American corridors are held between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda to end war on mineral wealth

Johannesburg, South Africa – By invitation of the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Felix Tshekedi, the Trump administration was introduced to lead the negotiations to end the The war in the east of the country between the forces of the RDC and the rebels that are believed to be backed by Rwanda. A peace agreement was initiated on Wednesday night by neighboring nations officials, and its leaders will formally be signed at the end of next week in Washington, and witnessed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said the State Department.

While many in the region will welcome the long -term and mortal conflict, Daniel Van Dalen, a senior analyst of the intelligence firm focused on Africa Signal Risk, says that the way in which the agreement has been made indicates an important change in geopolitical efforts to end crises in the continent. The days of soft diplomatic power, he says, have ended.

The authorities have said that the agreement is part of the new offer of the United States under President Trump to build relations in Africa that are more transactional and less focused on exercising soft power through diplomacy and investment.

The agreement occurred after three days of conversations in Washington between the delegations of the RDC and Rwanda, and after many previous failed attempts to ensure an agreement between the two countries.

If it is implemented, the agreement will end with the fight in the east of the RDC. It could also bring billions of US investment to the region, which is rich in coltan, cobalt, lithium, copper and gold minerals, all of which are critical in the manufacture of electric vehicles, smartphones, computers and a wide range of high -tech products, from satellites to military weapons systems.

The curse of the mineral wealth of Congo

The RDC is approximately the size of Alaska and Texas combined, but it is vast mineral reserves Get a large measure in the Far East, near the border with Rwanda. Many locals call it a curse, since fighting the control of resources has led to three decades of struggle in the region, killing about six million people, according to a 2022 analysis by the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

More than 125 different armed groups have fought for access to mineral reserves, but the largest, the M23 militia, is the only one that is believed to be backed by a neighboring country: Rwanda. The United States government and United Nations officials believe that Rwanda supports M23 militarily, although Rwanda officials have repeatedly denied it.

Van Dalen says that M23 is different from the other armed groups in the region, since it has sought territorial control and expansion. The estimated 5,000 -foot soldiers of the group have taken two provinces in the Eastern RDC in recent months. In a short time, he said, M23 has established parallel government structures, with tax systems, in those areas, and will be very difficult to eliminate.

Critics of the peace agreement negotiated by the United States are skeptical that it will work, since M23 is not a signatory to the agreement and has not been directly involved in the negotiations, and the Rwanda government denies the formal links with the group.

Van Dalen said the agreement will only succeed if M23 meets the terms. Rwanda walked from previous peace conversations, while M23 became a new territory in the RDC.

“That is still true today, since the M23 is still pressing, despite the peace negotiations, for territorial profits,” Van Dalen said to News themezone on Thursday.

Since the seizure of M23 of the two provinces in the RDC, Van Dalen said that there has been an increase in the mineral exports of Rwanda, an increase that represents more than the country could explain from its own limited reserves.

News themezone understands sources in the region that Rwanda has indicated a willingness to withdraw their troops, who believe they support the M23 fighters in the region, while the RDC could be susceptible to the idea of ​​some minerals, extracted locally already small scale from its territory, which is sold through Rwanda.

Trump administration in search of agreements: “High risk, with vast rewards”

Amid the peace negotiations in Washington, the father -in -law of President Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, Massad Boulous, was hired as the main advisor of the White House in Africa.

He was quickly sent to the RDC, Rwanda and the neighboring nations, to “meet with heads of state and business leaders to advance the efforts for lasting peace in the democratic Republic of the East of the Congo and promote the investment of the private sector of the United States in the region.”

That work focused, said Van Dalen, in the negotiation of separate agreements with the RDC, to grant access to their mineral reserves and with Rwanda, in a possible deported program. A previous agreement between Great Britain and Rwanda, so that the United Kingdom migrants to the African nation, It fell apart even before it started – As a result of British judicial decisions and then a change in government in the United Kingdom

A surprising agreements like this can give the White House the ability to promote peace efforts while ensuring access to critical resources for the United States, but can also help counteract China’s dominance in the Mineral Sector of Africa, Van Dalen said. It is a tactic that China and Russia have used for many years.

Chinese companies currently control more than 80% of cobalt reserves in the RDC, according to estimates of the United States government.

The Secretary of State, Rubio, will witness the signing of the RDC-Rwanda agreement in Washington on June 27, said the State Department in his Wednesday night statement, which provided only vague details.

He said that the parties had agreed “provisions on respect for territorial integrity and a prohibition of hostilities; disconnection, disarmament and conditional integration of non -state armed groups”, as well as establishing “a mechanism for coordination of joint security”, facilitating the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, facilitating humanitarian humanitarian access “and a regional integration framework.”

American companies had mining operations in the region several decades ago, but they left when the armed conflict and corruption in regional governments made these operations too risky.

The president of the RDC, Tshekedi, has recently reviewed legislation that could reform the country’s fiscal code so that it makes its mining sector more attractive to Western commercial interests.

These proposed changes had already caused a new interest, with the US funds.

In November, then President Joe Biden visited Angola and saw the operations of the portor of the Lobito Corridor first hand. The following month, the Biden administration announced additional $ 560 million in US funds for the project.

Van Dalen said that if the United States can administer regional tension and maintain a peace agreement in its place, it would be “high risk, with vast rewards, both for the region and for the United States,” adding that, in its opinion, it would also fit with the “Trump transactional nature.”

• Congo Democratic Republic
• Immigration
• Africa
• Rare earth minerals
• Rwanda
• Deportation
• Donald Trump