Forget Greenland and Canada - How about DR Congo?
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wrote on 22 Mar 2025, 00:57 last edited by
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.
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.