THE US has imposed sanctions on an armed militia and three companies for their involvement in illegal mineral extraction and violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern mining regions, said Bloomberg News on Wednesday.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted PARECO-FF, describing it as a successor to an armed faction with a record of destabilising operations in the DRC, the newswire said. Officials accused the group of forcing civilians into labor and executing people in mining territories under its influence.
Three commercial entities also faced penalties: Hong Kong-registered firms East Rise Corporation Limited and Star Dragon Corporation Limited for acquiring illegally obtained minerals, plus Congolese mining cooperative Cooperative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo.
The enforcement action centres on operations in Rubaya, an eastern Congolese mining hub that ranks among the globe’s primary sources of tantalum ore, a critical component in electronic devices, said Bloomberg News.
The sanctions announcement follows a recent peace agreement between Congo and Rwanda aimed at ending prolonged regional violence and fostering development in Congo’s unstable eastern territories. The accord, supported by Washington, seeks to halt the Rwanda-supported M23 rebel movement’s control over significant portions of mineral-rich eastern Congo.
Treasury’s terrorism and financial intelligence chief John K. Hurley emphasised that his department would continue targeting organizations that threaten American and allied access to defence-critical minerals.
