By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Democratic Republic of Congo, Felix Tshisekedi has held talks with a U.S. lawmaker Ronny Jackson, a meeting that focused of opportunities for Washington to invest in the East African country’s mineral resources, Congo’s presidency confirmed, amid fighting for control of the country’s resources with M23 rebels.
The meeting came one week after Washington said it was ready to broker partnership with DRC for key mineral resources.
Last month, a Congolese parliamentarian contacted U.S. officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal.
A DRC presidency statement described Jackson as a “special envoy” for U.S. President Donald Trump.
Tshisekedi is struggling to deal with the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in east Congo.
His government has indicated readiness to dispatch a delegation to peace talks in Angola on Tuesday with the rebels.
Congo has large deposit of cobalt, lithium and uranium among other minerals that form vital component of mobile phones and EV battery production
The government is yet to officially publicly comment on a proposal for a deal with the U.S., 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.
