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Business Insider
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
U.S. imposes sanctions on 4 groups linked to DRC's conflict minerals trade
The United States government has announced targeted sanctions against a network accused of fueling conflict and engaging in illicit mineral trading in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as Washington intensifies efforts to support peace initiatives in the region while securing access to its vast mineral resources. The United States announced targeted sanctions against groups engaging in illicit mineral trading in eastern DRC. Four organizations are identified, including armed groups and mining cooperatives tied to smuggling minerals. The sanctions aim to disrupt the financial networks of armed groups and promote lawful resource exploitation. The Washington Post reports that a senior U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the formal announcement, confirmed that the sanctions imposed jointly by the State Department and the Treasury Department target four groups: • Coalition des Patriotes Résistants Congolais–Forces de Frappe (PARECO-FF), an armed group that from 2022 until early 2024 controlled the strategic coltan mining site of Rubaya in North Kivu province. Coltan, a vital source of tantalum used in electronics, is one of the region's most sought-after resources and a major driver of conflict financing. • Coopérative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC), a Congolese mining cooperative accused of purchasing and selling minerals smuggled from PARECO-FF-controlled areas. • East Rise Corporation Limited, a Hong Kong-based firm alleged to have purchased smuggled minerals for export. • Dragon Corporation Limited, another Hong Kong-based firm accused of buying these illicitly sourced minerals and feeding them into international supply chains. U.S. officials described the measures as part of a broader Trump administration strategy to disrupt the financial lifelines of armed groups in eastern Congo, curb the illicit mineral trade, and promote transparent, lawful exploitation of the country's natural resources. A report by a United Nations Group of Experts published last month revealed that Congo's army had received support from PARECO-FF in late 2024 and early 2025. The move further highlights the Trump administration's continued engagement in the Great Lakes region, positioning Washington as a central player in both regional peacebuilding and the global race to secure critical minerals. US' moves to restore peace in the DRC The United States has stepped up its diplomatic and economic engagement to help restore peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the mineral-rich eastern provinces have endured decades of armed conflict. These measures are part of a broader Trump administration strategy to stabilize the Great Lakes region, curb cross-border smuggling, and ensure that the DRC's vast mineral wealth benefits its citizens while entering legitimate global markets. The sanctions are a central element of a wider approach that blends economic pressure with diplomacy, aiming to cut off revenue streams that sustain armed groups while pressing regional actors toward negotiated settlements. This effort also ties into the controversial 'Minerals-for-Security' proposal, under which President Félix Tshisekedi offered the United States preferential access to the DRC's reserves of cobalt, lithium, tantalum, and copper in exchange for formal security assistance against the M23 rebellion and other militias destabilizing the east. By targeting both local and foreign actors in the illicit minerals trade, Washington seeks to disrupt conflict financing and lay the groundwork for lasting peace in the DRC's volatile east. However, rights groups note that over the years some U.S. companies, particularly in the technology and manufacturing sectors, have also faced accusations of sourcing cobalt, tantalum, tin, and gold from suppliers linked to armed groups.
NDTV
6 days ago
- Business
- NDTV
Inside The Mine That Fuels Tech World, Funds Congo's rebels
Rubaya: Under the watchful eye of M23 rebels in the hills around the Congolese town of Rubaya, a line of men in rubber boots ferry sacks full of crushed rocks up winding paths cut into the slopes. The labourers are hauling coltan ore, a mineral that powers the modern world. The ore will be loaded onto motorbikes and eventually shipped thousands of kilometres away to Asia. There it's processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that fetches more than $300 a kilogram and is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines. Rubaya produces around 15% of the world's coltan, all dug manually by impoverished locals who earn a few dollars per day. Control of this mine is the biggest prize in a long-running conflict in this central African nation. The area was seized in April 2024 by M23, a rebel group the United Nations says has plundered Rubaya's riches to help fund its insurgency, backed by the government of neighbouring Rwanda. The heavily armed rebels, whose stated aim is to overthrow the government in Kinshasa and ensure the safety of the Congolese Tutsi minority, captured even more mineral-rich territory in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this year. The region and its mineral wealth are in the spotlight as M23 and the DRC have pledged to sign a peace deal at a ceremony in Qatar's capital, Doha, this month. The United States is mediating parallel talks between Congo and Rwanda, dangling potentially billions of dollars in investment if hostilities cease. The United States Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned other alleged participants in minerals smuggling in Congo, including PARECO-FF, a pro-government Congolese militia that the US said controlled the Rubaya mining site from 2022 to early 2024, before M23's takeover. PARECO-FF could not be reached for comment. Asked at a press briefing why Washington was targeting PARECO-FF rather than M23, a senior US government official noted that M23 has been under US sanctions since 2013 for fueling conflict in the region. "The Treasury Department will not hesitate to take action against groups that deny the United States and our allies access to the critical minerals vital for our national defence," John K. Hurley, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a separate statement. Jason Stearns, a former UN investigator in Congo, said the fact that M23 was not targeted by the new mining-related sanctions was surprising, adding the move might be aimed at keeping the Doha talks on track. M23's advance poses the most serious threat to the Kinshasa government in at least two decades of conflict rooted in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which saw around 1 million of Rwanda's Tutsi ethnic group killed by Hutu militias. Rwanda's government has long denied that it traffics in coltan looted from its neighbour or that it backs M23. But Rwanda's ruling party, mainly headed by Tutsis, shares the same concerns as the Tutsi-dominated M23 insurgents over the purported threat posed by rival Hutu groups operating in eastern Congo. A July 3 UN report, reviewed by Reuters, says that as of April, Rwanda had placed at least 1,000 to 1,500 troops in Congo's rebel-controlled areas. M23 now controls two key Congolese cities - Goma and Bukavu - on the border with Rwanda. UN investigators say that it is through these cities that Congolese minerals are illegally trucked to Rwanda, often at night, where the ore is mixed with Rwandan coltan production in a bid to disguise its provenance before export. M23 and the Rwandan and Congolese governments did not respond to requests for comment. Congolese officials have repeatedly accused Rwanda of fomenting the conflict to plunder Congo's mineral wealth. According to a December UN report, the scale of the trade reached new heights after the capture of Rubaya by M23. The rebels went on to establish a parallel administration controlling mining activities, trade, transport and the taxation of the minerals produced there, the UN reported. Reuters reporters visited Rubaya in March this year and were told by M23 officials that the rebels had imposed a tax on mineral traders of 15% on the value of coltan they purchase from the informal miners who work the area. M23 was taking in $800,000 monthly from levies collected from coltan mining in eastern Congo, according to the December U.N. report. MUD AND MOTORBIKES Simply reaching Rubaya's sprawling, beehive-like maze of pits is a major undertaking. Reuters journalists who visited the mining sites in March had to abandon their four-wheel-drive Land Cruisers after the vehicles became stuck on the muddy road from Goma. They walked 5 kilometres (3 miles) to reach the town and then hopped on the back of motorcycles with rebel officials to reach the pits. Activity in Rubaya begins before dawn, when thousands of miners descend on the pits cut into the rolling hills of Congo's North Kivu province, where many toil in 12-hour shifts. The tunnels can be as deep as 15 meters (49 feet) underground. Once fragments of ore are dislodged, porters carry sacks of the rubble to the surface, where labourers have dug shallow basins that are filled with water. There, other workers, including women and children, wash the ore and separate it from sand and other debris before laying it in the sun to dry. The journalists were supervised by unarmed M23 personnel throughout their visit to the mining area. A reporter saw a rebel official jotting down in a notebook how many sacks each porter - covered in a fine white dust - carted to each collection point. Once the ore is dry, it is stacked on the backs of motorbikes that carry it to one of several depots in the nearby town of Rubaya, where it is sold to traders. With a M23 chaperone listening, Pascal Mugisha Nsabimana, a 32-year-old miner, told Reuters that working under rebel occupation was preferable to toiling under the supervision of Congo's military and its allies, who fled when M23 moved in on the area last year. Previously, "there was too much harassment, there were many different taxes, and often we, the diggers, were not paid. And even if we got something, it was poorly paid," the miner said. He added that his current day rate had at least tripled to 15,000 Congolese francs ($5.15) with M23 in charge. In the early months following M23's takeover of Rubaya in April 2024, smugglers used motorcycles to sneak the ore into Rwanda via backroads to avoid scrutiny by Congolese forces remaining along the border, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the situation, including current and former smugglers, miners and local businessmen. The journey could take an entire day, according to two ex-smugglers who transported coltan this way until last year. They said they loaded their bikes each trip with three 50-kilogram bags and were paid about $34 for delivering it to coltan traders. But alterations implemented by M23 have proven a game changer in terms of efficiency, nine of those people said. Motorcycles are no longer the primary means of transport and are used only to ferry the coltan from the mine to the town of Rubaya. From there, the ore is loaded into four-wheel drive SUVs, pickups and other vehicles capable of hauling anywhere from two tons to 20 tons each, according to the people and the July UN report. The system is faster, too. Since M23 drove Congolese troops from Goma and took control of that border city, coltan trucks can now pass freely through it on paved roads into Rwanda, slashing transport times, the people said. UN experts and human rights activists have long warned that profits from illegal mining are funding conflict. They say the trade has brought little wealth to local people and that child labour is common. Reuters witnessed at least a dozen children working at the Rubaya mine: Young boys entered the shafts to haul out ore and carry it to the basins where girls worked alongside adults washing and drying the coltan. Gregory Mthembu-Salter, a former UN expert on Congo who now does consulting on conflict minerals, said broad efforts by the mining industry, U.N. agencies and non-government organisations that began around 2010 to clean up the region's supply chain and prevent human rights abuses have largely failed. "Here we are, 15 years later, (and) the same thing is happening," said Mthembu-Salter, director of Phuzumoya Consulting. US INVESTORS EYE RUBAYA'S RICHES Some US entrepreneurs have also set their sights on Rubaya's coltan treasure as President Donald Trump seeks to broker a peace deal to end the conflict and promote development of the region's mineral wealth. In Congo, those riches include huge reserves of cobalt, gold, copper, lithium and diamonds in addition to coltan. The country's formal mining sector at present is dominated by Chinese companies. Texas hedge fund manager Gentry Beach, who is chairman of investment firm America First Global and helped raise funds for Trump's election campaign in 2016, was part of a consortium looking to negotiate rights to the Rubaya mine, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The Financial Times earlier reported the Gentry's interest in Congo's coltan. The source told Reuters that Beach's group had proposed to the Congolese government to take a majority stake in the mine, with Kinshasa retaining a 30% interest. Beach confirmed his interest in the project to Reuters but declined to provide additional details. Some US lawmakers are pushing back. In an Aug. 8 letter to Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, more than 50 Democratic congress members criticised what they said was the administration's lack of transparency in its negotiations with the DRC. They also raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest in a Trump ally angling for rights to develop the Rubaya mine. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in an Aug. 5 emailed statement that the agreement between Congo and Rwanda arranged by Trump has the potential to lead to lasting peace and stability in the region. The president's vision is a "win-win outcome where all parties benefit-economically and politically-through cooperation and shared prosperity," the statement said. She did not respond to a follow-up query about the letter from congressional Democrats. The US State Department did not comment. On Aug. 1, the State Department said in a statement that it was committed to supporting efforts being made by Rwanda and Congo to advance security and economic cooperation. Heads of state would soon be invited to Washington for a summit, according to the statement, which did not elaborate. The US-backed accord does not include M23. The rebel group is part of a separate, parallel mediation led by Qatar that seeks to end hostilities. The success of those talks in Doha is key to any lasting peace - and in making Rubaya safe for investment and development by Western mining interests. Some diplomats and analysts are dubious about the prospects for a speedy resolution. Congo and M23 rebels pledged in Doha to reach a peace deal by August 18. But progress has been jeopardised by the killing of at least 319 civilians in eastern Congo last month, according to the UN, which says the attacks were carried out by M23. Reuters could not independently confirm those killings. M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa told the news agency last month that it would investigate, but he said reports of atrocities could be a "smear campaign" against the insurgent group. Meanwhile, the US-brokered deal calls for Rwandan troops to pull out of Congo. But Rwandan President Paul Kagame said last month he was not sure the agreement would hold. Kagame said Congo first must live up to its promises to subdue the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an eastern Congo-based ethnic Hutu militia linked to the Rwandan genocide, which Kigali sees as an existential threat. Josaphat Musamba, a Congolese researcher and Ph.D student at Ghent University in Belgium, said suppressing the militia would be a tall order for the DRC's military, which is no longer present in large swathes of M23-controlled territory. "It's difficult to neutralise the FDLR as long as M23 are there and the Congolese army has not redeployed," Musamba said. He described both peace initiatives as "piecemeal" efforts that aren't dealing with "the reality on the ground." Another formidable undertaking would be transforming Rubaya's current crude system of coltan extraction into a modern operation, said a senior diplomat who is closely following events. "No one talks about the feasibility of giving out these mining concessions and running these concessions, especially since the whole mine is artisanal mining," done almost entirely by hand, the diplomat said.
Business Insider
6 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
US sanctions Congo militias, Hong Kong exporters over smuggled minerals
The United States has sanctioned an armed group aligned with Congo's military, a Congolese mining company, and two Hong Kong-based exporters over alleged links to violence and illegal mining. The United States imposed sanctions on groups and companies linked to violence and illegal mining in Congo. These actions target the exploitation of conflict minerals in the region. Sanctioned entities include PARECO-FF, a Congolese miner, and Hong Kong-based exporters. The United States has sanctioned an armed group aligned with Congo's military, a Congolese mining company, and two Hong Kong-based exporters over alleged links to violence and illegal mining. Officials described the action as part of efforts to curb the exploitation of conflict minerals in the region. The measures are the latest by President Donald Trump's administration to push for peace in eastern Congo, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels launched a rapid offensive earlier this year, triggering violence that has killed thousands. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced penalties against PARECO-FF, a successor to an armed faction accused of 'destabilising activities' in the DRC. According to the Treasury, the group has carried out forced labour and civilian executions in mining areas under its control. Sanctions entities The sanctions, which bar trade with U.S. entities and individuals, also target Congolese miner Cooperative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC). The U.S. Treasury said the company sold critical minerals smuggled from areas controlled by the PARECO-FF armed group. Hong Kong-based exporters East Rise Corporation Limited and Star Dragon Corporation Limited were also sanctioned for allegedly purchasing those minerals. The sanctions focus on activities in Rubaya, a mineral-rich area in eastern Congo that is one of the world's largest sources of tantalum ore, a critical material used in electronics.
TimesLIVE
6 days ago
- Business
- TimesLIVE
US imposes sanctions on DRC armed group PARECO-FF, mining firms over illicit minerals
The US on Tuesday announced sanctions against an armed group aligned with Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) military as well as a Congolese mining company and two Hong Kong-based exporters over armed violence and the sale of critical minerals. The measures are the latest taken by the administration of President Donald Trump to try to bring peace to eastern DRC, where Rwanda-backed M23 rebels staged a lightning advance earlier this year, spurring violence that has killed thousands of people. The treasury department said it is putting sanctions on the Coalition des Patriotes Resistants Congolais-Forces de Frappe (PARECO-FF), a militia that it said controlled mining sites in the mineral-rich region of Rubaya from 2022 to 2024. Rubaya, now controlled by M23, produces 15% of the world's coltan, which is processed into a heat-resistant metal called tantalum that is in high demand from makers of mobile phones, computers and other applications in the electronics, aerospace and medical industries. The new sanctions, which restrict trade with US companies and persons, also target the Congolese mining company Cooperative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC), which the treasury department said sold critical minerals smuggled from PARECO-FF areas of control, and the Hong Kong-based export companies East Rise Corporation Limited and Star Dragon Corporation Limited, which it said bought those minerals. A senior US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington was seeking to raise the cost of illicit trade "to make the licit trade that much more appealing."
Reuters
6 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Inside the mine that feeds the tech world - and funds Congo's rebels
RUBAYA, Democratic Republic of Congo - Under the watchful eye of M23 rebels in the hills around the Congolese town of Rubaya, a line of men in rubber boots ferry sacks full of crushed rocks up winding paths cut into the slopes. The laborers are hauling coltan ore, a mineral that powers the modern world. The ore will be loaded onto motorbikes and eventually shipped thousands of kilometers away to Asia. There it's processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that fetches more than $300 a kilogram and is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines. Rubaya produces around 15% of the world's coltan, all dug manually by impoverished locals who earn a few dollars per day. Control of this mine is the biggest prize in a long-running conflict in this central African nation. The area was seized in April 2024 by M23, a rebel group the United Nations says has plundered Rubaya's riches to help fund its insurgency, backed by the government of neighboring Rwanda. The heavily-armed rebels, whose stated aim is to overthrow the government in Kinshasa and ensure the safety of the Congolese Tutsi minority, captured even more mineral-rich territory in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this year. The region and its mineral wealth are in the spotlight as M23 and the DRC have pledged to sign a peace deal at a ceremony in Qatar's capital, Doha, this month. The United States is mediating parallel talks between Congo and Rwanda, dangling potentially billions of dollars in investment if hostilities cease. The United States Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned other alleged participants in minerals smuggling in Congo, including PARECO-FF, a pro-government Congolese militia that the U.S. said controlled the Rubaya mining site from 2022 to early 2024, prior to M23's takeover. PARECO-FF could not be reached for comment. Asked at a press briefing why Washington was targeting PARECO-FF rather than M23, a senior U.S. government official noted that M23 has been under U.S. sanctions since 2013 for fueling conflict in the region. 'The Treasury Department will not hesitate to take action against groups that deny the United States and our allies access to the critical minerals vital for our national defense,' John K. Hurley, undersecretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a separate statement. Jason Stearns, a former U.N. investigator in Congo, said the fact that M23 was not targeted by the new mining-related sanctions was surprising, adding the move might be aimed at keeping the Doha talks on track. M23's advance poses the most serious threat to the Kinshasa government in at least two decades of conflict rooted in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which saw around 1 million of Rwanda's Tutsi ethnic group killed by Hutu militias. Rwanda's government has long denied that it traffics in coltan looted from its neighbor or that it backs M23. But Rwanda's ruling party, mainly headed by Tutsis, shares the same concerns as the Tutsi-dominated M23 insurgents over the purported threat posed by rival Hutu groups operating in eastern Congo. A July 3 U.N. report, reviewed by Reuters, says that as of April, Rwanda had placed at least 1,000 to 1,500 troops in Congo's rebel-controlled areas. M23 now controls two key Congolese cities – Goma and Bukavu – on the border with Rwanda. U.N. investigators say that it is through these cities that Congolese minerals are illegally trucked to Rwanda, often at night, where the ore is mixed with Rwandan coltan production in a bid to disguise its provenance before export. M23 and the Rwandan and Congolese governments did not respond to requests for comment. Congolese officials have repeatedly accused Rwanda of fomenting the conflict to plunder Congo's mineral wealth. According to a December U.N. report, the scale of the trade reached new heights after the capture of Rubaya by M23. The rebels went on to establish a parallel administration controlling mining activities, trade, transport and the taxation of the minerals produced there, the U.N. reported. Reuters reporters visited Rubaya in March this year and were told by M23 officials that the rebels had imposed a tax on mineral traders of 15% on the value of coltan they purchase from the informal miners who work the area. M23 was taking in $800,000 monthly from levies collected from coltan mining in eastern Congo, according to the December U.N. report. Simply reaching Rubaya's sprawling, beehive-like maze of pits is a major undertaking. Reuters journalists who visited the mining sites in March had to abandon their four-wheel-drive Land Cruisers after the vehicles became stuck on the muddy road from Goma. They walked 5 kilometers (3 miles) to reach the town and then hopped on the back of motorcycles with rebel officials to reach the pits. Activity in Rubaya begins before dawn, when thousands of miners descend on the pits cut into the rolling hills of Congo's North Kivu province, where many toil in 12-hour shifts. The tunnels can be as deep as 15 meters (49 feet) underground. Once fragments of ore are dislodged, porters carry sacks of the rubble to the surface where laborers have dug shallow basins that are filled with water. There, other workers, including women and children, wash the ore and separate it from sand and other debris before laying it into the sun to dry. The journalists were supervised by unarmed M23 personnel throughout their visit to the mining area. A reporter saw a rebel official jotting down in a notebook how many sacks each porter – covered in a fine white dust – carted to each collection point. Once the ore is dry, it is stacked on the backs of motorbikes that carry it to one of several depots in the nearby town of Rubaya, where it is sold to traders. With a M23 chaperone listening, Pascal Mugisha Nsabimana, a 32-year-old miner, told Reuters that working under rebel occupation was preferable to toiling under the supervision of Congo's military and its allies, who fled when M23 moved in on the area last year. Previously 'there was too much harassment, there were many different taxes, and often we, the diggers, were not paid. And even if we got something, it was poorly paid,' the miner said. He added that his current day rate had at least tripled to 15,000 Congolese francs ($5.15) with M23 in charge. In the early months following M23's takeover of Rubaya in April 2024, smugglers used motorcycles to sneak the ore into Rwanda via backroads to avoid scrutiny by Congolese forces remaining along the border, according to more than a dozen people familiar with the situation, including current and former smugglers, miners and local businessmen. The journey could take an entire day, according to two ex-smugglers who transported coltan this way until last year. They said they loaded their bikes each trip with three 50-kilogram bags and were paid about $34 for delivering it to coltan traders. But alterations implemented by M23 have proven a game changer in terms of efficiency, nine of those people said. Motorcycles are no longer the primary means of transport and are used only to ferry the coltan from the mine to the town of Rubaya. From there, the ore is loaded into four-wheel drive SUVs, pickups and other vehicles capable of hauling anywhere from two tons to 20 tons each, according to the people and the July U.N report. The system is faster, too. Since M23 drove Congolese troops from Goma and took control of that border city, coltan trucks can now pass freely through it on paved roads into Rwanda, slashing transport times, the people said. U.N. experts and human rights activists have long warned that profits from illegal mining are funding conflict. They say the trade has brought little wealth to local people and that child labor is common. Reuters witnessed at least a dozen children working at the Rubaya mine: Young boys entered the shafts to haul out ore and carry it to the basins where girls worked alongside adults washing and drying the coltan. Gregory Mthembu-Salter, a former U.N. expert on Congo who now does consulting on conflict minerals, said broad efforts by the mining industry, U.N. agencies and non-government organizations that began around 2010 to clean up the region's supply chain and prevent human rights abuses have largely failed. 'Here we are, 15 years later, (and) the same thing is happening,' said Mthembu-Salter, director of Phuzumoya Consulting. Some U.S. entrepreneurs have also set their sights on Rubaya's coltan treasure as President Donald Trump seeks to broker a peace deal to end the conflict and promote development of the region's mineral wealth. In Congo, those riches include huge reserves of cobalt, gold, copper, lithium and diamonds in addition to coltan. The country's formal mining sector at present is dominated by Chinese companies. Texas hedge fund manager Gentry Beach, who is chairman of investment firm America First Global and helped raise funds for Trump's election campaign in 2016, was part of a consortium looking to negotiate rights to the Rubaya mine, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The Financial Times earlier reported Gentry's interest in Congo's coltan. The source told Reuters that Beach's group had proposed to the Congolese government taking a majority stake in the mine, with Kinshasa retaining a 30% interest. Beach confirmed his interest in the project to Reuters but declined to provide additional details. Some U.S. lawmakers are pushing back. In an Aug. 8 letter to Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, more than 50 Democratic congress members criticized what they said was the administration's lack of transparency in its negotiations with the DRC. They also raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest in a Trump ally angling for rights to develop the Rubaya mine. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in an Aug. 5 emailed statement that the agreement between Congo and Rwanda arranged by Trump has the potential to lead to lasting peace and stability in the region. The president's vision is a 'win-win outcome where all parties benefit—economically and politically—through cooperation and shared prosperity,' the statement said. She did not respond to a follow-up query about the letter from congressional Democrats. The U.S. State Department did not comment. On Aug. 1, the State Department said in a statement that it was committed to supporting efforts being made by Rwanda and Congo to advance security and economic cooperation. Heads of state would soon be invited to Washington for a summit, according to the statement, which did not elaborate. The U.S.-backed accord does not include M23. The rebel group is part of a separate, parallel mediation led by Qatar that seeks to end hostilities. The success of those talks in Doha is key to any lasting peace – and in making Rubaya safe for investment and development by Western mining interests. Some diplomats and analysts are dubious about the prospects for a speedy resolution. Congo and M23 rebels pledged in Doha to reach a peace deal by August 18. But progress has been jeopardized by the killing of at least 319 civilians in eastern Congo last month, according to the U.N., which says the attacks were carried out by M23. Reuters could not independently confirm those killings. M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa told the news agency last month that it would investigate, but he said reports of atrocities could be a 'smear campaign' against the insurgent group. Meanwhile, the U.S.-brokered deal calls for Rwandan troops to pull out of Congo. But Rwandan President Paul Kagame said last month he was not sure the agreement would hold. Kagame said Congo first must live up to its promises to subdue the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), an eastern Congo-based ethnic Hutu militia linked to the Rwandan genocide, which Kigali sees as an existential threat. Josaphat Musamba, a Congolese researcher and Ph.D student at Ghent University in Belgium, said suppressing the militia would be a tall order for the DRC's military, which is no longer present in large swathes of M23-controlled territory. 'It's difficult to neutralize the FDLR as long as M23 are there and the Congolese army has not redeployed,' Musamba said. He described both peace initiatives as 'piecemeal' efforts that aren't dealing with 'the reality on the ground.' Another formidable undertaking would be transforming Rubaya's current crude system of coltan extraction into a modern operation, said a senior diplomat who is closely following events. 'No one talks about the feasibility of giving out these mining concessions and running these concessions, especially since the whole mine is artisanal mining,' done almost entirely by hand, the diplomat said.
