The US has authorized the Pareco-FF armed group and the Congolese Mining Company CDMC.
The US has approved an armed group accused of illegal mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This exchanged accusations that both the Army and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group had breached a ceasefire contract via US, which they had recently reached, by attacking each other’s positions.
The US Treasury Department said Tuesday it blocked all profits and restricted transactions with Pareco-FF, an armed group that managed Rubaya’s major Koltan mining sites from 2022-2024 and said it was opposed to the M23 group.
President Donald Trump’s administration has promoted access to minerals in the region, as he has done in other parts of the world, including Ukraine.
He also slapped sanctions at the Congolese mining company CDMC, saying it was accused of selling smuggled minerals from mines near Lubaya and two Hong Kong-based export companies and purchasing minerals from armed groups.
“The United States has sent a clear message that armed groups and commercial groups will not be affected by sanctions if they impair the peace, stability or security of the DRC,” State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
Lubaya is currently under the control of the M23 Group, which is subject to US sanctions. The mines there produce 15-30% of the world’s supply of Coltan, a mineral used in electronic devices such as laptops and mobile phones.
Many Pareco rebels were integrated into the DRC forces in 2009, but the Pareco-FF appeared in 2022 in response to the M23 gain.
The sanctions came in the statement as Congolese Army spokesman Sylvain Ekenge said in a statement that the M23 Group’s “nearly daily” attack constituted a “deliberate and clear violation” of the declaration of principles it signed in Doha in mid-July.
It followed another peace agreement between the Congo and Rwandan governments, signed in Washington, DC the previous month, which helped the US government and US companies gain control of key minerals in the region.
The Congolese army said it was ready to respond “to all the provocations from this (M23 group) coalition, which is used to violating the agreement.”
M23 spokesman Lawrence Cannuca said in a post on X on Monday that the DRC government is continuing “aggressive military operations aimed at full-scale war.”
A region that covers Rwanda, which has a wealth of natural resources but is plagued by non-state armed groups, the eastern DRC has been suffering from extreme violence for more than 30 years.
A new surge of unrest broke out when the M23 group acquired key cities in Goma and Bukavu as the M23 group acquired key cities in Goma and Bukavu, killing thousands of people in the conflict.
Despite the US-Qatar-brokered peace agreement, violence continues on the ground, with the fight becoming more intense since Friday around the town of Mulanba in South Kivu, where the frontline has been relatively stable since March.
The M23 attacked positions held by the Prokinshasa militia and the Army between Friday and Monday, pushing back several kilometres after using light weapons to collide, local security sources said.
The DRC government and the M23 rebels agreed to sign a permanent peace agreement by August 18th, but the new battle threatens this effort.
