Amidst the growing discord and confrontation between the United States and Europe over Greenland, the international community is focusing once again on the long-standing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A recent German internet article carried that the 30-odd-year-long armed conflict in the DRC killing millions was not a mere border dispute nor a civil war, but a structural entanglement among regional and international stakeholders over the abundant natural resources, namely critical minerals.

This “quiet” dispute drew international attention for a short while with the signing of a U.S.-mediated peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda last December. However, the deal is bound to become perfunctory with no real possibilities of implementation, as is the case in Gaza and Ukraine, it concluded.

The reasons are that the deal is no more than a U.S. attempt to gain access to the DRC’s rich resources and that Europe won’t remain an onlooker in the process as it is already deeply involved in the conquest of the region’s natural resources through Rwanda.

It is a well-known fact that the U.S. and Europe are both pursuing double diplomatic and trade policies that only focus on securing strategic resources like critical minerals rather than the sovereignty and the security of a country and her people, and regional peace.

A U.S. media commented that the DRC still remains unstable owing to the territorial and mineral conflicts among armed groups including those backed by Rwanda, and there is a risk of a future outbreak of a sudden crisis that could call for an even costlier intervention.

Experts say that before long, this conflict will go beyond the two countries and the region and lead to serious confrontation between the U.S. and Europe – the former that has its eyes on the DRC’s rich resources and the latter that already has immense political, economic and military leverage in Rwanda and the DRC. KCNA Watch