Editor 's note : The staff at CNN.com has been intrigued by the journalism of VICE , an independent media company and Web site based in Brooklyn , New York . The reports , which are produced solely by VICE , reflect a very transparent approach to journalism , where viewers are taken along on every step of the reporting process . We believe this unique reporting approach is worthy of sharing with our CNN.com readers . Brooklyn , New York ( VICE.COM ) -- Walking through the jungle in the dead of night with a group of Rwandan rebels best known for their expertise at rape and murder was n't exactly what we had planned for our first trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo . All we wanted was to make a little film about the controversy surrounding the so-called conflict minerals that make our cell phones work , drop a couple Conrad references , and drink a Primus . Just one Primus . A week earlier , our team landed at N'Djili International Airport in the capital of Kinshasa , formerly Leopoldville . The place looks like it has n't had a scrub since Muhammad Ali dropped by for the Rumble in the Jungle in the early 1970s . After having our yellow-fever cards checked for the first time in our well-traveled lives , we ran a gauntlet of sweaty police officers and other officials -- each with his own laundry list of infractions that we had apparently already committed . In an amazing stroke of luck , they were willing to overlook all these violations for a small fine , payable in person , to them . See the rest of VICE Guide to Congo at VICE.COM . We 'd come to Congo to try to find out more about the developed world 's thirst for coltan , cassiterite , and the other colorfully named minerals that make the electronics industry go round . These are part of a group of natural resources that have been dubbed `` conflict minerals '' because of the alphabet soup of armed groups ( FARDC , CNDP , FDLR , PARECO , etc . ) who have found them a very portable and highly profitable way to fund their activities -- which mostly consist of killing people . Since 1996 , these guerrilla insurgencies have led to the deaths of more than 5 million people , and in one 12-month period , the rape of approximately 400,000 women . We knew very little about Congo before we came , but the one thing that had been drilled into our heads was `` do not fly on Congolese airlines . '' Conventional wisdom says that between the beat-up Russian planes and their drunken Russian pilots , and the occasional crocodile in the overhead , if you fly a Congolese airline -- you will die . But what else could we do ? Walk ? This is a country the size of Western Europe , with the infrastructure of rural West Virginia . As it turned out , that flight would be the most comfortable experience of the days that followed .
VICE travels to Democratic Republic of Congo to do film on so-called conflict minerals . Congo is rich in coltan and other minerals used to make cell phones and other electronics . The UN estimates that the country has enough coltan, gold, tantalum, copper, nickel and cobalt for all its needs.