This term was first coined in 2001 by a UN panel of experts investigating the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 1998, timber there has helped fund a conflict that has killed around 4 million people. The volume of wood removed by rebel factions, companies and government-armed forces of neighbouring countries is so great that in neighbouring Uganda the market price halved. The UN panel found that the conflict was self-perpetuating: each party had interests in its continuation.