the morningside post

Sometimes Democracy Takes a "Miracle"

Some are calling what happened in Congo on Tuesday a "miracle." Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former warlord turned vice-president turned presidential candidate, conceded his defeat in his run-off with Joseph Kabila. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "So what? Bemba lost by 16 percent." Plus, concession may not seem like much; in light of the recent spate of concessions following the U.S. mid-term elections they might even be expected.

But not in Congo.

Many observers looked at the recent violence in Congo - including the burning of the Supreme Court just before it verified Kabila's electoral victory - and predicted more war. Or they have assumed that in a country as plagued by war as Congo and in a continent as filled with failed states as Africa, the best-case scenario is an impossibility. They were wrong - and some, like the BBC's Mark Doyle, have admitted the error.

Your Cell Phone's Ringing

This summer, I lived and worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo. While I was there, it was a rare time of hope as the Congolese went to the polls for the first time in four decades to elect a president.

At the same time it is undergoing what will hopefully prove to be a political growth spurt, however, Congo continues to struggle with its devastated economy and lack of development. Rich in resources, the Congo has been a source of wealth for many countries and companies around the world, but rarely for itself.

Why should you care? Because one of the most essential components of the technologies you enjoy today -- your cell phone, your computer, even the wireless connection over which you may be reading this post -- depends on coltan. And 80 percent of the world's coltan reserves are found in Congo. There it is mined by Congolese -- often Congolese children -- for paltry amounts of money that eventually turn into big profits for someone else.

I learned a great deal about coltan this summer. I watched it being refined and I held it in my hand. I also helped field produce a segment on coltan mining and the Congolese economy through the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for Fareed Zakaria's PBS show, "Foreign Exchange." That segment is scheduled to air this weekend on your local PBS channel. Eventually this segment will be viewable online, but until then, check the show out in real-time on television (air times are posted here) and visit the Pulitzer Center's page on Congo where a one-minute preview clip is already available.

Also, as Mvemba Phezo Dizolele, the reporter I worked with this summer, points out in an op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, you can do something about the impact of coltan on the Congo's economy. Not by refusing to buy another cell phone, but by urging our government leaders to do something about this tragedy -- perhaps by promoting the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. As Mvemba writes:

The United States should fully support the recommendations of the U.N. panel and help prosecute those individuals and corporations mentioned in the report. To date, U.S. inaction on the matter has benefited only the perpetrators and, by extension, has helped fuel the conflict. The message to corrupt Congolese government officials: The United States will tolerate business as usual in the extraction of valuable minerals.

Check out "Foreign Exchange" to see why tolerating "business as usual" is a bad idea. 

Gun Running

Imagine your 10 closest friends from high school. Imagine the 10 people you work most closely with every day. Imagine 10 family members. Now imagine that for each of those groups of 10, there is one gun somewhere in the world. According to an Op-Chart in the New York Times Monday, it's not just imaginable. It's true. There is one weapon for every 10 people worldwide.

Why does this matter? As the accompanying Op-Ed copy points out, it may not matter as much in America, where the gun business is booming. (America tops the list of the largest fireamrs exporters in the world.) But in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo, where I worked this summer with Mvemba Dizolele, one of the Op-Ed's authors, the toll is heavy: Eastern Congo remains mired in civil war despite the largest U.N. peacekeeping force ever assembled. One reason for the continuing insecurity is the flood of small arms in the country.