Congolese rebel leader questions U.S. Minerals deal

The leader of a Congolese rebel coalition that includes the M23 group has criticised a minerals partnership between Kinshasa and Washington, calling it unconstitutional and opaque and raising doubts about its implementation in the conflict-hit east of the country.

Corneille Nangaa, head of the Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), told Reuters that a strategic agreement signed in Washington on Dec. 4 granting the United States greater access to Congo’s critical minerals in exchange for investment and security cooperation violated Congolese law.

“The opacity surrounding the negotiations and procedural flaws, particularly the violation of the Constitution and the law, make this agreement deeply flawed,” Nangaa said in an interview in Goma on Monday. He warned that mining sites earmarked for U.S. investors could later become the subject of disputes, adding that some concessions may already have been allocated to other partners.

“The Americans may have signed it, but they should know that they signed it with an illegitimate regime, and a corrupt one at that,” he said.

The Congolese presidency rejected Nangaa’s accusations, saying the partnership “fully falls within the constitutional prerogatives” of the country’s elected president and government. It dismissed concerns over potential conflicts with existing contract holders as “speculative,” adding that cooperation with Washington would respect valid contracts and comply with mining regulations.

Nangaa’s comments come just months after a U.S.-brokered peace accord between Congo and Rwanda, which President Donald Trump hailed as a success. They also follow reports that Congo’s leadership has handed the United States a shortlist of state-owned mining projects for potential investment, signalling Washington’s most concrete step yet toward translating recent diplomatic and investment agreements into direct involvement in Congo’s mining sector.

According to officials familiar with the process, the shortlist covers resources including manganese, copper-cobalt, gold, lithium and other critical minerals. Only assets not already tied to existing partnerships would be offered. These include Kisenge’s licences for manganese, gold and cassiterite; Gecamines’ Mutoshi copper-cobalt project and a germanium-processing venture; Sokimo’s gold permits; Cominiere’s lithium licences; and Sakima’s coltan, gold and wolframite holdings.

Trump has promoted the accord as both a diplomatic and economic breakthrough, arguing that stability would open access to Congo and Rwanda’s vast reserves of cobalt, tantalum, lithium, copper and gold for U.S. companies. He has framed the initiative as a strategic win for American energy security and defence supply chains, linking peace in the Great Lakes region directly to U.S. access to critical raw materials.

Major U.S. mining and energy firms have since been invited to explore new concessions tied to the agreement, while Wall Street investors are assessing opportunities in cobalt, tantalum, lithium and copper. Technology companies and defence contractors are expected to benefit indirectly through long-term supply agreements securing inputs for electric vehicle batteries, semiconductors and military systems. China, however, remains the dominant foreign player in Congo’s mining industry, having invested billions of dollars in copper and cobalt projects. Chinese firms continue to expand their footprint, including a $1.08 billion upgrade of the KFM copper mine, reinforcing Congo’s role as a key hub for China’s energy and technology ambitions.

Nangaa’s remarks further complicate Congo’s already complex mining landscape and threaten to undermine Washington’s hopes of expanding access to rare minerals as it seeks to counter China’s growing influence in Congo and the wider region.