Could Kinshasa reach a mineral agreement with the United States?

The Democratic Republic of Congo seems to be resorting to the United States in its last efforts to find an ally in its fight against the progress of the M23 rebels.

Recognizing that President Donald Trump’s White House is interested in transactional relations, and seeing the proposed Minerals Agreement of Ukraine -EE. UU., Dr. Congo, rich in resources, hopes to reach his own agreement with Washington.

It has also been reported that Trump will soon appoint his daughter’s father -in -law, Tiffany, for a key role in the region.

The spokesman of the Congolese government, Patrick Mostaya, confirmed to the Newsday program of the BBC that his country wanted to bring to the United States aboard and provide him with “critical minerals.”

“Of course … we can also talk about security,” he added.

Dr. Congo is in problems militarily.

The M23 combatants, backed by neighboring Rwanda, have made important advances in east of the east of the country.

The regional forces, first from the east and southern Africa, which were supposed to provide some help have not failed to stop the rebels. The M23 has talked about advancing to West in an attempt to seize the capital, Kinshasa, although it is 1,600 km (1,000 miles) away.

Given the dangers, it is not surprising that President Félix Tshisekedi may be looking for ways to underpin his position.

February 22, Tshisekedi was reported by the New York Times Having said that the Trump administration had shown interest in an agreement that involved strategic minerals.

The previous day, the Africa -usa Business Council, a Lobby group, wrote to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio on behalf of a Congolese senator describing a possible agreement that included an “economic and military association.”

It is estimated that Dr Congo has $ 24tn (£ 19tn) of unplug resources, including cobalt, gold and copper.

The country is currently the world’s largest cobalt supplier, which has defense and aerospace applications, in addition to being essential for batteries in electric vehicles, but most of this goes to China. It also has important lithium, tantal and uranium deposits, which also have military uses.

Although The United States is investing in a large infrastructure project – The Lobito Corridor – Designed to transport goods from Central Africa to a port in Angola, its companies are not involved in mining in Dr Congo.

As China dominates the Congolese mineral sector, there could be “a broad strategic gap, where adverse nations continue to monopolize Africa’s resources,” the letter told Rubio.

In theory, DR Congo could offer favorable terms to US companies to exploit resources.

But, according to the mining analyst Gregory Mthembu-Salter, such as the United States, unlike China, it depends on private commercial companies to do the job, they can decide that it is too risky doing business there.

But all this is highly speculative and a spokesman for the United States Department of the United States said that “there was nothing to ensure or announce at this time.”

However, the United States “is open to discuss associations in this sector” that are aligned with the Executive Order aimed at making the United States a “leading leader and processor of non -fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals.”

A key area could be to “strengthen military cooperation,” as the letter to Rubio says.

This would imply:

• Training and Equipment of Soldiers “to protect the supply routes”
• Give the United States access to military bases “to protect strategic resources”
• And “replace the ineffective operations for the maintenance of the UN peace with the direct cooperation of US-DRC security”.

The Congolese spokesman refused to confirm these details, but there is some skepticism about how realistic and immediately effective they could be.

According to Stephanie Wolters, regional analyst at the Institute of International Affairs of South Africa, if Kinshasa wants an American military presence in the east, then “that is not very likely to happen.”

In addition, “weapons and training are longer -term problems,” Focus on Africa told BBC.

“I think the scope made by the Congolese government is surely due to the active military situation in the east and I am not convinced that what the United States could offer in return is really something that can address the acute need at this time.”

The analyst of the Congolese mining industry, Jean-Pierre Okenda, said that some supervision of the agreement would be wise, which suggests that Parliament and civil society should also be consulted if it was going to serve the interests of people.

Looking at the general panorama, he said that he moves towards a more peaceful future need to address the “Cleptocratic Management of the State.”

A previous agreement with China that gave access to minerals in exchange for infrastructure projects was criticized for not delivering something that was promised.

TSHISEKEDI has renegotiated since then, but the lack of transparency in these conversations has been criticized.

Nothing concrete is likely to happen soon.

While Mujaya, speaking for Kinshasa, was vague with what we could expect, he told the BBC that “in the next few days we can have more details to share.”

He added that there was “the political will (of Tshisekedi) and I think that the United States has attention to those questions.”

On the United States side According to the Semafor news websitePresident Trump will announce that Massad Bouls will be the new regional envoy of the great lakes of the White House.

He is the father of Michael Bouls, who is married to Trump’s daughter, Tiffany, and has been serving as Trump’s main advisor at Arab and the Middle East since December.

Among its commercial interests is a company based in Nigeria that specializes in the distribution of motor vehicles and equipment in West Africa, and Kinshasa is expected to fly at some point in the coming weeks.