A Congolese cardinal has criticised countries in central Africa for collaborating with extractive industries to rob his country of its natural resources.
The Archbishop of Kinshasa Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo said last week that large parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) are suffering protracted violence as a result of illegal mining. He called on the international community to help restore the its territorial integrity.
In his homily at a Mass for Peace in eastern DR Congo on 24 February, Ambongo said that peace was only possible if the country’s neighbours were made to stop their “shameless predation” of its natural resources.
“Aggressors and multinationals have joined forces to lay their hands on the Congo’s riches, to the detriment of and in contempt for the dignity of peaceful Congolese citizens,” he said.
The cardinal criticised the European Union: “At the very moment when it is finally denouncing the direct involvement of Rwanda and its army in supporting the M23 armed group, the European Union is signing a long-term mining cooperation agreement with Rwanda over resources plundered in DR Congo.”
He traced insecurity in DR Congo back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when two million Rwandans were displaced and forced to seek refuge across the country’s border regions. DR Congo’s bishops have regularly warned of “the transfer of the Rwandan conflict to our country”.
Conflict between DR Congo's army and Rwandan-backed, Tutsi-led M23 rebels in eastern Congo has killed scores and displacing hundreds of thousands across decades. It has increased the risk of direct conflict between Congo and Rwanda that could draw in regional forces including South Africa, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi.
Ambongo referred to Pope Francis’ appeal during his visit to DR Congo last year, when urged the international community to stop plundering its resources with the words: “Hands off Africa! Stop choking Africa: Africa is not a mine to be stripped or a terrain to be plundered.”
On 25 February, Pope Francis said he was “following with concern the increase in violence in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo”, and called for prayers for peace.
Last week, Pax Christi International issued a statement of solidarity with the victims of escalating violence in the country. It noted that over 6.5 million people have been internally displaced and 25.4 million – a quarter of the population – require urgent assistance.
DR Congo’s eastern provinces are most severely affected by insecurity, with epidemics of cholera and measles rife. Climate shocks have further aggravated these crises, with heavy rains and river flooding affecting approximately 2.1 million Congolese.
As the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, along with substantial copper, gold and diamond production, DR Congo has drawn in global extractive industries.
Pax Christi said their practices often lead to human rights violations and environmental degradation, adding that “unregulated extractivism, associated with the energy transition, exacerbates conflicts and undermines the autonomy of the country in decision-making”.
It asked the United Nations and the EU to prioritise DR Congo in their agendas, with action to help stop violence and provide consistent humanitarian aid, and to address the root causes of international conflict with stringent supervision of arms trading.
Decision-makers in the Global North should “carefully evaluate how their economic decisions impact DR Congo and worsen the crisis”, the statement said, to ensure that “economic interests do not jeopardise the well-being, sustainability, or lives of local communities in DR Congo”.
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