Former Blackwater CEO and and mercenary boss Erik Prince [11] is to lead a team helping the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) secure and tax its extensive mineral wealth, news reports reveal. The deal, reached before the M23 [12] rebels launched a major offensive in January, was just confirmed to Reuters [13] by Congolese officials and diplomats. M23 has since January seized the eastern DRC's two largest cities, Goma and Bukavu, and is threatening to march on Kinshasa, the capital. The Prince-led initiative runs parallel to a broader "minerals-for-security" deal being negotiated between the DRC and the Trump White House. (Mining.com [17], TNH [18])
The senior White House adviser for Africa, Massad Boulos, met with Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa to discuss the minerals-for-security deal earlier this month, telling reporters: "You have heard about a minerals agreement. We have reviewed the Congo's proposal. I am happy to announce that the president and I have agreed on a path forward for its development." Boulos is the father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, the president's daughter by his second wife Marla Maples. (BBC News [19])
In a Feb. 8 letter to Trump, Tshisekedi offered mining opportunities for the US Sovereign Wealth Fund, a state-owned investment fund that Trump had launched by executive order [20] days earlier. In exchange, Tshisekedi asked Trump for a "formal security pact" to help his army defeat the M23. (WSJ [14])
See our last report [12] on the struggle for Congo's mineral wealth.
