🔗 Share this article DRC Condemns EU's Rwanda Minerals Agreement as ‘Obvious Hypocrisy’ The Central African nation has described the European Union's persistent minerals agreement with Rwanda as demonstrating "obvious double standards" while implementing much broader sanctions in response to the Ukraine conflict. Government Strong Criticism Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the Congo's top diplomat, urged the EU to enact significantly tougher measures against Rwanda, which has been charged with intensifying the conflict in DRC's eastern territories. "This demonstrates clear double standards – I want to be constructive here – that makes us questioning and concerned about grasping why the EU continues to hesitate so much to take action," she emphasized. Ceasefire Deal Background The DRC and Rwanda agreed to a conflict resolution in June, brokered by the US and Qatar, designed to conclude the long-standing conflict. However, lethal incidents on civilians have persisted and a target date to establish a comprehensive peace agreement was missed in August. Expert Assessment Last year, a group of UN experts found that up to 4,000 Rwandan troops were supporting the M23 rebel group and that the Rwandan military was in "actual command of M23 operations." Rwanda has continually refuted backing M23 and claims its forces act in national security. Presidential Appeal The DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi, recently called upon his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to cease backing armed groups in the DRC during a Brussels event featuring both leaders. "This requires you to command the M23 troops backed by your country to end this deterioration, which has already led to sufficient fatalities," Tshisekedi stated. EU Sanctions The EU has imposed restrictions against 32 people and two groups – a rebel organization and a Rwandan mineral treatment facility processing unauthorized sources of the metal – for their participation in fuelling the conflict. Despite these conclusions of human rights abuses by the Rwandan army in the DRC, the EU executive has declined calls to cancel a 2024 mining agreement with Kigali. Resource Concerns Wagner described the partnership with Rwanda as "completely untrustworthy in a context where it has been established that Rwanda has been diverting Congolese resources" mined under harsh circumstances of compulsory work, affecting children. The United States and various countries have voiced apprehension about unauthorized transactions in gold and tantalum in DRC's east, extracted via forced labour, then smuggled to Rwanda for international trade to support armed groups. Human Catastrophe The violence in DRC's eastern territories remains one of the world's gravest emergency situations, with exceeding 7.8 million people internally displaced in affected areas and 28 million facing nutritional challenges, including 4 million at crisis conditions, according to UN reports. Global Involvement As the DRC's chief diplomat, Wagner approved the accord with Rwanda at the US presidential residence in June, which also attempts to give the United States greater access to DRC minerals. She asserted that the US remains involved in the diplomatic negotiations and denied allegations that sole motivation was the DRC's vast mineral wealth. European Partnership The EU leader, Ursula von der Leyen, inaugurated a summit by emphasizing that the EU wanted "cooperation based on shared objectives and respect for sovereignty." She featured the Lobito corridor – rail, road and water transport links – linking the mineral heartlands of the DRC and Zambia to Angola's Atlantic coast. Wagner recognized that the EU and DRC had a solid basis in the Lobito project, but "much has been diminished by the conflict in eastern DRC."