Blood minerals and memory: the Great Lakes in focus

This week, Spotlight on Africa turns to the Great Lakes region. First, a new Global Witness report reveals how coltan is being smuggled out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, amid the ongoing conflict in the east, through Rwanda and on to companies worldwide. Then, artist Grada Kilomba discusses her journey to create a unique monument for Paris commemorating the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

This month, a new report from the NGO Global Witness has revealed how coltan is being smuggled out of the Democratic Republic of Congo and sold to companies worldwide via Rwanda, amid the devastating conflict in the country's eastern provinces.

Coltan, short for columbite-tantalite, is a mineral from which the metals tantalum and niobium are extracted, both classified as critical raw materials by companies from the United States, the European Union, China and Japan.

The report finds that conflict minerals from the war-torn east of the DRC are present in everyday technology products made by major global companies. It also links the illegal trade to Rwandan firms and to leading international brands including Amazon, Ericsson and Sony, which source minerals from eastern DRC.

The trafficking is linked to the M23 militia, accused of widespread sexual violence, summary executions and torture.

It took the British non-governmental organisation more than a year of documentary and field research to establish the exploitation network.

A separate Global Witness investigation from April 2025 had already revealed that coltan linked to the conflict in eastern DRC had likely entered the European Union market through international commodities trader Traxys. Earlier reports had also implicated companies including Apple, dating back to 2022.

For this latest investigation, the NGO spent months cross-referencing its findings with surveys conducted by the United Nations and other non-governmental organisations.

Alex Kopp, the report's author and an expert at Global Witness, is our first guest.

DRC takes on Apple: can conflict mineral mining be stopped?

Rwanda monument

The artist Grada Kilomba was commissioned to create a monument for the city of Paris commemorating the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The monument comprises two black brass steles bearing an engraved tribute to the hundreds of thousands of men, women and children massacred between April and July 1994.

It was unveiled in the heart of Paris on 2 June 2026, in the presence of the two countries' presidents, Emmanuel Macron and Paul Kagame.

France and Rwanda unite to honour genocide victims with Paris monument

Kilomba is a Portuguese artist of African heritage, with roots in São Tomé and Angola.

Raised in Portugal, she has worked in Germany, Brazil, England and beyond, using performance and installation to explore the history of African and black people across centuries and continents, including the slave trade.

She was selected through a rigorous process to design this monument, the first of its kind in France. She travelled to Rwanda to meet survivors and conduct her own research before completing the project, titled "The Archive".

Her creative process led her to reflect on France and Europe's responsibility in the tragic events.

Grada Kilomba is the second guest in this episode.

This episode was mixed by Vincent Pora.