Mobutu Sese Seko, the late Zairean dictator, turned them into a personal treasure trove. Under his successor, Laurent Desire Kabila, they were carved up by warring factions and armies, as the country he renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo slid out of his control and into war.

Now the future of some of the world’s richest deposits of metals and gems is in the hands of his son, Joseph Kabila, who won democratic elections in 2006.