The DRC has described the European Union's ongoing minerals partnership with Rwanda as exhibiting "evident contradiction" while enforcing far more extensive penalties in response to the Ukrainian crisis.
Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the Congo's top diplomat, urged the EU to impose significantly tougher measures against Rwanda, which has been charged with intensifying the conflict in DRC's eastern territories.
"It represents evident inconsistency – I strive to be productive here – that makes us questioning and inquisitive about comprehending why the EU continues to hesitate so much to implement measures," she declared.
The DRC and Rwanda ratified a conflict resolution in June, facilitated by the America and Qatar, designed to conclude the decades-old conflict.
However, deadly attacks on non-combatants have continued and a target date to achieve a comprehensive peace agreement was passed without success in August.
Last year, a United Nations panel reported that up to 4,000 Rwandan troops were operating with the M23 militant organization and that the Rwandan military was in "actual command of M23 operations."
Rwanda has continually refuted supporting M23 and maintains its forces act in national security.
The DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi, recently appealed to his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to stop supporting rebel forces in the DRC during a European gathering featuring both leaders.
"This demands you to instruct the M23 troops backed by your country to stop this deterioration, which has already led to numerous deaths," Tshisekedi stated.
The EU has imposed restrictions against 32 people and two groups – a rebel organization and a Rwandan mineral treatment facility handling contraband materials of the metal – for their participation in prolonging the conflict.
Despite these determinations of human rights abuses by the Rwandan army in the DRC, the Brussels administration has declined requests to cancel a 2024 resource partnership with Kigali.
Wagner labeled the memorandum of understanding with Rwanda as "void of any credibility in a context where it has been verified that Rwanda has been illegally extracting Congolese resources" obtained under brutal conditions of compulsory work, affecting children.
The United States and various countries have voiced apprehension about unauthorized transactions in mineral resources in Congo's eastern region, extracted via coerced employment, then illegally transported to Rwanda for export to support rebel organizations.
The unrest in eastern DRC remains one of the world's gravest emergency situations, with over 7.8 million people internally displaced in eastern DRC and 28 million experiencing nutritional challenges, including 4 million at crisis conditions, according to UN data.
As the DRC's top representative, Wagner approved the agreement with Rwanda at the White House in June, which also seeks to give the United States expanded opportunity to DRC minerals.
She stated that the US remains involved in the diplomatic negotiations and denied suggestions that primary interest was the DRC's vast mineral wealth.
The EU leader, Ursula von der Leyen, opened a gathering by emphasizing that the EU wanted "cooperation based on common interests and respect for sovereignty."
She emphasized the Lobito corridor – rail, road and water transport links – connecting the mining regions of the DRC and Zambia to Angola's ocean access.
Wagner admitted that the EU and DRC had a strong foundation in the Lobito project, but "a great deal has been diminished by the crisis in eastern DRC."
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