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By Emmanuel Ukaobasi
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains one of the clearest examples of the contradictions at the heart of imperialism in Africa: the louder the international powers speak about peace. stability, and humanitarianism, the more deeply they become entangled in the political and economic structures surrounding the country’s enormous mineral wealth.
It seems that the recent United States peace process has failed to resolve the fundamental contradictions underlying the conflict. Rather, diplomatic agreements, ceasefires and international control over Congo’s strategic resources intensifies.
The Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, signed in Washington, on December 4, 2025 between President Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, with President Donald Trump as witness, were presented as an important step forward ending decades of conflict in the mineral rich eastern Congo. According to the Accord, Rwanda agreed to withdraw its troops from eastern DRC and cease support for the M23 rebel group.
In return, the DRC pledged to neutralise the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia. The deal establishes a permanent ceasefire, disarmament of non-state armed forces and safety measures for returning refugees. The Regional Economic Integration Framework (REIF) promotes joint projects in mining, energy, infrastructure, and trade between the DRC and Rwanda.
Then the United States entered into strategic partnerships with them to help govern and access critical minerals in the region, bringing major American companies into local extraction and infrastructure projects.
Analysts, however, point out that key local armed groups, such as M23, were left out of direct pact negotiations, leading to persistent localized fighting. Critics express concern that the deal prioritizes external economic access to critical minerals (cobalt, lithium, tantalum, copper, gold) over grassroots accountability and peacebuilding. The continuing violence demonstrates the limitations of diplomatic processes that are negotiated largely by governments and external powers while the interests and voices of ordinary Congolese people remain marginalised.
The central contradiction is glaring. Washington, Doha, Quatar, the African Union, yet eastern Congo continues to experience insecurity. The parties have repeatedly committed themselves to ceasefires and de-escalation, but implementation has remained fragile. Only in June 2026, the Joint Oversight Committee involving the DRC, Rwanda, the U.S., Qatar and African Union representatives expressed concern over escalating fighting, drone strikes and the deteriorating humanitarian situation.
Even in August 2026, negotiations were continuing, with the parties agreeing on further steps under the Doha framework and ceasefire monitors beginning to deploy in eastern Congo. The Doha Framework is a peace agreement signed on November 15, 2025, between the government of the DRC and the Alliance Fleuve Congo/AFC March 23rd Movement (AFC/ M23)rebel group to help end the armed conflict in eastern DRC. The persistent negotiations months after the original agreements were signed tells its own story: the so-called peace process remains incapable of addressing the deeper forces driving the conflict.
The DRC possesses some of the world’s most important deposits of cobalt, copper, lithium, tantalum, gold and other strategic minerals. These resources are indispensable to contemporary capitalism and increasingly important to batteries, electric vehicles, electronics, advanced manufacturing and military technologies. As the global capitalist powers compete to secure access to critical minerals, Congo has inevitably become a major arena of geopolitical competition.
The U.S. has openly sought to strengthen alternative critical-mineral supply chains and reduce dependence on China. Its strategic partnership with the DRC includes cooperation on critical minerals, infrastructure and investment, also seeks to increase mineral exports through the Lobito Corridor linking the mineral-rich Copperbelt to the Atlantic through Angola.
There is nothing inherently wrong with developing railways, roads, electricity infrastructure or international trade. The Congolese people have every right to demand modern infrastructure and industrial development. The fundamental question, however, is who owns these projects, who controls the minerals, who determines the terms of extraction, who processes the resources and where the profits ultimately go.
If Congo continues to export cobalt, copper, lithium and other minerals in raw or semi-processed form while importing expensive manufactured products, the basic colonial economic relationship remains intact. The names of the companies and the sophistication of the technology may change, but the underlying relationship remains one in which Africa supplies the raw materials and external centers of capital capture most of the higher-value economic benefits.
It is clear that external powers repeatedly intervene in African conflicts while pursuing their own strategic and economic interests. The US recent policies towards Rwanda and the DRC illustrate this contradiction. Washington has criticized and sanctioned senior Rwandan military officials over alleged support for M23 while simultaneously deepening its strategic engagement with Congo around critical minerals.
The DRC does not need another externally imposed settlement that temporary freezes the conflict while leaving its underlying economic structures untouched. It needs a genuinely African and people-centered approach to peace. Such an approach must defend the territorial integrity of the DRC, oppose foreign military intervention and support for armed proxies, strengthen democratic institutions, address the legitimate concerns of neighboring states and place Congolese communities at the center of decisions concerning their own future.
Most importantly, Congo must break from the colonial pattern of exporting raw materials and importing finished products. Its mineral resources should feed African industrial manufacturing. In fact the enormous mineral resources of the DRC should become a foundation for African industrialization rather than a source of wealth for foreign shareholders.
• Ukaobasi writes from Umuahia
