The human cost of mining coltan in DR Congo...

It was midnight when Elise and her husband were woken by armed men.

Soldiers of Congo's National Army burst into their shack, sent the husband into another room, and then raped the mother-of-five at gunpoint.

"They put their guns on my chest and said: 'Don't talk, don't cry, don't complain'… then they started to rape me," she said.

(...)

It is an area carpeted with minerals such as coltan and cassiterite, which are used in the production of consumer durables and gadgets sold in the rich world.

But people are now beginning to ask: What is the human cost of a mobile phone? Full story...

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