A rampaging rebel group has claimed the capture of another mining town in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a little over a week after it took control of the region\u2019s largest city Goma. <\/p>\n
Clashes between the rebel coalition Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) and Congolese forces have left more than 3,000 people dead in less than two weeks, according to DRC\u2019s government. <\/p>\n
The AFC, of which the M23 armed group \u2013 which claims to defend the interest of minority Rwandophone communities \u2013 is a key member, took over resource-rich Nyabibwe last week after Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu, fell on January 27. <\/p>\n
It comes less than a year after the rebels seized Rubaya, a mining hub also in the country\u2019s east, which harbors one of the world\u2019s largest deposits of coltan, a valuable mineral used in the production of smartphones. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what you need to know. <\/p>\n
For decades, DRC, a Central African nation of more than 100 million people, has grappled with bloody militia violence, including ethnic and resource-driven armed rebellion by M23 and dozens of other armed groups. <\/p>\n
Roughly the size of Western Europe, the war-riven country is endowed with vast mineral wealth, including the world\u2019s largest reserves of cobalt and coltan \u2013 both critical to the production of electronics. Cobalt is used to produce batteries that power cell phones and electric vehicles, while coltan is refined into tantalum, which has a variety of applications in phones and other devices. <\/p>\n
However, according to the World Bank \u201cmost people in DRC have not benefited from this wealth,\u201d and the country ranks among the five poorest nations in the world. <\/p>\n
Much of DRC\u2019s mineral wealth is split between its government and armed groups who control swathes of the resource-rich east. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a coincidence that the zones occupied by the rebels are mining areas,\u201d Okenda said, adding that global demand for cobalt and coltan has fueled the crisis. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes money to wage war. Access to mining sites finances the war,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
But a top United Nations official has an idea. <\/p>\n
Bintou Keita, the UN Secretary General\u2019s Special Representative to the DRC, told the Security Council in a September briefing that coltan trade from Rubaya\u2019s mines is estimated to supply over 15 percent of global tantalum production and generates an estimated $300,000 in revenue a month for M23. <\/p>\n
M23 denied these claims, insisting its presence in Rubaya was \u201csolely humanitarian.\u201d <\/p>\n
Much of the international community, including the Congolese government, has accused neighboring Rwanda of backing M23 and aiding the plunder of DRC minerals. <\/p>\n
UN experts believe that an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan soldiers are supervising and supporting M23 fighters in eastern DRC, outnumbering the rebel group\u2019s forces in the country. A December report by the UN Group of Experts on the DRC revealed that \u201cat least 150 tons of coltan were fraudulently exported to Rwanda and mixed with Rwandan production.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rwanda is one of the world\u2019s top suppliers of coltan and has surpassed DRC\u2019s export of the mineral in recent years. <\/p>\n
In a public address that drew outrage last year, Kagame admitted that Rwanda was a transit point for minerals smuggled from DRC, but insisted his country was not stealing from its neighbor. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome people come from Congo; whether they smuggle or go through the right channels, they bring minerals. Most of it goes through here (Rwanda) but does not stay here. It goes to Dubai, Brussels, Tel Aviv, (and) Russia. It goes everywhere,\u201d Kagame said, without providing evidence or specifying what minerals were being smuggled. <\/p>\n
In 2022, the United States Treasury Department said that over 90% of DRC\u2019s gold was being \u201csmuggled to regional states, including Uganda and Rwanda\u201d where they are \u201crefined and exported to international markets, particularly the UAE,\u201d and sanctioned a Belgian businessman for facilitating the trade. <\/p>\n
For DRC\u2019s other valuable minerals including coltan and cobalt, the scale of the plunder remains unclear. <\/p>\n
In December, DRC sued subsidiaries of Apple in Belgium and France, accusing the company of sourcing conflict minerals. Apple denied the accusation. <\/p>\n
Every year, tech giants such as Apple and Microsoft publish reports saying that they demand responsible sourcing of minerals from their suppliers. <\/p>\n
In an earlier filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023, Apple said that while it continued to source 3TG (tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold) and other minerals such as cobalt and lithium from DRC and other countries, it was \u201ccommitted to meeting and exceeding internationally accepted due diligence standards for primary minerals and recycled materials in our supply chain.\u201d It added that its due diligence efforts had \u201cfound no reasonable basis for concluding that any of the smelters or refiners of 3TG determined to be in our supply chain as of December 31, 2023 directly or indirectly financed or benefited armed groups in the DRC or an adjoining country.\u201d <\/p>\n
DRC\u2019s mineral wealth has presented itself as a \u201ccurse,\u201d according to analyst Okenda, who explained: <\/p>\n
Last week, a humanitarian ceasefire announced by M23 fell apart almost immediately after it was declared, as the rebels swiftly advanced into Nyabibwe. <\/p>\n
While regional and global leaders ponder solutions to ending the crisis, Okenda believes that DRC\u2019s government needs to reinvent itself if it hopes for lasting peace. <\/p>\n
DRC \u201chas a governance model that if it does not change, the Congolese population will gain absolutely nothing, whether there is war or not,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the Kinshasa government improves its governance, invests in the army, ensures a fair sharing of resources between citizens in the country, and conducts elections that are of better quality, I still think that peace can return (to DRC),\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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