"Blood Gold" flows through Uganda

I just listened to a great report on 60 Minutes about how gold miners and smugglers are financing the continuing war in the DRC.

How Gold Pays For Congo's Deadly War

The price of gold set another all-time record this past week. There's demand for gold for investments, for circuits in cell phones and computers, and, in this holiday season, for jewelry. But there's another price being paid for gold that you probably haven't heard about.

Gold and other minerals are funding the deadliest war since World War II. More than five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Years ago, the jewelry industry banned the trafficking in so-called blood diamonds, but the same hasn't happened with gold.

In the heart of central Africa, "60 Minutes" found a campaign of rape and murder being funded largely by gold that is exported to the world.

Here is an excerpt on Uganda's role:

Uganda is right next door to Congo, but it has almost no gold production of its own. In fact, in 2007, Uganda produced about $500 worth. But in the same year, it exported $75 million in gold. Almost all of that is coming from the war zone.

We took a hidden camera into a trader called "Jit." We offered gold for sale and we were clear it came from Congo.

He bought our gold.

Using a hidden camera is something only a member of the foreign press would risk here.

Faster Africa's introduction to Uganda

I have been in Uganda now for over two months and I finally feel that I can write intelligently on the country. The last weeks were spent building a foundation of knowledge on the topics of politics, media, technology, culture and society in the "Pearl of Africa".

Here is a brief summary: Uganda is a democracy which has been led by the same man for over twenty-three years. It boasts a free media in which journalists can be charged with sedition for criticizing the president. The populace is poor but not hungry and the educated leave for lack of an intellectual infrastructure. It is also highly corrupt and most people just grin and bear it. Ugandans are generally warm and generous but in a land which is poor and poorly educated it is every man for himself. There is also a general lack of the rule of law, especially on the roads and in the villages. And finally there is a vast and vibrant development industry, which according to who you read is either the cause or the potential cure of all of the above.

In terms of geography, Uganda is wet in the west where poor land management and deforestation has led to an increase in deadly floods. The east of the country is mostly dry and poor land management and deforestation there has led to longer and more severe droughts. And in the war-ravaged but now mostly peaceful north, the Lord's Resistance Army has been forced out of Uganda only to rape, kill, pillage, kidnap and terrorize Uganda's poorer and more instable neighbors.

But for myself, it is an easy place to live. I can sit by the pool, munch some "SPicy Nacho" Doritos, drink Red Bull and the iPhone is on it's way. Plus it is 85 degrees (28 degrees) and sunny everyday and the landscape is breathtaking.

This may seem an overly bleak  view of the country but negatives usually take a front seat in first impressions. I am sure these impressions will both change and become more ingrained over the next three to five years. 

So stay tuned!