No end in sight to Rwanda’s war in Congo, despite peace deal |
M23 rebel stands outside of Bunagana, North Kivu Province, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo by Nicolas Pinault.
Perhaps no country in history has been more ravaged than the Democratic Republic of Congo, from its sadistic plundering under Belgium’s King Leopold II at the turn of the 20th century to the US-led, 1961 assassination of its first democratic leader, Patrice Lumumba, an act that derailed Congo’s emerging sovereignty. The country has also faced steady predation by its own kleptocratic elites—former presidents Mobutu Sese Seko and Joseph Kabila—and by two neighbouring warriors, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni.
And yet Congo’s potential for transformation and breadth of humanity are something to behold. Today it is a nation inhabited by more than 100 million people from 250 different ethnic groups who are steeped in traditions of civic action and resistance. Congo is also one of the most biodiverse countries and home to 60 percent of the Congo Basin, the world’s largest carbon sink. Its natural resources, which include strategic minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium and tantalum, are estimated to be worth a staggering $24 trillion USD. Given that a tech revolution is now driving the global economy and shaping how world powers interact, Congo is poised to play a defining role.
Amid this promise, Congo still faces a series of clear and present dangers. It is no wonder that US President Donald Trump has turned his attention toward the vast, embattled nation, in search of a deal. Trump’s strategy is to challenge China’s near monopoly in the global supply chain of critical minerals, in particular in Congo where Chinese companies own or operate a majority of copper and cobalt mines.
Congo now appears ready to pivot away from China’s dominance in its mineral sector. Earlier this year, Congolese officials offered the United States access to critical minerals and investment in infrastructure projects in exchange for the US guaranteeing stability in Congo’s war-torn eastern region. In return—and at a very minimum—Congo expected that Washington would persuade its longtime ally, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, to call off the dogs of war and leave Congo alone, once and for all.
Kagame’s visit to Washington, where he signed an accord with Congolese President........