Trump’s ‘peace deal’ with Rwanda and Congo is a joke

US President Donald Trump has signed a so-called peace deal between the US, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the Republic of Rwanda.

Naturally, given the Americans are involved the deal is no more than a resource grab. Trump said that the US will be:

involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest companies over to the two countries… we’re going to take out some of the rare earth and take out some of the assets and pay… and everybody’s going to make a lot of money.

Historically, when an American president says “everybody’s going to make a lot of money” that tends to be the signal for American companies to ravage other nations for their resources, before legging it back home.

Trump: colonialism with a fresh coat of paint

Trump continued that:

Today, the United States is also signing our own bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals and provide economic benefits for everybody.

Ultimately, this deal is colonialism with a fresh coat of paint. Anthropologist Jason Hickel said:

The US-brokered “peace deal” between the DRC and Rwanda is actually wild. The US is getting access to $2 trillion worth of DRC minerals in exchange for forcing the withdrawal of Rwandan-backed M23 militias. That’s one-tenth of the DRC’s total mineral wealth, more than any single foreign country claims.

He exposed the brutal mechanics of this deal: first the Western powers starve a nation of instability, then demand its minerals as the price for peace. And, as Hickel explained:

This is strange, because analysts of the region have long argued that the US has effectively enabled Rwandan support for the M23 in order to destabilize the DRC, prevent a functional state from arising and achieving sovereignty over its mineral wealth, and thus ensure minerals stay cheaply available for US firms.

The Democratic Republic of Congo produces nearly 70% of the world’s cobalt and substantial shares of global copper and coltan, minerals essential for everything from electric vehicles to advanced weapons systems. So far, so predictable.

Fragile Peace

Trump further boasted that his administration had concluded deals with other countries including with Australia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, South Korea for mineral supplies this year.

The president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Felix Tshisekedi, has already accused Rwanda of violating a newly signed US-brokered peace deal, as the Kigali-backed M23 armed group pressed ahead with a rapid advance on a town near the border with Burundi.

Scholars have warned that this so-called deal might not bring lasting resolution. According to Dr Philipp Kastner, this peace deal lacks the four essential elements for a lasting resolution: real commitment (not tactical pauses), unambiguous (not vague promises), clear timelines (for disarmament and justice), and implementation provisions.

UK’s Critical Mineral Strategy

In their desperate scrabble for geopolitical power, the UK is eager to follow in American footsteps. Military think tank Royal United Services Institute has hinted at a more “muscular” critical mineral policy for the UK. Put plainly, the kind of colonial theft that Hickel describes above.

The recent Critical Mineral Strategy from Starmer’s government was praised by Chatham House for being a “foundation” of the UK’s green growth and security agenda. However, the strategy completely fails to lay out a plan for fair and reciprocal partnerships with resource-rich countries in the global south.

In a statement Global Justice Now said:

Beyond buzzwords, the UK’s Critical Minerals Strategy completely fails to lay out a plan for fair and reciprocal partnerships with resource-rich countries in the global south. While the strategy offers warm words on the value addition and local benefit they need, the trade policy levers outlined solely prioritise the UK’s access to markets.

In other words, the UK is clearly looking to Trump’s example in Rwanda and Congo to steal more resources.

US-led institutions will continue to play an important role for the UK. The UK critical mineral strategy says:

We will support this more targeted international approach through engagement in multilateral forums such as the G7, G20, Minerals Security Partnership (MSP), International Energy Agency (IEA) and NATO, along with promoting responsible and transparent supply chains through initiatives such as the Global Clean Power Alliance (GCPA).

Let’s be clear. Despite framing critical minerals as part of a plan for national security and green transition – the strategy means that the West wants to mine more resources from the Global South. Not exactly very fucking green, is it?

Industrial ecologists hold that global extraction and use of materials should not exceed 50 billion tons per year. In 2015, the global economy was using 87 billion tons per year, overshooting the boundary by 74% and driving ecological breakdown. This overshoot is driven almost entirely by excess resource consumption in Global North countries.

Trump’s latest deal with Rwanda and Congo is modern colonialism in action. And, if Starmer gets his way, the UK could soon follow with a deal that greenwashes colonial theft.

Featured image via the Canary