Nicolas Niarchos | The New York Review of Books

‘A Simulacrum of Elections’

President Félix Tshisekedi’s reelection in a contested vote further weakens democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

January 16, 2024

Hidden Crimes

“The cobalt they produced was going into our phone and electric vehicle batteries. How could we be basing the future on such a dysfunctional and tragic practice?”

November 25, 2023

In Congo’s Cobalt Mines

The lucrative mining industry is unscrupulous, environmentally disastrous, and a linchpin of Congo’s economy. How can it be reformed?

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

by Siddharth Kara

Cobalt Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Addressing Root Causes of Human Rights Abuses

a report by Dorothée Baumann-Pauly

Conflict Minerals Inc.: War, Profit and White Saviourism in Eastern Congo

by Christoph N. Vogel

Eating the Congo: Unveiling State Governance of Copper and Cobalt Mining in Former Katanga

by Claude Iguma Wakenge

The Eyes of the World: Mining the Digital Age in the Eastern DR Congo

by James H. Smith

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December 7, 2023 issue