The Gold War in Eastern Congo

By Matthew Parish

Associate Editor

The Current Flashpoint

In early 2025, fighting intensified in North and South Kivu provinces, particularly around Walikale, Masisi, and Uvira. The immediate spark has been renewed clashes over control of mining zones that contain not only coltan and tin, but also exceptionally rich seams of gold. The armed group known as the March 23 Movement (M23), a largely Tutsi-led rebellion with longstanding links to Rwanda, has advanced deep into Congolese territory. Its fighters seized Walikale in March, a key gateway to the region’s gold and coltan veins. From there they pressed further into Masisi and even into South Kivu, threatening Uvira on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

Opposing them are the Congolese national army (FARDC) and allied community militias, known as Wazalendo, who have attempted to hold urban centres and prevent rebel consolidation around the mines. Yet the government forces remain fragmented, ill-supplied, and unable to prevent the steady expansion of M23’s control. Reports indicate that the rebels are already levying taxes on miners and exporters, and diverting ore across the border for processing and sale.

The Historical Burden of Precious Metals

The violence fits a grim historical pattern. Eastern Congo’s mineral wealth has been both her blessing and her curse since the colonial era. Under Belgian rule, gold and tin extraction was heavily centralised, with revenues channelled out of the country. After independence, successive Congolese regimes struggled to regulate a sector riddled with corruption and smuggling.

During the First and Second Congo Wars (1996–2003), foreign armies and rebel groups carved up the Kivu provinces, financing their operations by looting mines or setting up shadow taxation systems. Gold, coltan, and cassiterite from places such as Walikale became notorious “conflict minerals”. International efforts—such as the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States, which obliged companies to trace their supply chains—sought to limit rebel access to mineral revenues, but enforcement proved weak and loopholes plentiful.

M23 itself is the latest incarnation of earlier Rwandan-backed militias, notably the CNDP (National Congress for the Defence of the People), which fought over many of the same gold and coltan fields in the late 2000s. Each cycle of rebellion has coincided with attempts to dominate mining zones and the lucrative trade routes leading eastwards into Rwanda and Uganda.

The Broader Stakes

Control over Congolese gold is not just a local affair. Smuggled bullion is laundered into international markets, often mixed with legitimate exports, and ends up in banks and jewellery shops across the globe. Meanwhile, coltan and other rare metals feed directly into the global electronics and green technology industries. The Congolese state loses vast revenues that might otherwise fund public services, while local communities endure displacement, extortion, and repeated waves of armed violence.

A War Without End?

The latest clashes underscore a tragic continuity: each time new armed actors seize ground in the eastern Congo, the magnet is the same—gold and other minerals buried beneath its soil. Until a durable political settlement is reached between Kinshasa, Kigali, and local communities, the cycle of rebellion, occupation, and exploitation is likely to continue. The battle over one goldmine is thus not an isolated skirmish, but part of a decades-long contest for the wealth of the Congolese earth itself.