Introduction
The exploitation of minerals and other resources is evident in most parts of Africa by foreign countries. China, the US, and other nations have explored African states for what they refer to as mutual benefit between them and host countries. In many cases, African countries gain little from the massive extraction of resources and that is where the challenge begins. The DRC is an example of a central African country that has been affected by this issue where, currently, the country is being assisted to contain rebel groups. The exploitation of resources in central Africa has led to the rise of child labor, environmental decay, humanitarian crisis, and conflict of interest, resulting in continued internal rivalry that has lasted for more than two decades.
Brief History
The Central African region is one of the richest parts of the world due to the resources found there. For instance, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had historical resource exploitation that has affected its move toward taming corruption, colonialism, and civil wars. In the country, there have been deadly conflicts where rebel groups such as M23 oppose the government’s agenda to allow control of gold mines by foreign countries. The arrival of the Portuguese in the mid-15th century in Central Africa enabled the world to discover its natural wealth (Drabek, 2019). There is limitless water obtained from the River Congo, where a benign climate and rich soil characterize the region. Central Africa’s soil has abundant deposits of gold, copper, diamonds, uranium, and other precious valuables that can be extracted.
The exploitation of central African resources by foreigners has been contributed by political leaders. For instance, the leadership of Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo saw the flowing of minerals out of the region because the Western countries tolerated the tyrant regimes in the 1970s (Ngoto, 2018). DRC was deprived of billions of dollars by the greedy people in power then, and misappropriation of the property was rampantly probing the local groups in safeguarding their sovereign land and its wealth.
Future Conflicts and Human Rights Atrocities to be Perpetuated
The trade of minerals from DRC has sparked controversy, with international observers initiating probes into the selling of gold, coltan, and wolframite in the country. Countries such as the U.S. and China have been asked to disclose the origin of minerals they use to manufacture their electronics. The minerals from the DRC have prized the electronics industry at a value of more than $60 million annually (Lawson, 2021). The United Nations (UN) has been pivotal in regulating the business of minerals in the country by involving approaches such as profound governance and positive commercial relationships between the country and foreign investors (Aksu, 2018).
Demilitarization of mining zones is a move that has fluctuated peace in the country since the attempt increased illegal trade of minerals in various areas such as Kivu and Maniema (Lawson, 2021). From that perspective, the future conflict regarding that matter includes illegitimate labor forces, environmental abuse, and a country with rampant corruption.
If the exploitation of minerals in DRC will not be effectively combatted, child labor issues may arise, a human rights element that will be perpetuated. Poverty is one of the humanitarian crises that has been hitting DRC despite the presence of minerals in several parts of the country. More than 70% of global cobalt is extracted in Congo, where artisanal miners produce 20% of the country’s cobalt mineral (Lawson, 2021). The significant remainder is being extracted by foreign firms, with the Chinese taking the large portion of exploiters. Rechargeable batteries account for 60% of cobalt demand worldwide (Lawson, 2021). As a result of large-scale conflict between large-scale and small-scale mining, the DRC people have involved persons of all ages, such as children who work under harsh conditions trying to make ends meet for their families.
The underlying problem is that if the trends continue, the country will perceive child labor as a new normal, but that will breach the human rights factions that require children to be protected from harsh labor. There are more than 40,000 children involved in mining for cobalt, and some of them are as little as six years (Lawson, 2021). The devastating factor is the small-scale businesses underpay them with less than $2 per day when using their hands. The underpayment and working of children in tough conditions puts human rights at stake.
Environmental decay is part of future conflicts resulting from the continuous exploitation of minerals in the central African region. There is a risk of suffering in the Congo’s environment with the growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and electronics, which require cobalt for their function (Drabek, 2019). There is a high emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen oxide that are produced by mining.
Additionally, where there is a large-scale extraction of minerals, trees are cut and roads built, which attracts conflict in the ecosystem structure. Cobalt mining contributes to global warming, an adverse contributor to climate change. Due to these issues, the environment’s future will be unsustainable, which means conflict between the habitants and the survival scales under tough conditions (Drabek, 2019). Therefore, child labor is a humanitarian atrocity that will be witnessed further while the environment deteriorates in the country due to the excessive exploitation of minerals.
Humanitarian Crises Over the Last Two Decades
The exploitation of minerals has led to the emergence of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and poor regional relations. It might also result in geopolitical tensions where people will escape to seek refuge in neighboring countries. The 27 million DRC population in the middle of the armed militia groups terror across the eastern part means there is potential for an unending cycle of violence to put the country’s peace at stake (Kaledzi, 2022). The East African nations and the U.S. intervention through the military probes for possible negative ties between the citizens and the government subsequently.
Despite many peace talks, strategic interventions, and amicable moves meant to end the weakening DRC’s state of affairs, humanitarian crises have been rampant in the last two decades. Thousands of people are fleeing their homes on the eastern side of the country, with M23 rebels engaging the government in a fight that seems to escalate further (Kaledzi, 2022). The most affected part is North Kivu, which carries many valuable gold mines for the country.
A camp in Kayembe has seen increasing numbers of IDPs where more than 2000 families have sought refuge in the unending civil war (Kaledzi, 2022). One of the camp administrators said, “Displaced people are suffering enormously in this camp. The old and the new (arrivals) are going through difficult times. They have no food and no drinking water” (Kaledzi, 2022 para. 4). That is an indicator that a humanitarian crisis has hit the country and robust action needs to be taken to end the impact.
The conditions for the people of Congo have led to a shift from safe to risky healthy lives. Many IDPs have been infected with cholera due to the uncertain environment they are living in. As a result, diarrhea and vomiting have seen the internal refugees fight for their lives amidst the scary warfare underway (Hananel et al., 2021). Lack of food, water, and shelter, accompanied by disease, makes people have a negative impact that might lead to mortalities if the situation is not contained. More than 5 million people in Congo have died due to frequent and continuing conflict (Hananel et al., 2021). The conflict and its aftermath have surpassed any other after the end of the Second World War.
The Failure of the United Nations
The UN has played a key role in holding peace talks in and out of the country though in vain. These talks do not bear fruit due to the influence foreign countries have on the rich mines in the country (Aksu, 2018). For instance, China and the U.S. have been held accountable for exploiting the region, and their interests in the central African country are often crossed with the contentious state when U.N. attempts to apply the probable actions to end the war. “The international community has been hypocritical and always prioritized its needs. Unfortunately, recent events are happening in a mineral-rich area of our country. Many powerful people have interests there and are willing to do anything to ensure they are protected” (Atrakouti, 2022 para. 5).
The statement means that the UN had failed to establish peaceful strategies where instead the people involved started conflict of interest. That matter was realized after the realization that since the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) took charge in DRC; the results have been the other way round. That is due to witnessed killings, insecurity and issues of conflict of interest that have led to the failure of U.N. in combating Congolese-based war.
The intervention of western countries to control China’s dominance in African matters might result in another conflict. The African countries will feel the first impact since there shall be the termination of many industries that create jobs for many Africans. For example, China has created more than 18.6 thousand new jobs in the continent in the last decade (Kamer, 2022). Therefore, unseating China will bring conflict from governments supporting citizens’ desire to have working areas to end poverty. Furthermore, geopolitical tensions between countries might be experienced due to ideological discrepancies. China and the U.S. have engaged in a cold war many times, and that means intervening on behalf of Africa to China will escalate the matter to other countries supporting the idea (Aksu, 2018). As a result, the tensions may breed an environment for unwanted political, economic and social sabotages that shall affect the world.
Solutions That Can Combat the Matter
With the ongoing crisis that results from the exploitation of African resources by foreign countries, there is a need for a candid response that shall change the matter for good. First, Africans must be given commercial and industrial independence. In this case, it means training them on how to leverage major resources by utilizing digital technology. Western countries must only oversee efficiency but not dictate everything (Kamer, 2022).
Second, countries such as DRC should have a systemic military takeover by the UN that does not imply killing the locals. That can be executed through maintaining peace through forceful strategies such as disarming the rebels by sabotaging the supply of weapons and skills. The operation must be undertaken without conflict of interest from the overseeing countries since that has been dragging the laid efforts. Lastly, there should be alternative materials for making electronics and other valuable items which do not demand excessive extraction of cobalt and other minerals. For instance, the existing research about zero-cobalt batteries by the U.S. should be developed (Maisch, 2022). That ensures that the mobility revolution brought by the need for EVs does not adversely affect central Africa.
To solve the existing problems in African nations as a result of massive exploitation, there must be legal agreements between the investors and host countries over the share of revenue that is obtained from the extraction of minerals. The African countries must take a higher portion of returns because that will guarantee peace of mind in the society because locals will not face adverse effects of poverty and disease. When that is done, the growing humanitarian crisis in countries such as DRC will end permanently.
Conclusion
The exploitation of resources in Africa by foreign states has led to civil wars in some regions, such as DRC. The country has rich mines that supply valuable minerals such as gold, cobalt, diamond, and others. The future conflict that is evident if the trend continues is increased child labor which limits their human rights. Additionally, there is a risk of losing the environment to the dangerous CO2 emissions which leads to global warming. In DRC, the humanitarian crisis has been seen through increased IDPs who lack clean food and shelter. The UN has failed to end the more than 20 years of war to conflict of interest witnessed in the process. If China is removed from the African continent in terms of industrial activities, many Africans can lack jobs, and geopolitical tension can escalate.
References
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