What is the situation of Tanzania in the Congo (drc) conflict?

Is it really possible to solve the violence in the Congo by being aware of conflict minerals or is it just hopeless and futile?

• On Sunday night, I found a website that aims to stop the armed conflicts occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo called http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/ According to the group one of the main reasons for all of the violence is to gain access to four minerals: tin, tantalum, tungsten, (the Three Ts) and gold. The militia groups trade these minerals and use the money to purchase weapons so that they can continue their reign of terror including murdering civilians and the systematic rapes of many women and girls, and gaining access to such valuable minerals. How is this relevant to our lives? The four minerals I have mentioned are called conflict minerals and a majority of the minerals that groups in the Congo are fighting over are used to make the electronic devices people use everyday such as cell phones and computers. Helping to solve the issues can be as easy as choosing what devices to buy. The organization Raise Hope for Congo has made reports of various electronics companies (http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/conflict-minerals-company-rankings) and rated them based on on the efforts they take to investigate whether their mineral supply chains are in anyway connected to the violence in the Congo. The organization is also calling on consumers to urge companies to work towards making sure that the minerals they purchase are conflict-free. Consumers can contact such companies with their concerns, and can also refuse to buy from companies that are not doing enough to make sure that their minerals are conflict-free. With all this information, will this make you think twice before you buy another electronics product. I have to say that I am actually considering doing such a thing. I don't want to feel like my buying a product is responsible for human suffering half a world away. http://somecommunities.com/forums/showthread.php?1164-Conflict-Minerals-in-Our-Electronic-Devices&highlight=conflict This thread is basically a debate about what consumers can do to end the violence in the Congo. I was eventually told (in a rather hostile manner which was provoked by my naive nature) that the cause is difficult to do anything about, and that the doing anything about it can inconvenience people, and that just because the group has published studies saying that certain companies are not doing well enough to make conflict-minerals, it does not make it (the studies) true. The general responses I got was that people did not care, felt that the group's cause is futile, and one person said that he cares more about the various problems in his life and in his community. I have recently felt distressed because I got a hostile reaction to one of my posts in this thread thread where I suggested that people who care enough about this cause can do something. The person said that NOBODY can do anything about the violence in the Congo. Since then I have pondered in my mind whether causes like this are a waste of time. Also, I have deeply and philosophically examined what it means to have abilities.

• Answer:

  Congo needs actual peacekeeping and government. You can lobby for that instead of the indirect and ineffective strategy of boycotting electronics.