ENTRY DESCRIPTION
Mudere mine, North Kivu region, D.R.Congo. A miner works inside a tunnel of the mine. The minerals, coltan and manganese, are extracted by hand, using only pickaxes and shovels.
Coltan and manganese are rare metals used to make mobile phones and computers. The market value is so high as to have aroused the interest of criminal organizations, in order to destabilize the political situation and take control of the mining business at a reasonable price, financial backing is given to armed groups waging war on one another. Rubaya town and Mudere mine are in the hands of Nyatura soldiers, an illegal armed militia. They control the territory, exploiting the local population and reselling its natural resources: the proceeds are used to buy other weapons that provide additional power, this creating a vicious circle it is difficult to break. Soldiers patrol the territory around the Mudere mine where miners dig 20 meters underground. After workers transporting minerals to a nearby river where they are separated from rocks and sand before being sold to dealers. In Rubaya town, between brothels and homemade alcohol, Nyatura survive by bullying, through abuse of power, abuse of civilians, raiding night and day and demanding tax on all forms of activity in the city.

AUTHOR
Erberto Zani is an Italian freelance photojournalist based between Parma (Italy) and Basel (Switzerland). Since 2008 he focused on capturing people’s daily life, strength in their environments. His work documents social and environmental issues, systemic inequalities, cultural traditions.
His photo has been published on BBC Newsround, Cnn Travel, Der Spiegel, El Pais, Financial Times, Lonely Planet, The Economist, The Times, among others.

back to gallery