On Day One user Justin Logan, who says that the United States should swear off nation building.
Eric Schwartz and Suzanne Nossel respond.
Over on Huffington Post Harold Pollack gets into the Halloween spirit.
We must be equally jazzed about bringing the world's children basic sanitation, nutrition, and who knows: maybe a few reading lessons. Seven dollars protects a kid against malaria--not to mention the itchy bites. Fifteen dollars buys a carton of high energy protein biscuits--not the crud people hawk on cable TV--the kind that supports three severely malnourished kids for a whole month. Twenty dollars vaccinates nine kids against polio. To quote PBS, Forty-five hundred thousand dollars.... well, you get the picture. Last time around, many economists donated through this post, because they realized that UNICEF and related charities are among the most cost-effective strategies to improve the world. To donate, click on my tacky personal donation web page If that's too tacky for you, the UN foundation's website is cool, too: PS: Your kids might like this fun time-wasting flash link.And for the uninitiated, this is the kind of life-saving work that UNICEF does.
Both the LA Times and the NY Times have fascinating articles this morning on the booming pirate economy in northern Somalia. Included are some rather jaw-dropping quotations.
How easy is it to become a pirate?
"All you need is three guys and a little boat, and the next day you're millionaires," said Abdullahi Omar Qawden, a former captain in Somalia's long-defunct navy.What brings the pirates together?
"We are just a group of people with a common interest in making money," said Sugule Ali, a spokesman for the pirates.How do they deal with questions of legality?
When one young thug complains that a $5,000 deduction for disobeying an order is "illegal," the old man snaps back: "Even the $15,000 you are getting is illegal! It's all stolen!"Where does the money go?
Los Angeles Representative (and blogger) Xavier Beccera hosted one of The Global Debates -- an initiative of the The People Speak, a UN Foundation program designed to get youths discussing important issues -- between these two Santee High School students (and potential future members of Congress).
Check out more of The Global Debates here.