Angola’s President João Lourenço and representatives of the African Union have called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Congo.
Tag Archives: eastern Congo
IS-linked rebels kill at least 20 in Congo village attack, army says
Rebels backed by the Islamic State group killed at least 20 people in an attack over the weekend on a village in eastern Congo, the military said Monday.
Congo’s coltan miners dig for world’s tech amid struggles
Nestled in the green hills of Masisi territory in Congo, the artisanal Rubaya mining site hums with the sound of generators, as hundreds of men labor by hand to extract coltan, a key mineral crucial for producing modern electronics and defense technology — and fiercely sought after worldwide.
Rubaya lies in the heart of eastern Congo, a mineral-rich part of the Central African nation which for decades has been ripped apart by violence from government forces and different armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23, whose recent resurgence has escalated the conflict, worsening an already acute humanitarian crisis.
As the U.S. spearheads peace talks between Congo and Rwanda, Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has sought out a deal with the Trump administration, offering mineral access in return for American support in quelling the insurgency and boosting security.
While details of the deal remain unclear, analysts said Rubaya might be one of the mining sites which fall under its scope.
Eastern Congo has been in and out of crisis for decades. The conflict has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with more than 7 million people displaced, including 100,000 who fled homes this year.
The Rubaya mines have been at the center of the fighting, changing hands between the Congolese government and rebel groups. For over a year now, it has been controlled by the M23 rebels, who earlier this year advanced and seized the strategic city of Goma and Bukavu in a major escalation of the conflict.
Despite the country’s exceptional mineral wealth, over 70% of Congolese live on less than $2.15 a day.
Metals for ‘modern life and military preparedness’
For the men working in the Rubaya’s mines, who rely on the mining for their livelihoods, little has changed over decades of violence.
One of them is Jean Baptiste Bigirimana, who has worked in the mines for seven years.
“I earn $40 a month, but that’s not enough,” he said. “Children need clothes, education and food. When I divide up the money to see how I will take care of my children, I realize it’s not enough,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know where the minerals he mines go once they leave Rubaya.
The mines produce coltan — short for columbite-tantalite — an ore from which the metals tantalum and niobium are extracted. Both are considered critical raw materials by the United States, the European Union, China and Japan. Tantalum is used in mobile phones, computers and automotive electronics, as well as in aircraft engines, missile components and GPS systems. Niobium is used in pipelines, rockets and jet engines.
Congo produced about 40% of the world’s coltan in 2023, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, with Australia, Canada and Brazil being other major suppliers.
The National Energy Emergency executive order, issued by Trump, highlighted the significance of critical minerals — including tantalum and niobium — and called for securing U.S. access to ensure both “modern life and military preparedness.”
A ‘murky’ global supply chain
According to a U.N. report, since seizing Rubaya in April last year, the M23 has imposed taxes on the monthly trade and transport of 120 tonnes of coltan, generating at least $800,000 a month. The coltan then is exported to Rwanda, U.N. experts said. But even before M23 seized control of the mine, analysts said that the mineral was sold to Rwanda, the only difference being it was done through Congolese intermediaries.
Experts say that it is not easy to trace how coltan arrives in Western countries.
“The global coltan supply chain is pretty murky,” said Guillaume de Brier, a natural resources researcher at the Antwerp-based International Peace Information Service. “From eastern DRC, coltan is bought by traders, mostly Lebanese or Chinese, who will sell it to exporters based in Rwanda. Exporters will then ship it to the UAE or China, where it will be refined into tantalum and niobium, and sold to Western countries as metals from UAE or China.”
The M23 has previously controlled Rubaya for periods of time, and the U.N. asserted that, even before the takeover of Goma, the group was facilitating the smuggling of these minerals to Rwanda. Since M23 took control of the mine, Rwanda’s official coltan exports have doubled, according to Rwandan official figures.
At times the mines were also under control of the Wazalendo, a militia allied with the Congolese army.
Alexis Twagira said he feels some things have improved under M23. “I’ve been working in this mine for 13 years, and I’ve worked under the Wazalendo. When they were here, they would harass us, sometimes taking our minerals and demanding money,” he said.
The U.N. has accused both the Congolese army and the M23 rebels of human rights abuses.
‘We can’t continue like this’
Congo is the world’s largest producer of cobalt, a mineral used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other products, but U.S. access is complicated by the fact that Chinese companies control 80% of its Congolese production. Congo also produces gold.
In recent weeks, two U.S. companies opened doors to production in the region. Nathan Trotter, a U.S. firm, signed a letter of intent with Rwanda-based Trinity Metals, which owns Rwanda’s largest tin mine. And KoBold Metals, which uses Artificial Intelligence to further energy transition and is backed by billionaire Bill Gates, brokered a deal to buy Australia’s AVZ Minerals’ interest in Congo’s Manono lithium deposits.
Analysts warn that the implementation of a minerals deal in eastern Congo, if one was to materialize, will face many hurdles — especially with U.S. investors largely abandoning Congo in the last two decades.
“Turning a headline announcement into sustainable progress will require resolving deep suspicions between Rwanda and the DRC,” Chatham House, a research institute, said in a recent report. “A deal will also need to account for complex local political problems of land access and identity, wider security challenges in a region that hosts myriad non-state armed groups, and issues of asset scarcity.”
If the deal were to include Rubaya, where all mining is currently done manually, U.S. companies would have to contend with both security concerns and a severe lack of infrastructure.
“With coltan, you’re dealing with hundreds of thousands of miners, and not just M23, but other so-called auto-defense armed groups and individuals who rely on mining for survival,” said de Brier from the International Peace Information Service. “You have to build all the infrastructure, you have to start from scratch. You will even have to build the roads.”
Bahati Moïse, a trader who resells coltan from Rubaya’s mines, hopes that, regardless who controls the mines, the workers who labor to extract the minerals will finally be valued as much as the resources themselves.
“The whole country, the whole world knows that phones are made from the coltan mined here, but look at the life we live,” he said. “We can’t continue like this.”
DRC: M23 rebels expel civilians to Rwanda
Thousands of people believed to be illegals from Rwanda were expelled by the M23 from the key major town of Goma on Saturday.
On Monday, the M23 spokesperson, Willy Ngoma, presented 181 individuals claiming they were Rwandan subjects who were illegally in Goma.
Also presented were thousands of women and children believed to be family members of the culprits. According to witnesses, they were carried in trucks and their documents, issued by the Congolese authorities, were burned to ashes. The group claimed that the documents were bogus.
The majority of the families are from the Karenga region, located in North Kivu, which had been under the control of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
Both Kigalia and M23 accuse the Congo government of supporting the FDLR, which has also committed numerous atrocities in the region.
According to some sources, most families lived in a displacement camp in Sake, a few kilometers from Goma.
Some 360 people were repatriated on Saturday into Rwanda, according to Eujin Byun, a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR].
For decades, mineral-rich eastern Congo has been ripped apart by violence from government forces and different armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23, whose recent resurgence has escalated the conflict and worsened an already acute humanitarian crisis.
The rebels are supported by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda, according to U.N. experts.
Congo’s rebel-held coltan mines continue to pump ore for world’s tech
Deep in the green hills of Masisi territory in North Kivu province, the artisanal mining site at Rubaya hums with the sound of generators as piles of white dust dot the landscape.
Thousands of workers extract, by hand, strategic minerals such as coltan, cassiterite, and manganese—essential for the production of phones, batteries, and other modern technologies.
Eastern Congo has been in and out of crisis for decades with more than 100 armed groups, most of which are vying for territory in the mining region near the border with Rwanda.
The conflict has created one of the world’s largest humanitarian disasters with more than 7 million people displaced, including 100,000 who fled homes this year.
The Rubaya mine and surrounding area are under the control of the M23 armed group.
Mines like these have been at heart of discussions around M23’s takeover of part of eastern Congo, with the Congolese government alleging they want control of the minerals and are smuggling them illegally to Rwanda.
For the men working in Rubaya’s mines, little has changed, despite what some of them say are easier working conditions under the rebels.
Jean Baptiste Bigirimana has been working in the mines for seven years.
“I get 40 dollars a month, but that’s not enough. Children need clothes, education, and food. When I divide up the money to see how I will take care of the children, I realize it’s not enough,” he said, adding that he doesn’t know where the minerals he mines go once they leave Rubaya.
At times the mines were also under control of the Wazalendo, a militia allied with the Congolese army.
Alexis Twagira said he feels some things have improved under M23.
“I’ve been working in this mine for 13 years, and I’ve worked here under the Wazalendo. When they were here, they would harass us, sometimes taking our minerals and asking for money,” he said.
In April, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the signing by Congo and Rwanda of a pledge to work toward peace in the region that would ease U.S. access to minerals in eastern Congo.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi sought out a deal with the Trump administration that could offer the U.S. better access to his country’s resources in exchange for U.S. help calming hostilities.
Congo and Rwanda hope the involvement of the United States — and the incentive of major investment if there’s enough security for U.S. companies to work safely in east Congo — will calm the fighting and militia violence that have defied peacekeeping and negotiation since the mid-1990s.
Bahati Moïse is a trader who resells the coltan that leaves Rubaya’s mines.
He said he just hopes that mine workers can be valued as much as the minerals they work so hard to extract.
“The whole country, the whole world knows that phones are made from the coltan that comes here, but look at the life we live,” he said.
“We can’t continue like this.”
Amnesty International criticizes Rwanda’s deportation deal with the U.S.
Rwanda’s move to accept immigrants from the United States has drawn criticism from Amnesty International.
The rights group now says that the deal contravenes the Refugee Convention. They also faulted the asylum process, claiming it is a risk of violating international law on migration and that there is still no certainty in its success.
“What we have raised as a concern with the UK deal, for instance, over the past years was the fact that there was a risk of refoulement of people who were deported from the UK to Rwanda,” stated Christian Rumu, who is the Senior Campaigner at Amnesty International.
“That is in contravention of the refugee convention and that risk is still there right now. We also had an issue around the asylum processes in Rwanda, in particular with regard to appeal opportunities. They tried to fix that with the reform that happened last year but that hasn’t been tested yet. So in all, there is a real risk of violation of international law that Rwanda is putting migrants through with this deal,” concluded Rumu.
Rwanda has argued it has space to help alleviate what many countries in Europe – and the United States Human rights advocates have long raised concerns over the deaths in Rwandan custody of some perceived government critics, as well as the alleged killings of others who sought exile in places like South Africa.
Rwanda at times has responded with angry denials to reports documenting human rights abuses – including the abduction and imprisonment of a U.S. resident who was tricked onto a Kigali-bound aircraft while visiting Dubai. He was later freed after Biden administration pressure.
Rwanda is also criticized over its aggressive military actions in the region. United Nations experts have documented Rwandan support for the rebel uprising that this year seized two cities in neighboring eastern Congo, an area rich in mineral wealth.
The unrest led to fears of a resurgence of regional war, and a number of Western countries cut relations or restricted aid. Rwanda has said it is defending ethnic Tutsis in Congo.
The Trump administration, which sanctioned a Rwandan government minister and cited links to the rebels, is trying to broker a peace deal. Agreeing to take in deportees from the U.S. could improve Rwanda’s standing with Washington and others.
Rwanda in 2019 struck a deal with the U.N. refugee agency to help take in migrants removed from Libya, where many people trying to reach Europe have reported abuses in detention.
The U.N. says the transit center in Rwanda has capacity for 700 evacuees. Late last year, it said over 2,400 people had been assisted in what is meant to be a temporary stay during efforts to find “long-term solutions” including resettlement elsewhere.
Before its deal with Britain collapsed, Rwanda showed off another transit center, a refurbished hostel in Kigali, that could host 100 people, with more accommodation made available as needed.
Rwanda said migrants would have their papers processed within three months. People could stay or authorities would assist those who wished to return to their home countries. Rwanda said it would bear full financial responsibilities for five years.
It is not clear whether such terms would be part of a deal with the United States.
Dr. Mukwege denounces use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in DRC
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege denounced on Wednesday the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, the Congolese doctor described what he called a “dramatic situation” in the Congo’s North Kivu region.
“We had 10,000 cases of sexual violence, with 30 to 35 percent are rapes against children. There is a trend towards unacceptable violence, but to attack children, that is going beyond any possible red lines that you could imagine,” said Mukwege.
Mukwege founded the Panzi Hospital in the eastern Congo city of Bukavu, and for over 20 years has treated countless women who were raped amid fighting between armed groups seeking control of some the central African nation’s vast mineral wealth.
He was in Strasbourg to meet with members of the European Parliament and urge them to help negotiations and peace talks with rebel groups.
Mukwege shared the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize with activist Nadia Murad, who was kidnapped and sold into sexual slavery by Islamic State militants in 2014 along with an estimated 3,000 Yazidi girls and women.
Congo-Rwanda Peace Talks: Draft Proposal Submitted
Congo and Rwanda have submitted a draft peace proposal as part of a U.S.-led initiative aimed at ending the ongoing conflict in eastern Congo. U.S. President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Africa and the Middle East, Massad Boulos, announced the receipt of the drafts from both nations, calling it “an important step” towards peace.
The conflict escalated earlier this year when Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The fighting has resulted in approximately 7,000 deaths and displaced over 7 million people, exacerbating one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. Eastern Congo is rich in critical minerals like cobalt, gold, and copper.
The peace proposal is seen as a pathway to unlock substantial Western investment in the region’s mining sector. Rwanda’s Foreign Minister stated that negotiations for a final peace agreement will continue later this month, with hopes that the presidents of Rwanda and Congo will sign the accord by mid-June at the White House, in the presence of President Trump and regional leaders.
The draft peace proposal follows an April meeting in Washington, where Congo and Rwanda pledged to work towards a peace deal under the oversight of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
SADC mission troops to complete withdrawal from DRC by end of May
South African troops participating under the umbrella of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will complete their withdrawal by the end of May.
This was announced by the South African National Defense Force Chief Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya in Pretoria, who also confirmed that a total of 13 trucks carrying 57 soldiers had already departed.
He further said that the withdrawal follows a peace truce between the Congolese army and the M23 rebels, which highlights the long-term objective that was being pursued by the SADC forces in the volatile region.
The SADC troops, which also include those from Tanzania and Malawi, had begun moving out from DRC earlier last week and had traveled through neighboring Rwanda to Tanzania and flew home from there.
Fourteen South African and three Malawian soldiers were killed in fighting with M23 in January.
The southern African regional body decided in March to end its peacekeeping mission early and bring the troops home.
M23 controls Goma and a second major city in eastern Congo and is supported by around 4,000 troops from Rwanda, according to experts from the United Nations.
Congo and Rwanda have held talks mediated by Qatar and supported by the United States and say they are working toward a peace agreement.
Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu celebrates mass ahead of papal conclave
On the last Sunday before the conclave to choose the next pope begins on 7 May, the cardinal electors spread out across Rome to preside over Mass at their titular churches.
Among them was Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, who celebrated Mass at San Gabriele Arcangelo all’Acqua Traversa, in an affluent neighbourhood of the Italian capital.
Ambongo became Archbishop of Kinshasa in 2018. A year later, Pope Francis appointed him cardinal.
He has since become one of the most outspoken Catholic leaders in Africa. He became the president of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar in 2023.
The 65-year-old cardinal also benefits from operating in a country that is home to the largest Catholic population in the continent.
Ambongo is known to be a strong advocate for democracy and social justice. He has also supported peace initiatives regarding the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
But in Rome this weekend, he was fully dedicated to the election of the future pope. “When we are there for the conclave, we are not dealing with the case of this continent, that country, no. I am not here for Congo, I am not here for Africa, I am here for the universal Church”, he told journalists after the Sunday Mass.
“When we are done, I will return to Kinshasa and I will put back on my Archbishop of Kinshasa hat and the struggle will continue.”
Ambongo’s influence goes beyond the African continent. He was close to Francis, who made him part of a group of advisers appointed to help reorganise the Vatican bureaucracy.
When asked if he might have to stay in Rome if he is elected pope, he laughingly answered: “And why not? Because that is how it is, any Catholic can become pope.”
Ambongo is known to be conservative and he still diverged with the late pope on several issues. In 2024, he signed a statement on behalf of the bishops conferences of Africa and Madagascar refusing to follow Francis’ declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples, in what amounted to continent-wide dissent from a papal teaching.
In Congo, his harsh criticism of the government’s corruption and inaction has drawn both public admiration and legal scrutiny.
Last year, prosecutors ordered a judicial investigation for “seditious behaviour” over his criticism of the government’s handling of the conflict in eastern Congo.
In the meantime, Ambongo remains a potential candidate to the papacy. The 135 cardinal electors will gather in the seclusion of the Sistine Chapel to elect the next pope starting from 7 May. It will be a first for Ambongo.
“I am going to discover [how it goes] and then it is the work of the Holy Spirit”, he said.
“I don’t know if He will be so good as to give us straight from the start a pope, this depends on the Holy Spirit. But we are hoping it won’t go on too long as it did in the past, in medieval times, when they had to block the Cardinals.”