THE HUMAN COST OF THE DRC CONFLICT

The ongoing crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) isn’t an abstract event but an assault on the land’s custodians, who have paid the highest price for the wealth under their feet for the past three decades. 

Take Goma city, rich in minerals crucial for global markets, such as cobalt. The Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 militia has in the latest escalation assaulted the people in the capital city of North Kivu province forcing hundreds of thousands to flee starting in January. Attacks on civilians have displaced and even k*lled people, allowing militias to acquire land.

To highlight the cyclical nature of the violence, Orion (@pappyorion on IG and X) shared his personal experience of losing relatives and his encounter in a displacement camp with a 4-year-old child orphan, Baraka, who once lived in Rubaya, a mining region under M23 control since 2024. The child now lives with Focus Congo (@focuscongo on IG and @focuscongo_drc on X), an NGO Orion founded.

The M23 has reportedly generated $800,000 per month in Rubaya from taxing mined coltan, crucial for powering devices like smartphones. Plus, DRC’s finance minister, Nicolas Kazadi, accused Rwanda of making $1 billion a year through minerals theft. The United Arab Emirates government is the biggest buyer of smuggled African gold, and Western tech firms like Apple and Tesla rely on minerals such as cobalt. 

The conflict required to guarantee these profits has k*lled at least 6 million Congolese as of 2010 and internally displaced over 7 million as of last year. In addition, M23's recent campaign across eastern DRC has displaced 700,000 people since January, according to the UN.

You can watch the complete Episode 18 on our X or Rumble accounts or on YouTube (search for @ahmedkaballo4170).

Sources

M23 minting Rubaya

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/opinion/congo-rwanda-rebels-war.html 

UAE routing Africa’s gold

https://apnews.com/article/gold-smuggling-africa-uae-switzerland-e1a614c465766f1c3e90fb9e5a5167a2 

Kigali making $1 billion a year from mineral theft

https://www.ft.com/content/ecf89818-949b-4de7-9e8a-89f119c23a69 

Western firms complicity

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50812616 

Congo displaced

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/25/at-least-12-peacekeepers-killed-in-eastern-dr-congo-fighting 

4-year-old orphan Baraka

https://x.com/FocusCongo_DRC/status/1893923637599646105