The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is an exceptionally dangerous place, particularly for women and Christians. Disease is widespread, and children as young as four years old are forced to work in mines.
Although 95% of the population is Christian, believers are being targeted by jihadist groups. Last month, Islamist ADF terrorists, aiming to establish a Muslim Caliphate in the eastern part of the DRC, reportedly beheaded 70 Christians inside a church.
Women also face extreme danger. The U.N. reported 895 rapes in the last two weeks of February alone, averaging over 60 per day.
According to Patrick Eba, deputy director of UNHCR’s Division of International Protection, “Sexual violence and human rights abuses remain rampant in the east, alongside the looting and destruction of civilian homes and businesses.”
Eba also noted that “hundreds of thousands of people (are) on the move,” fleeing the violence and often crossing into neighboring countries.
In Goma in October of the previous year, over 150 female inmates were reportedly raped and then burned to death after prison guards fled as M23 rebels advanced. Hundreds of male inmates are said to have raped the women before escaping.
The sick are also vulnerable. The U.N. humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) reported earlier this week that armed men raided at least two hospitals in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, and abducted numerous patients.
Disease is also a major threat, with three mysterious “outbreaks” occurring in the DRC in the past six months. In the most recent outbreak, reported late last month, 60 people have died, and 1,318 more have shown symptoms of a serious, unidentified illness in Equateur Province.
The agency stated that the disease spreads rapidly, “with a median time from onset of symptoms to death of one day.” Tests for Ebola and Marburg virus have so far been negative.
In the Eastern Kivu provinces, hundreds of thousands have been displaced as rebel groups, often supported by foreign entities, fight government troops in a war “playing out in one of the poorest regions of earth,” according to analyst Frans Cronje. He added, “Thousands have been killed, disease pandemics are commonplace, (and) women live under the constant fear of rape and abuse.”
Cronje, an advisor for the Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, stated, “The conflict in the DRC is essentially about control of critical minerals,” adding that “Scores of rebel groups and some state actors are engaged in the conflict. The two Kivu provinces contain vast deposits of these minerals that could be used in applications from defense and AI to green energy.”
Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and editor of the Long War Journal, suggested that “the minerals are only partially, or even tangentially, related.” He explained that “The main violence plaguing Congo runs from regional political issues, like Rwanda/M23 (rebel group), to ethnic like CODECO, (an association of militia groups) to religious, like Islamic State Central Africa Province, aka ADF, (rebel group) to just general localized banditry. And some groups do control and make money from artisanal mines, but not all.”
For over a decade, children in certain areas of the DRC have faced extreme exploitation, being forced to mine deep underground for metals like cobalt. Michigan State University’s Global Edge Research Organization estimates that the DRC produces 70% of the world’s cobalt. Reportedly, China owns or co-owns 80% of the DRC’s cobalt mines with the DRC government.
This modern-day child slavery persists despite widespread condemnation. A November 2023 report to a joint House and Senate Committee stated that the DRC “is a country that has been brutally pillaged throughout history, fueled by corrupt men’s unquenchable thirst for power, riches, land, rubber, copper, palm oil, and now cobalt, all at the expense of innocent women, men, and children.”
Jason Isaac, founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, stated that “Children as young as 4 are forced to mine cobalt.”
The FDD’s Bill Roggio suggested that the Trump administration could take steps “from counter-terrorism against one of IS’ most active global branches (ISCAP) to walking back a potential massive regional war, or even to improving good governance.” He believes that “a more stable, secure and prosperous Congo would do wonders for the global economy and regional security.”
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