the same mobutu that killed lumumba and was best friends with the hutu genocider habyarimana?
Conflict uproots record 6.9 million people in Congo - IOM
- Thread starter MikelArteta
- Start date
the same mobutu that killed lumumba and was best friends with the hutu genocider habyarimana?
get these nets
Veteran
03/25/25
Summit Seeks Political Solution for DR Congo After Angola Exit
The second joint summit of the Eastern African Community (EAC) and South African Development Community (SADC) has appointed an expanded panel to lead peace efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo after Angola withdrew as a mediator.
The new panel includes former Presidents Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia), Catherine Samba-Panza (CAR), Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Olusegun Obasanjo (Nigeria), and Kgalema Motlanthe (South Africa). Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has been excluded from the new group.
The virtual summit co-chaired by EAC Chairperson President William Ruto of Kenya and SADC Chairperson President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe agreed that a political solution should be supported. Ruto expressed concern over escalating violence in eastern DRC, while Rwanda's Paul Kagame stressed ending injustice and political problems to achieve peace.
Angola, previously mediating the Luanda Process, did not participate.
The leaders endorsed the EAC-SADC Ministerial meeting outcomes, which outlined a roadmap for stability in the war-torn region, where violence by armed groups, including M23's recent territorial gains, has worsened the humanitarian crisis.
Exclusive: Trump supporter Prince reaches deal with Congo to help secure mineral wealth
Summarize
Jessica DonatiApril 17, 202510:29 AM EDTUpdated a day ago
Erik Prince arrives for the New York Young Republican Club Gala in New York City
April 17 (Reuters) - Prominent Trump supporter Erik Prince has agreed to help Democratic Republic of Congo secure and tax its vast mineral wealth, according to two sources close to the private security executive, a Congolese government official and two diplomats.
The agreement, aimed at reaping more revenue from an industry marred by smuggling and corruption, was reached before Rwanda-backed M23 rebels launched a major offensive in January that has seen them seize eastern Congo's two largest cities.
The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here.
The discussions now on implementing the deal with Prince come as the U.S. and Congo explore a broader deal on critical minerals partnerships, after Congo pitched a minerals-for-security deal to U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.
Prince founded Blackwater before renaming the private military company and selling it in 2010 after several employees were indicted on charges of unlawfully killing Iraqi civilians. The men were convicted but later pardoned by Trump during his first term.
The Trump administration has not said how the U.S. might contribute to security in Congo as part of any minerals deal. Analysts and former U.S. officials have said leaning on security contractors such as Prince could be an option.
A Congolese government source told Reuters that any agreement between Congo and Prince would need to be reviewed in light of the push for a deal with the U.S.
The security deal was agreed with the finance ministry, and Prince's advisers will focus on improving tax collection and reducing cross-border smuggling of minerals, the two sources close to Prince said. There were no plans to deploy security contractors to areas of active conflict, the sources said.
Prince declined to comment through a spokesperson. The Congo presidency did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. State Department declined to comment.
INITIAL FOCUS ON COPPER MINES, SOURCE SAYS
Democratic Republic of Congo has vast reserves of copper, cobalt, lithium and coltan - a mineral used widely in smartphones, computers and electric vehicles - but has been plagued for decades by violence in its eastern region.
The agreement between Congo and Prince initially involved a plan to deploy contractors to Goma, the capital of North Kivu province and the largest city in eastern Congo. But Goma is now under M23 control and that plan has been put on hold. M23 controls tracts of mineral-rich territory.
A source close to the Congolese government told Reuters an initial deployment of Prince's advisers was expected to start in the south, far from the area controlled by M23 and its allies.
"If you just look at Katanga, if you look at Kolwezi down just off the Zambian-Congo border, they claim that there's like $40 million a month in lost revenue of what's going out and what's coming in," the source said.
A diplomatic source also told Reuters the first stage of Prince's effort in Congo would focus on securing mines and tax revenues in copper-producing Katanga province.
One of the sources close to Prince said advisers were expected to deploy with technical experts from a company specialised in testing and inspecting commodities. The advisers would initially target larger mines and expand as revenue collection improved.
The source did not provide details on how the advisers would tackle corruption in the sector that has long drained revenue that would otherwise flow to the state.
A source in the office of Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said an agreement in principle had been signed with Prince, but the details on where and how many advisers would be deployed remained to be established.
HISTORY OF WORKING IN AFRICA
Prince has worked in Africa for over a decade, initially providing logistics for oil and mining companies working in remote corners of the continent.
A number of Prince-controlled companies have operated in Congo since 2015. They have been involved in trucking and have also sought to get involved in the minerals sector.
The two sources close to Prince said the new agreement followed years of talks over how to improve Congo's control over its mineral resources.
Prince previously proposed sending thousands of contractors to the eastern region during talks with Kinshasa in 2023, a U.N. expert panel reported that year. Those discussions did not ultimately lead to a deal.
Congo has long accused Rwanda of plundering minerals from the region, a claim supported by independent entities including the United Nations and the nonprofit Global Witness. Rwanda denies that.
That loss of mining revenue is one of the key concerns that Prince's team will seek to address, one of the sources close to Prince said.
The goal is to ensure "that extraction industries and others are operating transparently, and that their production and revenues is properly distributed in accordance with the Congolese mining code", the source said.
United Nations and Western governments say Rwanda has provided arms and troops to the ethnic Tutsi-led M23.
Rwanda has denied backing M23. It says its military has acted in self-defence against Congo's army and a Rwandan militia operating in east Congo that was founded by perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide.
Reporting by Jessica Donati and Sonia Rolley; Editing by Robbie Corey-Boulet and Alison Williams
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Purchase Licensing Rights
Congo and Rwanda submit draft peace proposal, Trump adviser says
May 5, 202511:40 AM EDTUpdated 2 days ago
U.S. President Donald Trump's Senior Advisor for Africa Massad Boulos addresses a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali
U.S. President Donald Trump's Senior Advisor for Africa Massad Boulos addresses a press conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda April 8, 2025. REUTERS/Jean Bizimana/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
KINSHASA, May 5 (Reuters) - Congo and Rwanda have submitted a draft peace proposal as part of a process meant to end fighting in eastern Congo and attract billions of dollars of Western investment, U.S. President Donald Trump's senior adviser for Africa said on Monday.
It is the latest step in an ambitious bid by the Trump administration to end a decades-long conflict in a region rich in minerals including tantalum, gold, cobalt, copper and lithium.
The two countries' foreign ministers agreed last month, at a ceremony in Washington alongside U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to submit the draft proposal by May 2.
But neither Kinshasa nor Kigali has publicly confirmed doing so, and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said on Saturday on X that the two sides' contributions "have not yet been consolidated."
Massad Boulos, who is Trump's senior adviser for Africa and the Middle East, said on X on Monday that he welcomed "the draft text on a peace proposal received from both DRC and Rwanda," describing it as "an important step" towards peace.
Washington wants to move quickly. In an interview with Reuters last week, Boulos said the plan was for Rubio to meet in mid-May in Washington with his Rwandan and Congolese counterparts in an effort to agree on a final draft peace accord.
Before that accord can be signed, Boulos said, Rwanda and Congo must finalise bilateral economic agreements with Washington that will see U.S. and Western companies invest billions of dollars in Congolese mines and infrastructure projects to support mining in both countries, including the processing of minerals in Rwanda.
The hope is that all three agreements can be signed in about two months, and on the same day, at a ceremony attended by Trump, Boulos said.
FIGHTING CONTINUES
The diplomacy comes amid an advance by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more.
The United Nations and Western governments say Rwanda has provided arms and troops to M23. Rwanda denies backing M23 and says its military has acted in self-defence against Congo's army and a militia founded by perpetrators of the 1994 genocide.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi's government is engaged in separate talks with M23 facilitated by Qatar.
Last month Congo and the rebels agreed to work towards peace, but sources in the two delegations have expressed frustration with the pace of negotiations.
M23 is not involved in the talks in Washington, though Lawrence Kanyuka, spokesperson for the rebel alliance that includes M23, told Reuters last week that "we encourage any peace initiative."
Meanwhile, fighting in eastern Congo continues. Mak Hazukay, a spokesperson for Congo's army, on Saturday accused M23 of seizing the town of Lunyasenge on Lake Edward and said Congo "reserves the right to retaliate".
Reporting by Congo newsroom, Ange Adihe Kasongo in Kinshasa and Sonia Rolley in Paris Writing by Robbie Corey-Boulet; Editing by Ros Russell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Purchase Licensing Rights
get these nets
Veteran
Hidden invasion: Rwanda's covert war in the Congo
Leaked reports, satellite images and interviews reveal the extent of Rwanda's shadow war in the Congo, as the U.S. tries to strike a deal for peace and access to the region's minerals.
www.nbcnews.com
06/06/25
Hidden invasion: Rwanda's covert war in the Congo
Leaked reports, satellite images and interviews reveal the extent of Rwanda's shadow war in the Congo, as the U.S. tries to strike a deal for peace and access to the region's minerals.
06/06/25
Kagame gon Kagame
Every Congolese person I know hates rwandese
Rwanda quits Central African States over rights violations, political bias by DRC
Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the decision follows the 26th ECCAS Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where it says member states unlawfully denied...
eastleighvoice.co.ke
get these nets
Veteran
06/27/25
Rwanda and DR Congo to sign US-mediated peace agreement
Congolese and Rwandan officials are expected to sign a peace deal in Washington on Friday following a diplomatic push by US President Donald Trump's administration to end years of conflict that have…
www.france24.com
get these nets
Veteran
07/19/25
DR Congo, M23 rebels end fighting with truce deal in Qatar
The Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebel group agreed to an immediate cease-fire at a meeting in Qatar on Saturday. The representatives of both...
www.dailysabah.com
Similar threads
