Mongbwalu, democratic Republic of Congo, October 2004
The town of Mongbwalu, run by a military commander, where the only real
business is gold and the former Kilo Mines lies in ruins. 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.
