{"id":315845,"date":"2026-05-11T12:00:54","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=315845"},"modified":"2026-05-05T20:15:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:15:47","slug":"sanctions-for-the-script-minerals-for-the-taking-no-victory-only-congolese-on-the-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/05\/sanctions-for-the-script-minerals-for-the-taking-no-victory-only-congolese-on-the-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanctions for the Script, Minerals for the Taking–No Victory, only Congolese on the Flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

5 May 2026\u00a0<\/em>–\u00a0So, the U.S. Treasury just slapped Joseph Kabila onto its blacklist, accusing him of \u201csowing instability\u201d by bankrolling the M23. In Kinshasa, Tshisekedi\u2019s court is uncorking the cheap champagne.<\/p>\n

Victory at last!<\/em> Washington has pointed a finger at the former president, the shadowy check-writer behind the rebels who, alongside Rwanda\u2019s army, are carving up the Kivu like a Sunday roast.<\/p>\n

There had to be a move. A strong move. A visible move. Something to reassure the moral shareholders of the world between two sustainability reports and a panel on \u201cregional stability.\u201d So Washington did what Washington does best: it sanctioned.<\/p>\n

The former D.R.Congo President, Joseph Kabila is now blacklisted by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. His assets\u2014rumored, mythical, possibly stored next to Atlantis\u2014are frozen.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, of course, the folk in the Congo die. No victory, only Congolese on the flight\u2014trudging down dirt roads with mattresses on their heads, while gravediggers work overtime. But never mind the corpses; let\u2019s examine the sanctions.<\/p>\n

They are a masterpiece of symbolic theatre. Kabila, the Treasury\u2019s statement hints, isn\u2019t the creator <\/em>of the M23, merely its financial concierge. And since the old man almost certainly keeps his loot anywhere but a Manhattan bank account, the asset freeze is a lovely piece of political fiction. This isn\u2019t punishment; it\u2019s a signal\u2014a velvet-roped warning shot.<\/p>\n

But a warning for what<\/em>? Here\u2019s the noir-ish punchline. Washington didn\u2019t dust off the sanctions machine because Rwanda violated Congo\u2019s territorial integrity, or because its proxy militia has been filleting coltan and gold for years. That\u2019s just the background noise. The causa belli<\/em>, the true affront, was that the M23 and their Rwandan handlers captured the strategic town of Uvira a few days after<\/em> the signing of a peace deal personally midwifed by President Trump. They made the man look incompetent. So, the Treasury reached for its favourite weapon\u2014a public wrist-slap\u2014and delivered a stiffly worded memo to the naughty step.<\/p>\n

The sanctions on Kigali remain artfully limited. Sensitive cooperation? Untouched. The bottomless strategic partnership with Rwanda? Still breathing steadily. Washington\u2019s real message, buried deep in the Treasury communiqu\u00e9, is to all<\/em> parties: stay in your lanes, freeze the frontlines, and above all, safeguard the real prize. And what is<\/em> that prize? I quote: \u201can economic integration framework to develop trade and investment, strengthen transparency in critical mineral supply chains, and pave the way for greater investment in the region.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read that again, slowly. The goal is not to settle the war\u2019s root causes, nor to return the occupied territories to Kinshasa\u2019s authority. The goal is an orderly mineral bazaar, with supply chains scrubbed clean just enough for American companies to participate without embarrassing headlines. The M23 gets to keep what it stole; Rwanda continues to run the territories as a parallel administration; and Tshisekedi receives enough symbolic high-fives to keep him hopping on command. It\u2019s a status quo wrapped in a peace accord, perfumed with the scent of lithium and cobalt.<\/p>\n

Tshisekedi celebrates because his enemies are named-and-shamed. But the champagne will go flat when he realises that Uvira is still not his, that the rebels and their patrons are still digging in, and that Washington\u2019s concept of \u201crestraint\u201d means everyone freezes exactly where they stood before Trump\u2019s signature got cheapened. The Congolese state doesn\u2019t regain its sovereignty; it simply isn\u2019t allowed to lose any more ground this quarter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So here we are: a dead-eyed diplomatic ritual in which the only real sanctions are reserved for those who embarrass the great power\u2019s ceremonial calendar. The American eagle isn\u2019t swooping down to save the Congo; it\u2019s simply guarding a supply-chain flowchart, occasionally pecking someone who disrupts the workflow.<\/p>\n

And the people? They continue to die and flee\u2014the eternal backdrop to a negotiation where the minerals get a security guarantee and the humans get a footnote. It\u2019s not a peace process. It\u2019s a procurement policy with a rising body count. No victory, only Congolese on the flight.<\/em> Pass the champagne.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>____________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"\"<\/a>Ra\u00efs Neza Boneza is the author of fiction as well as non-fiction, poetry books and articles. He was born in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Former Za\u00efre). He is also an activist and peace practitioner. Ra\u00efs is a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service<\/em><\/a> Editorial Committee and a convener of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/em><\/a> for Central and African Great Lakes. He uses his work to promote artistic expressions as a means to deal with conflicts and maintaining mental wellbeing, spiritual growth and healing. Ra\u00efs has travelled extensively in Africa and around the world as a lecturer, educator and consultant for various NGOs and institutions. His work is premised on art, healing, solidarity, peace, conflict transformation and human dignity issues and works also as freelance journalist. You can reach him at <\/em>rais.boneza@gmail.com<\/em><\/a> – <\/em>http:\/\/www.raisnezaboneza.no<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 rboneza.substack.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5 May 2026\u00a0–\u00a0So, the U.S. Treasury just slapped Joseph Kabila onto its blacklist, accusing him of \u201csowing instability\u201d by bankrolling the M23. In Kinshasa, Tshisekedi\u2019s court is uncorking the cheap champagne. Victory at last!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":315847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[237,1991,1412,923,70],"class_list":["post-315845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transcend-members","tag-africa","tag-d-r-congo","tag-rwanda","tag-sanctions","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315845"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315851,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315845\/revisions\/315851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}