exported Authored 4 sources

DRC Minerals War

Rwanda-backed M23 seized Goma and controls the Rubaya coltan mine supplying 15% of global tantalum — as the US sanctions Rwanda while simultaneously negotiating mineral access deals with the DRC.

Sources (4)

Source	Publisher	Type	Date	Score
M23, Minerals, and Geopolitics in Eastern DRC Geopolitical Monitor	Geopolitical Monitor	think_tank	2026-03	85%
Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo — Global Conflict Tracker Council on Foreign Relations	Council on Foreign Relations	think_tank	2026-05	92%
Peace in DRC Requires More than Symbolic US Sanctions on Rwanda The Oakland Institute	The Oakland Institute	think_tank	2026-03	84%
Democratic Republic of the Congo — March 2026 Monthly Forecast Security Council Report	Security Council Report	intergovernmental	2026-03	92%

Full Script

Narration + Stagehand commands

Commands like [map.highlight] are Stagehand directives — they control the map renderer and pass through schema validation before any visual effect reaches the public output.

[map.view lat=-1.5 lon=28.5 zoom=5.2]
[entity.propose id="country:drc" type="country" name="Democratic Republic of Congo" lon=23.656 lat=-2.877]
[entity.propose id="country:rwanda" type="country" name="Rwanda" lon=29.874 lat=-1.940]
[entity.propose id="city:goma" type="city" name="Goma" lon=29.228 lat=-1.679]
[entity.propose id="site:rubaya_mine" type="site" name="Rubaya Coltan Mine" lon=29.383 lat=-1.573]
[entity.propose id="region:north_kivu" type="region" name="North Kivu" lon=29.0 lat=-1.0]
[map.highlight ids="country:drc" color="#f59e0b"]
[map.highlight ids="country:rwanda" color="#ef4444"]
Eastern Congo contains some of the most valuable minerals on earth — coltan, cobalt, gold — and right now an armed group backed by Rwanda controls a mine that supplies fifteen percent of global tantalum production. Your phone probably has some in it.
[map.spotlight id="city:goma"]
[map.label ids="city:goma" text="Goma — seized by M23 in early 2025"]
[map.highlight ids="site:rubaya_mine" color="#ef4444"]
[map.label ids="site:rubaya_mine" text="Rubaya mine — 15% of global tantalum, $800k/month for M23"]
[chat.say source="cfr_drc_conflict_tracker"]
M23 — the March 23 Movement — swept into Goma in early 2025 with Rwandan backing. Since seizing the Rubaya coltan mine in North Kivu, M23 has taxed every kilogram that leaves, earning eight hundred thousand dollars a month in revenue.
[map.arrow from="country:rwanda" to="region:north_kivu" color="#ef4444" label="Rwanda backs M23"]
[scene.title kind=chapter eyebrow="Clio Short" title="Minerals for Peace" subtitle="DRC · Rwanda · M23 · US Sanctions · March 2026"]
[chat.say source="geopolitical_monitor_drc_minerals"]
On March 2, 2026, the US Treasury sanctioned the Rwanda Defence Force and four of its senior commanders for violating the Washington Peace Accords signed just three months earlier. At the same time, Washington has been negotiating mineral access deals with Kinshasa — offering to broker peace in exchange for privileged access to DRC's strategic resources, including Rubaya itself.
[map.highlight ids="country:drc" color="#a3e635"]
[chat.say source="oakland_institute_drc_rwanda_sanctions"]
Critics say the US is sanctioning Rwanda with one hand while extracting minerals with the other — that this is not a peace process but a resource competition with diplomatic theater layered on top.
[scene.title kind=clear]
Five million people are displaced in eastern Congo. M23 controls more territory than at any point since 2013. The Washington Peace Accords are already in violation. And the coltan that finances this war ends up in the tantalum capacitors inside smartphones, electric vehicles, and missile guidance systems worldwide. The peace deal is real. So is the mineral deal. They are the same deal.
[scene.title kind=outro title="DRC Minerals War" subtitle="Follow Clio for more."]