Minerals, traceability, peace and development: Prime Minister Suminwa on the offensive in Geneva

Geneva, November 20^th, 2025 (CPA).- Prime Minister Judith Suminwa is on a crusade in Geneva, Switzerland, since Wednesday night, guaranteeing investors better traceability with a view to ensuring peace and development for more than 250 million inhabitants of the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighbours. ‘The government has first wanted to put an end to hypocrisy. We cannot continue with this hypocrisy that has caused millions of deaths,’ has explained Louis Watum, Congolese Minister in charge of Mines, who is accompanying the Head of Government. ‘We have provided guarantees of traceability from the mining site to the market because we have aligned ourselves with the standards, particularly those of the International Community of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR),’ has added Mr Watum.  As early as Thursday morning, the Congolese delegation, composed of Minister of State in charge of Justice Guillaume Ngefa, Minister in charge of Mines Watum and Minister in charge of Communication and Media Patrick Muyaya, intends to put an end to the harmful actions of ‘unscrupulous intermediaries’ found among neighbouring countries and private individuals. ‘The aim is to jointly design a reinforced traceability system, from the mine to export, to put an end to the smuggling of +3T+ minerals (tin, tantalum and tungsten) to neighbouring countries that have negative intentions towards DRC,’ the Prime Minister’s Office has indicated in a press release.  In Geneva, several major mining players have their headquarters, such as Glencore and Trafigura, which are well known to the Congolese.  After Washington, where she had mobilised dozens of American investors, and London, where she had opened a new front, Ms Suminwa is exploring circles that are generally neglected despite playing a decisive role in the mining sector. DRC has regularly accused its neighbours, particularly Rwanda, of fuelling destabilisation in the eastern part of the country with a view to committing crimes and plundering natural resources. ‘Currently, President Felix Tshisekedi is committed to restoring peace and to a development process that will impact not only the more than 100 million Congolese, but also the more than 100 million inhabitants of nine neighbouring countries and beyond,’ has indicated Minister Watum in charge of Mines.