US Makes Progress on Minerals Deal With Congo, Adviser Says
The US may provide financing to companies operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo through the Export–Import Bank of the United States and the US International Development Finance Corp. as part of a potential critical minerals partnership, a senior US official said.
The financial institutions would support investment in the so-called Lobito Corridor, a major rail-infrastructure initiative linking Congo, Zambia and Angola to the Atlantic Ocean through a port in Angola that the DFC has already committed funding to, Massad Boulos, senior adviser for Africa at the US State Department, said in an online briefing on Thursday.
“The project has progressed considerably especially on the Angolan side,” he said.
“We are now discussing with the Congolese and Tshisekedi’s administration to work on the Congolese side with regards to railways, highways, but also power projects including dams and hydroelectric projects.”
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Boulos visited Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, this to discuss an offer by President Felix Tshisekedi to invest in the country’s mining industry in exchange for security assistance in the nation’s fight against a rebel group in eastern Congo backed by neighboring Rwanda. He also visited the leaders of Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda.
“The United States will consider all diplomatic and economic tools to advance peace,” Boulos said.
Congo is the world’s second-largest source of copper and the biggest source of electric-vehicle battery mineral cobalt.
It also holds vast deposits of critical minerals including lithium, tantalum and manganese.
Rwanda should cease all military support for M23 and withdraw all troops from Congolese territory, Boulos said, adding that his talks with President Paul Kagame about the conflict in eastern Congo were “very fruitful and productive.”
The East African nation has long denied US, European Union and United Nations expert claims that it supports, arms, fights alongside and trains M23.
By
Simon Marks
April 18, 2025 — With assistance from Michael J Kavanagh