Durba, Democratic Republic of Congo, October 2004
Congolese men prospect ifor gold, all work being done by hand. Eastern Congo
has been destabilized by war for the last five years. One of the reasons for
the conflict has been the struggle to control the regions mineral wealth. The
conflict has often taken the form of ethnic strife, but many feel that these
are tribal struggles formented by outsiders that want to keep moving the
mineral wealth across their borders. Large international mining companies have
pulled out, leaving the work to be done by barefoot Congolese, some of them
children, with shovels and buckets.
