Huge amounts of money flow into Congo (formerly Zaire) for coltan (a tantalum and niobium-based mineral, highly sought after for the manufacture of cell phones). This was a country without a government and embroiled in an ongoing war. The years from 1996 to 2003 were the worst. In 2003, cell phone manufacturers realized they were indirectly fomenting a war, and they stopped buying coltan in Africa, turning instead to Australia, despite paying more. An official truce was signed in Congo in 2003, but things didn’t completely calm down. Nearly 5 million people died in Congo during this period in wars and guerrilla warfare, the worst massacre since World War II.
