Image source: Wikimedia Commons
Matthew Ployhart
Throughout late October 2000, thousands of shoppers could be seen surrounding stores all over America in anticipation of the release of Sony’s brand-new PlayStation 2. Within its first few days of sale, the PlayStation 2 had smashed records that it continues to hold to this day. Entertainment media company IGN lists it as the most successful gaming console ever marketed, totaling a stunning 160 million units sold. Its release, along with concurrent developments being made in computer technology, heralded a new era in which computers and digital equipment would increasingly play a role in virtually all aspects of people’s lives. Yet, what is otherwise a positive technology that connects peoples and cultures globally has also inadvertently contributed to seemingly unending conflict in Central Africa.
Much of these computer technologies – from the PlayStation 2 to the iPhone in your pocket – rely on a chemical element called cobalt for their production: a metal that can be found all throughout the Eastern portions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC, which I refer to in this article simply as “the Congo”). “Almost three-quarters of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” according to a 2024 report by Our World in Data. Furthermore, the second-largest producer of raw cobalt, Russia, merely represented 4.3% of the world’s supply in 2021 – a far cry from the 72.1% mined in the Congo.
As noted by the U.S. Geological Survey, cobalt is a valuable metal “used in numerous diverse commercial, industrial, and military applications, many of which are strategic and critical.” Although one of the primary uses of cobalt is its role in the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries, and, by extension, computers and electric automobiles, it also has a plethora of other uses and can be found in a range of products, from ink and paint to magnetic recording equipment to car airbags to military technology. Furthermore, as a world facing the consequences of climate change pushes the implementation of greater green-energy initiatives, the need for lithium-ion batteries will only increase. Thus, it should come as no surprise that demand for cobalt has boomed in recent decades, along with its production.
In a 2022 paper published in ScienceDirect by Andrew L. Gulley, it is stated that “DRC cobalt mine production had a 20% compound annual growth rate from 1995 through 2020—in large part due to investments by Chinese firms beginning in the mid-2000s.” However, Gulley notes that the infrastructural and economic underdevelopment of the Congo, as well as armed conflict, pose considerable obstacles to cobalt mining and transport. Nevertheless, it is maintained that “DRC mine production will likely continue to be the dominant supplier of the world's growing demand for cobalt in lithium-ion batteries.”
Yet, the Congolese people have failed to witness many benefits from the roaring demand for this vital metal found beneath their feet. The Congo, which the World Health Organization notes had a population of nearly 106 million in 2023 (a number expected to double by 2050), is the “largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa,” and “is endowed with exceptional natural resources,” according to the World Bank. Yet, the Congo remains among the five poorest countries in the world, and “an estimated 73.5% of Congolese people [live] on less than $2.15 a day.”
The reasons for which the Congolese people have not seen major improvements to their lives, despite living in a country that houses such vital resources, are many – from government corruption to Chinese cornering of the market. Yet, the richness of the Congo’s resources does not only attract corporations and miners of often-suspect legality, but also violence. Today, conflict raging in the cobalt-rich Eastern Congo – whom many claim to be at war all but in name – has dominated political discussions about Africa and African politics, and a recent attempt to halt the conflict was recently held in Luanda, Angola.
Yet, the scene in Luanda was looking quite bleak a few months ago – in early December, 2024 – when this major attempt at peace talks completely fell apart. The talks, involving both the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Rwanda, were effectively terminated on December 15th, when Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi proclaimed “that the Rwandan delegation refused to take part in the meeting,” according to a contemporary post by the Associated Press. The previous day, Rwanda had stated its intention to make “the signing of a peace agreement conditional on a direct dialogue between Congo and the M23,” one of the most prominent of a number of rebel groups active in the area, whose activity composes a large part of the current conflict.
An article by Al Jazeera in February 2025 reported that “M23 is the most potent of more than 100 armed groups vying for control in DRC’s mineral-rich east, which holds vast deposits critical to much of the world’s technology.” This is only one of several Congo Wars to have taken place since 1996 that has involved Rwanda, which continues to have a tense relationship at best with its eastern neighbor of the Congo.
The M23 rebel group is “backed by about 4,000 troops from neighboring Rwanda,” continues Aljazeera. That M23 operates primarily in the Eastern Congo allows it to easily obtain support from Rwanda, which resides just across the border. Most recently, the strategic Congolese city of Goma, capital of the North Kivu province, fell to rebel forces on January 27th. Although “the rebels’ advance into other areas was slowed by the [Congo’s] military, which recovered some villages from them,” the situation remains dire. The capture of the city – including its population of nearly one million – was reported upon extensively by the International Crisis Group, which said that “the development marks a dramatic escalation in the long-running crisis.” The fighting, which “has uprooted over two million from their homes,” has exposed “thousands around Goma to predation by various militias.”
Rose Tchwenko, a director of the aid group Mercy Corps, was recorded in Al Jazeera stating that the capture of Goma has effectively brought humanitarian efforts to “a standstill, cutting off a vital lifeline for aid delivery across eastern DRC.” As the web of humanitarian linkages that precariously held parts of the Eastern Congo together continues to fall apart, and as fighting rages on, there are fears that what is already a humanitarian disaster could explode into an even larger conflict, engulfing much of Central and East Africa.
The matter is further complicated by Rwanda’s role in the fighting. Troubles began in 1994, in the aftermath of the horrific Rwandan Genocide, in which members of the ethnic Hutu majority swiftly murdered almost one million of the ethnic Tutsi minority as well as moderate Hutus (today, Rwanda has more genocide memorials than any other country on Earth). Journalist Philip Gourevitch, in his book about the genocide and its aftermath, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families, painstakingly illustrates the violence that engulfed the country – as well as its neighbors. Following the consolidation of the Rwandan Patriotic Front forces in Uganda – who were opposed to the regime in Rwanda and the genocide – the makeshift army swept the country, ending the horror and pushing members of the notorious Interahamwe (who carried out much of the genocide against the Tutsis) across the border and into the Congo (then Zaire).
However, as noted by Gourevitch, once in the Congo, with easy access to humanitarian assistance, Interahamwe fighters and old-regime loyalists were able to remain active, and continued to terrorize Tutsis and various moderate members of other ethnic groups for years, until Rwanda, fed up with the inability of Zaire’s government and the international community to end hostilities, invaded its neighbor in 1996. In a swift march across Zaire, Rwanda’s forces made it to the capital, Kinshasa, on the other side of Central Africa, overthrowing American-backed dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and installing a new government.
Over the ensuing years, Rwanda would continue to maintain an interest in the Eastern Congo, and its influence in the region has been considerable. However, Rwandan concern with this area, as well as its impact upon it, would likely not be so significant today if not for the dramatic transformation of global society at large. The PlayStation 2, upon its immensely successful release, did not merely foreshadow the dawn of the digital era: it hinted at the massive potential of Congolese cobalt mining that sat right beneath the feet of Rwandan troops. Today, in the present conflict, the cobalt-rich region of the Eastern Congo continues to garner immense interest from Rwanda. The International Crisis Group (ICG) reports on how the M23 rebels have managed to penetrate far into North Kivu province, “taking towns and valuable mining sites.”
Yet, despite the concern over the situation in North Kivy, Rwanda has argued that their interests are not simply to capitalize on the Congo’s wealth: it has repeatedly claimed that it has its own national security as the motive for its interests in the region. Last year, according to Deutsche Welle (DW) journalist Martina Schwikowski, Rwanda “rejected calls by the US for it to withdraw troops and missile systems, saying [that Rwandan] military installments…in eastern DRC [are intended] to defend Rwanda from the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), an armed rebel group whose members include alleged perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide…many of [whom] later fled to Congo to avoid facing justice in Rwanda.” Rwanda also has many financial interests in the Eastern Congo, beyond that of cobalt, which it wants to ensure remain secure. According to Schwikowski, for instance, “before the M23 rebellion even began, Rwanda's largest export was Congolese gold, which rose from 1% [of exports] in 2014 to 47% in 2020.” Ultimately, “Rwanda considers parts of eastern Congo as part of its sphere of influence.” Yet, Rwanda’s continued support for rebel groups in the region has produced incredible hardship for Congolese citizens.
The Congo, witness to decades of armed conflicts, has for much of recorded history been the victim of exploitation – first by European powers, and now by African states as well as international players. The suffering witnessed in this most recent war, as well as that of the cobalt market which it threatens, has captured global attention. At the United Nations in late February, French representative Nicholas De Rivière stated that “France condemns the M23 offensive made possible by the active support of Rwanda. The ongoing fighting is exacerbating a dramatic humanitarian situation, marked by the forced displacement of one million people.” Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Kigali last August and met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame, stating at a press conference that “any support or cooperation with any armed group in eastern DRC endangers local communities and regional stability,” according to CNN. Even the Vatican has expressed its disdain for the conflict, with Vatican News publishing a sermon by Archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, in which he “stated that it is [an] urgent time to take action by implementing a new dialogue strategy to save the nation that has been torn by violence for three decades.” Vatican News also noted that “the United Nations have reported mass [human rights] violations including summary executions, gang rape and sexual slavery in the wake of the capture of Goma.” Both Congolese and M23 troops have been accused of propagating this violence, with sexual crimes against civilians reported being committed by infantry on both sides.
Many argue that a reason for the continuation of the conflict stems from a lack of willingness of other countries to act. The international community has been reluctant to impose measures that reduce incentives to violence. There has also been little pressure placed on Rwanda to cease their propagation of conflict in the Congo. Kristof Titeca, a researcher of conflict of Central and East Africa at the University of Antwerp, stated in an interview with DW that “the key to resolving the crisis lies in Kigali.”
Ultimately, Rwanda, with its extremely capable military, has the means to drastically destabilize the Congo. “The US has imposed some sanctions on individuals,” Titeca acknowledged, “but Rwanda remains a donor darling.” The problem, as explained by Titeca, is that “many view [Rwanda] as an example of how donor aid should be implemented, with its efficient health sector cited as an example. Foreign states were very hesitant to sanction Rwanda.” Thus, despite international condemnation of Rwanda, the country continues to receive strong financial backing from the West. Unless steps are taken to reduce hostilities, the picture remains bleak.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (right) and Rwandan President Paul Kagame pictured together in 2022.
“Worse could well be on the way,” notes the ICG in their sobering January report on the situation. “Rebels are pushing deeper into the neighbouring South Kivu province and menacing its capital Bukavu, suggesting they have ambitions beyond Goma or at least are seeking to ramp up the pressure on a weakened Kinshasa.” While I believe it is often in good practice to leave on a positive note, it does not seem that any much hope regarding the present conflict can be glimpsed anywhere. “Left unchecked,” the ICG states, “the fighting could spread throughout the Great Lakes region, recalling the horrors of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when millions died amid a multi-country war in the Congo.”