Gold, diamonds and blood: International state‐corporate crime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo¹

Abstract

Since the beginning of the First Congolese War in 1996, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has devolved into uncontrolled genocidal warfare between ethnically based factions within an unresolved civil war due to international involvement on behalf of its neighbours (e.g., Uganda and Rwanda), transnational corporations (e.g., AngloGold Ashanti) and those corporations’ Western trading partners (Metalor Technologies and the nation of Switzerland). Central to the conflict is the control of rich mineral fields of the nation. Neighbouring nations and transnational corporations have exploited the political and military chaos of the DRC to expropriate illegally the state’s natural resources, especially the rich mineral deposits of the north and northeast. This case study examines the nature of these international crimes, theoretically explores the multiple causal factors and draws upon criminological theory to discuss solutions to the problems.