PREVIEW
The Trump administration is taking a transactional approach to diplomacy in Africa
Five Democratic Congress members have sent a letter to President Donald Trump’s Africa advisor Massad Boulos demanding details of the administration’s deal on critical minerals that has accompanied its peacemaking between Congo-Kinshasa and Rwanda.
The letter refers to the 25 April declaration April between Kinshasa and Kigali, brokered by Qatar and Washington, which has pointed the way towards a ceasefire and peace talks.
The Congress members express concern that Trump’s officials ‘have not articulated the terms and conditions under negotiation for expanded U.S. access to the DRC’s critical minerals (if any), and how these resources will be managed transparently and equitably.’ The letter calls for clarity on the ‘specific terms and conditions’ and asks how they will be made public.
The Trump administration’s handling of the war in eastern Congo-K looks more like a business deal than diplomacy. Its focus is on minerals access for US firms and potential US investment rather than, for example, the humanitarian crisis in the Kivu region (AC Vol 66 No 8, How Trump’s in-law shut down the Kinshasa lobbyists).
In response, the lawmakers state that Washington must ‘resume U.S. humanitarian and global health assistance to conflict-affected regions in the DRC’. Yet Trump’s advisors appear keen to instead replicate the transactional model that has characterised its Africa policy so far (Dispatches, 6/5/25, Ceasefire, minerals deal and troops out as peace deal takes shape).
We hear that in South Sudan – which had a US visa ban on its nationals imposed after Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Juba of ‘taking advantage’ of the US – a potential deal giving US companies access to oil and minerals could also be on the cards, with Boulos once again involved.
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