🔗 Share this article

The DRC has described the European Union's ongoing minerals deal with Rwanda as showing "clear double standards" while imposing much broader sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine.

Government Firm Condemnation

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the African nation's foreign minister, called for the EU to implement far more severe restrictions against Rwanda, which has been alleged to exacerbate the unrest in eastern DRC.

"It represents obvious inconsistency – I aim to be helpful here – that has us questioning and inquisitive about grasping why the EU again struggles so much to enact sanctions," she declared.

Ceasefire Deal History

The DRC and Rwanda ratified a conflict resolution in June, facilitated by the United States and Qatar, designed to conclude the decades-old conflict.

However, lethal incidents on civilians have continued and a target date to achieve a final settlement was missed in August.

UN Report

Last year, a international assessment team reported that up to 4,000 Rwandan troops were operating with the M23 rebel group and that the Rwandan military was in "effective direction of M23 operations."

Rwanda has consistently denied supporting M23 and asserts its forces act in self-defence.

Diplomatic Request

The DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi, recently called upon his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to cease backing rebel forces in the DRC during a Brussels event attended by both leaders.

"This requires you to instruct the M23 troops supported by your country to halt this deterioration, which has already led to sufficient deaths," the leader emphasized.

European Measures

The EU has placed sanctions on 32 individuals and two entities – a armed faction and a Rwandan mineral treatment facility handling unauthorized sources of the metal – for their role in intensifying the conflict.

Despite these determinations of international law breaches by the Rwandan army in the DRC, the Brussels administration has rejected requests to cancel a 2024 mining agreement with Kigali.

Mineral Issues

Wagner described the agreement with Rwanda as "void of any credibility in a environment where it has been established that Rwanda has been diverting Congolese resources" extracted under brutal conditions of forced labour, involving children.

The United States and many others have expressed alarm about unauthorized transactions in mineral resources in eastern Congo, extracted via coerced employment, then smuggled to Rwanda for export to finance militant factions.

Regional Emergency

The conflict in Congo's east remains one of the world's most severe human catastrophes, with exceeding 7.8 million people relocated within country in eastern DRC and 28 million facing nutritional challenges, including 4 million at emergency levels, according to UN data.

International Engagement

As the DRC's chief diplomat, Wagner signed the agreement with Rwanda at the White House in June, which also seeks to give the United States enhanced entry to Congolese natural resources.

She stated that the US remains engaged in the diplomatic negotiations and dismissed allegations that sole motivation was the DRC's vast mineral wealth.

European Partnership

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, commenced a conference by emphasizing that the EU wanted "partnerships based on mutual benefits and honoring independence."

She highlighted the Lobito corridor – multi-modal transport links – linking the mining regions of the DRC and Zambia to Angola's ocean access.

Wagner recognized that the EU and DRC had a solid basis in the Lobito project, but "much has been diminished by the situation in Congo's east."