The Central African nation has described the European Union's ongoing minerals agreement with Rwanda as demonstrating "clear double standards" while implementing significantly wider restrictions in response to the Ukraine conflict.
Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the Congo's foreign minister, called for the EU to enact far more severe restrictions against Rwanda, which has been alleged to exacerbate the conflict in Congo's eastern region.
"This shows obvious inconsistency – I want to be helpful here – that has us curious and inquisitive about comprehending why the EU repeatedly finds it difficult so much to enact sanctions," she stated.
The DRC and Rwanda agreed to a peace agreement in June, mediated by the United States and Qatar, designed to resolve the long-standing dispute.
However, fatal assaults on ordinary citizens have endured and a deadline to establish a comprehensive peace agreement was missed in August.
Last year, a group of UN experts reported that up to 4,000 Rwandan troops were fighting alongside the M23 militant organization and that the Rwandan military was in "de facto control of M23 operations."
Rwanda has continually refuted supporting M23 and asserts its forces act in self-defence.
The DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi, recently appealed to his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to cease backing armed groups in the DRC during a Brussels event featuring both leaders.
"This necessitates you to command the M23 troops assisted by your country to halt this intensification, which has already led to enough casualties," the president declared.
The EU has imposed restrictions against 32 individuals and two organizations – a rebel organization and a Rwandan gold refiner dealing in illegal supplies of the metal – for their role in prolonging the conflict.
Despite these conclusions of human rights abuses by the Rwandan army in the DRC, the EU executive has declined calls to terminate a 2024 resource partnership with Kigali.
Wagner characterized the agreement with Rwanda as "void of any credibility in a environment where it has been verified that Rwanda has been diverting DRC minerals" mined under severe situations of forced labour, including children.
The United States and numerous nations have voiced apprehension about illicit commerce in gold and tantalum in Congo's eastern region, mined via compulsory work, then illegally transported to Rwanda for shipment to finance militant factions.
The violence in DRC's eastern territories remains one of the world's most severe emergency situations, with exceeding 7.8 million people relocated within country in eastern DRC and 28 million facing nutritional challenges, including 4 million at crisis conditions, according to UN assessments.
As the DRC's top representative, Wagner ratified the accord with Rwanda at the American administration in June, which also aims to give the United States greater access to DRC minerals.
She stated that the US remains engaged in the resolution efforts and dismissed allegations that primary interest was the DRC's vast mineral wealth.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, opened a conference by stating that the EU wanted "collaboration based on mutual benefits and respect for sovereignty."
She emphasized the Lobito corridor – rail, road and water transport links – linking the mineral heartlands of the DRC and Zambia to Angola's western shoreline.
Wagner acknowledged that the EU and DRC had a firm groundwork in the Lobito project, but "much has been diminished by the conflict in eastern DRC."
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