“For the EU, this partnership will contribute to ensuring a sustainable supply of raw materials, especially critical raw materials,” said the commission in a statement, adding that “Rwanda with its favourable investment climate and rule of law can become a hub for value addition in the mineral sector.”

The agreement with Rwanda, which the EU executive says will be fleshed out over the next six months, follows a similar deal last October with DRCongo (DRC), a major global producer of copper and cobalt. However, it comes at a time of increased tensions between DRC and Rwanda over the role of rival militia groups in eastern DRC.

Last week, France and the US urged Rwanda to remove its soldiers from eastern DRC and condemned Kigali’s support for the M23 militia group. Rwandan president Paul Kagame’s government denies that it supports M23 and has accused Tshisekedi’s government of supporting other militias seeking to expel Congolese Tutsi civilians into neighbouring countries.

At a meeting with Rwandan counterparts in Addis Ababa ahead of the African Union summit on 17-18 February, Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of using M23 to loot the region’s mineral riches.

“We have repeatedly underlined the obligation that all states in the region stop any support, direct or indirect, to the more than 100 armed groups in Eastern DRC,” a Commission spokesperson told EUobserver.

“We have repeatedly condemned Rwanda’s support to M23 and Rwanda’s military presence in Eastern DRC. We have similarly condemned DRC’s support and cooperation with FDLR/FOCA and other armed groups,” the spokesperson added.

In 2023, the EU passed a Critical Raw Materials Act and began negotiations with a group of countries as it seeks to diversify and strengthen its access to raw materials, including copper, nickel, and rare earth minerals. The commission has estimated that the bloc will need 18 times more lithium in 2030 than in 2020, and five times more cobalt.

Rwanda has substantial reserves of tin, tungsten, gold and niobium.

The agreement would “support the sustainable and responsible sourcing, production and processing of raw materials. The goal is to increase traceability and transparency and to reinforce the fight against illegal trafficking of minerals,” added the commission spokesperson.

“I think the timing of the agreement is very bad and have made that clear to the European Commission,” Belgian PM Alexander De Croo said at a press conference on 28 February following a meeting with Tshisekedi in Brussels, though he added that the Congolese government also needs “to demonstrate that it itself does not support other militias on the ground”.

Tshisekedi also called for European sanctions against Rwanda during a meeting with De Croo in Brussels on Wednesday (28 February).

Commenting on the sanctions list, the commission spokesperson described the sanctions list as “a ‘dynamic’ exercise: the EU can expand/contract the list or consider other restrictive measures depending on how the situation evolves.”

The EU currently has sanctions against members of M23, the Congolese army and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Hutu militia group.