PREVIEW
Sanctions, an ICJ case and now a push for binding minerals rules – Kinshasa uses every channel against Kigali
President Félix Tshisekedi is using Kinshasa’s presidency of the UN Security Council (UNSC) in July to press for an international legal framework to block the trade in conflict minerals smuggled out of eastern Congo-Kinshasa. Less than a month earlier, the United States government sanctioned Rwanda’s main gold refinery after serial lobbying by Kinshasa.
The Security Council’s 29 June meeting renewed the UN’s sanctions regime on the war in eastern Congo until 1 July 2027 and extended the mandate of the Group of Experts responsible for overseeing it until 1 August next year. The sanctions include an arms embargo. But Congo's armed forces are exempt from the embargo on the supply of military equipment and assistance.
A tougher UN framework on illicit minerals could win over Washington, whose Alternative Representative for Political Affairs at the UN, Jennifer Locetta, welcomed the 29 June resolution by stating that ‘it is critical that we pursue those trafficking conflict minerals.’
Kinshasa’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Zenon Ngay Mukongo, is also expected to repeat demands for the full implementation of Resolution 2773, adopted in February 2025, which demands the withdrawal of Rwandan forces from eastern Congo.
Already this year, the US State Department has sanctioned the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF), as well as four of its senior commanders (AC Vol 67 No 5, More pressure on Kigali). Last month, it added the Gasabo Gold Refinery, and its Chairman Jean Malic Kalima, and General Manager Bosco Kayobotsi (Dispatches 29/6/26, US Treasury sanctions Rwandan gold refinery linked to M23 rebels).
In sanctioning Gasabo, the State Department pointed to vast shipments of gold to Rwanda from areas of eastern Congo controlled by the M23 militia.
Kinshasa is stepping up pressure against Rwanda on all fronts. On 26 June, Tshisekedi’s government filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Kigali of violating international conventions on genocide prevention, racial discrimination, torture and women’s rights.
Pushing for tighter rules on illicit minerals could also put the European Union in the spotlight. Kinshasa has been pushing for the EU to suspend its ‘cash for minerals access’ deal with Rwanda for several years, arguing that gold, cobalt and coltan from Congo has been smuggled into Rwanda and then sold on to European firms (AC Vol 66 No 6, M23 militia blocks peace talks until Brussels drops sanctions).
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