The war for minerals in the Congo: the tragedy that nobody wants to look (but everyone should know)

Why is what happens in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? If you are reading this article from your computer or your cell phone, you will know that this device works thanks to chips, the same ones that are made with materials made of some metals, such as coltan or cobalt. Metals that are extracted, for the most part, from the Congolese mines. So his cell phone is American, Korean or Chinese, is made of raw materials of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The RDC, which is the size of almost all Western Europe, is the first world producer of Tantalus (from which the coltan is obtained) and cobalt, and from its entrails gold, copper and diamonds are also extracted. Sufficient reasons for its mineral resources – whose value is calculated at 24,000 million dollars – are one of the most desired on the planet, something that instead of being a blessing for its inhabitants has only brought wars and misery. Wars fed by many factors, but encouraged especially by ethnic differences, armed militias, corrupt governments and the interests of foreign powers.

The last crisis has had its peak this week, when the M23 Rebel Group captured rubber, a strategic city of almost 2 million inhabitants located near the Rwanda border. His next objective is to take the capital, Kinshasa, to overthrow the current government of President Félix Tshisekedi.

The M23 is one of the hundred Congolese rebel groups that also captured rubber in 2012, although for only a few days. But since 2022 he launched a new offensive with the support of the Rwanda army and began his gradual advance towards various cities, reaching strategic locations in the province of Kivu del Norte, one of the richest in minerals, and causing the displacement of More than 6 million people.

And here comes one of the knots: the ethnic conflict that remains unresolved between two neighboring countries: the RDC and Rwanda.

The consequences of genocide

In 1994, Rwanda lived one of his bloodiest chapters: the genocide that ended the life of almost a million people, mostly of the Tutsi ethnic group, at the hands of the Hutus, which then ruled the country. The wounds of the massacre still persist and survive in this new chapter.

The M23 is an armed group that claims to defend the Tutsi ethnic group in the RDC – many tutsis had to take refuge in that country – and receives support from the Rwandan army, although not officially. On the other hand, Rwanda accuses the Congolese army and his government of supporting a militia founded by Hutus who were leaders of the genocide – a good number of Hutus fled to the RDC – and who seek to recover power in Rwanda.

“In Rwanda, the collective traum Genocide perpetrators and their descendants, ”explains the geographer and analyst Néstor Siurana to El Comercio.

“The cycle of violence and distrust has remained between the two countries and is not going to close in many years,” he adds.

Since the mid -1990s, armed conflicts became recurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo also encouraged by the exploitation of rare earth minerals that since that time have become essential in electronic devices.

“The ineffective administration of natural resources in Congo is due to many factors that are related to them. First is the Belgian colonization in the area (occurred in the mid -nineteenth century), which separated the Congo from Rwanda and Burundi, with borders that did not take into account the peoples; Then corruption, institutional weakness and lack of transparency that have allowed the benefits of mineral resources not to reach the population. In addition, the control of these wealth has always been a point of conflict between all the militias in the area, which are quite, the government and foreign companies, which has increased the conflict, ”explains Siurana, Spanish researcher of the Sub -Saharan Africa and of armed conflicts in the continent.

All this, without losing into account the lack of regulation that has allowed illegal exploitation and abuse to the miners – many of them minors – who work in almost enslaving conditions.

A geopolitical game

After rubber taking, the negotiations are underway, although few hope that a rapid resolution will be reached. The Congolese president has already summoned the young people of his country to enlist in the army to combat M23. And the Rwanda government is not putting calm either and is using a quite aggressive speech that can become a regional conflict in which Uganda, Burundi or South Africa could be involved.

“The intervention of foreign troops is generating an internationalization of the conflict, increasing the risks of a larger confrontation in the region,” says Siurana.

And this puts more tension to the situation, because the Congolese and Ruandeses seem to be in the middle of a high -level geopolitical conflict, such as the one that is lived between China and the Western powers.

“The interest in the strategic minerals of the RDC has turned the region into a scenario of geopolitical competence between the West and China. Chinese investments in infrastructure and mining are very high, and although they present development opportunities they also pose concerns about the exploitation of resources and political influence, since many of the current RDC mines are financed by China and also by armed groups ”

In the midst of all these conflicts, peace does not seem to be a close reality for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, especially if in their territory are the most fundamental minerals for our daily lives.

This is explained by Siddharth Kara, in his book “Red cobalt”: there are many episodes in the history of the Congo more bloody than what is happening today in the mining sector, but none has meant so much suffering in exchange for so much benefit indissolubly in the style of life of billions of people around the world. ”