Fox News published on 23 June 2026 an article titled "Trump Gets Major Win against China in African Rare Earth Minerals Race" by Paul Tilsley.
The United States has supported an American company, Virtus Minerals, in developing two major mines producing cobalt and copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the Trump administration's first critical minerals (not rare earths as the article asserts) win in the DRC.
The U.S. Department of State announced on 1 April 2025 the appointment of Massad Boulos as "Senior Advisor for Africa." He will make his first visit in this capacity to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda. Boulos also serves as Senior Advisor to the President on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs.
Responsible Statecraft published on 2 April 2025 an article titled "Trump Tasks First Time Envoy with the Most Complex Africa Conflict" by Dan M. Ford.
The article provides background on the conflict in the eastern DRC where Boulos has been instructed to seek a durable peace. The author also notes that Boulos' son, Michael, is married to President Trump's daughter, Tiffany.
Comment: As "Senior Advisor for Africa," Boulos apparently is not filling the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. The Trump administration has not yet named anyone to fill the latter position. The distinction between "Senior Advisor for Africa" and Assistant Secretary of State for Africa is not clear.
The BBC posted on 26 March 2025 an article titled "DR Congo Conflict Tests China's Diplomatic Balancing Act" by Jack Lau.
Chinese companies are significantly engaged in the mineral-rich eastern DRC where a Rwanda-supported M23 rebel group is militarily opposing DRC security forces. China has for years maintained good relations with both countries and remained neutral in the dispute. Until recently, China cited unnamed "foreign forces" as supporting the M23 rebels. Now it is naming Rwanda as the source of that support and publicly hoping that the government will end the relationship. China provides weapons to both countries.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published on 19 March 2025 an analysis titled "Can the DRC Leverage U.S.-China Competition for Critical Minerals for Peace?" by Christian-Geraud Neema.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi's strategy is designed to help the Trump administration secure access to critical minerals and curtail China's expansion within the mineral supply chain. As the Rwanda-baked M23 rebel group advances from the mineral rich eastern DRC towards Kinshasa, Tshisekedi's top priority may be regime survival. The advance of the M23 forces has complicated control over minerals in the eastern Congo and US-China competition for access to them.
Kenya's The Eastleigh Voice published on 4 March 2025 an article titled "Tshisekedi Courts US: DRC Offers Minerals in Exchange for Military Backing in War against M23 Rebels."
An American lobbyist for the Felix Tshisekedi government in Kinshasa sent a letter on 21 February to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio proposing privileged access by US companies to DRC critical minerals while giving Kinshasa military support to secure its territory against M23 rebels supported by Rwanda. The US would train and equip the Congolese Armed Forces. If the deal were to go forward, it would reverse the DRC's reliance on mineral exploitation by Chinese and European companies.
Agence France-Presse published on 29 January 2025 an article titled "China Urges Rwanda to Heed Calls to End Support for M23."
China's UN ambassador Fu Cong said "China hopes that Rwanda attaches importance" to the calls from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and relevant African countries to end military support for M23 rebels operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Comment: This is a rare, although carefully mild, rebuke of Rwanda by a senior Chinese official.
POLITICO published on 10 July 2022 an investigative report titled "DRC: China Xinxing, Rwanda, the M23 and the Weapons of Aggression" by Litsani Choukran.
Most of the weapons seized by the Congolese Army from the M23 rebel group in the eastern Congo are of Chinese manufacture. The Chinese state-owned Xinxing Company is the source of some of them, although they appear to have been sent to the Rwandan army, which then made them available to M23.
