Description: One day before the scheduled Congo – M23 peace talks under Angolan mediation, the rebel group has officially withdrawn from the peace process after the EU imposed a wave of sanctions on M23 and Rwanda as their largest supporter. The parties were set to meet in direct talks for the first time in the Angolan capital Luanda after repeated denouncements were made from DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi, who stated that Congo draws the red line and wouldn’t directly negotiate with terrorists. The setback comes at a curious time of enhanced US interest in DRC’s mineral reserves, which are currently under M23 controlled territories, and evolving dissolution in relations between US and the EU. Belgium has severed diplomatic ties with Rwanda over their M23 sponsorship in the conflict which so far left around 7 million people displaced and caused severe humanitarian crisis in DRC.
Impact: The geopolitical implications over the conflict between M23 and the DR Congo have rapidly untangled with major global players such as the US and the EU experiencing their first clash of global interests. The enhanced US interest in DRC’s mineral reserves probably prompted the EU to impose sanctions on key Rwandan and M23 leadership causing the setback in the peace process and thus disabling the forwarding of US energy interests in the country. The move shows that when geopolitical interests are concerned, human life is dispensable as the raging war has set the entire country in a protracted security and humanitarian crisis. The war in DR Congo has become the first strategic battlefield between the US and the EU since their strategic partnership diverged in different directions over the war in Ukraine and the imposition of tariffs by the Trump administration. China stands to benefit the most from the stance of both the EU and the US as multiple state – owned consortiums operated in the conflict safe parts of the DRC.