twenty three. crashes into another vessel. four hundred twenty three people die. to make. the team. russia. years ago.

take advantage of the wild growing. economic life gives birth to. screech. in india in the move to the joint be. the gateway her to the grand imperial truly told us to. let her tell her to. go. read this and the colonel was her child as a treat. russia's job the recall of the japanese ambassador from moscow was tokyo's outcry follows president medvedev his visit to russia's southern could rely on which japan claims as its own. the u.s. is still living in the midterm elections with opinion polls putting republicans in

a strong position. and celebrating human ambition the international space station marks a decade of operations critics pushed for a breakthrough suggested by its billions in costs. up next we report on the growing demand for the metal coal to have a key component in mobile phones and computers. nira gung ho and active volcano overlooks the city you can clearly see traces of the last eruption in two thousand and two. but the main threat to go is a rebel general and the ha. he's a congress but an ethnic tutsi fighting against the congolese government. he's attacked the congolese army several times in two thousand and four two thousand and six and two thousand and seven there's a warrant for his arrest for war crimes his men are accused of massacres and extortion. and says she'll take her resources they kill people they steal

telephones they rape our women. in september two thousand and seven four hundred thousand people had to flee the combat zone where he was operating. is the archetype of warlord he has control of the mines to meet him we go to his party stronghold them s.e.c. four hours drive from goma. once the general's representative has given us permission a driver agrees to take us there. you know every left the government zone. yes most of the people here are too it says. we arrive at a roadblock the rebel generals have quotas and not far from here. we're coming up to quintus headquarters. from here he can overlook the holy jhon.

we're going to see if there are catholic chicks for fear of assassination is ever present. this is general conduct he carries no weapons just a simple swagg a stick. in the heart of his own territory he's permanently surrounded by bodyguards. to lead to the warning patrick. thank you for agreeing to see you also. the rebel leader has no problem putting his case to us he sees himself as a man of god so this is our chapel. so let's adopt and that's our flag. says the writing is in hebrew he costs him self in the role of moses saving his people it depends on anyone who agrees that jesus

is the king of kings and lord of lords is one of us is our brother. that's the message god sent to us on the tenth of april two thousand and seven. we were sitting in this room when we received a message from the eternal being that this is you know that we must take the decision to change things so you're a priest you've been one for several years and yes for several years now i'm a seventeenth day adventist and living in the forest doesn't stop me carrying out my ecclesiastical missions it's just his lapel pin says rebels for christ donald and this is a big organizations that started in america they often come and preach to rebellion you place a book with a flood the old the pastor has even recruited followers where you would least expect it but i mean oh yeah we have people who belong to rebels for christ and who pray with this and who are muslims they've written something over there i don't understand i can't read the muslim language you have members who are muslim yes we

have a doctrine. it's christian justice. and if you're a muslim and you accept christian justice you have to behave in the appropriate way and spite of your muslim faith. he may be a man of god but above all he's a fighter. of the jesus said i have given you lambs so that they may have life and life in abundance but if life is to be in abundance that means the pastor has to protect the lambs. he has to protect them from threats and if the threat is armed the pastor has to protect the sheep from the armed threat. so you have several hats military leader and spiritual leader. when they go together well . and i like that. but where security is concerned this man of god prefers to rely on rocket launches. and the

battle hardened fighters who worship him. they said here on the island was a bit like a good war leader general laura likes to show mercy to his prisoners there are a few here today rwandan hutus boys they're alive only because they were too young to have killed tutsis in the rwandan genocide they would have been three at the time. and they've been here for six months they eat with us and of course we keep them prisoner but we haven't killed them only that but. can the likes to present himself as the leader of congo's tutsis there are a minority in kiev who he says he has a legitimate claim to protect his people it's a telegram probably up to the big problem there are lots of minorities they can all live freely in the congo except the tootsies we have been chased away from

everywhere in the congo and even in the north kivu we can only live where i am general loan. he owes his position above all to general me the rwandan president the tutsi like him. in september two thousand and seven president kagame it openly supported could it is conflict with the congolese army. since it is my newfound make you more not. and do with it but given mistakes you good to hold him accountable for. as some put it completely misses the terrorists to me. the message is clear is cut them is protege but maintaining a rebel army of six thousand men owning it and feeding it is an expensive business and the lands controlled by the general contain mine gold tin and coltan mine. this beauty you exploiting natural resources in the zones you control the division

. i have told my men not to get involved in the mining business down business. because then they would always say we are fighting for diamonds for gold for coltan and so on we have always tried to stay outside that rule otherwise people will say that lauro is fighting his war in the east for diamonds and cold so i don't want to touch it but can that denies any connection with colton but he also claims to control the economic activity in the region so maybe we are a movement and our members know that their survival depends on the success of the c n d p. s they donate money every month to feed the soldiers really. i quoted this as well is that my organization is very large as long as the population is kept safe the population is productive all i have to do is go out and hold a ceremony and i have everything i want. everything except the mines difficult to

believe. we go back to go to find out whether the cult turned does or doesn't finance his revenge. we learn that one of his close relations a former rebel general is trading in minerals from can does region their old allies accused of extorting money together in two thousand and four. we try to meet this man who has since become a businessman in his death of a discreet little storeroom behind a gas station he also owns we often neighbor see movies. doesn't it has been done to you it's closed here as go into the office ok willfully on the street. we have a hidden camera with us. but when we get there we can't meet the former general they tell us he's in belgium. and even more they want to film the office to sell it to you q did you keep it you want to

ask for it there's no point in filming us for a documentary about depose. if you did it well what's in it for us. at the back of the building there are some sacks of minerals but they won't tell us where they come from. a lot. more. generalist from the town i down gives us the story he has personally made general couldn't as well as his colleague the ex general turned businessman. you can feel things you know at the time of the rebel. and he was an officer in the form of aussie d. he takes the coltan from the messy see the area occupied by the dissident former general couldn't. he also visits the mines and when he cali to get the call tan

which he brings here little duck killer made its process locally and then exported exposed it's not like they do compete in. the un rang the alarm bells in two thousand and three they confirmed that precious metals are at the very heart of the wars that have bloodied the region they imposed an embargo on arms and criticized the financing of rebellions from the sale of coal to. eighteen thousand un peacekeepers are deployed in the congo five thousand in this region alone in direct confrontation with general condemns militia. these helicopters have even fired on qantas troops. the u.n. spokesperson is sylvie fund their children that she's been here for four years when she talks about the general she doesn't mince how we're. looking at us today you see condoleezza rebel a dissident. and we yes he's a rebel a dissident

a warlord he's a general and he was dismissed from the congolese army that's what he's been accused of serious human rights violations he's still recruiting children there are children among his soldiers but he hides them the cash to come only cash or have any of the cases been proved i think of it all they have certainly they have been massacred just as nasty did they have been murders of people they suspected of collaborating with rwandan soldiers. could have us or they create all but all to one day. soon given the building but it is in no doubt the mineral trade pace of the permanent war. into kanya hopeful for one of their main sources of funds is the illegal exploitation of natural resources that. and that's why it's so important to reestablish the authority of the state and the state's control of the mines. in this region and the cure rate is precious metals are trafficked in small claims

under the very eyes of the un peacekeepers sylvie can't get over the latest trick employed by m.p.c. a coal town export based in south africa. they use this helicopter to avoid checks on their mineral transports. by giving it a united nations local. service the next of course that's unacceptable for the un we have a mandate to protect the civil population and to support the congolese government it's a shock to learn that private companies day to use our logo to transport their cargo . of hospital not to forget. the un is powerless today the secretary general's special representative is in town we take the opportunity to ask his excellent c. william swing a few questions. for years after the u.n. report nothing has changed but this was

a is it true that terrible things are happening massacres absolutely it was a case like you know we talked to him about massacres he talks to us about a training program for the congolese army. the office they have to complete the training program if they're getting there slowly but a lot of people are suffering in the meantime if you don't you think would be one last point. really as far as the mines a concerted some of them are under the control of these groups you know and they're supplying the rebels. is there no way of cutting off their financing the things that you're missing is that a the annoyed yes it's true we should do more we should move against them. if it is that's what we're trying to do and it is. he says that it's shameful that this country is natural riches should be stolen by groups that then use the money to buy weapons themselves by the group he pushed it is up to. what this diplomat doesn't

say is that behind the walls is a web of powerful economic interests. back to become. we've arranged a meeting with the m.d.c. of one of the town's biggest coltan dealers the other group. the bosses of these dealerships are usually discreet and retiring but listen to me gabi is prepared to meet us as the regional president of the congo federation of business. keep purchases minerals sourced from a number of mines in the region and exports the member of. his accountant gives us a tour of the property. in spite of the un's boycott recommendations business is booming this company has no problem selling its minerals abroad right now it's selling up to five tonnes a month. you don't want it to. get back up demand is so high no one could have enough product to satisfy you. that much well then if that is not

the problem with a consequence of the demand that's right if someone asked us for ten or fifty tonnes today we couldn't supply it. the demand comes from foreign companies there is no boycott of congolese minerals when you ask them about it this mineral trader becomes very very. keep these the fossil key for some people say we think there should be an embargo east because we believe the minerals industry worsens the security situation of the island mont. nyssa kitty in short no one knows anything but apparently that doesn't prevent foreign companies from making orders especially in belgium the former colonial power or your traditional bias in belgium is yes belgium has always been a big partner for the congo. biggest part that. it used to be so jim i think it's

a franco belgian or american they have been for us they were making. tracks this is a belgian company specializing in rare metals like cobalt arsenic mercury magnesium and caltech. hundreds from the name of you make or so james it was one of the companies in the two thousand and three u.n. report accused of indirectly funding the civil wars in the congo. the financing of conflict especially in the east and northeast of the country in two thousand and six it was bought by two american investment funds it has twenty offices around the world. headquarters there in brussels in the manhattan business district in defiance of u.n. recommendations trax is still buys congolese cult. is this texas could i speak to mr bass.

we don't wish to comment on a t.v. program about our politics our presence or activities in africa. they. are used in importing co ten from eastern congo you can go yes. and you know where it comes from. yes we make our checks we have our information and we do know where it comes from. we take the necessary measures to ensure that our suppliers check for us they're very sensitive about that kind of thing. according to track says the coltan brought in the congo could under no circumstances come from a war zone but trixie's own supplier sees it differently secured the seals already it's difficult to distinguish between what is good and what is bad just given to whether the minerals have been sold by an armed group or not that is going to be

because in the mining zones you have the local population who work in the mines and who sell to the dealers my bills after is now illegal so yeah and in the end you don't know what is coming by and on ban and what is not going to pass in a few years but it is out of me. and it's very difficult isn't it to make coal town traceable it's not like them and support them. we send x. ten ordered to us to verify what our supply is tennis we send independent teams to check up on things. it's difficult to believe tracks investigators check on mines that neither the authorities nor the exporters deta visit. relatives of mine that is unfortunately in the mining zones i don't know where you went but personally i can't go into the mining as owns because of the security situation. in brussels a half dozen traders like tracks this export coal tran to the rest of the world

none would agree to be filmed. we had to record a meeting with a hidden camera in order to get any honest comments. this data is based in a small belgian village he buys minerals in goma and exports them to asia from the port of mombasa in kenya. to strip. those of us think first quarter of the owner of the company is in his fifty's he's been trading with africa for thirty years ago his company was named in the two thousand and three u.n. report. and it isn't the real you named in the u.n. report to yes but i was cleared it was a simple accusation that by buying these minerals you were indirectly financing the war in the east of the country well beyond your earth. and they're still talking

about that today it started for me when my father said i heard on the radio that you're selling machine guns. that's what the tabloids made of it city of mosul and then there was more and more noise of us off a lot lot and after a few months i was contacted by an ex f.b.i. agent who'd become a u.n. inspector. and i went to see him to go get you and what about. he had a document from congolese customs showing three and a half tons of coal ten addressed to our company. and i said to him so what all this fuss about that. there was no penalty the matter is closed. back in the city who are you buying from at the time. although it was never the same people today when you buy a shipment you can't know what the people have been involved. it's not possible to

. you know how long the chain is one little fella has ten kilos another has a hundred you can't know them all. the physical is when you buy a coat and that comes from a rebel zone the rebels can buy more machine guns will the thought of it this way that's right. well what has happened is that since the report was issued what if you go nothing it pissed everyone off but nothing changes. nothing has changed and this trader has seen no disruption in his business with the congo this is when was the last shipment of coal ten. fifteen tons about a month ago. and where did you send it to china in the chinese ask you where the cotton came from they know it's from africa but they couldn't care less. than from the congo goes to china.

five hundred million of the billion mobile is made every year are produced in china most big international brands like nokia and motorola subcontract some of them manufacturing to china. but for human rights campaigner mark olivier hermann china is not the only country involved not by a long way. for people working at hooter's china manufactured for china is the workshop of the world china manufactures for us the companies that manufacture in china are often subsidiaries of western companies so it's too easy to say that the chinese are the problem was in one we are the chinese this is the global economy but you can't distinguish between western companies china and the other players everything is interdependent the other that on the. mark olivier hermann has been working on this campaign for six years the christian organization he represents has a presence across the world who he's someone to be taken very seriously he's had

successes before. and i've been in exile a hopeful we organise an election at brussels airport seven the belgian airline seven or was transporting colton from the great lakes region i'll call that i was only on it and we wanted to question that they'd been named in the un report. for the nets and we wanted to tell them that they had to face up to their responsibility as it of us but i did it don't as long as this conflict continues in the east and you can't be quite sure that you're not funding it again because of what else you have to face up to your responsibilities and suspend your activities all of us feel that it is just fun was activity to fit and in fact two days later sabina and then said it was suspending the transport of minerals from airports in the great lakes region i think on. now he's targeting the mobile phone manufacturers facing public criticism the telephone companies have boosted their public relations output on its website motorola claims it doesn't use coal to hand

sourced from illegal mines in the democratic republic of the congo. lookee here has requested its suppliers not to buy call time in the congo. and both companies have factories in china. should we believe them. motorola refused to see us. the head of nokia france did agree to speak to us but apparently he isn't aware of the code of good conduct published on his company's website. sneaky. did you know that mobile phones contain a rather rare mineral cocoa term and a un report it recommends stopping the purchase of coltan in the congo because it's paying for wars and massacres. i don't recall just getting wealthy did a good of us that. nokia has a position on this on its website and it stated here it was june of zero. dollars

the fifth. district i'm on call in cuckoo i'm absolutely sure that if there's been a worldwide ban on the use of this mineral nakia will have complied with such a measure but more to give it up and kick up because it was real don't fals a sense that it's actually about not using coltan that comes from the congo respected so well with one of the most careful companies in the world in terms of respect for the environment is that all to overspend on the one more we believe that production is good but destruction of the environment has no place in our values this is just i'm sure that we are respecting this directive not to use colton from the congo you can see a lot of the stuff if the big brands are so sure of themselves they must supply the evidence that their mobiles are not helping make the conflicts worse by the fact that they must supply evidence that they're not sourcing their minerals from the conflict zones to this we saw in our conversations with company bosses they have

never been able to show evidence that effective controls are in place effective fit in your class they publish codes of practice but we've never had any proof that they can put these codes of practice into action. that the caisson signal. today thousands of people are still dying around the cotinine. inexistent the blood the cold hand still exists. i'm holding a mobile phone and i know that the microprocessor it contains uses coltan and you do. miss it and if this coke have has been obtained at the cost of the massacre of ten or twenty villages through slave labor the suffering of children fall. to work in the mines by the armed militia cup i got to be a sort of this is a model for all this violence all this blood for me to get your hands on precious

materials that our lord implanted in our other thing. too.