October 16, 2008 12:00am

From the Daily Telegraph 

FOR years, African militias have used proceeds from precious natural resources to fund conflicts - a practice dramatised in the 2006 film Blood Diamond.

Now, there's a new twist: blood cows.

Warring rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo are stealing and selling livestock to finance a conflict sparked by spillover from the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 were killed.

Vast and volatile, the Democratic Republic of Congo has long suffered from conflicts fought over its reserves of gold, copper, uranium, and coltan, a mineral needed in mobile phones and other electronics.

For years, armed groups have sought control over mines and forests, their acquisitions of wealth fuelling cycles of violence.

Cattle may sound less glamorous than precious metals, but they're accessible.

"It's just like the mining resources,'' says Alpha Sow, head of the local office of the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUC). ``Part of this money goes to buy munitions.''

For the full article, please visit: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24501277-5012895,00.html