The siege of Goma is yet another grim chapter in the ongoing cycle of violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As the M23 militia asserts control over North Kivu’s provincial capital, nearly two million civilians are caught in the crossfire, while geopolitical and corporate interests continue to drive instability in the region.

Despite its vast mineral wealth—estimated at $24 trillion, equivalent to the combined GDP of Europe and the USA—the DRC remains mired in conflict and resource exploitation. Critical minerals like coltan, gold, cobalt, and tin are systematically looted and funneled into Rwanda, from where they are laundered into global supply chains.

For nearly three decades, the DRC has suffered from a war as a consequence of a direct spillover of the Rwandan genocide. The toll has been catastrophic: over six million lives lost, systematic sexual violence used as a weapon of war, and an ongoing battle for control over the country’s mineral riches. UN investigations have repeatedly exposed the role of illicit trade networks in sustaining the violence, yet the plunder continues.

The capture of Goma is not just a military maneuver, it is a strategic move that risks to facilitate the extraction and illicit export of Congolese minerals. The DRC says M23 rebels, who claim they are protecting local Tutsis from Hutus in the resource-rich east, play an instrumental role in moving the goods over Lake Kivu. Kinshasa accuses Rwanda of backing the M23 – an allegation Rwanda has consistently denied, but has been confirmed by UN experts and endorsed by the US, France and the UK at the last UN Security Council meeting.

The EU’s role: enabling plundering though trade deals

As the clean energy transition picks up steam, eyes are on the conflict-ridden eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, where much of the country’s 3T minerals—tin, tungsten, and tantalum extracted from coltan—are mined for use in everything from electrical components for smart phones to turbines. With control over key smuggling routes, Rwanda is positioned to continue laundering ‘blood minerals’ into global supply chains, minerals that ultimately power European industries.

The EU’s deal with Rwanda risks fueling the conflict. Last year, Brussels signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rwanda to “to build a resilient and sustainable critical raw materials value chain” from this “mutually beneficial partnership”, three months after inking a similar agreement with the DRC. The deal projects Rwanda’s mining sector to generate $1.5 billion in export revenues in 2024, up from just $373 million in 2017.  Backed by the Critical Raw Materials investment partnership with the European Investment Bank (EIB), this deal dangerously strengthens Rwanda’s role in global supply chains, indirectly fueling regional instability.

The EU increasingly relies on non-binding agreements that bypass the scrutiny of traditional trade deals – and prevent stakeholders from suing the Commission. This is done under the EU’s strategy to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative under the banner of the Global Gateway. And with Ursula von der Leyen committed to this course for her second term, the EU continues to sidestep in this process its own principles of providing a ‘positive offer’ to the Global South.

This is not an isolated failure but part of a systemic model where trade deals prioritize access to resources over human rights, ensuring that this conflict zone remains a profit zone. Despite EU regulations meant to prevent the use of conflict minerals, Brussels turned a blind eye to Rwanda’s role in resource plundering, and the MoU even places responsibility for mineral tracing on Rwanda. But over the past decade, Rwanda has exported far higher quantities of coltan than its own mines produce: according to Global Witness, 90 percent of Rwanda's coltan exports are illegally sourced from eastern DRC, through what has been dubbed as a massive "laundromat." Yet, despite mounting evidence, the looting of Congolese resources continues—unchecked and, in many cases, actively facilitated by broken regulatory systems.

The EU’s push for critical raw materials in the DRC echoes a colonial past of violent extraction. The EU has zealously supported in the Lobito Corridororiginally built by Belgium and Portugal to transport minerals— to get better access to the world’s largest cobalt reserves and other minerals, while remaining silent about the mines in Haut-Katanga and Lualaba rife with human rights abuses and environmental devastation. Brussels‘ unwavering support of the extractive sector as it stands seems to enable systemic harm rather than ‘values-based’ investments.

At Davos, EU Commissioner Jozef Sikela announced EU funds for the Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor, another infrastructure initiative that raises serious concerns about who this project truly serves, following a well-trodden path of investments that prioritise securing supply chains over the needs of local communities.

A web of military and corporate interests

To fortify the relationships with Kigali, last November Brussels approved a €20 million grant to the Rwandan government, ostensibly to support military operations in Mozambique. This move was welcomed by TotalEnergies, a company deeply entangled in the country’s ongoing turmoil.

A Politico investigation reported allegations of a civilian massacre near TotalEnergies' Afungi premises in mid-2021, allegedly committed by public security forces. These accusations add to a growing list of human rights violations linked to the project, alongside exposed inadequate due diligence and ongoing court cases for which civil society has demanded urgently independent investigation. Rwandan forces remain concentrated in the Afungi Peninsula, as well as the towns of Palma and Mocímboa da Praia, tasked with securing the Mozambique LNG project.

TotalEnergies—a member of the Global Gateway Business Advisory Group—has contracted Rwanda’s Radar Scape to build a 5MW solar power plant in Cabo Delgado to help power the LNG project. Radar Scape is part of Crystal Ventures, the investment arm of Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front party.

As if this wasn’t concerning enough, evidence—including UN reports—suggests that Rwandan military commanders are active in both Mozambique and the DRC, raising serious concerns that EU funds are indirectly supporting Rwanda’s war profits. The lack of traceability in these financial flows makes the risk of EU complicity particularly alarming.

The EU’s moral blind spot

Brussels’ mild reaction to latest developments is not a question of oversight, it is a deliberate choice. The EU’s quest for minerals for its ‘green’ transition is overriding any commitment to peace, justice, and human rights. By striking deals with Rwanda despite overwhelming evidence of its role in the war, Brussels is undermining the sovereignty of the DRC and rewarding aggression that has led to a humanitarian catastrophe that has already claimed millions of lives.

This is why, together with other 63 CSOs in Europe and Africa, we urgently demand an immediate halt to the EU-Rwanda deal and a fundamental shift towards policies that prioritize peace, justice, and the rights of affected communities in the DRC. These concerns have already been raised by Counter Balance with the Board of Directors of the EIB ahead of their February 5th meeting. 

The EU cannot continue to cloak its resource extraction in the language of sustainability while enabling rights violations. Instead of outsourcing its green transition to regimes built on exploitation and conflict, Europe must invest in supply chains that are transparent, just, and respect the sovereignty of resource-rich countries. In doing so, it must put the needs of the Global South to the forefront.

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Chiara Casati