Congo to Clamp Down on Companies Buying Conflict Minerals

(Bloomberg) -- Democratic Republic of Congo plans to clamp down on companies that buy or source minerals from its war-torn eastern region, where smuggling is fueling one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The country has already warned Apple Inc. that its purchase of metals like tin, tantalum and gold may be linked to violence in Congo and smuggled through neighboring Rwanda. The government is now investigating other companies as well, Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said, without naming them.

“We are also taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture of what this means in terms of supply chains, what this means in terms of companies that may be liable for contributing to destabilizing an entire region,” Kayikwamba said in an interview in New York last month. “There’s legal action that has been explored, but I wouldn’t want to divulge much more.”

Eastern Congo’s mineral riches have helped fuel conflict for nearly three decades, since fighting in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide spread over the border. The region is the world’s biggest source of tantalum, used in portable electronics.

Mineral smuggling from its eastern provinces costs the country billions of dollars, Kayikwamba said.

Earlier this year a rebel group known as the M23 took control of the nation’s biggest tantalum mine, Rubaya. Congo, the US and United Nations experts say Rwanda has sent thousands of troops to Congo to back the M23, one of more than 100 militias active in the country’s east. Rwanda denies the allegation.

In July, a UN group of experts on Congo said minerals from Rubaya were “ineligible for trade” under its due diligence guidelines because of their link to violence. Apple has previously said it did due diligence on its supply chain and found no links to Congo’s conflicts.

More than 6 million people are displaced in Congo, according to the UN. The displacement has complicated the country’s response to a large mpox outbreak in the east, Kayikwamba said.

Peace talks with Rwanda are slowly progressing under the oversight of Angola and with support from the US, according to the minister.

The conflict “has been going on for 30 years, so it’s also about learning lessons from the past and making sure we don’t repeat them,” she said. “I do not believe in negotiating to have a quick agreement.”

Congo is meanwhile calling for sanctions against Rwandan leaders for their role in the fighting.

“It’s about making sure that the decision makers are held accountable,” Kayikwamba said. “We do not speak about sanctions against the Rwandan people.”

The M23 says it’s fighting for the rights of Tutsis and other speakers of the Rwandan language in Congo.

The US and EU have sanctioned Rwandan officers allegedly coordinating operations in Congo. They’ve also sanctioned Congolese officers and multiple members of the M23 and other armed groups for their involvement in atrocities.