Blood coltan (or not)

Chris Blattman writes:

Blood what? On the heels of the successful (and much needed) blood diamond advocacy, the activist industry has now set its sights on minerals coming out of eastern Congo, including the coltan that fuels your mobile phones. Its sale by unsavoury characters is feared to be fueling war, murder and mass rape.

The problem with the campaign? That pesky little thing called evidence.

Texas in Africa has the full take-down. The moral of the story is don't believe everything 60 Minutes tells you.

The Kimberley Process works!!

Diamond aficionados or watchers of Blood Diamond are probably familiar with the Kimberley Process, which was established in 2003 to certify that rough diamonds do not originate from sources where diamond production fuels conflict. Turns out it is making an impact in Zimbabwe:

Zimbabwe has promised to withdraw its soldiers from diamond fields in the east, an official newspaper reported Sunday — a week after a rights group alleged the military was committing killings and abuses in the area.

The move appeared to be an attempt to diffuse criticism over the military's takeover of the Marange diamond fields and ensure that Zimbabwe's precious stones won't be tainted with the "blood diamond" label by activists, which would reduce their value.

...

Officials of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme — the world's diamond control body — recently visited the fields following allegations that security chiefs and loyalists of President Robert Mugabe were either perpetrating or tolerating rights abuses and illegal diamond exports.

"There cannot be effective security where diamonds are concerned with the involvement of the military," the Kimberley delegation said in a report to the Zimbabwean government, quoted by the state-run Sunday Mail.

I doubt the Kimberley Process is completely airtight, but it's a great example of governments, companies and consumers coming together to formalize a structure which helps stem some of the violence and corruption that valuable resources inevitably engender. The case of Zimbabwe is particularly impressive since its rule of law is weak in so many other ways.

Hat tip to FP Passport.