War in Congo

Rwanda: investment location

Germany, along with the EU and other Western states, has been cooperating closely with Rwanda for years. Rwanda was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 to 1916. Berlin is funding Kigali with large allocations from its international development budget. Most recently, in October 2022, it pledged 93.6 million euros for a three-year period, two-thirds of the sum being classified as Financial Cooperation to promote investment. Rwanda is also one of the countries that Germany has included in the G20 Compact with Africa initiative, which aims to improve the framework for foreign investment in participating African countries. A German Business Desk has been set up in Kigali to promote investment.[1] In addition, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development opened a “digital transformation centre” there in 2019. According to official statements, the facility is intended to “serve as a bridge” between German companies and research institutions and Rwandan companies.[2] Volkswagen opened a plant in Kigali in 2018, and German vaccine manufacturer BioNTech has had a production facility in the country since 2023. In Europe, Rwanda has recently been in the spotlight as a potential partner in plans to outsource asylum procedures to far-off locations, an option also being reviewed by Berlin.[3]

Raw materials supplier

Rwanda is, however, of crucial importance as a supplier of raw materials. For decades, it has been clear to observers that Rwanda exports significantly larger quantities than it mines on its own territory. A large proportion of Rwanda’s raw material exports come from the neighbouring areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially from the eastern Congolese provinces of North and South Kivu, which are extremely rich in raw materials. Since the start of the major war in the east of the DR Congo in 1996, Kigali has supported militias, particularly those active in North Kivu, which illegally shift a significant portion of the mineral wealth mined in the area across the border to Rwanda. Kinshasa is losing huge sums of money as a result. In 2023, the DR Congo finance minister, Nicolas Kazadi, estimated the losses at one billion US dollars per year.[4] But more importantly, the actions of Rwandan-backed militias ensure – with Kigali’s backing – that there is no end to the war in eastern Congo. Two decades ago, human rights organisations began drawing attention to the consequences for local people of exploiting coltan and other resources. Coltan, which is used in the production of mobile phones and other electronic products, is mined in North Kivu, often under the worst imaginable working conditions. It is then smuggled to Rwanda and exported from there. While Kigali enjoys the profits, misery and war remain for the people of eastern Congo.

‘Blood minerals’

Campaigns over many years against the purchase of “blood minerals” from eastern Congo, supplied via Rwanda, have regularly fizzled out because Western countries prioritise close cooperation with Kigali as they secure key mineral imports. Maintaining relations with Kigali has involved a cover-up of the smuggling and violent rampages by the Rwandan-backed militias in eastern Congo. In February last year, the EU even signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rwandan government that explicitly envisages close cooperation in the extraction and processing of mineral resources. The focus here is on “resilient value chains for critical raw materials”. For one thing, these resources are indispensable for the technologies required to transition towards a greener and more sustainable economy. The European Commission expressly emphasises the role of Rwanda in exporting particularly large quantities of tantalum, which is extracted from coltan.[5] Human rights organisations warn of the high risk that “blood minerals” will enter the EU on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding.[6] Brussels claims to be using monitoring systems to make sure this doesn’t happen. However, experts point out that these mechanisms have long been circumvented with all sorts of tricks employed in the day-to-day smuggling operations from eastern Congo to Rwanda, making the EU’s efforts essentially ineffective.

War of conquest

To secure access to eastern Congolese raw materials, Rwanda reactivated the M23 militia in 2021, which was originally formed in 2012. In 2022, United Nations experts reported on evidence that M23 not only had unusually modern weapons but was also supported by troops from the Rwandan armed forces operating directly on DR Congo territory. With their help, M23 took control of widening areas of the terrain, especially those with new deposits of raw material. The military activities continued even after the formal conclusion of a ceasefire between the DR Congo and Rwanda in July 2024. UN experts were estimating at the beginning of this year that between 3,000 and 4,000 soldiers from the official Rwandan armed forces were now deployed in North Kivu, where they were taking part in an offensive by the M23 militia.[7] At the end of January, they jointly succeeded in capturing Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. After a brief period of ceasefire, the militia resumed its attacks last Tuesday.[8] Countless people have now lost their lives. Last week, it was reported that more than two thousand bodies of people killed in the fighting were incinerated in Goma after the M23 invasion. According to the UNHCR, the number of refugees now living in the Kivu provinces, mostly in miserable conditions, is approaching five million.[9]

The Green Corridor

The Rwandan offensive leading to the occupation of large parts of the Kivu provinces is happening at a time when the DR Congo has approached the EU with an offer of cooperation for the exploitation of the eastern Congolese mineral reserves. Kambale Musavuli, an analyst with the Center for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa (CERECK), has pointed this out. He writes that the President of the DR Congo, Félix Tshisekedi, promoted his new “Green Corridor” initiative at January’s World Economic Forum in Davos.[10] The initiative includes numerous development measures in a huge strip of land along the Congo River, ranging from renewable energy generation and promotion of agriculture to the creation of transport infrastructure. A long-term aim of the “Green Corridor” is to connect the eastern Congolese Kivu provinces with the capital Kinshasa.[11] As Kambale Musavuli reports, it will form a rival line of communication to the traditional transport and smuggling route that runs from the Kivu provinces through Rwanda and Uganda to Kenya. The European Commission recently confirmed its intention to support the creation of the “Green Corridor” and the associated construction of transport infrastructure.[12] Ultimately, up to one million tonnes of agricultural goods could be transported from the Kivu provinces to Kinshasa via the corridor each year, not to mention the movement of raw materials.

Protest

People in DR Congo are protesting against the war raging in the Kivu provinces, against the occupation of large swathes of land by M23 militiamen and Rwandan troops, and against tacit Western approval of their murderous activities. At the end of January angry demonstrators took to the streets in Kinshasa and attacked the embassies of Rwanda, the United States, France and Belgium, among others.[13] Protests have also taken place in other cities across the DR Congo. Activists are calling for a demonstration in Berlin this Saturday. The rally will condemn Germany’s de facto consent to Rwanda’s military intervention in the east of DR Congo.

[1], [2] Ruanda. bmz.de.

[3] Judith Kohlenberger: Das Ruanda-Modell ist gescheitert – das sollte man endlich auch in Berlin verstehen. spiegel.de 17.07.2024.

[4] Lorraine Mallinder: ‘Blood minerals’: What are the hidden costs of the EU-Rwanda supply deal? aljazeera.com 02.05.2024.

[5] EU and Rwanda sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Sustainable Raw Materials Value Chains. ec.europa.eu 19.02.2024.

[6] Lorraine Mallinder: ‘Blood minerals’: What are the hidden costs of the EU-Rwanda supply deal? aljazeera.com 02.05.2024.

[7] Romain Chanson: RDC, Rwanda et M23 : ce que contient le dernier rapport de l’ONU. jeuneafrique.com 08.01.2025.

[8] Amid DR Congo ceasefire, Goma residents race to bury 2,000 bodies. aljazeera.com 05.02.2025. Rwanda-backed M23 fighters resume attacks in DR Congo after two-day pause. aljazeera.com 11.02.2025.

[9] UNHCR gravely concerned by worsening violence and humanitarian crisis in eastern DR Congo. unhcr.org 24.01.2025.

[10] Kambale Musavuli: Congolese General Cirimwami assassinatd in North Kivu, escalating the region’s crisis. peoplesdispatch.org 25.01.2025.

[11] Gill Einhorn, Emmanuel de Merode: The Democratic Republic of Congo to create the Earth’s largest protected tropical forest reserve. weforum.org 22.01.2025.

[12] Global Gateway: A Green Corridor preserving the last lungs of the earth through green economic growth. international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu 22.01.2025.

[13] Protesters attack French, US, Rwandan embassies in DRC. aljazeera.com 28.01.2025.