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Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How Trump wants the US to cash in on mineral-rich DR Congo's peace deal
The Trump administration is spearheading an ambitious, but controversial, peace initiative aimed at ending the long-running conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that has also drawn in neighbouring Rwanda. Its mediation efforts come as no surprise, as DR Congo - a nation in the heart of Africa - is endowed with the mineral wealth that the US requires to power the IT, and now AI, revolutions, much of which is currently going to China. US President Donald Trump is expected to host the leaders of DR Congo and Rwanda - Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame - in the coming weeks to seal a peace agreement that he has hailed as a "glorious triumph", hoping to back it up with deals that will boost US investment in the region. US-based World Peace Foundation executive director Prof Alex de Waal told the BBC that the Trump administration was promoting "a new model of peace-making, combining a populist performance with commercial deal-making". "Trump has done this in Ukraine also. He wants to get the glory to boost his own political standing, and to secure minerals that are in America's interests," Prof De Waal said. However, he noted that "in DR Congo, China has already snapped up many of the minerals so the US is playing catch-up". He said that up to now US companies had been cautious about investing in DR Congo because of safety concerns and the "moral hazard" of dealing in so-called "blood minerals" - minerals financing rebellions - but this could change as the Trump administration implemented its peace model. Prof De Waal said this could also happen in other conflict-hit states like Sudan, where the Trump administration - along with Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt - was expected to get involved in mediation efforts after previous initiatives failed. He added that the Trump administration's peace model could not be dismissed out of hand, especially if it stops fighting that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions of others in conflicts that have raged for more than 30 years in eastern DR Congo. "Trump can get the different sides to talk, and shake things up," Prof De Waal said. But Prof Hanri Mostert, an academic on mineral law at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, told the BBC that DR Congo "risked compromising sovereignty over its minerals". DR Congo could find itself locked into deals for years, in exchange for vague guarantees of security, she said. This was reminiscent of the "resource-bartering" deals pursued by China and Russia in numerous African states, Prof Mostert added. She cited as an example Angola, where China built infrastructure in exchange for oil. "Even when oil prices went up, Angola couldn't get more value for it," Prof Mostert said. The US State Department said in 2023 that DR Congo had an estimated $25trn (£21.2trn) in mineral reserves. This included cobalt, copper, lithium, manganese and tantalum - needed to make the electronic components used in computers, electric vehicles, mobile phones, wind turbines and military hardware. "For how long will DR Congo have to give its cobalt to US investors? Will it be 20 years or 50 years? What is the price for peace?" Prof Mostert asked. DR Congo government spokesman Patrick Muyaya confirmed to the BBC's Newsday programme in March that his country wanted to supply the US with "some critical minerals" in exchange for a security deal. The M23 rebel group launched a major offensive early this year, seizing huge areas of eastern DR Congo and smuggling minerals across the border to Rwanda, UN experts said in a report earlier this month. The minerals were then mixed with Rwandan production, and "their subsequent export to downstream actors reached unprecedented levels", the UN experts added. Rwanda denies accusations that it backs the M23, even though the UN has provided evidence it has thousands of soldiers in DR Congo. Your phone, a rare metal and the war in DR Congo What's the fighting in DR Congo all about? The evidence that shows Rwanda is backing rebels in DR Congo In what appears to be an attempt to address the issue of mineral smuggling, the US-brokered peace deal between DR Congo and Rwanda provides for a still-to-be negotiated "regional economic integration framework" between the two rival states. This would "ensure illicit economic pathways are blocked" and "mutually beneficial partnerships and investment opportunities" created for "greater prosperity - especially for the region's population". "We're getting, for the United States, a lot of the mineral rights from the Congo as part of it," Trump said, ahead of the peace deal signed by representatives of the two governments on 27 June in Washington. A DR Congo researcher with the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies think-tank, Bram Verelst, told the BBC that the US initiative was running in tandem with another one being led by Qatar, a close US ally. Mr Verelst said the US's focus was mainly on the regional dimension, while Qatar's was on domestic issues between DR Congo's government and the M23 rebel group that has set up its own administration in the east after capturing the regional capital, Goma. Prof Jason Stearns, a Canada-based political scientist who specialises in the region, told the BBC that Qatar, like other oil-rich Gulf states, was expanding into Africa "to project power, influence, but also to seek economic opportunities". He added that it became involved in mediation efforts at the request of Rwanda, which perceived the US as being in favour of DR Congo, something Washington denies. Prof Stearns said Qatar had "massive" economic interests in Rwanda, pointing out that the Gulf state was building a new multi-billion dollar airport in Kigali and was in talks to acquire a 49% stake in the national airline. He explained that the US and Qatar were working closely together, but it was less than ideal to have two processes because "you don't want to end up in a situation where there is a peace deal between DR Congo and Rwanda, but Rwanda then says: 'We don't control the M23', and the M23 continues escalating [the conflict] in eastern DR Congo". "So it's very important that the two processes are tightly tied to each other since the actors are so closely linked," Prof Stearns added. Under the peace deal, DR Congo and Rwanda agreed to launch a "security co-ordination mechanism" within 30 days of the 27 June deal. Mr Verelst said that a ceasefire was expected to take effect on Tuesday, followed by the DR Congo government and the M23 signing a comprehensive peace agreement by 18 August, building on the "declaration of principles" they had already negotiated. DR Congo-based International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank analyst Onesphore Sematumba said the US and Qatar were getting deals struck in "record time" since Trump's rise to the US presidency in January. Mr Sematumba said their intervention came after various Africa-led mediation efforts had "failed to get the parties to sign even a single document" since 2022. "Regional players do not have the same leverage to influence Kigali and Kinshasa," he added. "But between the signing of an agreement and the achievement of peace, the road can be long, and it will be long in this case," Mr Sematumba warned. One key question is whether the M23 will give up the territory under its control, as demanded by Tshisekedi's government. Mr Sematumba said the M23 had agreed to "state authority" being established across DR Congo, however, the rebels have also said they would not give up a "single centimetre" of land. "Personally, I think the transition should be gradual, and for certain areas there should be some kind of co-management. But everything will depend on the tact of the mediators, and their ability to break the ice," Mr Sematumba added. He said the success of the peace initiative also hinged on what the agreement called the "lifting of defensive measures" by Rwanda, widely interpreted to mean the withdrawal of its troops from eastern DR Congo. While Rwanda denies backing the M23, it says it wants to wipe out the FDLR, a militia born from those who carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and then fled into DR Congo. Rwanda has accused the Congolese army of working with the FDLR. The peace deal spells out that the FDLR should be "neutralised", however this has been attempted several times over the past three decades. "For Rwanda, the neutralisation of the FDLR is a precondition for the withdrawal of its forces, while DR Congo says the two must be achieved simultaneously," Mr Sematumba pointed out, saying that mediators would have to find a solution as these issues had led to the failure of previous peace initiatives. "Just by following the different interpretations given by the parties to the texts signed, you can sense all the difficulties that lie ahead," Mr Sematumba said. Prof Mostert agreed that diplomacy on its own could not achieve peace, and a broader initiative was needed. "You build peace by transforming pain. That takes more than diplomacy. It takes dialogue, decentralised participation and dignifying people's experiences," she said. "That's why I believe it is important that the dealmakers and the lawmakers remain aware of historical traumas, including decades of resource exploitation," Prof Mostert added. So if he wants the peace to hold for long enough for US companies to profit, Donald Trump may have to keep the pressure on for some time to come. More BBC stories on DR Congo-Rwanda peace deal: Inside the Congolese mine vital to mobile phones, as rebels give BBC rare access DR Congo-Rwanda peace deal met with scepticism in rebel-held city 'They killed all these young people' - BBC investigates alleged massacre in rebel-held Congolese city Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts Focus on Africa This Is Africa Sign in to access your portfolio
San Francisco Chronicle
17 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim rejects South Korea's appeasement overture
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un rebuffed an appeasement overture by South Korea's new liberal government, saying Monday that North Korea has no interests in talks with South Korea no matter what proposal its rival offers. Kim Yo Jong's comments suggest again that North Korea, now preoccupied with its expanding cooperation with Russia, has no intentions of returning to diplomacy with South Korea and the U.S. anytime soon. But experts said North Korea could change its course if it thinks it cannot maintain the same booming ties with Russia when the Russia-Ukraine war nears an end. 'We clarify once again the official stand that no matter what policy is adopted and whatever proposal is made in Seoul, we have no interest in it and there is neither a reason to meet nor an issue to be discussed with' South Korea, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media. It's North Korea's first official statement on the government of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, which took office in early June. In an effort to improve badly frayed ties with North Korea, Lee's government has halted anti-Pyongyang frontline loudspeaker broadcasts, taken steps to ban activists from flying balloons with propaganda leaflets across the border and repatriated North Koreans who were drifted south in wooden boats months earlier. Kim Yo Jong called such steps 'sincere efforts' by Lee's government to develop ties. But she said the Lee government won't be much different from its predecessors, citing what it calls 'their blind trust' to the alliance with the U.S. and attempt to 'stand in confrontation' with North Korea. She mentioned August's annual South Korea-U.S. military drills in August, which North Korea views as an invasion rehearsal. North Korea has been shunning talks with South Korea and the U.S. since leader Kim Jong Un's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump fell apart in 2019 due to wrangling over international sanctions. North Korea has since focused on building more powerful nuclear weapons targeting its rivals. North Korea now prioritizes cooperation with Russia by sending troops and conventional weapons to support its war against Ukraine, likely in return for economic and military assistance. South Korea, the U.S. and others say Russia may give North Korea sensitive technologies that can enhance its nuclear and missile programs. Since beginning his second term in January, Trump has repeatedly boasted of his personal ties with Kim Jong Un and expressed intent to resume diplomacy with him. But North Korea hasn't publicly responded to Trump's overture. In early 2024, Kim Jong Un ordered the rewriting of the constitution to remove the long-running state goal of a peaceful Korean unification and cement South Korea as an 'invariable principal enemy.' That caught many foreign experts by surprise because it was seen as eliminating the idea of shared statehood between the war-divided Koreas and breaking away with his predecessors' long-cherished dreams of peacefully achieving a unified Korea on the North's terms. Many experts say Kim likely aims to guard against South Korean cultural influence and bolster his family's dynastic rule. Others say Kim wants legal room to use his nuclear weapons against South Korea by making it as a foreign enemy state, not a partner for potential unification which shares a sense of national homogeneity.
New York Times
18 minutes ago
- New York Times
For Trump, E.U. Trade Deal was Badly Needed
For months, President Trump's penchant for overhyping the speed at which he could negotiate complex trade deals has been the butt of Washington jokes. 'Ninety days ago, Donald Trump promised the world that his tariffs would lead to 90 deals in 90 days,' the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, said earlier this month, adding: 'By my count, he's about 88 trade deals short.' So on Sunday, when Mr. Trump announced a trade agreement with the European Union, it was not only his biggest trade deal to date, but also, politically, his most badly needed. After going months without securing deals, Mr. Trump is now coming off his most productive stretch of trade negotiations, landing agreements in recent days with the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia as well as the European Union, which represents 27 countries. The deal with the European Union, at least upon first impression, seemed to give Mr. Trump much of what he wanted. 'I'm very surprised how the European Union gave in to Trump's demands,' said Douglas Irwin, a professor of economics at Dartmouth College. 'I thought the E.U. would be the most prone to retaliation. And yet, they didn't do it. They really gave in to most of what Trump wanted.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
