X influencer misleads on DRC offer of rare minerals to US, EU
This is misleading.
African Hub's post went viral. It seems to have originated from Tshisekedi's Feb. 20 interview with The New York Times.
However, in that interview, Tshisekedi did not offer the U.S. control over DRC's mineral resources, nor did it suggest any military intervention.
The DRC leader told the newspaper that he hoped international pressure against Rwanda, coupled with investments from Western countries, would bring stability to his war-ridden nation.
Tina Salama, the DRC presidential spokesperson, clarified the issue on X in a Feb. 23 post.
"Setting the record straight: President Tshisekedi invites the USA, whose companies source strategic raw materials from Rwanda — materials looted from the DRC and smuggled through Rwanda while our populations are massacred — to purchase them directly from us, the rightful owners," Salama wrote.
Salama's statement directly contradicts the claim made by African Hub.
Eastern DRC is facing a violent armed conflict with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who occupy significant parts of the country.
DRC is rich in vital minerals, including coltan and cobalt, which are crucial for high-tech industries such as electronics and electric vehicles.
In her X post, Salama further emphasized that Tshisekedi's offer was not exclusive to the U.S. but was extended to European countries as well:
"And it's not just the Americans, it's also offered to Europeans and all the receivers of our resources who get their supplies from Rwanda."
In February 2024, the European Union negotiated a $935 million deal with Rwanda for access to minerals such as tin, tungsten and gold.
Tshisekedi has accused Rwanda of plundering DRC's resources using the M23 rebels. European involvement is facilitating this illegal trade, Tshisekedi said.
In response, the EU has halted its deal with Rwanda and instead is considering sanctioning Kigali for its role in the DRC war.
On Feb. 25, the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Rwanda and paused bilateral financial aid, signaling increased international pressure. As part of the sanctions, the U.K. said it would suspend defense training assistance to Rwanda and review export licenses for the Rwandan Defense Force.
Additionally, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on James Kabarebe, a Rwandan official accused of facilitating support for M23 rebels.
Conclusion: Tshisekedi invited international companies to buy minerals directly from the DRC. He did not request military intervention or promise control over DRC natural resources. His spokesperson clarified that the mineral deal was open to multiple international players and was aimed at combating Rwanda's illegal resource trade through M23 rebels.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Voice of America
15-03-2025
- Voice of America
Starmer: ‘Sooner or later' Russia must yield to peace
Britain's leader encouraged his global counterparts to continue pushing for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine at the start of a virtual meeting Saturday intended to end the fighting between the two countries. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a virtual meeting of mostly European leaders that 'sooner or later' Russia would have to engage in talks on reaching a ceasefire in the three-year conflict. He addressed the group, described as a 'coalition of the willing,' of mostly European leaders as well as those from Australia, New Zealand and Canada but not the United States. 'Sooner or later, he's going to have to come to the table,' Starmer said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump urged Moscow to accept a ceasefire deal agreed to by U.S. and Ukrainian delegations in Saudi Arabia, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said 'the ball is in Russia's court.' Putin has said he agrees with a ceasefire in theory, but Russia still has certain conditions and questions that must be addressed before accepting any agreement. In his nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that Putin is stalling and has demanded so many preconditions 'that nothing will work out at all.' Meanwhile, the U.S. has expanded sanctions on Russian oil and gas as well as its financial sectors. Saturday's discussion among world leaders could address future military and financial support for Ukraine and Zelenskyy's security concerns if a peace deal is reached. Zelenskyy attended Saturday's online video session.
Voice of America
15-03-2025
- Voice of America
Trump vows accountability for those who pursued him in court cases
U.S. President Donald Trump promised to seek accountability for those who pursued legal cases against him when he was out of office, speaking Friday at the Justice Department. "Our predecessors turned this Department of Justice into the Department of Injustice. But I stand before you today to declare that those days are over, and they are never going to come back. They're never coming back," Trump said. During his years out of office, the department twice indicted Trump on charges that he illegally stored classified documents at his Florida estate and that he worked to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Both cases were dismissed after Trump won election in November, with the department citing a long-standing policy of not prosecuting a sitting president. "Now, as the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred. The American people have given us a mandate, a mandate like few people thought possible," Trump said. Trump has fired prosecutors who investigated him during the Biden administration and scrutinized thousands of FBI agents who investigated some supporters of the president who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Representative Jamie Raskin, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called Trump's speech a "staggering violation of [the] traditional boundary between independent criminal law enforcement and presidential political power." Speaking outside Justice shortly after Trump spoke, Raskin said, "No other president in American history has stood at the Department of Justice to proclaim an agenda of criminal prosecution and retaliation against his political foes." Trump has long been critical of both the department and the FBI. He has installed political allies into top leadership positions at both of those agencies. FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi attended Friday's talk. In introducing Trump, Bondi said, "We all work for the greatest president in the history of our country. ... He will never stop fighting for us, and we will never stop fighting for him and for our country." During his speech, Trump promised "historic reforms" at the agencies and said, "Under the Trump administration, the DOJ and the FBI will once again become the premier crime fighting agencies on the face of the Earth." His speech had echos of his campaign rallies, with music blaring from speakers before Trump entered the department's Great Hall and his address hitting on some of the main themes from his campaign, including border security and fighting violent crime. On crime, Trump said that homicides, property crime and robberies rose during the Biden administration. "I have no higher mission as president of the United States than to end this killing and stop this law breaking and to making America safe again. And that's what you're all about in this room. We want to protect Americans, and we protect everybody that's in our country," he said.
Voice of America
14-03-2025
- Voice of America
Botswana hunting revenues almost double amid UK opposition
Botswana has made $4 million from the sale of licenses to hunt wild animals, the highest figure since lifting a hunting ban in 2019. The hunting season, which ended in November, was held amid growing opposition from some European countries that want a ban on the importation of African wildlife trophies. Botswana issues around 400 elephant licenses annually, with most purchased by overseas hunters. Wynter Mmolotsi, minister of environment and tourism, told Parliament Thursday that millions of dollars were generated through the sale of mostly elephant licenses in villages in wildlife areas. "In order to manage the wildlife population, the country is implementing a combination of both consumptive and nonconsumptive utilization of our wildlife resources to derive optimum economic benefit, particularly for our communities," he said. "For the 2024 hunting season, the community quotas generated the sum of 42,863,423 pulas. Further, a total of 15,633,950 pulas was realized from the sale of special elephant quotas to support elephant conservation and community-led projects within the elephant range." In 2023, Botswana earned $2.7 million from hunting licenses. Mmolotsi, however, says the hunts face increasing Western opposition. Canada and Belgium are among countries that have recently banned importation of wildlife trophies. "The country is facing opposition from animal rights organizations to our policy of sustainable wildlife utilization of using hunting as a tool and empowerment to our local communities. The ministry, working with the hunting industry and affected community trusts stepped up efforts to counter this growing opposition to sustainable hunting through engagements carried out in the U.K. and Germany," he said. Siyoka Simasiku, director at the conservation coalition, Ngamiland Council of Non-Governmental Organisations says communities will be the hardest hit if the U.K. imposes restrictions. He has been to Europe to campaign against trophy import bans. "The U.K. ban is going to be bad on community benefits as the U.K. is an economic superpower and might influence other countries to actually follow suit and then communities might lose the market that already exists as more hunters will not be coming to Botswana to hunt in community concessions due to the trophy bans," he said. Oaitse Nawa of the Elephant Protection Society is among those who want the hunts to be stopped. He also argues, revenue accrued from hunting does not significantly benefit Botswanans. "They are giving us figures of the money that they made from hunting, but also let us look at the compensation that they give the people. And also the result of hunting, what does hunting bring to the local people because the animals that experience hunting, they tend to change their behavior and they kill people. That is why we are saying there should be proper research in that regard,' said Nawa. Botswana, with the world's largest elephant herd at more than 130,000 elephants has recorded an increase in human fatalities, while crops are damaged.
