WHY CONGO IS BLEEDING

The Congolese people are living in poverty and dying at the hands of rebel groups thanks to Western greed. That’s the view political commentator Shahid Bolsen expresses in this clip.

He notes how the Congo is a treasure trove of all the minerals on which the modern world depends - sitting, for example, on 70% of global cobalt supplies. Makers of smartphones and e-cars would rather make a bigger profit by getting their minerals dirt cheap from conflict-marred supply chains than remove the incentive for militias like the M23 to keep on killing in their quest to capture ever more lucrative Congolese mines - while consumers of gadgets would rather pay less for them than pressure governments into forcing the big corporations to clean up their act.

This is not just about corporate greed, it is a neo-colonial economic war that benefits not only Western multinationals but also their regional allies. Since January, M23 have captured the two largest cities in Congo’s mineral rich east - Goma and Bukavu. At least 3,000 were killed in Goma, with 700,000 displaced. For years, the rebel group has served as a proxy for Rwandan and Ugandan commercial interests in DRC. Kinshasa claims to lose $1 billion a year to resource theft by its neighbours. M23 reportedly makes around $800,000 a month from taxation on mining in Rubaya, a town captured in 2024.

Video credit: Middle Nation (YouTube)

Sources

DRC Cobalt supply

https://www.cfr.org/blog/why-cobalt-mining-drc-needs-urgent-attention 

So much poverty amid so much wealth

https://www.globalhungerindex.org/case-studies/2020-drc.html 

Niger ends French exploitation

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/21/niger-revokes-french-nuclear-groups-licence-at-major-uranium-mine 

M23 capture east Congo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cekly000ymlo 

Goma killed and displaced

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/06/africa/dr-congo-goma-violence-deaths-intl-hnk/index.html 

https://dutchrelief.org/goma-drc-acute-crisis-joint-response/ 

DRC loses $1 billion a year

https://issafrica.org/iss-today/rampant-cobalt-smuggling-and-corruption-deny-billions-to-drc 

M23 makes $800,000 a month

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-the-drc-battles-rwanda-backed-m23-what-s-needed-to-stop-the-fighting/ar-AA1yYzHD