During the recent conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, minerals - especially diamonds - played a negative role in funding rebel and government forces charged with human rights violations. Interestingly, the DRC is now turning to minerals and mining licenses to provide revenue for the country and its recovery from the war. See http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7e103396-e3d6-11dc-8799-0000779fd2ac,noOfParas=2,emailFormat=plainText,storyType=ultralight,dwp_uuid=a99ba554-4d15-11da-ba44-0000779e2340,print=no,_i_email=y.html