Rebels of the Goma-based Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) have said that there will be “no more discrimination or distinction” between those who want to trade in the sought-after mineral, columbium tantalite (coltan), as long as the potential trader “meets the laid down conditions”. “Whoever meets the laid down conditions can open a bureau, be they Ugandans, Rwandans, Americans or Swiss or any other national. They can open their own bureaux as soon as they meet the conditions I have laid down,” rebel-controlled radio from Goma quoted RCD’s head of minerals and energy department, Nestor Kiyimbi as saying on Monday. This announcement ended the coltan export monopoly by the Great Lakes mining company, Somigl, the radio said.
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