DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi meets US special envoy amid talk of mineral deal

Kinshasa — Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi has met US legislator Ronny Jackson to discuss fighting in the east of the country and opportunities for US investment, the DRC’s presidency said.

The meeting took place one week after Washington said it was open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with the DRC.  A DRC legislator in February contacted US officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal.

A presidency statement described Jackson as a “special envoy” for US President Donald Trump.

Tshisekedi faces an insurgency by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in the DRC and his government plans to send a delegation to peace talks in Angola on Tuesday.

The DRC has vast reserves of cobalt, lithium and uranium, among other minerals.

The government has not publicly detailed a proposal for a deal with the US, saying only that it was seeking diversified partnerships.

There was no direct mention of minerals in Sunday’s statement.

“We want to work so that American companies can come and invest and work in the DRC. And to do that, we have to make sure that there is a peaceful environment,” Jackson was quoted as saying in the statement.

The long-running conflict in east DRC is rooted in the spillover into the DRC of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of the DRC’s vast mineral resources.

It escalated significantly this year and M23 now controls DRC’s two biggest cities. Rwanda is accused of backing the Tutsi-led M23, which it denies.

Byron Cabrol, senior Africa analyst at Dragonfly, said last week it would be a struggle to entice US mining companies to invest in DRC due to poor infrastructure, insecurity, corruption and the dominance of Chinese firms.

Reuters