Truly devestating war in the Congo is a capitalist resource war

Seattle PI - A war more deadly than Iraq
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CommonDreams.org - Activitsts Slam World's Groteque Indifference to DR Congo
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Newsweek - How to Stop the Killing in Congo
finally
Seeking Alpha - OM Group Should Continue to Gain on Cobalt's Strength

The first article is from early 2008, giving the figures of 5.4 million dead in the Congo since 1998, the largest death through warfare since the WWII. Terrorism of the local population, specifically mentioning sexual terrorism of women, is rampant. The poverty in the Congo is completely undeserved-- it is incredibly resource rich with cobalt and coltan, yet the profits from the mining goes to the mining companies and the warlords who control the area, funding the war.

The second article talks about the terrible raping that women in the Congo are suffering from, and the lack of any interest of the developed world in stopping it. Surgeons work nearly 18 hours a day to repair the various internal injuries that hundreds of women sustain daily. The sexual terrorism is used to control territory by warlords who take the local resources, most notably coltan but also copper, tin, lumber, diamonds, cobalt. The coltan is often shipped to other countries that produce it, then sold again, a way of laundering the 'blood coltan' that is used in cell phones, DVD players, computers, digital cameras, etc. so that it appears to be 'conflict-free'.

Newsweek discusses the resource trail in more detail: Congo sits on a probably whopping 80 % of the world's coltan reserve, yet Rowanda, which has none of it naturally, is the chief exporter. One problem was earlier in the decade when other African nations sent their own troops to the area, which devolved into forming militias and other exploitative factions. The article offers a solution through stopping the income the militias and warlords get from coltan, then getting both outside and local parties to sit for negotiations; or does the world send 100,000 UN troops?

For investors, an article about the US company OM Group, makers of products derived from cobalt, is expected to show strong profits (written as of August, 2007). Coltan is also used in the making of hybrid and electric cars. OMG imports most of their cobalt from the Congo.