I. Introduction

On June 27, 2025, a "minerals for security" agreement between the DRC and Rwanda, supported by President Donald Trump, was signed in New York to pacify eastern Congo, ravaged by three decades of violence and millions of deaths (Prunier, Reyntjens, Lemarchand). The Katangan Bloc welcomes the intention of peace, but remains deeply reserved: this poorly conceived agreement risks perpetuating the logic of predation and exclusion. As an African proverb says, "the worm is already in the fruit": without inclusive guarantees, peace will remain illusory.

II. The Real Motivations: Between Superpowers and Extractivism

Presented as a "win-win deal", the agreement guarantees American firms preferential access to strategic minerals (cobalt, coltan, rare earths) in exchange for a promise of security in the East. Media outlets (Reuters, Le Monde Afrique) recall his proximity to the US-Ukraine negotiations on mining counterparts to military aid. The DRC is thus once again becoming a geostrategic pawn, bargained for without any real national consultation. However, a commitment of this magnitude, concerning economic sovereignty, should have been debated in Parliament, in accordance with Articles 129 and 214 of the Constitution. Decided by a few advisers and a minister, this circumvention of legitimacy weakens the democratic anchorage. The Katangan Bloc warns: without a citizens' debate, no peace can hold.

III. Internal causes structurally ignored

Behind its diplomatic veneer, the agreement evades the root causes of Congolese instability. The authoritarian drift of the regime is obvious: opponents hunted down or exiled, such as Joseph Kabila Kabange or Moïse Katumbi, are under constant threat. Journalists and human rights defenders are subjected to targeted arrests and assassinations. In Greater Katanga, militarization stifles any dissenting voice, while an organized settlement from the province of the Head of State fuels resentment and land conflicts. These community tensions, although at the heart of the crisis, remain ignored. Without addressing these internal fractures, any agreement will remain a veneer doomed to failure.

IV. The Tragic Fate of the Congolese Tutsi: A Major Omission

The Katangan Bloc recalls that the AFC/M23 crystallizes the unresolved question of the identity and inclusion of Congolese Tutsis. Long stigmatised as "foreigners" and victims of xenophobia, many now live marginalised in Rwanda or Uganda, without the right to return to their land. The New York agreement, by limiting itself to a DRC-Rwanda treaty, ignores this complex reality. As René Lemarchand (1999) and Jason Stearns (2012) point out, to neglect these demands is to condemn any lasting peace. Without full recognition of their civil and land rights, these communities will remain in the struggle. The agreement also avoids the question of the direct involvement of the AFC/M23, despite being a key player on the ground, reduced here to a simple instrument of regional diplomacy.

V. The Social Pact for Peace: the ignored Congolese path

Meanwhile, the Social Pact for Peace, an initiative launched by the Catholic and Protestant Church, remains the true inclusive alternative. It proposes a frank dialogue, bringing together all the components of the nation, to think together about a real reconciliation, backed by transitional justice, the recognition of mutual wrongs and a new ethics of governance. But this dynamic, supported by a majority of political actors, is systematically torpedoed by the current government, which imposes a false consensus by selecting participants who are a foregone conclusion, excluding any dissenting voice.

V.I Conclusion: the worm is still in the fruit

The Katangan Bloc refuses to give in to euphoria. This agreement, as it stands, does not guarantee lasting peace: it feeds an extractivist logic, consolidates authoritarian governance and ignores real community fractures. Without integrating the demands of the excluded and without a real rule of law, it risks fuelling new violence. The Katangan Bloc appeals to President Trump and international opinion: the DRC cannot be sacrificed for a new mining order. Peace requires justice, inclusion and recognition of human rights. Otherwise, the country will plunge back into the spiral of suffering it has endured for too long.