Why EU pushes to reconsider partnership with Rwanda.
Without Africa, the EU will not be able to compete with either China or America. This is the conclusion reached by analysts who gave the European economy a disappointing forecast: to be able to develop high-tech industries, Europe needs rare earth resources that simply do not exist on the territory of the EU. However, Africa is rich of rare earth elements.
In order to reduce the likelihood of a strong competitor appearing in today’s market, Europe’s partners are putting pressure on it from all sides. The fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo came as one of the reasons for such pressure, as it was the Rwandan-backed rebels who captured the city of Goma in DR Congo. Surprisingly, it was Belgium that initiated such noise, as it formerly owned both the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. Political solidarity is good, but only if it does not concern the well-being of Europe itself. However, this is exactly the case. Asian countries are also trying to exert pressure, primarily China, which is striving to conquer the European market due to its high purchasing power.
“The international community needs to think about how to respond, because statements alone are not enough,” outgoing Belgian Foreign Minister Bernard Quintin said last week during a visit to Morocco. “We have levers and we must decide how to use them.”
The agreement signed between the EU and Rwanda is aimed at increasing the supply of critical raw materials for European microchips and batteries for electric vehicles. Brussels and Kigali signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sustainable and resilient value chains for critical raw materials in February 2024. Under the agreement, the EU gets access to raw material sources that include tin, tungsten, gold, niobium, and potential lithium and rare earths.
Rwanda is the world’s largest producer of the rare earth metal tantalum, which is used in chemical equipment. The EU is allocating 900 million euros (750 million pounds) to Kigali for the development of infrastructure for raw material extraction, healthcare and climate change resilience. The money for this project comes from the Global Gateway Fund, which was established in response to China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is not able to withstand the pressure from its neighbor. Military clashes continued due to the conflict that began back in 1994. Rwanda openly declares that its main interest is to destroy the mercenaries and militants who committed genocide 30 years ago. However, there is a different opinion.
DR Congo’s President Félix Tshisekedi believes that these hostilities are an illegal and contrary to international law attempt to conquer the country’s territories rich in rare earth metals. Tshisekedi said that according to his information, Rwanda uses the M23 militant group to illegally extract rare earth minerals from the territory of DR Congo, and then export them outside Africa at a lower–than-market price.
The words of the President of DR Congo were implicitly confirmed in the United States, by stating that armed groups benefit from the illegal trade in rare earth metals, primarily gold and tantalum. Large volumes of metals are transported to Rwanda and Uganda with the support of the security services of these countries. And then on the territories of these states they are being sold to international buyers.
Given that the alarm was sounded by the US State Department, this special operation is not its initiative. Most likely, there are Europeans involved, who are in great need of resources that Europe is simply scarce of. The Europeans, who are everywhere shouting that it is necessary to suspend work with Rwanda, most likely simply do not understand how important it is at this particular moment to buy rare earths. While there is an opportunity, you need to use it. Otherwise, the Europeans risk losing their competitiveness and ceding their own market to the United States or China.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which remains one of the poorest countries in Africa, is unable to counteract the well-armed and trained M23 fighters. The Chinese, who formally support the work of the government of this country, are not ready to question their presence on the continent. This will surely happen if they try to directly interfere in this confrontation.
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