US open to minerals-for-security deal with DRC, says state department

The US is open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the state department said in a statement to Reuters on Sunday, after a DRC senator contacted US officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal.

DRC, which is rich in cobalt, lithium and uranium among other minerals, has been fighting Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who have seized swathes of its territory this year.

Talk of a deal with the US — which is also in discussions with Ukraine over a minerals pact — has circulated in Kinshasa for weeks.

"The United States is open to discussing partnerships in this sector that are aligned with the Trump administration's 'America First' agenda," a state department spokesperson said, noting that DRC held "a significant share of the world's critical minerals required for advanced technologies".

The US has worked "to boost US private sector investment in the DRC to develop mining resources in a responsible and transparent manner", the spokesperson said.

Kinshasa has not publicly detailed a proposal, instead saying it is seeking diversified partnerships.

"There is a desire for us to diversify our partners," DRC government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said last week, adding there were "daily exchanges" between DRC and the US.

"If today American investors are interested in coming to the DRC, obviously they will find space ... DRC has reserves that are available and it would also be good if American capital could invest here," he said.

REGIONAL STABILITY

Andre Wameso, deputy chief of staff to DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, travelled to Washington earlier this month for talks on a partnership, two sources told Reuters.

On February 21 a lobbyist representing the DRC senator Pierre Kanda Kalambayi sent letters to US secretary of state Marco Rubio and other American officials inviting US investment in DRC's vast mineral resources in exchange for helping to reinforce "regional stability".

That initiative was not sanctioned by the broader DRC government or presidency, according to two DRC officials. There are, however, several initiatives under way, albeit in nascent stages, sources from DRC's presidency, its ministry of mines, and from Washington told Reuters.

A DRC delegation had been scheduled to meet with the house foreign affairs committee on March 6, but cancelled the meeting at short notice, according to two sources.

"I think it's certainly something that will pique people's interest in Washington, and I think it has attracted interest," said Jason Stearns, a DRC expert at Canada's Simon Fraser University, noting that DRC's mineral supply chains are currently dominated by China.

But, he said, the US does not have state-owned companies like China does, and no private American mining companies currently operate in DRC. "So if the Congolese want to make this work, it will probably not be by offering a US company a mining concession. They'll have to look at more complicated ways of engaging the US."