Mineral Resources, Sovereignty and Armed Conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: from Jadotville to the Geopolitics of Critical Minerals

Abstract

The relationship between mineral abundance and territorial violence is a central theme in contemporary political geography. This article examines that relationship in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, taking the siege of Jadotville, which occurred in September 1961 during the Katanga secession, as a historical and analytical starting point. The aim is to understand the persistence of Congolese mineral geopolitics from the decolonisation crisis to current disputes over critical minerals. The research is qualitative, bibliographic, documentary and interpretative, combining a review of the literature on the political economy of natural resources, analysis of reports by international organisations, and secondary data on the Congolese mineral industry. The results show that the Katanga crisis revealed the strategic importance of copper, cobalt and uranium, as well as the weight of foreign corporate interests in the formation of the post-independence Congolese state. In the twenty-first century, the centrality of cobalt, coltan and copper has repositioned the country at the core of global supply chains linked to the energy transition and digitalisation, without this translating into social justice, economic sovereignty or territorial stability. Armed groups are also found to interfere in a substantial share of artisanal mining sites in the east of the country, and traceability mechanisms prove necessary yet insufficient. The article concludes that mineral resources do not cause Congolese conflicts in isolation but finance, prolong and internationalise violence, so that their analysis requires the simultaneous consideration of coloniality, institutional fragility, global value chains and territorial justice.