DRC – Rwanda conflict: Flickering light at the end of the tunnel?

Main image: Refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) play a board game called “Igisoro” at the Nkamira Transit Centre in Rubavu on March 26, 2024. Dozens of people arrive every day at the Nkamira Transit Centre, fleeing the violence in Eastern DRC, where over 1.5 million people are displaced by the advance of the M23, which took up arms again at the end of 2021.

The latest peace discussions between the DRC and Rwanda over the current conflict in the area ended in Geneva on 17 September without a firm commitment that either side would enforce the agreements reached last year in Washington. In the meantime, Amnesty International has just published a harrowing report on the treatment of civilians in the mineral-rich Kivu province in DRC. Jamila Versi reports.

 The UN declared September 21 as International Peace Day, and it was hoped that following peace discussions between the DRC and Rwanda in Geneva, which ended on September 17, fighting in Eastern DRC would stop.

But September 21 has come and gone, and reports suggest that fighting has continued sporadically, leading to an increasing number of people migrating from Eastern DRC either to Rwanda or other East African states.

In the meantime, again on September 21, Amnesty International published its report on the grim situation for citizens in the mineral-rich areas of Eastern DRC, which are now under the control of the rebel group M23. The report: “DRC: We didn’t come to play: M23 abuses at artisanal mines and the trafficking of gold and coltan to Rwanda”.

In 2025, both sides, invited to the US capital by President Donald Trump, signed the Washington Accords to take the heat off the long-simmering conflict between the two countries.

The vast DRC, which dominates Central Africa and spills over into Eastern Africa, is one of the world’s richest sources of valuable minerals, while Rwanda, which emerged from the 1994 Genocide, is one of the most progressive countries in the region.

The origins of the current conflict go back to the aftermath of the Genocide, during which some 800,000 Tutsi were killed by the Hutu extremists in the eyes of UN Peacekeeping forces who seemed paralysed to intervene.

It came to an end when the Tutsi guerrilla army, under current Rwandan leader Paul Kagame, marched into the country from Uganda and overthrew the Hutu government.

Fearful of what might happen to them in retaliation, an estimated one million Hutu escaped to the province of Kivu in neighbouring DRC, where they joined other Hutu who were already living there. Later, reports emerged that the Hutu were organising themselves to invade Rwanda and return to the high status they enjoyed when they were in charge.

The government of Rwanda said that many of the Hutu who had committed atrocities during the genocide were hiding in DRC and threatening to attack Rwanda. They had formed themselves into a guerrilla-type movement called the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). In response, the Rwandan army twice invaded the neighbouring areas in DRC.

In 2012, former members of the Tutsi militia formed the March 23 Movement (M23), an armed group that operates in eastern DRC, particularly the North and South Kivu region.

They have said they maintain security in the region and protect the Tutsi in the DRC from attacks – particularly from the Hutu-led FDLR. According to the UN, the M23 receives military and logistical support from Rwanda, which Rwanda denies.

The current conflict is thus largely a proxy war between the two nations, both of which are members of the East African Federation. They both claim that while they have some influence over the respective armed groups, they do not directly control them.

This creates problems when it comes to peace agreements. Each country accuses the other of not respecting the various agreements to ‘neutralise’ the armed movements and scale down the fighting between their proxy forces.

Last year’s Washington Accords, for example, included a commitment that the DRC would neutralise the FDLR and Rwanda would disengage militarily and lift defensive positions. This year’s September meeting in Geneva was aimed at reinforcing the agreement and enforcing it on the ground. The two sides have agreed to meet again in October.

Clearly, however, neither side trusts the other. Speaking on September 15, Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, accused Kinshasa of continuing to arm the FDLR and of giving the group political legitimacy. He also alleged that Congolese forces had continued shelling and carrying out drone strikes in civilian areas of Masisi, Minembwe and Mushaki.

Million-dollar mines

Mining has long been central to both DRC’s economy and its conflicts. The country holds vast reserves of minerals needed by the global electronics and technology industries (as well as gold and other precious minerals), yet the people digging them from the ground often work in dangerous conditions, using basic tools and with little protection.

Mining is carried out both by officially licensed international companies and thousands of artisanal miners trying to eke out a living. Their activities often attract the ire of both the mining companies and government enforcers. They have also attracted the unwelcome attention of M23, which is detailed in the Amnesty report.

The Rubaya mining area is one of the world’s most significant sources of coltan. An element called ‘tantalum’ is extracted from its ore, which is used in the electronic components found in mobile phones, computers and other devices.

Just last year, the area came to global attention when a collapsed shaft left hundreds of workers buried underground. Others used their bare hands to try and save them.

M23 seized the area in 2024, thus occupying one of the most financially lucrative spots in the world; they are able to make money from the production and movement of its minerals.

Previous investigative findings by the United Nations and human rights groups like Global Witness estimated that the M23 rebels generate an estimated $800,000 a month through trade and, primarily, taxing coltan mining operations coming out of Rubaya. According to several reports, the financing system that the rebels have put in place keeps them solidly in power in the area.

But Amnesty’s latest investigation is less interested in the numbers and much more in how the M23 maintain control. It paints a very bleak picture of life for people in the area.

“He was in so much pain. He didn’t have the strength to speak. He couldn’t lift his feet. His entire body was bloody.” So said an eyewitness speaking to Amnesty.

The witness was referring to Evariste, a 22-year-old husband and father of a one-year-old daughter, who was one of 18 artisanal miners Amnesty says were killed at the Rubaya and Lomera mining sites in eastern DRC, areas now controlled by M23.

His story is one of many contained in Amnesty’s report, which documents how M23’s control of eastern Congo’s mineral wealth is being enforced on the ground.

Miners describe killings, beatings, detention and forced labour, while gold and coltan from M23-controlled areas are allegedly trafficked across the border into neighbouring Rwanda and other East African countries through porous borders.

Researchers documenting the alleged summary killing of 18 artisanal miners at Rubaya in North Kivu and Lomera, a gold mining site in South Kivu, say 10 were beaten to death, two were shot, and six miners who had been abducted were later found dead.

Sixteen miners or people living close to the mines also said they had been tortured or otherwise ill-treated.

Other miners described being beaten for asking to take breaks, refusing to hand over minerals, or for committing minor transgressions of on-site rules. At other times, miners were forced to continue digging for materials as punishment, sometimes remaining underground for more than a week at a time.

Amnesty’s report also claims that three shipping containers near the Rubaya mines are being used as detention cells, with one interviewee saying he could hear the screams of those tortured inside – “it’s better to die than being detained there”.

M23 were also allegedly using the mines as forced recruitment centres, with seven miners revealing to Amnesty that they had been detained and threatened with being sent to M23 military training centres if they could not pay money for their release.

Amnesty argues that these violations could be considered war crimes.

The minerals’ journey

What happens to the minerals after they leave the mines is just as important to the story, with Amnesty International saying it has evidence that the gold was trafficked to Rwanda. If it can be proved, this could amount to the war crime of pillage, according to the organisation. However, there is no suggestion that the government of Rwanda in involved and similar minerals have been found in neighbouring East African countries

The suggestion that minerals are being moved is not new. UN investigators have previously warned that minerals originating in eastern Congo can enter wider supply chains once they cross the border.

Amnesty International is calling for international intervention and for companies further down the supply chain to “end their silence” around what is happening at the mines.

The organisation is calling on countries and companies to stop buying coltan and gold from Rwanda until Kigali can show that minerals trafficked from eastern DRC are no longer entering its supply chain.

“The African Union and its Member States must take far bolder steps than they have done thus far to put an end to the likely pillage driven by an endless international appetite for African critical minerals.

“Failure to stand united against such pillage and the horrific abuses that come in its wake will only encourage others to follow suit,” says Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.

It is also calling on the United States and EU member states not to enter into mining agreements involving Rubaya or other M23-controlled mines unless independent international monitors are given full access.

Those demands come at a time when competition over Africa’s critical minerals is growing. Governments in Europe and the US are increasingly looking to secure supplies of the minerals needed for electronics, renewable energy and other technologies. Congo, home to extraordinary mineral wealth, has in turn sought to attract greater Western investment.

For the miners themselves, however, the global competition taking place over critical minerals can seem a long way away.

Over a million people (according to the International Peace Information Service) depend on artisanal mines in North and South Kivu for their livelihoods. For many, walking away from a mine controlled by an armed group does not necessarily mean finding another way to make a living.

Though work at the mines is tough, several miners have reported to different news sites such as the BBC that mining has made a significant difference in their lives, enabling them to begin to start having savings or give dowries.

However, with an increasing number of countries, from inside and outside Africa, seeking to find an end to the conflict, which is draining both countries and discouraging investment, and the grim global spotlight from Amnesty adding to the pressure, some observers believe there is sufficient traction to persuade both parties to sign a permanent peace agreement. While the tunnel is still dark, there is at least a flickering light at the end of it,

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