Cursed Minerals: Proxy War
The fall of Goma, orchestrated by the M23 insurgents has sparked debate on social media as to what is actually happening in the Eastern DRC. Some people are hailing the M23 as the liberators who will abolish borders on the continent.
Despite these sentiments, angry Congolese stormed the embassies of Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, France, Belgium and the United States in the upscale region of Kinshasa. They accused these countries of destabilizing the region in order to extract minerals forcefully.
President Ruto in his infinite wisdom, decided to announce that he had called President Macron of France to discuss the conflict. This caused significant backlash across the continent. This is despite the serious accusations against France and of course their waning influence in the region.
In my estimation, this is clearly a proxy war between the West and Russia over African resources, as the attack on Goma seems to be a response by the West due to their expulsion from the Alliance of Sahel States in Western Africa. It seems that the East African Countries- Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya are being used by the West to extract resources from the Eastern DRC and as a response to Russian influence in the region.
Russian influence through mercenary groups has been seen within the DRC and the Alliance of Sahel States, a side which President Tsishekedi of DRC seems to be aligned to.
Furthermore, the involvement of South Africa in the conflict has raised eyebrows whereby 13 South African soldiers had been killed in the DRC as of 3 days ago. Rwandese President Paul Kagame said that he was ready to deal with South Africa militarily.
This is a significant development considering the fact that South Africa is a member state of BRICS and thus seems to have Russian backing.
If African leaders do not proceed with caution, we will see a regional conflict on a scale that has not been witnessed in Africa. Unfortunately, the people of Congo will be the hardest hit, with UN reports stating that 500,000 people have already been displaced by the conflict.
