Lawyers representing the Central African country, claimed in a statement this week that Apple’s subsidiaries in Europe are using conflict minerals sourced in sub-Saharan Africa and accused the company of “using deceptive commercial practices to assure consumers that the tech giant’s supply chains are clean”. Alex Kopp, senior campaigner at the Global Witness NGO’s transition minerals team, told Al Jazeera that in the DRC, “they [rebels] occupy mines and also the trading routes. They basically force the workers in the mines to work for free for a day or a week and they illegally smuggle the minerals through places like Rwanda. The minerals then get exported legally to big companies like Apple.” In a media statement on Tuesday, Apple said: “As conflict in the region escalated earlier this year we notified our suppliers that their smelters and refiners must suspend sourcing tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold from the DRC and Rwanda.
