Congolese authorities are hoping to conclude an agreement with the Trump administration on the country's mining resources in a bid to secure US support in their fight against the M23 rebels and Rwandan forces leading an offensive in eastern DR Congo. While preliminary discussions have begun, details of the settlement remain very vague.
The US and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo or DRC) may soon begin formal negotiations on a critical minerals deal. Discussions are under way, the Congolese presidency confirmed to FRANCE 24, on US access to the mineral resources of the vast central African country, which has some of the world's largest reserves of cobalt, coltan, copper and lithium that are vital for cutting-edge technologies in defence, energy transition and other sectors.
The US State Department last week said it was open to a mining partnership in DR Congo and has confirmed that preliminary discussions had begun.
Congolese authorities hope to block neighbouring Rwanda, which supports the M23 rebels and is accused of plundering their country's mineral resources. Since January, the armed group has been leading a major offensive in eastern DR Congo, which has put the Congolese army under considerable pressure.
A Congolese offer to the US secretary of state
The prospect of a minerals deal was first outlined by Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi in a February 22 interview with the New York Times. In his first interview since the launch of the 2025 M23 offensive, Tshisekedi “offered the United States and Europe a stake in his country’s vast mineral wealth, a sector currently dominated by China", the US daily reported.
The Congolese president had “pinned his hopes on Western pressure against Rwanda”, calculating that a deal could bring his country security and stability, said the report. Tshisekedi also told The New York Times that the Trump administration had “already shown interest in a deal that could ensure a stream of strategic minerals directly from Congo”.
The interview was published a day after a US consultancy, commissioned by Congolese senator and Tshisekedi supporter Pierre Kanda Kalambayi, sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, offering a “strategic partnership” between the two countries. The letter proposed access to Congolese minerals, operational control of a deep-water port to serve as an export hub, and the establishment of a joint strategic mineral stockpile.
In return, the US would train and equip Congolese armed forces to “protect mineral supply routes from foreign-backed militant groups”. The strengthened military cooperation could even replace MONUSCO, which the letter described as the “ineffective UN peacekeeping operations” in the central African nation.
“Until we have proof to the contrary, this is not an official plan,” explained Jason K. Sterns, a leading US expert on the DR Congo. “Some points seem unrealistic, such as the deployment of American forces on the ground, which runs counter to [President] Donald Trump's promise to bring home the soldiers. But what is certain is that the Congolese army is in a weak position in the east and that the authorities are counting heavily on international pressure, particularly from the United States, to increase the pressure on Rwanda.”
Calls for transparency
The possibility of a US-DR Congo agreement raises several questions. “This is symptomatic of the governance problems in our country,” said Jean Pierre Okenda, executive director of the Congolese NGO, La sentinelle des ressources naturelles. Okenda, a mining sector expert, expressed concerns that the negotiations, dictated by the DR Congo’s security emergency, may not benefit the Congolese economy. “Some people here think that the authorities are seeking above all to protect their power. Such an agreement should not be negotiated in backhanded deals, it should be submitted to parliament since it could have a major impact on the population,” he noted.
Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya Katembwe claimed last week that the DR Congo was simply seeking to diversify its partners. Meanwhile a Congolese presidency spokesperson refuted the idea that the DR Congo was ready to trade its minerals for security support. “Setting the record straight: President Tshisekedi invites the USA, whose companies source strategic raw materials from Rwanda, materials that are looted from the DRC and smuggled to Rwanda while our populations are massacred, to purchase them directly from us the rightful owners,” said Tina Salama on X.
When contacted by FRANCE 24, Salama asserted that Congolese Senator Kalambayi's move was a “personal initiative”. “We are seeking to stop the Rwandan predation of our resources,” she explained, holding out the hope that a strategic agreement with the US could help “stop the war”.
Western hardening towards Rwanda
Salama also made it clear that the initiative was specifically directed at the US “because what has been hidden and fostered for 30 years has just been revealed by Donald Trump's administration”. It was a reference to the US sanctions, announced on February 20, on James Kabarebe, Rwanda’s minister of state for regional integration, and Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesman for the M23 rebellion.
“It's clear that the recent US sanctions are seen as an important step,” explained Okenda. “This is the first time a Rwandan minister has been directly targeted. What's more, this is just one stage in the sanctions that Washington could impose against Rwanda,” she noted.
In its statement, the US Treasury Department described Kabarebe as “a Rwandan government liaison to M23” who has “coordinated the export of extracted minerals from mining sites in the DRC for eventual export from Rwanda”.
According to UN experts, the M23 levies substantial taxes on mining activities, generating around $800,000 a month from coltan taxation alone, in the Rubaya area of North Kivu, which it has controlled since May 2024.
On February 21, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution “strongly condemning” the M23 offensive in the DR Congo and the advances it is making in North and South Kivu provinces with the support of the Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF).
Read moreUN Security Council demands Rwanda withdraw troops from eastern DR Congo
A snub to China
Congolese appeals for Western mining investments are seen as a snub to China, which alone controls between 75 and 80% of mining operations in DR Congo, particularly in the copper and cobalt sectors.
But this does not necessarily mean the Congolese president has made a diplomatic U-turn, according to Sterns. “Félix Tshisekedi has always had a tendency to look to the West, he has spent much of his life in Belgium and was supported by the United States during his disputed election in 2018,” he noted.
Since coming to power, the Congolese president has made two bilateral visits to China, aimed at developing, but also rebalancing, the partnership with Beijing. In January 2024, he concluded the renegotiation of a major mining agreement between the DRC and a Chinese consortium dubbed “the contract of the century”.
Originally signed in 2008 under then-president Joseph Kabila, the renegotiation was meant to yield additional benefits for the DRC. But it failed to appease many Congolese and was slammed by NGOs and civil society groups. “China has not respected its part of the 2008 agreement concerning its infrastructure investments. On the ground, there is no real engagement with local communities, and Chinese companies have no regard for workers' rights or respect for the environment,” said Okenda. “Today, many of these workers think, rightly or wrongly, that it would be better to deal with the US.”
An American mirage?
Inspired by the much-discussed, but yet to be signed Ukraine-US mining deal, the Congolese counterpart has several attractions for Washington DC. It presents a nod to Trump's “America first” agenda, while countering the interests of his rival, China.
But operationally, such a project presents enormous challenges, warns Okenda. “Most of the mining concessions have already been handed over to private companies in the southeast of the country, the part richest in copper, cobalt and lithium ores. This seems to leave little room for a large-scale agreement with the US. Of course, many exploration projects are under way. But they represent huge investments, with no guarantees on arrival, which are not factored into the balance when it comes to obtaining emergency security aid,” he noted.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Negotiations with Washington DC seem even more risky given that no US mining company currently operates in the DRC. The last American venture on Congolese soil left a sour taste and bad memories in the central African country. Freeport-McMoRan's departure caused a stir in 2016, when the company was accused of selling its assets to a Chinese company without consulting Congolese authorities.
Nonetheless, the US retains an interest in DR Congo's mining resources. This was demonstrated by former president Joe Biden's active support for the Lobito Corridor, a rail project designed to link the mines of northern Zambia and southeastern DRC to the Angolan port of Lobito, in order to strengthen US supplies and counteract Chinese influence.
“US mining companies could return to DR Congo as a result of the current discussions. But the idea that the United States could seriously compete with or even replace China is a fallacy, as it no longer possesses the industrial capacities for metal processing and refining that Beijing does,” explained Sterns.
Behind the scenes, however, Congolese and US officials are busy trying to find common ground. On Tuesday, Congolese presidential spokeswoman Salama welcomed the fact that “discussions are going well”, while explaining that she wanted to “wait until they are concluded before revealing their content”.
Salama also confirmed reports that André Wameso, Tshisekedi’s deputy chief of staff, had visited Washington in early March, accompanied by a delegation. Congolese government spokesman Katembwe explained last week that “daily exchanges” were taking place with the US.
For his part, Trump is reportedly preparing to appoint a special envoy to the Great Lakes region, tasked with a priority mission to study Congolese mineral deals. US reports say Massad Boulos, whose son Michael is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany, has been picked for the job.
This article has been translated from the original in French.
