Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Congo has been plundered for rubber, ivory, copper, and now cobalt—each extraction regime killing millions while enriching outsiders. The resource changes; the pattern doesn't.

Before Europeans arrived, the Kongo Kingdom dominated the region from the 14th century—a sophisticated state with centralized government, currency, and trade networks. Portuguese contact began in 1483, initiating centuries of slave trade that depopulated the interior while coastal kingdoms grew wealthy brokering human cargo. But the industrialized horror came later. At the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, European powers recognized King Leopold II of Belgium's personal claim to the Congo Basin—not as a Belgian colony, but as his private property.

The invention of the inflatable bicycle tire in 1887, followed by automobile tires, created insatiable demand for rubber. Leopold's Congo Free State, with its equatorial rainforests of wild rubber, was ripe for plundering. The Force Publique, his private army, enforced rubber quotas through systematic terror: villages that refused to collect rubber had inhabitants shot; workers who failed quotas had their hands severed as proof of punishment and bullets expended. According to historian Adam Hochschild, hand-severing and hostage-taking were deliberate state policy. Combined with epidemic disease, famine, and displacement, an estimated 10 million Congolese—half the population—died between 1880 and 1920. International outcry, including campaigns by Mark Twain and the Archbishop of Canterbury, forced Belgium to annex the territory in 1908 as a formal colony. The Belgian Congo continued extractive rule more quietly until independence in 1960.

Independence brought Patrice Lumumba, assassinated within months with CIA and Belgian involvement. Mobutu Sese Seko's 32-year kleptocracy followed (1965-1997), renaming the country Zaire while stealing an estimated $5 billion. His fall triggered the First Congo War (1996-97), then the Second (1998-2003)—"Africa's World War" involving nine countries and killing over 5 million people, mostly from disease and starvation in the chaos. The Kabila dynasty (father then son) governed until 2019, while eastern Congo remained ungovernable. In January-February 2025, the M23 militia, backed by Rwanda, captured Goma and Bukavu—major cities in the mineral-rich Kivus. Over 7,000 have died and 7.8 million been displaced since January 2025 alone, numbers comparable to Syria and Sudan.

The minerals beneath the killing fields are staggering. The DRC produces 70% of the world's cobalt—essential for electric vehicle batteries—yet Chinese companies control an estimated 80% of the Congolese cobalt market. Of the fourteen largest mines, China operates eight. Glencore, the world's second-largest producer, is reportedly considering selling its Kamoto Copper Company stake amid collapsing prices. Between May 2022 and May 2025, cobalt prices fell 59.5%, from $41 to $16.62 per pound, as Chinese production flooded the market. The DRC implemented a cobalt export ban in February 2025, briefly spiking prices 48%, but may lose $400 million if restrictions continue through year-end. A quota system is planned for October 2025.

The numbers tell the story of resource curse: $24 trillion in estimated mineral wealth, 75% of the population below $2.15 per day. The territory larger than Western Europe contains copper, coltan, gold, diamonds, lithium, and rare earths. Some 225,000 artisanal miners work cobalt deposits—an estimated 40,000 of them children, laboring 12-hour days in dangerous conditions. The Congo Basin holds 60% of Africa's rainforest, acting as a planetary carbon sink; the Congo River drains 3.7 million square kilometers.

Through 2026, great powers compete for extraction rights. Congo proposed a minerals-for-security deal to the United States: access to minerals in exchange for support against Rwanda-backed rebels. China signed a similar minerals-for-infrastructure agreement in 2007. GDP growth projections of 4.7-7.5% for 2025 reflect mining output, not development. The biological parallel is grim: like a host organism whose parasites have learned to keep it alive just enough to continue feeding, the Congo survives extraction after extraction while its people remain among the world's poorest.