Legal professionals representing the Central African nation, claimed in a press release this week that Apple’s subsidiaries in Europe are utilizing battle minerals sourced in sub-Saharan Africa and accused the corporate of “utilizing misleading business practices to guarantee shoppers that the tech large’s provide chains are clear”. Alex Kopp, senior campaigner on the World Witness NGO’s transition minerals group, advised Al Jazeera that within the DRC, “they [rebels] occupy mines and in addition the buying and selling routes. They mainly power the employees within the mines to work free of charge for a day or per week and so they illegally smuggle the minerals via locations like Rwanda. The minerals then get exported legally to massive corporations like Apple.” In a media assertion on Tuesday, Apple stated: “As battle within the area escalated earlier this yr we notified our suppliers that their smelters and refiners should droop sourcing tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold from the DRC and Rwanda.