DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Rebels inCongosay the United States has fallen short as a mediator inefforts to end the conflictin the African country's mineral-rich east as the Trump administration seeks to open the region’scritical reserves to the U.S. government and American companies.
According to a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio from Congolese rebel leader Corneille Nangaa, Washington has failed to pressure Congo’s government over its alleged violations of peace commitments.
The letter, seen by The Associated Press on Saturday, was signed by the Congo River Alliance, which includes theRwanda-backed M23rebel group.
Congo and Rwanda agreed last year to aU.S.-mediated peace dealaimed at ending the long-running conflict in eastern Congo, an accord that woulddefine terms of economic partnershipinvolving the three countries and unlock deals on rare earth minerals.
At the time, U.S. PresidentDonald Trumppraised the leaders of the two nations — PresidentsFelix Tshisekediof Congo andPaul Kagameof Rwanda. Trump has since often cited his success in negotiating the deal. However, fighting in the region continues, with both rebel and government forces accusing each other of violating peace terms.
The letter to Rubio also criticized the U.S. for sanctioning “actors critical of the authorities in power” in Kinshasa, Congo's capital — a reference toU.S. sanctions on former Congolese President Joseph Kabilalast week over his alleged role in funding and supporting to the rebels. Earlier this year, Washington also sanctionedRwanda's military and four of its senior officialsfor supporting M23.
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“Your administration has neither imposed any sanctions nor issued even a simple warning to the leaders in Kinshasa, whose intransigent and arrogant attitude calls into question the impartiality and neutrality of the American Facilitator/Mediator," the letter said.
"The absence of clearly identifiable corrective measures fuels questions regarding the facilitation’s ability to preserve, over time, the requirements of impartiality and neutrality that are essential to its credibility,” it added.
Congo, the U.S. and U.N. expertsaccuse Rwanda of backing M23, which has grown from hundreds of members in 2021 to around 6,500 fighters, according to the United Nations.
Eastern Congo has been battered by decades of unrest as government forces fight more than 100 armed groups,the most potent being M23, often overaccess to its mineral riches. M23 fighters made a major advance into the region early last year, seizing Goma and other key cities as they quickly expanded their presence.
While U.S. mediation has helped cool regional tension it has not stopped the escalating fighting on the ground, Kristof Titeca, a professor at the University of Antwerp specialized in governance and conflict in Central Africa, told the AP.
Mwanamilongo reported from Bonn, Germany.