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The Central African nation has labeled the European Union's continued minerals agreement with Rwanda as demonstrating "clear hypocrisy" while imposing far more extensive sanctions in response to the Ukrainian crisis.

Diplomatic Firm Condemnation

Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, the DRC's foreign minister, urged the EU to impose significantly tougher restrictions against Rwanda, which has been alleged to exacerbate the unrest in eastern DRC.

"This demonstrates obvious inconsistency – I aim to be productive here – that leaves us curious and interested about understanding why the EU repeatedly finds it difficult so much to enact sanctions," she stated.

Peace Agreement Background

The DRC and Rwanda signed a conflict resolution in June, brokered by the US and Qatar, aiming to end the long-standing dispute.

However, fatal assaults on non-combatants have persisted and a target date to achieve a final settlement was not met in August.

Expert Assessment

Last year, a United Nations panel reported that up to 4,000 Rwandan troops were fighting alongside the M23 insurgent faction and that the Rwandan military was in "de facto control of M23 operations."

Rwanda has repeatedly rejected backing M23 and maintains its forces act in self-protection.

Presidential Appeal

The DRC president, Félix Tshisekedi, recently appealed to his Rwandan counterpart, Paul Kagame, to stop supporting rebel forces in the DRC during a European gathering attended by both leaders.

"This requires you to instruct the M23 troops assisted by your country to stop this intensification, which has already caused numerous fatalities," Tshisekedi stated.

European Measures

The EU has imposed restrictions against 32 individuals and two entities – a armed faction and a Rwandan precious metals processor dealing in illegal supplies of the metal – for their role in fuelling the conflict.

Despite these findings of rights violations by the Rwandan army in the DRC, the EU executive has rejected requests to cancel a 2024 mining agreement with Kigali.

Resource Concerns

Wagner characterized the partnership with Rwanda as "lacking all legitimacy in a environment where it has been established that Rwanda has been siphoning off African wealth" obtained under severe situations of coerced employment, involving children.

The United States and many others have raised concerns about illegal trade in mineral resources in DRC's east, mined via coerced employment, then illegally transported to Rwanda for shipment to benefit rebel organizations.

Humanitarian Crisis

The conflict in Congo's east remains one of the world's gravest emergency situations, with over 7.8 million people relocated within country in eastern DRC and 28 million facing nutritional challenges, including 4 million at crisis conditions, according to UN data.

Diplomatic Efforts

As the DRC's top representative, Wagner signed the deal with Rwanda at the White House in June, which also aims to give the United States greater access to DRC minerals.

She maintained that the US remains participating in the diplomatic negotiations and dismissed allegations that sole motivation was the DRC's vast mineral wealth.

European Partnership

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, inaugurated a summit by declaring that the EU wanted "partnerships based on mutual benefits and respect for sovereignty."

She featured the Lobito corridor – transportation infrastructure transport links – connecting the resource-rich areas of the DRC and Zambia to Angola's western shoreline.

Wagner acknowledged that the EU and DRC had a firm groundwork in the Lobito project, but "significant aspects has been diminished by the situation in Congo's east."