Trump's 'minerals-for-protection' pact with DRC unlikely to yield peace

DRC President Felix Tshesekedi. [File, Standard]

Massad Boulos, US President Donald Trump's advisor on Africa and the Middle East, was in Africa to meet Presidents Felix Tshesekedi in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda's Paul Kagame, Uganda's Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, and Kenya's William Ruto. He also stopped in Paris where Nigerian President Bola Tinubu was receiving treatment. His real interest, however, was Congo which is geographically so big and rich that it seems like two countries in one; Eastern and Western Congo. Since the US is interested in Congolese strategic minerals, Boulos and Tshesekedi reached an understanding on Americans accessing Congo's natural wealth as a way of promoting security and an elusive 'peace' in the region.

Peace, a contrived reality, occurs when various players agree to contrive it. The reasons for striving to make peace include the pain from negative conflicts, pressure from interested groups acting as mediators, and the possibility of a common 'enemy' emerging temporarily to unify the parties in conflict. Players can also destroy existing peace if it does not appear to serve specific interests. In situations of intense rivalry for resources, 'peace' is actually an 'enemy' of entrenched interests. This seems to have been the case in Congo where leaders repeatedly turn on each other and plunge the region into deadly confrontations. As a result, the effort to bring peace in the Congo region regularly hits hard rocks.