‘We are exploited’: Congolese fear losing out as US makes minerals deals

Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo – In cities successful the mineral-rich eastbound Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), location to immoderate of the world’s largest cobalt and copper reserves, eyes are connected the result of a gathering happening thousands of kilometres away.

In Washington, DC, connected Wednesday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio volition big the inaugural Critical Minerals Ministerial, wherever delegations from 50 countries including the DRC volition sermon efforts to fortify and diversify mineral proviso chains arsenic the US seeks to antagonistic China’s planetary dominance successful the sector.

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As portion of a “resources-for-security” benignant deal agreed past year, the US signed a mining statement with Kinshasa’s authorities to unafraid supplies of components indispensable to its technological innovation, economical power, and nationalist security.

While Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has touted the economical benefits of the endeavour, galore successful the country’s mining epicentre – trapped betwixt poorness and equipped unit – spot lone further oppression connected the horizon.

“We are exploited successful mineral extraction,” said Gerard Buunda, an economics pupil successful Goma, the superior of North Kivu province, which is simply a important root of the world’s coltan, tin and golden resouces. “There are investors who marque america work; sometimes they pursuit america disconnected our onshore and unit america to enactment for them successful their mines for their ain selfish interests.

“We don’t privation to beryllium exploited immoderate more.”

Buunda, 28, who was calved not acold from the mineral-rich metropolis of Rubaya, condemns what helium says are overseas multinationals exposing radical to poorness and debased wages, kid exploitation, and biology degradation – putting Congolese lives astatine risk.

He fears that the Donald Trump administration’s voracity for captious minerals could heighten socio-political instability successful galore parts of the world.

“Here successful eastbound DRC, the radical who concern mineral exploitation, erstwhile they find caller mines, bargain onshore from section communities successful collusion with our leaders and displace them, and this is the basal origin of insecurity,” said Buunda.

He called connected African leaders, particularly those successful the DRC, to debar being “the autumn guys” and alternatively support an oculus connected the aboriginal of their ain uncommon earths.

A miner holds recently extracted coltan ore successful Rubaya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo [File: Moses Sawasawa/AP]

‘They said: delight travel and instrumentality our minerals’

With ample deposits of cobalt and lithium – which are indispensable for electrical conveyance batteries and renewable technologies – the Congolese authorities are promoting the DRC arsenic a solution for the vigor transition.

The US has shown interest, including straight linking information guarantees to assets extraction erstwhile it mediated the signing of a peace deal betwixt conflict-prone neighbours DRC and Rwanda past year.

“I really stopped the warfare with Congo and Rwanda,” Trump claimed successful December. “And they said to me, ‘Please, please, we would emotion you to travel and instrumentality our minerals.’ Which we’ll do.”

Koko Buroko Gloire, a Congolese planetary affairs commentator based successful Kenya, doubts the DRC volition summation thing coagulated from the woody with the US. The marketplace for captious minerals, helium believes, is attracting the “covetousness” of large satellite powers who are lining up for an “increasingly geopolitical” battle.

But astatine the extremity of the day, for the DRC, Koko says the benefits – oregon deficiency of them – volition beryllium connected the volition of the Congolese leadership.

“If this woody volition let us, the Congolese people, to person roads from constituent A to constituent B, to person cleanable water, to person hospitals, to person water, I deliberation it’s a bully deal,” helium told Al Jazeera, urging Congolese leaders to marque definite the DRC does not travel retired empty-handed.

Before Trump came to office, erstwhile US President Joe Biden visited the region, successful portion to sermon the Lobito Corridor railway infrastructure project, which is presently successful disrepair successful DRC but volition link the country’s mining provinces to Angola, on the Atlantic Coast – a cardinal larboard for the export of minerals from Africa to the US.

According to outer representation investigation carried retired by Global Witness, up to 6,500 radical could beryllium affected by displacement linked to the improvement of the Lobito corridor successful the DRC.

The run radical said it conducted interviews with antithetic societal groups past twelvemonth successful DRC’s Kolwezi, and besides visited the railway tracks that volition beryllium cleared during the rehabilitation.

It said it had recovered that the railway enactment runs done susceptible communities that person benefitted small from the mining roar successful Kolwezi, highlighting a “complex” ineligible concern wherever the presumption of houses and buildings on the railway enactment was disputed, arsenic was the size of the country to beryllium cleared.

For Global Witness, the Lobito corridor volition beryllium a “litmus test” for Western partners who assertion that the task represents a much equitable exemplary for assets exploitation.

Miners enactment astatine the D4 Gakombe coltan mining quarry successful Rubaya, DRC [File: Moses Sawasawa/AP]

Local communities ‘negatively’ affected

Gentil Mulume, 35, is an activistic successful Goma, moving connected matters of transparency and bully governance. He emphasises that the Washington gathering is not a meal enactment but a telephone to show seriousness, peculiarly with respect to compliance with biology standards, transparency successful mining governance, and industrialisation.

He believes the value of a mining statement betwixt the DRC and the US cannot beryllium assessed solely successful presumption of its geopolitical oregon planetary economical significance.

“This benignant of statement risks continuing structurally unbalanced partnerships successful which the DRC remains a specified supplier of strategical earthy materials for the payment of Western powers,” helium suggests.

John Katikomo, a Congolese biology activist, says the foundations for a just concern betwixt the DRC and the US are already disconnected to a atrocious start, arsenic the woody is “opaque” and authorities successful Kinshasa person not disclosed details to citizens.

“Many radical are misinformed, and determination is mediocre organisation of resources successful narration to these captious minerals. Will the colonisation payment from this?” helium asked.

For Kuda Manjonjo, a Just Transition advisor with PowerShift Africa, a deliberation vessel based successful Kenya, Africa holds a disproportionate stock of the captious minerals indispensable to the vigor transition, but remains marginalised successful planetary worth chains.

“This disparity reflects an unfair exploitation exemplary that hinders section development,” helium said, stressing the value of rebalancing the situation, calling for fairer governance, section concern successful mineral processing and transformation, and amended African practice successful strategical decisions connected these resources.

Another nonmigratory of Goma, Daniel Mukamba, accused galore multinationals of seeking to support countries that are affluent successful earthy resources burdened by the “resource curse” – which helium believes becomes a “cancer” that is hard to cure.

“If you look astatine the examples of Walikale and Rubaya, these are cities that nutrient a batch of minerals, including coltan, gold, cassiterite, and tourmaline, but the colonisation remains poor,” Mukamba told Al Jazeera.

Both these resource-rich eastbound cities are present held by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group, which seized power of overmuch of the eastbound of the state past year.

A January report published by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime indicates that successful South Kivu state successful the east, opaque golden proviso chains proceed to beryllium linked to conflict, quality rights violations, and biology damage.

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Felix Tshisekedi during a signing ceremonial astatine the United States Institute of Peace successful Washington, DC, December 4, 2025 [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters]

War means amerciable exploitation of resources

Despite the US-brokered bid woody betwixt DRC and Rwanda and a abstracted 1 brokered by Qatar betwixt DRC and the M23 rebel alliance, warring continues successful eastbound DRC and has approached regions affluent successful captious minerals.

In December, M23 seized the metropolis of Uvira, immoderate 300km (190 miles) from the lithium-rich state of Tanganyika. Although they person since withdrawn, respective observers accidental determination are clashes not acold from Tanganyika province.

Many fearfulness that expanding warring could origin the hazard of “uncoordinated” exploitation of mineral resources and are calling for a accelerated solution to the conflict.

“When determination is war, determination is amerciable exploitation of our minerals,” said Chirac Issa, an biology activistic based successful Tanganyika province. “There is nary authorities bid to modulate the enactment of miners. From an biology standpoint, we fearfulness that uncontrolled mining could lend to contamination and endanger ecosystems.”

After the “resources-for-security” US-brokered woody with Rwanda was archetypal reached successful June, Congolese President Tshisekedi was optimistic astir it, saying it aimed to “promote our strategical minerals, peculiarly copper, cobalt, and lithium, successful a sovereign manner”, portion “ensuring a much equitable organisation of economical benefits for the Congolese people”.

He besides said it would “pave the mode for section transformation, the instauration of thousands of jobs, and a caller economical exemplary based connected sovereignty and nationalist added value”.

Corneille Nangaa, person of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) allied with the M23 – which present administers the capitals of North and South Kivu provinces – however, called the mining concern betwixt the DRC and the US “deeply flawed and unconstitutional”. He said the program suffers from a deficiency of transparency and past week criticised the “opacity surrounding the negotiations”. At a quality league successful August, helium besides denounced the “sell-off” of the DRC’s earthy resources.

Tshisekedi said past twelvemonth that “the resources of the Democratic Republic of Congo volition ne'er beryllium sold disconnected oregon handed implicit to obscure interests,” and that the state “will merchantability neither its aboriginal nor its dignity”.

DRC’s resources, helium affirmed, “will payment the Congolese radical supra all”.

But for those aforesaid Congolese successful Goma – watching this week arsenic overseas officials successful suits sermon plans for their resources astatine a ceremonial lawsuit thousands of kilometres distant – the aboriginal is not arsenic unafraid arsenic their president mightiness believe.