By every subjective measure, Apple is one of the most successful public companies in history. Its brand perception is synonymous with innovation and its corporate ethos is to make the world a safer, more equitable place. But lofty credos can often be misleading. In the Great Lakes region of Africa, which is ground zero in the global supply chain for Big Tech, Apple appears to have betrayed its vision. The company stands accused of deceiving consumers, laundering Congolese minerals and profiting from war crimes, according to criminal complaints filed against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium. A team of international lawyers representing the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claims Apple’s computers and phones are tainted by the blood of Congolese people.

The lawyers allege that Apple has commercialized illegally exploited minerals, and that its key suppliers buy minerals laundered by Rwanda, an apex predator in Congo and a preferred international hub for mineral exports. Apple has long claimed it verifies the origin of minerals it uses to manufacture its products, insisting that the tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (known as 3TG) from its suppliers are conflict-free and do not finance war. But over the course of decades, the biggest international smelters, refiners and electronic component producers have steadily purchased minerals from Rwanda, knowing full well that Rwanda’s illegal exploitation and trafficking of those minerals have been the fuel for a decades-long conflict that has ripped Congo apart and left millions of people dead.

Rwanda’s own mineral production is verifiably poor, yet many of the world’s leading processing companies buy minerals from Rwanda, in particular tantalum, a crucial metal used in aerospace components and weapons systems. Chinese companies, for instance, are big importers of tantalum from Rwanda, having locked in low prices with Rwanda’s regime many years ago. Among the global companies that buy tantalum from Rwanda are Global Advanced Metals, AVX Kyocera, Kemet/Yageo, Mitsui Mining and Smelting, Ningxia Orient Tantalum Industry, Jiujang Tanbre, Jiujiang JinXin Nonferrous Metals, Ximei Resources, Ulba Metallurgical Plant and Taniobis—all of which are listed as Apple’s suppliers on the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The suppliers sourcing from Rwanda are listed by an industry-led certification scheme that Apple has relied on for years, known as ITSCI. The trail of evidence linking international buyers to Rwanda is therefore available for everyone to see.

Earlier this year, Rwandan President Paul Kagame admitted that Rwanda is a transit hub for smuggled Congolese minerals and suggested........

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