PREVIEW
Under growing pressure, European foreign ministers review Kigali’s minerals agreement
The European Union moved closer to sanctioning Rwanda on 24 February after the bloc’s foreign ministers agreed to suspend defence cooperation with Kigali and put the controversial agreement on minerals access ‘under review’.
The EU, particularly the European Commission, has faced criticism from several member states and civil society groups for its reluctance to impose sanctions on Rwanda, following the capture of Goma and Bukavu in Kivu-Nord and Kivu-Sud by the M23 militia group and the Rwandan army (AC Vol 66 No 4, As Kinshasa fumes, Kigali plots its next move). Many have concluded that President Paul Kagame’s status as a valuable EU ally on development, minerals access and regional peacekeeping is the main reason for the reticence.
Suspending military cooperation could mean Rwanda losing €20 million a month in funding for a peacekeeping mission in Cabo Delgado, which the EU has funded for several years.However, it is development aid and the mineral agreement that would hurt the most.
Days after the Commission said that suspending the minerals deal could be ‘self-defeating’, the European Parliament agreed a strongly worded resolution demanding the suspension of aid and the minerals pact.
Rwanda received around US$1 billion in donor aid last year, with Germany and Belgium already having suspended their contributions. Meanwhile, the minerals agreement is worth up to €750m in EU investment to improve traceability and mining sustainability in exchange for access to minerals such as tin, tungsten and gold (AC Vol 66 No 3, Mineral riches).
Most EU governments are in favour of suspending the Memorandum of Understanding, but diplomats say that the EU Commission is deeply divided. Improving access to critical minerals needed to power the EU’s ‘green transition’ is one of the Commission’s main priorities. Ministers have discussed which procedures they could use to compel the Commission to suspend the minerals agreement.
As Africa Confidential went to press, the EU had not added individuals to its sanctions list. Last week, the United States Treasury sanctioned Rwanda’s minister for regional integration, James Kabarebe, under its Global Magnitsky Act. Kabarebe ‘orchestrated’ the Rwandan army’s support for M23 and was responsible for managing Rwanda and M23’s generation of revenue from the Congo-Kinshasa’s mineral resources, said the US Treasury.
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