Latest news with #DRC-based
Epoch Times
11-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
US Peace Efforts in DRC Could Usurp Chinese Regime's Grip in Region: Analysts
The United States has taken a major step toward breaking Beijing's stranglehold on critical minerals by helping broker a cease-fire in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Eastern DRC has some of the world's largest deposits of such The United States is pushing the DRC and Rwanda to sign peace accords, along with bilateral minerals agreements in Washington, within two months. The accords could bring billions of dollars in Western investment to the region, according to Massad Boulos, President Donald Trump's senior Africa adviser. Boulos added that the DRC and Rwanda will finalize bilateral economic agreements with Washington to support mining and mineral processing. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet the foreign ministers of both countries in mid-May to finalize the peace deal. However, Boulos made it clear that before the White House signing ceremony can go ahead, Washington expects Rwanda to pull its troops out of the DRC and end its support for the M23 rebels, while the DRC must address Rwanda's security concerns with militias. More than 6 million people have been The latest fighting has pitted rebels from the M23 group, backed by Rwanda, against DRC troops operating under President Felix Tshisekedi's government in Kinshasa and U.N.-sanctioned forces from several southern African countries. The U.S. Treasury has imposed The sanctions extend to Kabarebe, M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, and two of Kanyuka's companies. Rwandan President Paul Kagame's administration in Kigali has justified the presence of its troops in eastern DRC by accusing Kinshasa of supporting militias that allegedly participated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during which extremists from the Hutu ethnic group killed Critical Minerals Jean-Pierre Okenda, director of DRC-based nonprofit Sentinel Natural Resources, told The Epoch Times that M23 rebels have seized mines across eastern DRC and are using profits from the sale of critical minerals and metals—mainly coltan, gold, tantalum, tin, and tungsten—to buy weapons and ammunition. U.N. experts said in a 2024 A miner holds a cobalt stone at the Shabara artisanal mine near Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on Oct.12, 2022. Junior Kannah/AFP via Getty Images Another indication of continued American interest in the DRC, said Mike Smith, global trade specialist at the International Trade Institute of Southern Africa, is the Trump administration's support for a scheme initiated by former President Joe Biden. The Lobito Corridor Project, partly funded with $553 million from the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., will result in an 800-mile railway connecting eastern DRC to the port city of Lobito in Angola. The United States will also construct a new harbor at Lobito from which minerals and metals will be shipped across the Atlantic. The U.S. International Development Finance Corp. But first, there must be peace. 'Without peace this mission is dead in the water,' said Abraham Miniko, a senior researcher and policy analyst in peace, security, and conflict resolution at Istanbul University in Turkey. He told The Epoch Times that war in the DRC 'has been very kind to China for almost 40 years,' allowing the Chinese regime to control the region's extractive industry. Companies linked to Beijing own or operate 80 percent of critical mineral production in the DRC, according to several studies, including one While war in eastern DRC drove American mining firms out of the region, the conflict had the 'opposite effect' on their Chinese competitors, said Umesh Bawa, foreign policy analyst at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. 'The instability brought to DRC was very good for China. It took advantage of the chaos by being the only player willing to operate in the area. Unlike others, it had no qualms sending its people into danger, and it didn't pull out even when Chinese mining employees were killed in attacks,' he told The Epoch Times. In July 2024, a militia attack on a gold mine in northeastern Congo killed six Chinese miners and two Congolese soldiers. China has actively prolonged the violence by providing weapons, including Smith told The Epoch Times that China's 'low' environmental and human rights standards and 'paltry' labor costs had allowed it to control global supplies of critical minerals. China has a near Countering China 'If the United States has a gateway into DRC, it has taken a huge step toward minimizing China's power [in minerals markets],' Smith said. Should there be peace in DRC, he said, it's likely U.S. mining companies will return to begin fulfilling Trump's Trump and many research organizations, including the East Asia Forum, have Luhihi gold mine in the foreground and Lake Kivu in the background in South Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on May 13, 2023. Alexis Huguet/AFP via Getty Images According to a 'China is restricting exports of seven minerals in particular,' said David van Wyk, an independent mining and minerals consultant working in Africa. He said these include terbium, dysprosium, holmium, and erbium—elements used in powerful magnets, lasers, fiber optics, and electric vehicles. 'These minerals are known as 'heavy rare earths' because they're very difficult to refine. They are used a lot by the military and defense sectors, to make the heavy magnets needed for certain equipment in tanks and fighter jets and other military equipment,' van Wyk told The Epoch Times. 'The rest of the world hasn't developed capacity to process these elements and so relies on China. That leaves the U.S. ... in a very vulnerable position.' The Trump administration will also have to keep Rwanda happy, Miniko said. 'The war has brought Rwanda a lot of income through the sale of minerals, and if peace comes to eastern DRC and Rwanda loses all this money, it obviously won't be happy. If Kagame is not appeased in some significant way, bad feeling will simmer and eventually things will explode again,' he said. 'Rwanda will have to be included in a deal that benefits it economically, not just politically.' Smith stated that Washington is 'obviously confident' that its peace efforts will be successful, or else the 'big guns' wouldn't be about to invest in the region. As the diplomacy plays out, KoBold Metals, According to the International Trade Association, in 2022, the DRC was the world's largest cobalt miner, producing nearly 68 percent of the world's cobalt. Some of the country's copper mines contain significantly higher grades of metal than the global average. With analysis of the DRC's mining registry data showing that just 11 percent of the country is covered by mining activity, the material potential is evident. 'The Congolese people themselves don't benefit from the riches that they walk over every day of their lives,' Okenda said. Okenda said that should the United States reenter the DRC's extractive sector, it should be careful not to make the same mistakes that China has made. 'American presence in eastern DRC must benefit the Congolese people. Otherwise, America's stay in the region is going to be short, because anti-American rebel groups will emerge and a new cycle of conflict will begin,' he said.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Old and unrelated footage falsely linked to DR Congo death row inmates
' Over 100 death row inmates executed,' reads a text overlay on a TikTok post published on January 11, 2025. The video shows three different clips stacked on top of each other. The first clip, labelled 'Before execution', shows a group of men who appear to be prisoners dressed in blue and yellow uniforms. They are lined up before officers shove them into a waiting vehicle. Some of them are crying and begging as armed policemen look on. The second clip is labelled 'During' and shows footage of several men tied to poles in an open field before fire is opened on them. Uniformed police officers and a man in a blue shirt can be seen speaking in the video, but their words are not audible. The bottom clip features white caskets covered in white cloths with flowers on top, laid out in what looks like a stadium with a crowd of onlookers. Men dressed in white hazmat suits then lift the caskets and start carrying them. The final images show the coffins on the back of trucks. Since 2003, when 15 people were reportedly executed for armed robbery, the DRC had observed a de facto moratorium on executions, meaning that although death sentences were issued, they were not carried out (archived here). However, the Congolese government announced an end to the moratorium in March 2024, reinstating capital punishment particularly for treason and banditry (archived here). Two months later, eight soldiers were handed death sentences after being charged with desertion and cowardice while fighting the M23 armed group (archived here). Dozens of others were also sentenced in August and September over what the country's army said was a coup attempt (archived here and here). On January 6, 2025, the Congolese government reportedly announced plans to execute over 170 death row inmates convicted of armed robbery (archived here). The resumption of executions in the DRC was met with international condemnation, with human rights organisations calling for the abolition of the death penalty (archived here and here). However, the video being shared on TikTok is misleading. AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on keyframes from the videos to find the original footage. The results established that two of the clips from the TikTok footage are old and unrelated to the DRC death row convicts. We found that the footage used in the 'during' clip was first published on the YouTube channel of Somali-language account XOGSAN TV on June 27, 2021 (archived here). '18 Al-Shabaab members shot dead in Galkayo city today,' reads the video title in Somali. Galkayo is the capital of Somalia's north-central Mudug region. Other Somali media outlets reported on the executions in a similar context at the time (archived here and here). We found footage matching the one used in the 'after' clip in a video published on X by DRC-based journalist Daniel Michombero on September 2, 2024 (archived here). According to his post, the footage shows the burial of 200 displaced persons, whose bodies were displayed at the Unity Stadium in Goma, in the DRC's east. DRC-based photojournalist Arlette Bashizi published photos from the memorial service and burial site on her Instagram page, reporting that the deceased were killed during clashes between the M23 armed group and the country's armed forces (archived here and here). The images were captured by Bashizi for Reuters, and the news outlet used them in article on the memorial service (archived here). In addition to the flowers on the coffins and the handlers in white hazmat suits, Bashizi's photos also feature the stadium's name, Stade de L'Unité (Unity Stadium in English), which is visible in the TikTok video and mentioned in Michombero's post. The first clip from the TikTok video – labelled 'before' - correctly shows death row inmates in the DRC. An extended version of the clip was published on X by the country's justice minister, Constant Mutamba, on January 5, 2025 (archived here). According to the post written in French, the prisoners in the video, locally known as 'Kulunas' or 'urban bandits', were being transferred to high security prisons. Speaking at a conference the following day (see from minute 19:29), Mutamba said that no executions had occurred yet but that 'more than 300 young Kulunas [had] been sentenced'. He specified that the sentences range from two years in prison to the death penalty for some (archived here). Mutamba added that the convicts still had several legal remedies, such as appeal and cassation, before the sentences would become final and 'it is only when this has been exhausted that the death penalty is carried out'. DRC President Felix Tshisekedi reiterated this in his address at the diplomatic corps on January 18, 2025 (archived here). 'Concerning the thorny issue of the death penalty... (its application is) limited solely to cases of terrorism and treason within the army,' he said one minute and eight seconds into the speech. 'It is important to emphasise that to date, no executions have been carried out.' Amnesty International has urged the DRC to halt the planned executions, citing fears of 'imminent mass executions by the authorities amid a lack of reliable information about the status of people sentenced to death' (archived here). AFP Fact Check debunked similar claims on the purported DRC executions in French.
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Old and unrelated footage falsely linked to DR Congo death row inmates
' Over 100 death row inmates executed,' reads a text overlay on a TikTok post published on January 11, 2025. The video shows three different clips stacked on top of each other. The first clip, labelled 'Before execution', shows a group of men who appear to be prisoners dressed in blue and yellow uniforms. They are lined up before officers shove them into a waiting vehicle. Some of them are crying and begging as armed policemen look on. The second clip is labelled 'During' and shows footage of several men tied to poles in an open field before fire is opened on them. Uniformed police officers and a man in a blue shirt can be seen speaking in the video, but their words are not audible. The bottom clip features white caskets covered in white cloths with flowers on top, laid out in what looks like a stadium with a crowd of onlookers. Men dressed in white hazmat suits then lift the caskets and start carrying them. The final images show the coffins on the back of trucks. Since 2003, when 15 people were reportedly executed for armed robbery, the DRC had observed a de facto moratorium on executions, meaning that although death sentences were issued, they were not carried out (archived here). However, the Congolese government announced an end to the moratorium in March 2024, reinstating capital punishment particularly for treason and banditry (archived here). Two months later, eight soldiers were handed death sentences after being charged with desertion and cowardice while fighting the M23 armed group (archived here). Dozens of others were also sentenced in August and September over what the country's army said was a coup attempt (archived here and here). On January 6, 2025, the Congolese government reportedly announced plans to execute over 170 death row inmates convicted of armed robbery (archived here). The resumption of executions in the DRC was met with international condemnation, with human rights organisations calling for the abolition of the death penalty (archived here and here). However, the video being shared on TikTok is misleading. AFP Fact Check conducted reverse image searches on keyframes from the videos to find the original footage. The results established that two of the clips from the TikTok footage are old and unrelated to the DRC death row convicts. We found that the footage used in the 'during' clip was first published on the YouTube channel of Somali-language account XOGSAN TV on June 27, 2021 (archived here). '18 Al-Shabaab members shot dead in Galkayo city today,' reads the video title in Somali. Galkayo is the capital of Somalia's north-central Mudug region. Other Somali media outlets reported on the executions in a similar context at the time (archived here and here). We found footage matching the one used in the 'after' clip in a video published on X by DRC-based journalist Daniel Michombero on September 2, 2024 (archived here). #RDC : enterrement de 200 corps des déplacés, les corps sont exposés dans le stade de l'unité de la ville de de larmes et de pleur dans la ville de Goma ce lundi 2 septembre 2024. — Daniel Michombero /Batubenga (@michombero) September 2, 2024 According to his post, the footage shows the burial of 200 displaced persons, whose bodies were displayed at the Unity Stadium in Goma, in the DRC's east. DRC-based photojournalist Arlette Bashizi published photos from the memorial service and burial site on her Instagram page, reporting that the deceased were killed during clashes between the M23 armed group and the country's armed forces (archived here and here). View this post on Instagram A post shared by Arlette Bashizi (@arty_bashizi) The images were captured by Bashizi for Reuters, and the news outlet used them in article on the memorial service (archived here). In addition to the flowers on the coffins and the handlers in white hazmat suits, Bashizi's photos also feature the stadium's name, Stade de L'Unité (Unity Stadium in English), which is visible in the TikTok video and mentioned in Michombero's post. The first clip from the TikTok video – labelled 'before' - correctly shows death row inmates in the DRC. An extended version of the clip was published on X by the country's justice minister, Constant Mutamba, on January 5, 2025 (archived here). According to the post written in French, the prisoners in the video, locally known as 'Kulunas' or 'urban bandits', were being transferred to high security prisons. #RDC 3ème vague des kuluna transférés aux prisons de haute sécurité, ce dimanche 5 janvier 2025. — Constant Mutamba (@ConstantMutamba) January 5, 2025 Speaking at a conference the following day (see from minute 19:29), Mutamba said that no executions had occurred yet but that 'more than 300 young Kulunas [had] been sentenced'. He specified that the sentences range from two years in prison to the death penalty for some (archived here). Mutamba added that the convicts still had several legal remedies, such as appeal and cassation, before the sentences would become final and 'it is only when this has been exhausted that the death penalty is carried out'. DRC President Felix Tshisekedi reiterated this in his address at the diplomatic corps on January 18, 2025 (archived here). 'Concerning the thorny issue of the death penalty... (its application is) limited solely to cases of terrorism and treason within the army,' he said one minute and eight seconds into the speech. 'It is important to emphasise that to date, no executions have been carried out.' Amnesty International has urged the DRC to halt the planned executions, citing fears of 'imminent mass executions by the authorities amid a lack of reliable information about the status of people sentenced to death' (archived here). AFP Fact Check debunked similar claims on the purported DRC executions in French.
