DRC Accuses Rwanda of Illicit Mineral Exploitation and Calls for Embargo
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has raised serious concerns about the exploitation and illegal importation of its minerals by Kigali through the M23/RDF rebels.
According to a statement by DRC’s Minister of Mines, Antoinette N’Samba Kalambayi, on the instructions of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a tax of $3,000 per ton of coltan and $2,000 per ton of cassiterite has been imposed, with payments being made in Kigali after the sale.
“After authorizing the creation of a mining cooperative in Rubaya to supervise artisanal mining, the M23 intensified their efforts to occupy this territory.
Today, on Kagame’s instructions, a tax has been imposed: $3,000 for a ton of coltan and $2,000 for a ton of cassiterite, with payment made in Kigali,” the Congolese government stated in a press release.
The Congolese government accuses the aggressors of a strategy aimed at destroying the middle class by seizing minerals destined for Congolese trading posts and redirecting them to Rwanda.
Despite illicit artisanal mining continuing on these sites by local populations, the extracted minerals transported to Goma were unsold due to the lack of traceability tags.
Faced with this issue, sellers began using alternative routes. “Sellers of these minerals took another path: Rubaya to Mushake (where the M23 had established a large warehouse) and from Mushake to Rwanda or Uganda for processing and export,” N’Samba criticized. These illicitly mined minerals, once in Rwanda or Uganda, are tagged and sold internationally as legitimate products.
In response, the DRC’s Minister of Mines authorized a local mining cooperative to operate on artisanal mining sites to restore traceability and ensure all production enters the official marketing circuit.
This effort aims to bring together all artisanal operators under the supervision of SAEMAPE and the North Kivu Mines Division.
The DRC accuses Rwanda of intensifying illicit mining activities, including using pregnant women and children in Rubaya’s mining sites.
Furthermore, Rwanda has reportedly suspended the export of mining products to avoid an increase in export statistics due to the occupation of Rubaya, opting to store the exploited ores for later export.
Call for an Embargo Against Rwanda
Minister N’Samba called for an embargo against Rwanda, accusing it of exporting “blood minerals” in violation of international and regional laws. She emphasized that the minerals from Rwanda’s 3T sector are derived from fraud, smuggling, illicit exploitation, and crimes committed by M23-RDF in the eastern DRC.
N’Samba highlighted that an embargo would slow conflict financing through minerals, restore stakeholder confidence, protect the DRC’s legitimate economic interests, mitigate human rights violations, and restore international peace and security.
She also reminded that the creation of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) was initiated by the UN Security Council in response to armed conflicts in the African Great Lakes Region, recognizing the serious threat to international peace and security posed by the situation in the DRC.
