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Kinshasa behind illegal mineral exploitation in eastern DRC
The latest UN Group of Experts
Report on the Democratic Republic of Congo set to be officially released some
time in June, pins the Congolese government on supporting the illegal
exploitation of minerals by the Republican Guard in Ituri Province.
A Congolese Armed Forces’
Republican Guard unit has specific missions to ensure the protection of the
President of the Republic and his family, as well as distinguished guests; the
security of presidential property and installations; and escorts and honors at the
level of the Presidency of the Republic. However, the Congolese Republican
Guard has gone beyond protecting President Felix Tshisekedi.
The report revealed that since
2023, the soldiers have been involved in gold mining within the vicinity of the
town of Tali in Ituri. The Republican Guard is said to have protected the mine
on behalf of politically exposed individuals and economic actors.
The report also uncovers the
involvement of certain officers and soldiers of the FARDC, as well as armed
groups such as rival militias of the Cooperative for the Development of Congo
(CODECO) and the Zaïre, in the mining sector and other illicit economic
activities in Ituri. This situation, already documented in the 2022 UN expert
group report, persists widely.
According to the report, 70
percent of FARDC troops deployed in Ituri were involved in taxing routes and
providing paid security for private mining companies. The military governor
acknowledged the extent of this problem in the province of Ituri.
Several sources from the FARDC
and security services indicated that these activities diverted troops from
planned military operations in the province. This explains the extreme violence
against innocent civilians, so documented in the same report. Purges carried out
by armed groups, notably the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and CODECO, are
particularly horrifying. Since mid-October 2023, the ADF massacred more than
1,000 people.
Ituri, has turned into a ‘city
of mafia’ where members of the Congolese government, Tshisekedi’s Republic
Guards, his soldiers, coexist with scenes of atrocious massacres perpetrated by
armed groups, CODECO and ADF.
The report’s findings highlight Tshisekedi’s bad governance, and his thirst for wealth, at the expense of the life of his own citizens.
