#DRC #Rubaya #M23 "Are #M23 and Rwanda 'plundering #coltan' in Rubaya?" A report. My main findings: - There are NO #M23 soldiers near the mines. - #M23 does not participate in any aspect of the coltan mining business. - There is NO Rwandan presence in Rubaya. - Rubaya is NOT a "blood mineral" mine. - Rubaya does not supply the world electronics industry. ➡️ According to public statements, witness testimony, and field observation, a certain number of actions have been implemented by #M23 leadership : 1) Wazalendo & armed militias that were responsible for the violence in Rubaya for decades, have been neutralized. Security has been put in place. 2) NO weapons, NO children, NO pregnant women allowed, anywhere near the mine. 3) Daily rate increase from $3 to $5 (#M23 has imposed this minimum wage to the mine operators to be paid to the workers as a daily base rate. This is before what the miners earn per quantity of coltan extracted). ➡️In addition, our findings indicate that: - Rubaya is a town of more than 100,000 residents with their families. It is not a mine. The coltan mine is 30 minutes away (by motorbike) and between 1 to 2 hours by foot. No car can access the mine. - The principal economic mode of sustenance of Rubaya residents is coltan mining. Like other regions where families and communities depend on cattle herding, agriculture, or specific industries, the survival of Rubaya residents depends on coltan mining. This is the equivalent of entire towns in France where every family cultivates and harvests grapes for the wine industry of that region. Rubaya families extract, process, and sell coltan. Coltan is currently sold between $30 and $40/kg on the world market. This is after processing it, and profit will depend on the mineral content quality. This is to say that this artisanal mine requires tones and tones of raw coltan to be extracted and processed manually in order to achieve the quality of coltan sold on the market. Unlike the wine producers in France who have access to high tech industrial equipment for their wine industry, the Rubaya coltan mine extraction and processing are exclusively done manually. - Thus, the artisanal nature of this mine, where every aspect of the extraction and processing of coltan is manual, and the absence of a road between Rubaya and Goma where the coltan is sold on the market, makes it impossible for this mine to be considered as the number 1 supply of the world electronics industry. ➡️This argument, used by the #DRC government, human rights organization like @HRW, the United Nations represented by @MONUSCO and @UN_BintouKeita, government officials in Europe, and the mainstream and social media, constitutes a fallacy which seeks to blame the neighboring Rwanda, Congolese Rwandophones in North Kivu, and the Banyamulenge in South Kivu, as well as #M23. ➡️It diverts attention from the #DRC failed state led by Felix Tshisekedi, who has been incapable, like his predecessors or the last 30 years, to provide security, economic, and financial stability to its people. ➡️The vast majority of people living in Rubaya are native Congolese Kinyarwanda speakers. This is the result of the colonial borders that were drawn during the Berlin Conference in 1884-5 by European countries including Germany, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and France. Those borders separated Rwandophone speakers accros several countries. Thus, Rubaya residents are Congolese, who speak Kinyarwanda, which is their mother tongue. ➡️The current "sanctions" campaign against Rwanda, accused of "stealing strategic minerals from Rubaya" and "destabilizing DRC" is led by the same countries who drew those colonial borders in the Great Lakes region in 1884-5, which is the root cause of the DRC conflict. ➡️ The UK, Belgium, and Germany should instead seek to pacify the region by putting all their efforts and means to fight against tribalism and ethnic divisionism which their countries have created, and which is the mode of governance of the DRC regime that they are protecting today, at the expense of Rwandan Tutsi who were at the verge of total annihilation in 1994, and Congolese Tutsi victim of systemic killings and persecution in DRC since 1994. ➡️ Rubaya residents have openly and eagerly expressed to us that their security is finally guaranteed by #M23 today and that they are hopeful that a new era where peace prevails has began. (Photo and video credit to @TEDDYMAZINA)