Catastrophic conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are growing worse. In the past few years, multiple armed conflicts, unprecedented flooding, and a dire humanitarian situation have displaced more than 7 million people, the second-largest displacement crisis in the world.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has suffered centuries of both commercial and colonial exploitation. It gained independence from Belgium in 1960. A country rich in natural resources, it is one of the poorest countries in the world. Since 2021 the Rwandan-backed M23 Rebels have been creating a humanitarian crisis and decimating Congolese resources. Before that in the 1990’s Rwandan-backed Tutsi militia were massacring civilians and looting resources.
In June 17, 2025, Trump sought a Congo/Rwandan peace deal that would grant the US access to critical materials, like tantalum, coltan, cobalt, copper, lithium, natural gas, and more, from the Democratic Republic of Congo. In This US-mediated peace deal, signed in December 2025, has not yet reduced the fighting in eastern Congo. The US seeks to decrease Chinese influence in Congo. It has teamed up with Orion Resource Partners and Abu Dhabi’s ADQ to establish a new 5-billion-dollar fund to invest in critical minerals and to reduce reliance on China’s supply chains.
People from the DRC do not have Temporary Protective Status in the U.S. Yet there are approximately 17,000 Congolese individuals here who potentially qualify for such protection. Congolese doctors, lawyers in the U.S., many of whom had careers in the DRC, want to work, but their asylum cases drag on for years, and some have not gotten work permits.
Jean Kigel Studio + Gallery 