US says it is open to critical minerals deal with DRC

The US was open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with the Democratic Republic of Congo, the state department said on Sunday, after a DRC politician contacted US officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal.

The DRC, which is rich in cobalt, lithium and uranium, among other minerals, has been fighting Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who have seized swathes of its territory this year.

Talk of a deal with the US, which is also in discussions with Ukraine over a minerals pact, has circulated in Kinshasa for weeks.

“The United States is open to discussing partnerships in this sector that are aligned with the Trump administration’s ‘America First’ agenda,” a state department spokesperson said, noting that the DRC held “a significant share of the world’s critical minerals required for advanced technologies.

“The US has worked to boost US private sector investment in the DRC to develop mining resources in a responsible and transparent manner,” the spokesperson said.

Kinshasa has not publicly detailed a proposal, instead saying it is seeking diversified partnerships. “There is a desire for us to diversify our partners,” DRC government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said last week, adding there were “daily exchanges” between DRC and the US.

“If today American investors are interested in coming to the DRC, obviously they will find space ... DRC has reserves that are available and it would also be good if American capital could invest here,” he said.

Andre Wameso, deputy chief of staff to DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, travelled to Washington earlier this month for talks on a partnership, two sources said.

On February 21, a lobbyist representing the DRC’s defence committee chair, Pierre Kanda Kalambayi, sent letters to US secretary of state Marco Rubio and other American officials inviting US investment in the country’s mineral resources in exchange for helping to reinforce “regional stability”.

That initiative was not sanctioned by the broader Congolese government or presidency, according to two Congolese officials.

There are, however, several initiatives under way, albeit in the early stages, sources from the DRC’s presidency, its ministry of mines and from Washington said.

A Congolese delegation had been scheduled to meet the US House of Representatives foreign affairs committee on March 6, but cancelled the meeting at short notice, according to two sources.

Meanwhile, fighting between M23 rebels and pro-government forces was under way on Sunday in Nyabiondo, about 100km north of Goma in the eastern DRC, days after the UN reported that a nearby attack had left a heavy civilian death toll.

“M23 has taken Nyabiondo since 11am, following clashes,” said Kipanda Biiri, an official from the local administrative authority who was fleeing the area.

“The enemy opened a large-scale assault on Nyabiondo this morning,” said Telesphore Mitondeke, a civil society rapporteur in Masisi, the area where Nyabiondo is located, referring to M23 rebels. “For the moment there is shooting from every direction in the centre of Nyabiondo, where the clashes are taking place.”

The fighting follows clashes last week between M23 and a pro- government forces in the village of Tambi, about 18km northeast of Masisi, which culminated in an attack overnight on March 5 that left many civilian casualties, according to the head of a local nongovernmental organisation.

An internal UN memo seen by Reuters on Sunday said between 13 and 40 civilians were believed to have been killed in that attack.

Last week, five sources familiar with the outreach told Reuters that former DRC president Joseph Kabila has initiated talks with opposition politicians about the country’s political future.

The discussions, which have also involved civil society members, represent a potential additional threat to Tshisekedi, who has faced criticism over his response to the unprecedented advance by M23 rebels.

Tshisekedi and Kabila once formed an awkward power-sharing deal following the DRC’s disputed 2018 election, but Tshisekedi began chipping away at his predecessor’s influence while accusing him of blocking reforms.

The two men’s relationship soured to the point that, as M23 marched on east DRC’s second-largest city of Bukavu last month, Tshisekedi told the Munich Security Conference that Kabila had sponsored the insurgency.

Kabila did not make any public statements on the crisis or respond to the accusation until he published an opinion article in an SA newspaper on February 23 that accused Tshisekedi of violating the constitution, committing human rights abuses and bringing the DRC to the brink of civil war.

All the sources said that, while Kabila and his lieutenants had spoken about some kind of political transition, there was no clear plan or details about how this might potentially unfold. The talks have been private, though Kabila met openly in December in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with opposition leaders Moise Katumbi and Claudel Lubaya. 

Reuters