The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that minerals pillaged by armed groups in eastern Congo are tainting the supply chain for Apple computers and cellphones, the Congolese government says in newly filed criminal complaints against Apple subsidiaries in France and Belgium. The Globe's Geoffrey York writes that the complaints, filed this week in courts in Paris and Brussels, describe an elaborate system of smuggling of so-called "blood minerals" by militias and traffickers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- much of it in territory controlled by the powerful Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group. Minerals such as tantalum, used in computers and phones, are supplied largely by Congo and Rwanda. Bintou Keita, the head of the United Nations mission in Congo, told the UN Security Council in October that M23 generates about $300,000 (U.S.) in monthly revenue from its control of the Rubaya area. The complaints in France and Belgium accuse Apple of laundering stolen goods and using deceptive commercial practices to conceal war crimes in its supply chain. Robert Amsterdam, a U.S.-based lawyer for Congo's government, said the criminal complaints are just the "first salvo" in the government's efforts against Apple.