The EU’s Going Green at the DRC’s Expense

As the green revolution revs up, the European Union has signed a deal with Rwanda that will ensure a supply of precious minerals needed to build clean tech like solar panels and electric vehicles. But all is not as it seems. It turns out that Rwanda is a country that exports more than it mines. Vast amounts of minerals like coltan and gold are smuggled from the war-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo to Rwanda, where they enter global supply chains. The racket has been extensively documented by United Nations experts. Last year, Congolese finance minister Nicolas Kazadi said his country’s economy was losing $1bn a year in minerals through the illicit trade. There is no shortage of evidence that conflict minerals are not only fuelling the fighting but also tainting supply chains. So why is the EU, which has condemned Rwanda’s role in the war, actively going after the spoils?

AL JAZEERA