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DAKAR – Rwanda provided “critical” enactment to the M23 rebels' caller violative successful eastbound Congo, which helped unafraid Kigali's entree to minerals and fertile ground, according to a confidential United Nations study seen by The Associated Press.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebel radical is the astir salient equipped radical successful the struggle successful Eastern Congo, which has been successful and retired of crises for decades. The rebels earlier this twelvemonth precocious and seized the strategical metropolis of Goma and Bukavu successful a large escalation of the conflict.
Rwanda has denied immoderate involvement. But U.N. experts accidental Kigali provided backing to the rebels with an purpose to “control the territory of the DRC and its earthy resources," utilizing “advanced subject equipment, including jamming systems, short-range aerial defence strategy and equipped drones.”
Rwanda has been accused of exploiting eastbound Congo’s minerals, utilized successful smartphones, precocious combatant jets and overmuch more, which Kigali denies. The study said that smuggling of coltan, considered a captious mineral, from M23-controlled territories successful caller months reached “unprecedented levels."
“Evidence indicated expanding hazard of cross-border fraud arsenic minerals from North Kivu, peculiarly coltan from the AFC-controlled Rubaya mine, continued to beryllium smuggled to Rwanda.” the study said. “These minerals were past mixed with accumulation of Rwandan root and exported downstream.”
AFC, oregon Congo River Alliance, is an umbrella groups which includes M23.
The M23-controlled Rubaya mines nutrient coltan — abbreviated for columbite-tantalite — an ore from which the metals tantalum and niobium are extracted. Both are considered captious earthy materials by the United States, the European Union, China and Japan.
Tantalum is utilized successful mobile phones, computers and automotive electronics, arsenic good arsenic successful craft engines, rocket components and GPS systems. Niobium is utilized successful pipelines, rockets and pitchy engines.
Congo produced astir 40% of the world’s coltan successful 2023, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, with Australia, Canada and Brazil being different large suppliers.
Part of the minerals smuggled to Rwanda were purchased by Boss Mining Solution Limited, a Rwandan company. To warrant the plausibility of home origins of tantalum, tin and tungsten, the Rwandan Development Board declared yearly home accumulation of 8,000 to 9,000 tons of these minerals, the study said. The fig was contradicted by the National Institute of Statistics, autarkic geological studies and ITSCI.
Late past month, Rwanda and Congo signed a bid deal facilitated by the U.S. portion helping the U.S. authorities and American companies summation entree to captious minerals successful the region. But experts said they don’t judge it volition rapidly extremity the warring due to the fact that the astir salient equipped radical says it does not use to it.
Rwanda denied the allegations from the U.N. report.
Alluding to the U.N. report, Rwanda's president Paul Kagame told reporters connected Friday:“The expertise they provide, the reports they constitute really bash not person thing to bash with the concern itself. These reports were written agelong agone — agelong agone erstwhile they were fixed the mission.”
A spokesperson for Rwanda’s government, Yolande Makolo, wrote connected X that “Following the signing of the US-brokered Peace Agreement past Friday, Rwanda is afloat committed to its implementation.”
The report, which was archetypal reported by Reuters, was submitted to the U.N. Security Council sanctions committee for Congo earlier this week, and volition beryllium published shortly, said a U.N. authoritative who was not authorized to talk connected the substance publicly.
Despite Congo's exceptional mineral wealth, implicit 70% of Congolese unrecorded connected little than $2.15 a day. The struggle successful the country's eastbound has created 1 of the world’s largest humanitarian crises with much than 7 cardinal radical displaced, including 100,000 who fled homes this year.
The U.N. study besides accused each sides successful the struggle of quality rights violations, including reprisal killings connected suspicion of collaboration of the opposing sides.
Rwanda and M23 are liable for “systematic run of repression successful occupied areas, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrest, torture, enforced disappearance and raids successful hospitals," it said. Retreating Congolese soldiers and members of the pro-government militia “committed looting, intersexual unit and killings.”
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Associated Press writers Wilson McMakin successful Dakar, Senegal and Rodney Muhumuza successful Kampala, Uganda, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.
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