It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, January 05, 2025
Kenyan police detain protesters at demonstration against forced abductions Kenyan police have detained demonstrators, including an opposition lawmaker, at rallies protesting against a series of abductions allegedly carried out by security forces. Dozens of Kenyans have reportedly been abducted since youth-led anti-government demonstrations began this summer.
Police arrest a protester who chained himself during protests against abductions in Nairobi, Kenya, 30 December 2024.
Police fired teargas into a rally to disperse protesters demonstrating Monday in Nairobi, where several marched through downtown, and others staged sit-ins, chanting slogans against the government and holding images of the latest to have been abducted – primarily young people who criticised President William Ruto online.
Officers eventually detained several demonstrators, including opposition lawmaker, Senator Okiya Omtatah Okoiti, who was taking part in a sit-in.
Dozens of people were forcibly abducted, allegedly by security forces, since the summer - more than half of them have not been returned. Six people have disappeared since December.
The alleged abductions started after anti-government protests that started in June. Initially aimed at blocking proposed tax hikes, the demonstrations eventually turned into a larger movement threatening Ruto's government.
Last week Ruto addressed the disappearances saying: “We are going to stop the abductions so that our youth can live peacefully”.
(with AFP, Reuters)
Brigitte Bardot slams 'massacre' of Chamois as Doubs approves culling of 594 animals French screen icon Brigitte Bardot, aged 90, denounced on Tuesday what she called a "massacre" of chamois—a species of goat-antelope native to the mountainous regions of Europe—in the Doubs department, where the local police chief has authorised the culling of 594 animals for the purpose of "vegetation protection".
On Tuesday, Brigitte Bardot, founder of an animal protection foundation that bears her name, condemned the "carnage" criticised by French animal rights groups.
"I am horrified to learn that the hunting plan for the Doubs, in effect until 29 January 2025, permits the culling of nearly 600 chamois," Bardot wrote in an open letter to the Doubs police chief.
"You cannot, and must not, condone or become complicit in such a massacre," she added.
In a decree dated 21 August, the Doubs police chief set the hunting plan for the 2024/2025 season at 259 to 594 chamois.
The same decree concerning deer permits their culling to range between 72 and 209 animals.
'Forest damage'
Authorities justified this decree in July by the need to prevent forest damage caused by both species on young trees.
However, the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals (ASPAS), citing data from the National Forests Office (ONF) argued that no "forest or agricultural damage has been scientifically documented."
An online petition launched this summer by the Humanimo organisation had gathered over 62,000 signatures as of Tuesday, as well as a legal appeal has been filed with the administrative court.
"We can only be shocked, especially since at the same time, wolf culling is widely practiced, and its eradication is even advocated by some," Humanimo stated.
(With AFP)
BARDOT SUPPORTS LEPEN'S FASCIST PARTY
France reports bird flu outbreak just weeks after declaring virus-free status
France has confirmed outbreaks of bird flu on two poultry farms, two weeks after being officially declared free of the virus, which has been spreading in Europe this autumn and winter.
Workers euthanise ducks at a poultry farm in southwestern France in February 2022, during Europe's worst bird flu season in its history. A vaccination campaign launched in October 2024 has limited the spread of the virus in France this year.
France's agriculture ministry said authorities confirmed new cases of avian influenza or HPAI, commonly known as bird flu, on two farms in the northwestern Normandy region.
"As a direct consequence of these outbreaks, France loses its HPAI-free status, that it had just regained on 15 December," it said in a statement published Monday.
The disease-free status, which means no reported outbreaks for at least a month, allows trade with importing countries.
In a separate notification to the World organisation for animal health, French authorities said the entire flocks on the two farms – one with 25,000 birds, the other with 540 – would be culled as a safety measure.
Highly contagious, the virus is spreading across Europe this winter as birds migrate.
Its impact has been less severe than in the United States, where flock losses have led to record egg prices, but the virus has been transmitted to cattle and humans.
France has been able to slow the spread of virus better than in previous years because of a vaccination programme, required for ducks raised for foie gras, which are particularly vulnerable.
The country nonetheless remains on high alert for the virus given continued risks of contamination from migrating wild birds, the ministry said.
(with AFP)
Deadly New Year for migrants as Tunisian shipwreck claims 27 lives
Tunis (AFP) – Twenty-seven migrants, including women and children, died after two boats capsized off central Tunisia, with 83 people rescued, a civil defence official told AFP on Thursday.
Tunisia, as well as neighbouring Libya, is a key departure point for irregular migrants seeking to reach Europe for a better life.
The rescued and dead passengers, who were found off the Kerkennah Islands, aimed to reach Europe and were all from sub-Saharan African countries, said Zied Sdiri, head of civil defence in the nearby city of Sfax.
Tunisia, as well as neighbouring Libya, is a key departure point for irregular migrants seeking to reach Europe for a better life. Italy's island of Lampedusa is only 150 kilometres (90 miles) from Tunisia.
Totalling 110, the migrants were on board two makeshift boats that set sail off "the coast near Sfax on the night of 31 December to 1 January," a National Guard official said on condition of anonymity.
Searches were still underway for other possible missing passengers, said the official
Sdiri said 15 out of the 83 rescued were taken to a hospital, without providing further details.
The National Guard, which oversees the coast guard, later confirmed the death toll in a statement, adding that a baby was among the dead.
It was the latest such tragedy off Tunisia over the past month.
On December 31, the National Guard said two Tunisian migrants, one of them a five-year-old, died after their boat broke down off Tunisia's northern coast.
Days earlier on December 18, the National Guard said at least 20 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa died in a shipwreck off Sfax, with five rescued.
And on December 12, the coast guard rescued 27 African migrants near Jebeniana, north of Sfax, but 15 were reported dead or missing. 'Hundreds of children'
Each year, the perilous Mediterranean crossing is attempted by tens of thousands of people.
Among them are also thousands of Tunisians seeking to leave their country which is grappling with economic woes marked by high inflation, unemployment, and sluggish growth.
Under a 2023 agreement, Brussels has given 105 million euros ($108 million) to debt-ridden Tunisia to help it curb irregular migration, in addition to 150 million euros in budgetary support.
The deal, strongly supported by Italy's hard-right government, aimed to bolster Tunisia's capacity to prevent boats leaving its shore, with some money also going to United Nations agencies assisting migrants.
It has contributed to an increase in irregular migration interceptions off the North African country's shores and a marked drop in arrivals in Europe.
The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) had counted "between 600 and 700" migrants killed or missing in shipwrecks off Tunisia in 2024, compared with more than 1,300 in 2023.
Overall, the United Nations children's fund, Unicef, said in a statement on Wednesday that, "The death toll and number of missing persons in the Mediterranean in 2024 have now surpassed 2,200, with nearly 1,700 lives lost on the central Mediterranean route alone."
It added that the tally included "hundreds of children, who make up one in five of all people migrating through the Mediterranean. The majority are fleeing violent conflict and poverty."
Frontex, the EU's border agency, has said that irregular border crossings were down 64 percent last year through September for the central Mediterranean route.
Poorer children hit hardest as scurvy makes a comeback in France
Scurvy, a disease caused by severe vitamin C deficiency, is making a comeback in France. A new study links its resurgence, particularly among young children from low-income families, to rising food insecurity and inflation since the Covid pandemic.
Scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C, found in fruit such as oranges and some leafy green vegetables.
Scurvy is caused by a severe deficiency in vitamin C – most commonly found in citrus fruits and leafy green vegetables. The disease causes bone pain, fatigue and bleeding gums and, in very rare cases, death.
It was known as "sailor's disease" as it was rife on board ships in the 16th to 19th centuries, when sailors were deprived of fresh fruit and vegetables for months on end.
While improved nutrition has made scurvy virtually extinct in high-income countries, new research has shown a resurgence in France, particularly among young children from low-income families.
Hospital doctors and researchers from France's public health research body (Inserm) and Université Paris Cité analysed trends among nearly 900 children hospitalised with scurvy in France over a nine-year period, until November 2023.
The study, published in the medical journal The Lancet, found the biggest increase in cases was among children aged four to 10, and largely those from low-income families.
"There would seem to be a link with poverty," said Ulrich Meinzer, the study’s coordinator and a paediatrician at Robert-Debré Hospital in Paris.
He underlined that 32.9 percent of the hospitalised children came from families receiving universal medical cover – an indicator of very low income.
"Nurses noted that some of the infected children had not eaten for several days," Meinzer told French news magazine Le Nouvel Obs.
While the increase in the number of cases remained relatively slow until 2019, researchers noted a "significant" increase – 34.5 percent – in hospital admissions since March 2020, coinciding with the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The post-pandemic period has intensified vulnerabilities in food security, driven by lasting effects of Covid-19 and major socio-geopolitical conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine," the report reads. "In France, this led to increased reliance on public and voluntary food aid."
The study noted that food inflation in France had reached 15 percent in January 2023, more than double the overall inflation rate, and found that the "significant increase in scurvy and severe malnutrition among children [is] linked to the escalation of food prices".
The recent increase in cases also reflects the challenges in accessing nutritious food and an increase in cheaper, highly processed foods.
“Poorer families cannot, or can no longer, afford to buy products that provide enough vitamin C, such as vegetables or fruit,” Meinzer said.
Combatting the resurgence of scurvy means ensuring that children have a balanced diet “starting with fresh food and cooking it gently," Meinzer noted.
The report said its findings underscored a "critical need to intensify food and social assistance programmes" to reduce malnutrition and food insecurity.
It recommended conducting similar studies in other high-income countries to provide a better overview of the problem, improved clinical training to ensure early detection of scurvy, and proactive screening of at-risk populations.
"It's [unthinkable] that children in France don't have enough to eat, it's a public health issue," Meinzer said, adding that he was hopeful health professionals, social workers and politicians could work together on finding solutions since "there is a consensus in our society where children are concerned".
EU car industry must speed up electric sales or face billions in fines
The European car industry faces a pivotal year after tough EU CO2 emission standards came into force on 1 January, requiring a sharp increase in electric vehicle production to avoid hefty fines.
Tough CO2 emission standards came into force in the EU on 1 January 2025, putting additional pressure on European carmakers to boost sales of electric vehicles.
AP - Matthias Schrader
With the imminent threat of fines amounting to €15 billion, manufacturers are now compelled to accelerate the shift towards electric vehicles – or EVs – in the midst of a sluggish market.
Under the new regulations, at least 20 percent of vehicles sold must be electric to avoid penalties. This target presents significant challenges, with EVs making up just over 13 percent of total sales in Europe during 2024.
The drop comes after a strong 2023, when EVs represented nearly 23 percent of new registrations across the EU.
Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) accountied for 15 percent of the market, with 2.4 million electric cars registered that year – a 20 percent increase from 2022.
With EU targets aiming for a drastic reduction in vehicle emissions in 2025 – in tandem with a zero-CO2 goal by 2035 – a continuous rise in the adoption of zero-emission vehicles will prove essential for Europe to achieve its climate objectives.
However, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) has raised concerns over the financial implications of these new standards.
According to the ACEA lobby group, financial penalties could severely impact investment, potentially leading to a total of €16 billion in losses.
This strain on the purse-strings could also be compounded by external market pressures including the reduction in ecological incentives – like the cut in France's ecological bonus effective from 1 January – further impeding growth in EV sales.
European automakers have been coping with emissions regulations through adopting advances in technology – such as improvements in combustion engines and the adoption of electric powertrains – falling into line with Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.
Along with the latest set of emissions standards this new year, stringent Euro 7 rules being implemented between now and 2029 will pose further challenges for the motor industry when it comes to compliance.
These include managing non-exhaust emissions – such as brake dust and tire particles – along with tough requirements for the management of vehicle emissions over their lifecycle.
In particular, Euro 7 mandates the durability of battery performance for EVs, that aims to standardise the battery's longevity and efficiency.
So as of 2025, manufacturers must now significantly scale up their infrastructure and innovate their vehicles to align with this new set of regulations.
Mali accuses Algeria of fuelling Sahel insecurity by supporting Tuareg rebels
As Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger prepare to withdraw from the West African bloc Ecowas, reports show an increase in instability in the region – partly due to a lack of coordination in the fight against jihadism – with Mali now accusing Algeria of supporting Tuareg rebel groups.
Mali's ruling military junta this week accused its neighbour Algeria of "interference" and supporting "terrorist groups", according to a government statement.
The Malian Foreign Ministry said it had learned through the press of remarks made by Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf "once again commenting on Mali’s strategy for combatting terrorism".
The statement did not reproduce the comments attributed to Attaf, but accused Algerian authorities of bias in favour of the Tuareg rebels in the north of Mali.
The Tuareg people are among the indigenous Berber groups populating the Sahara, in the south of Algeria and the north of Mali and Niger. They took up arms in 2012, following previous rebellions, seeking independence or autonomy for the region, which they call Azawad.
Ecowas exit
The ministry accused Algeria of "proximity and complicity with terrorist groups that destabilise Mali and to whom it has offered shelter and support".
It also strongly condemned what it calls "this new interference by Algeria in Mali’s internal affairs" and demanded that Algiers "stop using Mali as a tool for its international positioning".
In late September 2024, the Malian representative at the United Nations accused Algerian diplomats of harbouring terrorists.
Mali's military regime also used the statement to affirm that "strategic decisions in the fight against armed terrorist groups, supported by foreign state sponsors, are exclusively the sovereign prerogative of Mali" and its neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger – with which it has formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
The AES announced in January 2024 that its countries would be leaving the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) in January 2025, which it views as subservient to France.
Ecowas extended a six-month grace period for the three departing states, but this offer was rejected in December.
Reports have shown that extremist violence in the Sahel has increased, threatening to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and spread instability in the region, and across Africa.
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) reports that the continuing collapse of international counterterrorism support, as well as weakening leadership in regional efforts, has created "a vacuum in which violent extremism can expand".
The think tank's report also shows that the influx of extremists into northern Mali reignited the dormant Tuareg rebellion from 2012.
As Mali's ruling junta, and its Russian partners, claim to have improved security in the northern part of the country, the rebellion at the border with Algeria appears to be a thorn in the side of the fight against increasing violence. A series of ruptures
The Malian junta announced on 25 January, 2024 the "immediate termination" of the Algiers Peace Agreement signed in 2015, long regarded as crucial for stabilising the country – especially in the northern region populated and controlled by Tuareg groups, known to them as Azawad.
The agreement had been seen as moribund since 2023, when the predominantly Tuareg separatist groups reopened hostilities in the north against the central government and the Malian army.
This resurgence of conflict also coincided with the withdrawal of the United Nations stabilisation mission in Mali (Minusma), which was pushed out by the junta after a decade of operations.
The decision to abandon the 2015 Algiers Peace agreement was part of a series of ruptures initiated by the military rulers who seized power in Bamako in 2020.
Mali's junta had set up a committee to organise a national peace dialogue in January 2024, after it scrapped the key 2015 peace deal with the northern separatist groups following months of hostilities. But no dialogue, or timeframe for this, materialised in 2024.
Meanwhile, the Malian junta also ended the country's longstanding alliance with France and other European partners in favour of a partnership with Russia.
The Tuareg uprising is considered by some in Bamako to have paved the way for radical Islamist groups to surpass the separatists and seize control of much of the north.
This prompted a French military intervention in 2013, plunging the Sahel into protracted conflict.
Despite the 2015 peace agreement, jihadist groups continued to fight the state under the banners of Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State organisation.
(with AFP)
Paris museum accused of 'erasing' Tibet under pressure from China
Tibetans in France have been sounding the alarm over the Guimet Museum of Asian Arts' relabelling of its art and artefacts from Tibet, saying it has caved to pressure from China to "erase" Tibetan culture.
Each week since September, a group of Tibetans in Paris have been gathering across the street from the city's Guimet Museum of Asian Arts to protest against its decision to change the name of its Tibet Nepal collection to the more general – and they say, inaccurate – term, "Himalayan World".
On a day in mid-December, Yangchen, president of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) France, which has been organising the weekly demonstrations, picked up a megaphone and turned to face the museum building, starting a call-and-response chant with the protesters around her.
“Shame on...” she shouted. “Guimet!” the other demonstrators, many wrapped in Tibetan flags, answered.
“Tibetan art...” she yelled. "Deserves its real name!” they called back. “Tibetan culture is not negotiable.”
More on this story in the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 121, listen here:
Yangchen said there is more at stake than just a label in a museum.
“It's a very subtle erasure," she said of the name change, which she found shocking in France. “We are in a free country here in France, and Chinese pressure comes even here.” 'Erasing' Tibet
The Tibetan independence movement dates back to 1913, although China has claimed control over the region for centuries.
After the 1949 Communist takeover of China, the army became more heavy-handed with Tibet, triggering protests that were met with a brutal crackdown. Chinese troops then invaded Tibet in 1950.
Tens of thousands of Tibetans left, and today live in exile, while in Tibet the Chinese government has been accused of trying to erase the culture and language through mandatory Mandarin Chinese education.
China has recently shifted to using the Chinese term "Xizang Autonomous Region" instead of Tibet in official documents.
Tibet scholar Katia Buffetrille noticed in March 2024 that the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, a public museum dedicated to non-European art, had started using the term Xizang to identify its Tibetan objects.
This was around the same time that the Guimet Museum – also a public museum, which houses Europe’s largest collection of Asian art – changed its labels, which coincided with commemorations of the 60th anniversary of Franco-Chinese relations and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Paris in May 2024.
The Guimet Museum in Paris, home to Europe's largest collection of Asian art.
“I’m not privy to insider knowledge, but there was the coincidence that the change occurred just before Xi Jinping came, and we know that Xi Jinping does not want to see the name Tibet,” Buffetrille said.
She and her colleagues wrote an open letter criticising the name changes and denouncing what they believe to be China’s influence.
The Musée du Quai Branly eventually backtracked and went back to using the name Tibet, but the Guimet Museum has continued to use the term "Himalayan World".
In an email to RFI, the museum dismissed “unfounded accusations” of China’s influence on its decision to change the term used, and defended its use of the term "Himalayan World" as this includes Tibet.
Director Yannick Lintz said that the term has been used in other museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
However, Buffetrille considers including Tibet under the umbrella term "Himalayan World" to be inaccurate.
“Tibet is not the Himalayan world,” she insists. “The Himalayan world is countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Laos, and includes the southern range of Tibet, but Tibet is 2.5 million kilometers long, and it doesn't belong to the Himalayan world.”
“The word Tibet has not disappeared from the Guimet Museum,” Lintz told Radio France, which investigated claims that China was pressuring museums to change their labels.
Their reporting pointed to Lintz’s appointing of well-known supporters of China to the museum’s board – including Henri Giscard d'Estaing, the son of former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and president of Club Med, which is now owned by a Chinese company, and former French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. Raffarin has had close ties to China for decades, with Xi Jinping awarding him China's Friendship Medal in 2019.
In November the Chinese embassy in Paris published its response to the Radio France investigation, saying that while Xi Jinping agreed to cultural exchanges and mutual exhibitions with the Guimet Museum, the Chinese government does not interfere with France's "internal affairs" and is not involved in the details of the exchanges.
"Nevertheless, a cooperation on exhibitions must respect the will of the party that provides the collections to put on display," it wrote. 'Tubo'
Buffetrille points out that the name Tibet has also been erased from the Tang China exhibition currently running at the Guimet Museum, which features “works from more than 30 Chinese museums” and, according to the Radio France investigation, was financed in large part by China.
The Tibetan Empire, which was a rival to the Tang Dynasty at the time, is referred to as “Tubo” – the ancient Chinese term for Tibet.
Buffetrille says that while it might be historically accurate, using the term is another way of erasing Tibet. “Nobody knows what Tubo is,” she said. “Ask anyone in the street, and they will not know. So it effectively erases Tibet.”
“This change from Tibet to Himalayan World... Tibet experts are not happy about it, Tibetans – who are the first to be concerned about these things – are not happy about it, French people are confused by it. So in the end, who benefits from these changes? The only one who is happy is China. That's why I ask these questions,” said Tenam, a Tibetan who has been living in France since 2005.
The Tibetan community in France has grown from a few hundred people two decades ago to around 20,000, many of whom arrived from India, where a large Tibetan diaspora settled with the Dalai Lama in exile in 1959.
Even if, like Tenam, they are not regular visitors to the Guimet Museum, the idea of the objects – some of them centuries-old sacred artefacts – being stripped of their Tibetan name is another reminder of what is facing those who are still in Tibet.
Tenam found out about the name changes from the open letter signed by Buffetrille, and he and other Tibetans subsequently wrote to the museum demanding it revert to using the name Tibet, and requesting a meeting.
This took place in December, but the director, Lintz, told those present that the labels would remain and that her decisions were not influenced by China.
The demonstrators have vowed to continue their protests.
“To see the name of my country in a cultural institution like this one, it represents not just the art from Tibet, but also the entire Tibetan people,” said SFT president Yangchen.
“This is not just about a museum,” added Tenam. “If we are not able to stop this kind of thing here, it could be too late. There is a Tibetan saying that you have to build the dyke before the flood comes. I think this is what it is about.”
Find more on this story in the Spotlight on France podcast, episode 121. Listen here.
French farmland tainted by widespread microplastic pollution, study finds
French researchers have found microplastics in more than three-quarters of agricultural soil samples tested across the country, raising fresh concerns about plastic pollution beyond the oceans.
While a number of studies have already focused on how microplastics contaminate the oceans, we know far less about the extent to which they pollute the soil.
A recent study led by the French Agency for Ecological Transition (ADEME) analysed 33 soil samples from forests, meadows, vineyards, orchards and large-scale crop areas.
Microplastics were detected in 25 of the samples, or 76 percent.
Forest soils were the least affected, with only a quarter showing contamination.
Microplastics are particles smaller than five millimetres, created as plastic materials break down in landfills or the natural environment.
On average, the contaminated soils contained 15 microplastic particles per kilogram of dry soil.
The study identified polyethylene and polypropylene as the most common types of microplastics.
These materials, typically found in plastic packaging, are known to disrupt hormones and may pose risks to human and environmental health.
According to ADEME, the data does not pinpoint the source of the microplastics, but suggests that "part of their origin is linked to farming practices".
Plastic mulch, agricultural films and wastewater irrigation are among the practices that may contribute to soil contamination. Urgent call for action
“The almost systematic presence of microplastic particles in the studied soils shows that it’s urgent to continue these studies in order to provide monitoring data for microplastic particles in the soil,” said the researchers.
They emphasised the importance of limiting soil degradation and minimising health risks.
The study’s authors also called for further research, including in urban areas and French overseas territories, to gain a clearer picture of the scale of the problem.
CAPPLETALI$M
Blood minerals
DRC case against Apple brings new hope in conflict minerals crisis
As the DRC brings an unprecedented case against Apple, and the company offers assurances that it will no longer use conflict minerals from central Africa, experts are questioning whether real change is on the horizon in illegal mining.
The town of Nyabibwe, eastern Congo, a once bustling outpost of artisanal mining.
The war over so-called "conflict minerals" is more than two decades old, but the fight to prevent their exploitation by global tech companies is much newer.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), various armed groups – including both Congolese army and rival armed rebel groups, among them the M23 – occupy mines and trading routes, forcing miners to work for free.
Minerals from these mines, including tungsten, tin and tantalum (often referred to as the 3Ts), have been illegally smuggled through Rwanda for several years, and eventually exported to tech companies such as Apple, Tesla and Samsung.
But after the DRC filed criminal charges against Apple over the use of conflict minerals, there is renewed hope that this illegal mining could be brought to an end.
A criminal complaint was filed earlier in December against Apple's subsidiaries in France and Belgium, where the Congolese government alleges Apple uses conflict minerals laundered through international supply chains – which the American tech giant denies.
It is now up to judiciaries in France and Belgium, where the complaints were filed, to decide whether investigations will be initiated, which could set a legal precedent.
Public awareness
For Alex Kopp, senior campaigner on the NGO Global Witness's transition minerals team, the case signals positive change. He told RFI that there has been some progress, at least in terms of public awareness and consensus building.
The United States, France and Belgium say they have put regulations on conflict minerals in place, and the European Union passed a regulation in May 2017 to stop conflict minerals and metals from being exported to the EU, and to prevent EU smelters and refiners from using them.
Brussels lawyer Christophe Marchand said: "These complaints filed against Apple are a matter of great public interest at a time when European countries, consumers and non-governmental organisations are increasing their scrutiny of international supply chains."
But, Kopp added, the regulations "are not sufficiently enforced, and I don’t think they’ve had a real impact on the ground".
He hopes the upcoming Apple trial will create awareness of the need to legislate against illegal mining, and "push the international community to take appropriate measures".
According to the United Nations Group of Experts on the DRC, legitimate public and private players lack the resources to implement the traceability requirements necessary for access to the international market.
They say the EU strategy on mineral supply chain due diligence should include regulation, coupled with practical measures to support transparency, traceability and law enforcement in high-risk and conflict areas.
That way, "EU companies and consumers could ensure that their purchases are promoting better governance and economic development in eastern DRC, rather than fuelling war," according to a report co-written by Gregory Mthembu-Salter, a former consultant on conflict minerals due diligence to the UN Group of Experts.
Groundbreaking case
The DRC alleges that Apple bought contraband supplies from its conflict-racked eastern region and from Rwanda, zones in which the materials are alleged to be mined illegally before being integrated into global supply chains.
According to a statement from lawyers representing the DRC, Apple's French and Belgian subsidiaries also deployed deceptive commercial practices in order to persuade consumers that its supply chains were clean.
Apple said in a statement that suppliers were told earlier this year to stop purchasing those minerals from the DRC and Rwanda.
Lawyers for the DRC called Apple's statement vague, but welcomed the company’s decision to stop sourcing minerals from the region – although they added that the company's statement about changes to its supply chain will have to be verified on the ground.
Kigali has dismissed the accusations, which the Rwandan government described as "a repetition of baseless allegations and speculation aimed at generating media interest about one of the world's largest companies".
"This is just the latest move by the DRC government, which constantly seeks to shift attention towards Rwanda with false accusations," spokesperson for the Rwandan government, Yolande Makolo, told news agencies. A wider issue
According to Kopp, Apple is not alone in these practices. "Global Witness has reported that, along with Apple, Tesla, HP, Nokia, Blackberry, Motorola, Samsung and Intel may also have sourced conflict minerals from the African Great Lakes Region."
Outside Europe, the pressure is also mounting in the US on American companies.
In July, the US State Department issued a statement saying: "The United States remains concerned about the role that the illicit trade and exploitation of certain minerals, including artisanally and semi-industrially mined gold and tantalum, from the African Great Lakes Region continues to play in financing conflict."
It continued: "In many cases, these minerals directly or indirectly benefit armed groups and move out of the eastern DRC through Rwanda and also to Uganda before moving to major refining and processing countries. These supply chains facilitate illicit exploitation and taxation of these minerals, often involving acts of corruption."
DRC's own failings
There is also a lot the DRC’s government should do or should have done, Kopp said.
"I’m not referring now to the areas in North Kivu which are occupied by M23 and Rwandan forces, where the Congolese government has lost effective control over its territory, but to other areas in DRC where minerals have in the past been connected to armed conflict."
According to reports from Global Witness, the Congolese army has itself often illegally profited from minerals.
"The DRC hasn’t sufficiently implement its regulation how to deal with conflict minerals. DRC officials are running the ITSCI traceability scheme through which conflict minerals have been laundered over and over again over the last decade. Congolese are often involved in smuggling minerals over the border and DRC officials do little to stop them," Kopp told RFI.
Reports demonstrate that the Congolese authorities are in fact using this "scheme that's meant to ensure traceability" to do quite the opposite.
"Large amounts of minerals from unvalidated mines, including ones with militia involvement or that use child labour, enter the ITSCI supply chain and are exported, evidence suggests. ITSCI’s incident reporting frequently appears to downplay or ignore incidents that seriously compromise its supply chain," it reads.
For the years 2023 and 2024, UN Group Expert reports appear to provide evidence for continued conflict minerals laundering, which Global Witness are in the process of verifying.
Hope for change
For William Bourdon, one of the lawyers representing DRC against Apple, it's a case that should bring hope, tempered with caution.
"It is unprecedented for a company as powerful as Apple to publicly commit to 'cleaning up' the conditions of its mineral sourcing," he told RFI.
"However, we must remain extremely vigilant. Companies sometimes make commitments that excite everyone but fail to deliver. That is why we are calling for Apple to commit to a full process of verification and transparency."
