Congolese leader, Felix Tshisekedi has accused Rwanda of being a major conduit of minerals looted from Congo to western countries.
In an interview with DW, a Germany media house, Tshisekedi said Rwanda has been helping the international community access the vital minerals in the eastern DRC since the mid 1990s.
“It’s (plunder of Congo’s mineral wealth) been going on for 30 years, ever since the international community asked us to open our borders to the influx of refugees fleeing the genocide in Rwanda,” said Tshisekedi on April 29.
“At that point, the genocidaires also slipped in. And they entered the Congo with their weapons because the order had been given from somewhere, still within the international community, to let them in with their weapons. And after that, Rwanda was given a right of pursuit, inviting itself into the Democratic Republic of Congo to hunt down these genocidaires…” he added.
“Meanwhile, Rwanda discovered that there were minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and made contacts in the international community that enabled it to sell these blood minerals — minerals obtained by using violence against our populations, forcing them to leave the areas where these minerals are found. Since then, Rwanda has become the representative of these minerals for the international community, for these multinationals.”
Congo boasts vast deposits of mineral wealth valued in trillions of dollars.
The development comes just weeks after Kinshasa’s lawyers accused US tech giant Apple of using illegally mined minerals in their products, minerals that were alleged to be extracted from Congolese mines, transported and then laundered mainly via Rwanda.
It is alleged these activities finance armed groups in eastern DRC.
In March 2023, Kagame dismissed claims that his government has been supporting M23 rebels to destabilise the mineral-rich eastern part of DR Congo to plunder the vast country’s natural wealth including coltan and gold.
Kagame said Rwanda has vast deposits of coltan, a mineral refined to tantalum powder to make heat-resistant capacitors in laptops, cellphones, and other high-end electronic devices globally.
“We have some minerals – coltan which they talk about – we have a lot of coltan,” said Kagame during a press conference in Kigali on Wednesday.
Kagame said the purity of Rwanda’s coltan is about 60% while DRC’s is about 20-30%.
He further said those accusing Rwanda of invading Congo to steal minerals “are looking for excuses to run away from their problems.”
Relations between the two countries have deteriorated in recent years over support of armed movements in eastern DRC.
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