The DRC is the Source of Apple’s Minerals, Which it Urged Suppliers to Stop Purchasing Earlier This Year

Apple, a multinational technology company, has denied claims made by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that its goods include conflict minerals. It asserts, without providing any information, that earlier this year it instructed its suppliers to cease sourcing gold, tungsten, tantalum, and tin from the DRC and Rwanda, where fighting has intensified. The remark was made in reaction to criminal cases the Congolese government had brought against the corporation in France and Belgium.

The IT giant is accused by Kinshasa of employing local “blood minerals” that are laundered through global supply chains in its goods. According to reports, Apple is accused of war crimes, fraud, falsification, and money laundering. Since the 1990s, the Congolese army and rebel groups, some supported by Rwanda, have been engaged in violent conflicts in the mineral-rich eastern region of the DRC.

According to human rights organizations and UN experts, these terrorists operate some of the artisanal mining and commit atrocities like rapes and massacres of people. Kinshasa claims that this entails Apple’s involvement in the crimes. Attorneys for the DRC have applauded Apple’s decision to cease sourcing minerals from the area, despite the company’s ambiguous remark.

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