Dr Denis Mukwege on the situation in the Eastern DRC: ”This is no longer a humanitarian crisis; it is a crisis of our humanity”

The seminar may be viewed in full on our Youtube channel fufplay. 

Ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost, I would like to thank the two organizers, Friends of Panzi Hospital and the Swedish Development Forum, for organizing this event on the theme of Business for Peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

I’m delighted to see a multitude of profiles in the room because to address the problems that bring us together today and to find solutions, it is crucial to mobilize collective commitment to develop strategies and synergies and enhance cooperation between states, political leaders, but also with the private sector, academia, civil society, and the media.

Ladies and gentlemen, before getting to the heart of the matter, allow me to shed light on the serious security and humanitarian situation prevailing in the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in the east of the country, where Panzi Hospital and Panzi Foundation are located.

Eastern Congo has been ravaged by war since 1996. At some point, the country was occupied by nine foreign armies, and a multitude of Congolese and foreign armed groups have committed countless international crimes with almost total impunity. Indeed, this is the deadliest conflict since the Second World War, with over six million dead and one of the most serious humanitarian catastrophes in the modern world, with almost seven million displaced and 25 million people suffering from hunger.

This is no longer a humanitarian crisis; it is a crisis of our humanity. Yet this crisis remains largely neglected, and there is an urgent need to launch a campaign for global mobilization and put an end to the suffering of the Congolese people. This is why we are advocating for tackling the root cause of violence: the illegal exploitation and exportation of mining resources.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a topic I would like to develop with you this afternoon: the connection between the Congo’s immense natural wealth and ongoing conflict. The Congo is often described as a mining El Dorado. Studies by the UN and civil society have clearly shown how the illegal extraction and illicit trade of these minerals fuel war and widespread human rights violations.

Let me go back in time for a moment to show how closely the history of globalization and the history of Congo have been intertwined. Since the 16th century, the slave trade was closely linked to the sugar cane and cotton trade, which contributed to an international economic boom. During the rule of Leopold II, the Belgian King’s aim was to do business and make maximum profit from the Congo’s natural resources. The dogma of growth led to the worst atrocities. The Congo’s minerals also played a pivotal role in supporting the arms industry during both World Wars. It should be recalled that it was thanks to the uranium of Congo that the atomic bomb was made 80 years ago.

In the last 30 years, Rwanda and Uganda have been instrumentalized as proxies for the great powers and certain multinationals to step up a war economy aimed at controlling the extraction and trade of Congolese mineral resources and their transport to the rest of the world. Indeed, the globalized economic system is largely based on the mining resources that abound in the DRC, and these minerals have become indispensable for the new information and communication technologies with the rise of computers, smartphones, tablets, and other devices that have become part of our daily lives. With the advent of the digital age, in complicity with a greedy and corrupt Congolese political-military elite which sells off Congo’s mineral wealth, the regime in Kigali has become a hub for illegal trafficking of strategic minerals despite having very little of its own.

Thus, we can acknowledge that the DRC remains a constant focal point in major geostrategic conflicts and challenges. Meanwhile, the Congolese population continues to suffer in extreme poverty. Most recently, the Group of Experts on the DRC, mandated by the UN Security Council, reported that the coalition of M23 and the Rwandan army that occupies vast areas of North Kivu in a war of aggression had a monopoly on the fraudulent extraction, trade, and illegal export to Rwanda of minerals from this area.

North Kivu is rich in mining sites, which is said to supply over 15% of the world’s tantalum production. This has caused the most significant contamination recorded in the supply chains of the 3T minerals (tin, tantalum, tungsten) in the Great Lakes region in the last 10 years. In fact, according to the UN experts, over 120 tons of coltan are transported every month between the DRC and Rwanda, and these minerals are then laundered in Rwandan production before being exported to the world market.

As a result, strategic Congolese minerals either go directly to China, which operates in Africa as a neocolonial force, or transit through Rwanda before being exported to processing and consuming regions such as Europe and the USA. In both cases, the supply chain is frequently compromised, failing to meet ethical, social, and environmental standards.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is an urgent need to change course.

The DRC is a subject of renewed interest due to the resurgence of violence but also because of a growing need for strategic minerals essential to so-called clean technologies as part of the energy transition to combat climate change. As governments in economically advanced countries seek to move away from fossil fuels and global competition for access to critical minerals intensifies, political decision-makers and major corporations are paying greater attention to securing the supply chains of minerals essential to the transition.

The issue of access to Congo’s minerals, with its vast potential for extraction, is becoming increasingly significant. Global competition for critical minerals is driven by strategic rivalry between the Western world and China to secure supplies of metals essential not only for new technology industries but also for the energy transition.

The International Energy Agency estimates that demand for minerals essential to the energy transition will triple by 2030 and quadruple by 2040. The pressure on the DRC, the world’s leading producer of cobalt with 80% of the planet’s reserves, the second-largest producer of copper, holder of the world’s largest reserve of coltan, and with enormous potential in lithium and other rare earths, will dramatically increase. Therefore, every nation is making efforts to secure its strategic autonomy.

Following the example of the European Union’s Global Gateway strategy and the construction of the Lobito Corridor in Angola to facilitate the transport of minerals from the DRC and Zambia across the Atlantic to Europe and the US, we must seize this opportunity to change the paradigm and avoid the humanitarian and ecological disasters brought about by the communication and digital revolutions.

Ladies and gentlemen, Sweden is an example to follow, for it has built its prosperity on the sustainable management of natural resources and innovation while insisting on the crucial role of transparency and governance in building trust and attracting investment.

Sweden and the DRC share similar natural resources, and while the DRC is in the process of adopting a national strategy for energy transition minerals and fostering inclusive development, a strategic partnership with Sweden can lead the DRC towards a sustainable future and focus on peace, job creation, and meeting the basic rights and needs of its population.

Furthermore, while Sweden said yes to the European Union 30 years ago, it also has a role to play at the European level, not least in its relations with the African Great Lakes region. Over the past decade, the EU has progressively developed a substantial legislative framework, including the Conflict Minerals Regulation, the Critical Raw Materials Act, and the new Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, that will become effective only in a few years from now.

This proliferation of European legislative initiatives, whose spirit is partly based on human rights and the environment following consumer outrage, campaigns, and civil society advocacy, seems to be paving the way for a more responsible and sustainable global business ethic.

Nevertheless, it must be remembered that entire sectors of industry cannot function without minerals. For example, demand for coltan is driven not only by the electronic industry but also by the chemical, military, and even space industries.

Secondly, the only legislation whose effects can already be assessed, that on conflict minerals, has unfortunately not had the expected impact, nor has its implementation been effective. The illicit mineral trade continues to fuel conflict in Eastern Congo.

Finally, the EU signed in February 2024 a partnership agreement with Rwanda to further the development of sustainable and resilient value chains for raw materials, while it is widely documented that the Kigali regime destabilizes the DRC to plunder these minerals, cynically illustrating a total contradiction with the principles of coherence and the EU’s core values, notably the promotion of peace and human rights. We therefore call on Sweden to ensure EU foreign policy remains in line with its values and to demand that the EU assess the effectiveness of the Conflict Minerals Regulation.

Ladies and gentlemen, with the failure of security and diplomatic initiatives to silence guns in the DRC and the difficulty of legal regulation on opaque and mafia-like trade, we now expect the private sector and the business world to assume their responsibilities and to be part of the solution.

Over the past 20 years, efforts have been made in the field of corporate social responsibility, notably with the adoption of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These efforts are largely based on the ’Do No Harm’ principle, for example, not to use child labor or not to dump chemicals in rivers.

While corporate power is constantly growing, it remains largely unchecked, and it is becoming urgent to redefine the relationship between business, society, and the planet.

It’s time to move from a ’Do No Harm’ approach to a ’Do Good’ one.

This is the purpose of the Business for Peace campaign in the DRC that we are initiating. There is an alternative to sourcing minerals responsibly without going through the Kigali regime, which kills civilians to plunder the minerals of Eastern Congo, and without going through the Chinese, who don’t bother to protect human rights or nature. All this is criminal business.

We are convinced that, thanks to the Business for Peace approach, global high-tech companies, some of which source directly or indirectly minerals from those who plunder the DRC’s natural resources, will do well to get involved and use their leverage in promoting sustainable peace-building in the DRC to gain direct access to these same resources in a profitable, sustainable, secure, and ethical manner. A win-win partnership will enable companies to pursue the digital and energy revolution and the DRC to contribute to the needs of economic globalization in a just manner.

The future lies in ensuring that the prosperity of companies is in step with the prosperity of nations, their populations, and the planet.

I thank you for the effort you’ll make to achieve this. Thank you.