Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have consolidated control over the Rubaya coltan-mining region, imposing a production tax estimated to generate around $300,000 in monthly revenue, the United Nations Security Council heard on Monday.<\/p>\n
The M23 movement, a Tutsi-led organization purportedly backed by Rwanda, seized the area, which produces minerals used in smartphones and computers, following intense fighting in April.<\/p>\n
Bintou Keita, head of the U.N. mission in Congo, told the Security Council that trade from minerals in the Rubaya area accounts for over 15% of global tantalum supply.<\/p>\n
Congo is the world’s top producer of tantalum which is considered a critical mineral by the United States and the European Union.<\/p>\n
“This generates an estimated $300,000 in revenue per month to the armed group,” Keita said. “This is deeply concerning and needs to be stopped.”<\/p>\n
“The criminal laundering of the DRC’s natural resources smuggled out of the country is strengthening armed groups, sustaining the exploitation of civilian populations, some of them reduced to de-facto slavery, and undermining peace-making efforts,” Keita added.<\/p>\n
The majority of Congo’s mineral resources are situated in the east, a region plagued by conflict over land and resources between several armed factions. The situation has deteriorated since the resurgence of the M23 rebellion in March 2022.<\/p>\n
Thousands have been killed and over 1 million displaced since the resurgence in fighting.<\/p>\n
Manufacturers are under scrutiny to ensure that metals used in products such as laptops and batteries for electric vehicles are not sourced from conflict zones like eastern Congo.<\/p>\n
Keita said that as profits from mining have surged, armed groups have become militarized entrepreneurs, making them stronger both militarily and financially.<\/p>\n
“Unless international sanctions are imposed on those benefiting from this criminal trade, peace will remain elusive, and civilians will continue to suffer,” Keita said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have consolidated control over the Rubaya coltan-mining region, imposing a production tax estimated to generate around $300,000 in monthly revenue, the United Nations Security Council heard on Monday. The M23 movement, a Tutsi-led organization purportedly backed by Rwanda, seized the area, which produces minerals used in smartphones and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","source_name":"Reuters"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,2362,3028],"tags":[72,2128,1621,3248,140],"class_list":["post-13545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-east-africa","category-featured","category-mining","tag-democratic-republic-of-congo","tag-eastern-democratic-republic-of-congo","tag-m23-rebels","tag-rubaya","tag-rwanda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qiraatafrican.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}