Sabena/Swissair declares embargo on transport of coltan

The Belgian-Swiss airline consortium Sabena/Swissair has announced an embargo on the transport of “coltan and all related minerals” from all points of the company’s operations in eastern Africa (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda), airline industry sources told IRIN on Wednesday. The decision was announced on 15 June and became effective immediately, they added. The announcement follows the release of a UN report in April that named the consortium as among those transporting the highly sought-after mineral coltan (a naturally occurring compound of columbium and tantalite found in eastern DRC and Rwanda), the exploitation of which has been cited as a factor fuelling the conflict in the DRC.

Coltan is an essential ingredient of high-tech components in the aerospace and communications industries, and demand and prices for the mineral have risen markedly in recent years. The UN report, completed by a panel of experts chosen to investigate allegations of illegal exploitation of the natural resources of the DRC, accused Rwanda and Congolese rebel groups of profiting from their control of the eastern provinces of the Congo to mine and sell coltan in order to finance military operations and enrich themselves.

The Sabena/Swissair ban on transporting coltan covers the whole of eastern Africa due to the difficulty in determining the origin of the product, in contrast to the case of diamonds, the approximate origin of which could be ascertained by analysis, airline sources told IRIN. Swisscargo, the goods transport branch of the Sabena/Swissair consortium, would be responsible for supervising the embargo, they added.