Gold Addiction Fuels Brutal Congo War (VIDEO)

This Sunday "60 Minutes" will present an investigation into how the global gold industry is helping fuel violence and chaos in the Congo.

CBS reporter Scott Pelley's investigation found that conflict in the region was often to do with different militias seeking control over valuable natural resources.

"If you do a conflict analysis, you will find that when there are spikes in violence, it has something to do with contestation over the mineral resources, gold and the rest of them," John Prendergast tells Pelley. Prendergast worked in the Clinton administration on Africa policy, and co-founded "The Enough Project," which works to expose war crimes.

Despite efforts to control gold trade from the war-torn country, "60 Minutes" found they were able to freely sell gold it advertised as from Congo with no questions asked in neighboring Uganda.

The war in the Congo has claimed an estimated 5 million lives, making it the bloodiest war since World War Two. The war, CBS finds, is largely kept alive by conflict over resources, and may be brought to a conclusion if sellers of gold begin tracing their purchases to the mine, much like how the diamond industry began to do when addressing the "blood diamond" controversy.

The show will air Sunday Nov. 29 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Comments

[Durango]

12:39 PM on 11/26/2009

This has been going on for how long and 60 Minutes is just getting around to reporting it?

Tell me again why I hate the Corporate Media in this country?

[dim]

01:06 AM on 11/26/2009

How do you trace gold to a mine after it's been melted down?

[xypher0725]

01:50 AM on 11/26/2009

It will still have residual isotopes of other elements that are particular to a region.

[Durango]

12:37 PM on 11/26/2009

That is something have been wondering about for some time. (and completely off topic)

So could we go to Fort Knox and determine this gold came from Nubia via Egypt and this gold came from China, or California­?

[Texleft]

01:02 AM on 11/26/2009

Remember to add these death numbers to what King Leopold of Belguim contribute­d. Back then the colonial troops had to turn in a finger for every expended cartidge from their rifles. It still stands out even more than a hundred years later as the supreme massacre of colonial subjects.

[RyokoMocha]

08:07 PM on 11/26/2009

And that has exactly WHAT to do with this NOW, and bringing it up now accomplish­es WHAT??? THIS is what keeps stupid bloody conflicts going for so long, people dredging up things that happened 100 years ago and spouting off about them instead of letting it drop. What are we supposed to do, dig up the mans bones and whip them to let people know we really mean business?

Let things that happened 100 years ago GO, people! Grousing about it now doesn't accomplish a damn thing! Figure out how to stop this stupid greedy fighting and killing and save lives instead of wasting time and energy pointing fingers!

[ChangeurMind]

12:43 AM on 11/26/2009

AmeriCo has to be involved somehow. They live for war.

[Horst]

08:46 AM on 11/26/2009

...and an Israeli connection too, of course. Have to keep the lefty wingnuts engaged.

[yanrice2]

12:42 AM on 11/26/2009

It is about time for people to start talking about the conflict in Congo. The genocide in Rwanda has been the only thing that has been talked about the last 10 years, even though the conflict in Congo appear to be continuall­y fueled by Rwandan government and private interests( most of the conflict were and are in the Eastern part of the Congo near the Congo-Rwan­da border).

[mamapanya]

02:10 AM on 12/04/2009

yanrice2:

Your comment exposes just how ignorant you are about the whole Rwanda/Con­go history and current situation. Please educate yourself before making irresponsi­ble uneducated comments. The genocide in Rwanda "..is the only thing that has been talked about in the last 10 years.." - take a wild guess why? Where the hell do you think all those murderers went after viciously butchering a million people? I would love to see what you would have to say if they showed up in your backyard! - I am so sick and tired of the finger that points to Rwanda for all of Congo's problems. Never mind the fact that despite constant warnings to the UN about these genocidair­es living and thriving in the Congo (FDLR) raping and creating chaos for the Congolese, no one did anything! Nothing! So Rwanda took matters in its own hands. This is documented informatio­n - find it and inform yourself! - This article is so biased in its writing and lacks specifics on its claims....­Who or which companies in Rwanda and Uganda are "benefitin­g" from the Congo war? Who has benefited from this Congo's wars (and former Zaire) more than Europe - namely Belgium (Antwerp) , Israel and France? - Last time I checked, we are still hearing about the holocaust on a daily basis....d­o you have a problem with that too?

[jeffp26]

12:18 AM on 11/26/2009

Outside interests spurring war and death in the Congo goes back at least to the 1950s. Then we backed the "rebels" because the US wanted the minerals, especially things rare in the rest of the world. '

Our very own CIA helped depose Lamumba (sic?), and pretended -- shockingly­, I know -- that we had nothing to do with it.

Shame on us all.

[modernsage]

12:12 AM on 11/26/2009

http://www­.nowpublic­.com/world­/gestapo-u­sa-govt-fu­nded-vigil­ante-netwo­rk-terrori­zes-americ­a.
This is very true and i thought with the new administra­tion, this would change/sto­p.But not so,it has increased with impunity.T­wo institutio­ns used to financiall­y harrass "targets" is Sprint and M & T Bank.I have a lawyer gathering evidence in a systematic fashion!

[Tulka2]

11:56 PM on 11/25/2009

Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn wrote a new book together called _Half the Sky_ about the place of women in the world today.

It is a remarkable book and talks at length about the state of women in the Congo, South America and China. One of the things that hit me hard is the fact that sixty to one-hundre­d million women are missing. Gone. Where their feet should be, there is nothing. If not down-right murdered, neglected to death. Men die in wars, yes, but women and their children too, and is the earth itself is spoiled for children. What a disaster for the whole planet.

[Phalanxman]

11:55 PM on 11/25/2009

If the Congolese were to dig up enough of it, they could mold their gold into the shape of a calf, and give it to the west as an object of art and adoration.

[jeffinseattle]

11:47 PM on 11/25/2009

Let's not forget the prominent Evangelica­l Pat Robertson'­s dubious
relationsh­ip with ousted African Charles Taylor, ( who cut off children's
fingers, etc), and the [good] Baptist Taylor kept a keen eye on Robertson'­s
gold mines in his own backyard.

[bluemirror]

11:46 PM on 11/25/2009

And to think - before the European invasion of Africa, the native people did not even realize the value of their resources!

[WYHKTai-Tai]

12:43 AM on 11/26/2009

Because in reality, it is not a very useful metal. Just beautiful. As the above commenter said, a golden calf would be appropriat­e.

[dim]

12:59 AM on 11/26/2009

Actually gold would be very useful, if it weren't so expensive. It doesn't oxidize, so the best electrical contacts are gold plated - computer cards, guitar cords, sound cables, etc. Plus, it shields exceedingl­y well from radiation - far better than lead, so it's been used to coat space suit visors, and were it not for the prohibitiv­e cost, could be used to shield sailors on atomic subs.

[Mkash]

11:00 PM on 11/25/2009

Thanks to 60 Minutes for putting the DR-Congo in the news. The War is a real one and
it did cause the death of more than 5 Millions. It is not just fueled by gold but also
by diamonds, Coltan (Colombo Tantalum), gold and a few other resources.

It is the responsibi­lity of Africans to hold their leaders accountabl­e so that such
situation does not happen again but democracy in Africa is very young and not
understood by the majority so it will take time.
As consumers in the west we need to make our corporatio­n accountabl­e for the
things they sell us, just like Nike was in trouble for using child labor in Asia we need
to know where the gold we purchase comes from. We need to put processes in
place so that it is hard for diamond, gold coming from war torn areas to reach the market.

I hope that the 60 Minutes report will expose the companies that purchase the natural
resources in war torn areas

[calibabe]

10:28 PM on 11/25/2009

This has got to be Bush's fault.

[Two Cents]

11:18 PM on 11/25/2009

I wouldn't be surprised-­-so many things are. (Said in all seriousnes­s.)

[kucheka]

09:24 PM on 11/25/2009

Buy recycled.

[archeDeWashington]

08:52 PM on 11/25/2009

I am from Democratic Republic of Congo. Please save my people to stop this no sense especially those who are buying the stuff.

I did made a video about some other things:

http://www­.youtube.c­om/watch?v­=6kTp5Cjx8­TQ&feature­=player_em­bedded

http://oko­nda.com/pl­ease_save_­my_people.­html

Please watch and read what is going into my home land.

Share also the link.

I believe in you.

Sincerely