MINERAL WARS

PLACE OF BIRTH IS NOT A CHOICE

Conditions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are catastrophic despite the U.S. mediated peace deal of June 17, 2025. This deal has not reduced the fighting in eastern Congo. But it has granted the U.S. access to the DRC’s critical materials, like tantalum, coltan, cobalt, copper, lithium, natural gas, thus reducing U.S. reliance on China’s supply chains. Hoping to decrease Chinese influence in the area, the U.S. 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 in Rwanda.

HIstorically, the DRC has suffered centuries of both commercial and colonial exploitation. In 1960, the DRC gained independence from Belgium. A country rich in natural resources, the DRC is one of the poorest countries in the world. In the past decades, the DRC has suffered multiple armed conflicts, like that in the 1090’s when the Rwandan-backed Tutsi militia massacred civilians and looted resources. Since 2021 the Rwandan-backed M23 Rebels continue to create a humanitarian crisis and decimate Congolese resources. Wars and extreme flooding have displaced more than 7 million Congolese, creating the second-largest displacement crisis in the world.

Approximately 62,500 people from the Democratic Republic of Congo and43,000 from the Republic of Congo have settled as refugees in the U.S. The U.S. doesn’t not grant them Temporary Protective Status, though at least 17,000 Congolese individuals would qualify for such protection. These are Congolese doctors and lawyers who want to work, but their asylum cases drag on for years, and some of them have not gotten work permits.