On 27 June Africa Confidential reported that Gentry Beach – hedge fund executive chair of America First Global and the finance co-chair of Trump's 2016 election campaign – was negotiating with the Tshisekedi government to acquire the Rubaya permit...
Peace on paper – war on the ground A United Nations Group of Experts (GoE) report identifies four key dynamics that threaten the viability of the United States-brokered peace deal between Congo-Kinshasa and Rwanda: The Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) militia and its political wing the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC) are consolidating control over governance land rights and natural resources in Kivu Nord and Kivu Sud The Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) exercises control over the dominant M23 faction supporting its seizure of Goma and Bukavu earlier this year (Dispatches 18/2/25 Silence in Addis as M23 takes Bukavu AC Vol 66 No 3 After seizing Goma Kigali's rebels head south & Vol 66 No 4 As Kinshasa fumes Kigali plots its next move) The Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) is expanding operations in eastern Congo-K and backing its own M23-aligned faction The M23 fully controls the Rubaya tantalum mine targeted for investment by a US consortium led by Gentry Beach and America First Global and is smuggling coltan to Rwanda at what the UN calls ‘unprecedented levels' (Dispatches 6/5/25 Ceasefire minerals deal and troops out as peace deal takes shape AC Vol 66 No 8 Washington tries a new push in Kinshasa & Vol 66 No 13 Trump family allies broker security and mining deals in Central Africa)...
READ FOR FREE
US Africa Envoy Massad Boulos and US hedge fund executive Gentry Beach – both with close links to US President Donald J Trump's family – were prime movers in the discreet business-infused negotiations leading to the signing of a peace accord between the foreign ministers of Congo-Kinshasa and Rwanda in Washington DC on 27 June (Dispatches 16 June Washington wants security-mining deal finalised by end of June)...
Alongside the Boulos mission Gentry Beach has been surveying the commercial prospects of Congo's mining sector; he is a hunting partner and business associate of Donald Trump Junior they studied at Pennsylvania University together...