CONGO WAR BIRTHED RWANDA'S MINERAL INDUSTRY

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has long claimed that his country’s military forays into the mineral-rich eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are necessitated by security concerns. Kagame asserts that he wants to neutralise threats to Rwanda posed by the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) - perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide, who fled into Congo.

Claude Gatebuke, a Rwanda Genocide survivor, argues that Kigali’s excuse for involvement in DR Congo is a mask for a chance to plunder the country’s vast mineral wealth - valued at an astonishing $24 trillion. A significant share of Congolese minerals is funnelled into profitable global markets via neighbouring Rwanda, whose mining sector picked up speed around 1996, when the First Congo War broke out.

Although Rwanda possesses a relatively modest mineral portfolio compared with the DRC, it reported mining revenues exceeding $1.1 billion in 2023, marking a 43% year-on-year increase. Particularly striking is the data concerning 3T minerals: tin (cassiterite), tungsten (wolframite), and tantalum (coltan). A 2021 report from the US Geological Survey revealed that the United States sourced 36% of its tantalum imports from Rwanda, the highest share among global suppliers, while only 7% came from the DRC.

UN reports highlight Rwanda's role as a conduit for illicitly and violently obtained Congolese mineral resources, a fact that Kagame has openly admitted. A December 2024 UN experts’ report noted that after the Kigali-sponsored M23 rebel group seized Rubaya in east DRC, home to the region's largest coltan mine, it imposed substantial taxes on the extracted minerals and ensured their transfer to Rwanda.

During a ministerial swearing-in ceremony in November 2022, Kagame remarked, "Some people come from Congo, whether they smuggle or go through the right channel, they bring minerals, but most of it goes through here but does not stay here. It goes to Dubai, to Brussels, Tel Aviv…”

Sources:

https://www.mining.com/web/congo-rebel-gains-to-boost-illicit-mineral-trade-through-rwanda-analysts-say/

https://docs.un.org/en/s/2024/969

https://amsterdamandpartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024.04.25-AP-DRC-Blood-Minerals.pdf

https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2021/mcs2021.pdf

https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/rwanda-mining-and-minerals

https://youtu.be/Opf0b_svQl8?t=3444

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/2/blood-minerals-what-are-the-hidden-costs-of-the-eu-rwanda-supply-deal

https://www.forbesafrica.com/opinion/op-ed/2023/03/29/rwandas-mining-sector-is-poised-for-even-more-growth-as-commodity-prices-continue-to-rise/