The Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Sunday that a “massive” landslide hit a militia-held mine in the country’s east, killing “at least 200 people.”
Since its resurgence in 2021, the M23 armed organization has acquired significant portions of the DRC’s resource-rich east, including the Rubaya mine in North Kivu province, which it captured with Rwanda’s assistance in April 2024.
According to scavengers, a portion of a hillside in the mining zone collapsed Wednesday afternoon. A second landslide hit on Thursday morning.
According to the M23-appointed governor, Eraston Bahati Musanga, there were “at least 200 deaths.”
The phone network has been down for several days, and the Congolese government and civil society organizations evacuated the area when the M23 arrived.
A humanitarian source told AFP that information is arriving “in dribs and drabs from motorbike couriers circulating the region,” making establishing a precise toll impossible.
The Rubaya mine produces 15 to 30 percent of the world’s coltan, which is used to make electronics like computers and mobile phones.
Experts estimate that the M23 earns roughly $800,000 per month from the mine, thanks to a $7 per kilo tax on coltan production and sale.
UN experts also accuse Rwanda, which denies providing military backing to the M23, of employing the militia to siphon off the DRC’s mineral wealth.
On Sunday, Kinshasa urged “the international community to fully grasp the scale of this tragedy,” which is blamed on “armed occupation and an organized system of looting” by Rwanda-backed militants.
In addition to possessing at least 60% of the world’s coltan, the eastern DRC has significant quantities of gold and tin.
