Congo’s Tshisekedi meets US over minerals deal

FELIX Tshisekedi, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has met US lawmaker Ronny Jackson to discuss fighting in the east of the country and opportunities for US investment, according to a report by Reuters on Monday.The meeting took place one week after Washington said it was open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with Congo, said Reuters. A Congolese lawmaker in February contacted US officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal.Citing a Congo Presidency statement, Reuters described Jackson as a “special envoy” for US President Donald Trump.Tshisekedi faces an insurgency by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in east Congo and his government plans to send a delegation to peace talks in Angola on Tuesday, said Reuters.Congo has vast reserves of cobalt, lithium and uranium among other minerals.The government has not publicly detailed a proposal for a deal with the US saying only that it was seeking diversified partnerships.“We want to work so that American companies can come and invest and work in the DRC. And to do that, we have to make sure that there is a peaceful environment,” Jackson was quoted as saying in the statement.The long-running conflict in east Congo is rooted in the spillover into Congo of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and the struggle for control of Congo’s vast mineral resources.It escalated significantly this year and M23 now controls east Congo’s two biggest cities. Rwanda is accused of backing the Tutsi-led M23, which it denies.Byron Cabrol, senior Africa analyst at Dragonfly, said last week it would be a struggle to entice US mining companies to invest in Congo due to poor infrastructure, insecurity, corruption and the dominance of Chinese firms.The post Congo’s Tshisekedi meets US over minerals deal appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com