Africa holds roughly 30% of the world's critical minerals, yet the continent remains trapped in a cycle where resource wealth finances violence rather than prosperity, World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the U.N. Security Council Wednesday. The warning comes as major economies race to secure supplies of lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earths needed for everything from smartphones to fighter jets.
Okonjo-Iweala called the global demand surge "a once-in-a-lifetime chance" for resource-rich countries to harness wealth and improve life for millions. Instead, the minerals have too easily triggered violence and poverty. She warned that "critical minerals are increasingly viewed as strategic assets, not just commodities, and a major source of interstate competition."
The Conflict Connection
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed to eastern Congo, where armed groups reap benefits from illegal mining and mineral smuggling. Civilians have paid the price of ongoing conflict. Congo accounts for over 70% of global cobalt production, making the violence there a matter of international supply chain concern.
In Sudan, the bitter fight between government and paramilitary forces for political and territorial dominance has been fueled by exploitation of natural resources. Gold and gum arabic—used in printing, paints, glues, cosmetics and other industries—have led to atrocities and displaced millions, Guterres said.
The Value-Added Gap
The real risk isn't just violence. Developing economies find themselves locked into the lowest level of production while "the highest value jobs, technologies and profits go elsewhere," Okonjo-Iweala said. Major economies use their access to these minerals as leverage, creating an interstate competition that leaves producer nations with raw materials but no industrial base.
Okonjo-Iweala said "the minerals beneath Africa or any developing region's soil should never help to finance the conflicts above it." She argued there's a real opportunity to create "a more diversified, inclusive, and win-win global economy" where mineral wealth becomes a catalyst for economic transformation, not just extraction.
Three Priorities for Change
The WTO chief proposed three priorities to reverse the pattern. Resource-rich developing countries should demand more local processing, refining and "value addition." The international rule of law should be strengthened. And resource-rich countries should work together, using the leverage they have to reverse the export of raw materials and import of finished goods while promoting investment.
South Africa holds the world's largest reserves of platinum and manganese. Zambia and Congo are major copper producers. Between 10 and 12 African countries have commercially exploitable reserves of lithium, and 15 to 20 have commercially exploitable deposits of rare earths. Less than half of Africa's mineral reserves have been explored.
"The world cannot achieve energy security, the green transition or digital transformation without them," Okonjo-Iweala said. The question is whether producing nations will capture the value—or just the violence.
Why This Matters:
The critical minerals crisis exposes a fundamental failure of governance and market development in resource-rich nations. When countries can't establish rule of law or build domestic processing capacity, they're left vulnerable to armed groups who exploit weak institutions while foreign manufacturers capture the value chain's profitable end. The solution isn't international aid or multilateral programs—it's property rights enforcement, investment in refining infrastructure, and regional cooperation that gives producer nations market power. Without local value addition, Africa's mineral wealth will continue financing warlords instead of building middle-class jobs. The green energy transition and digital economy depend on these materials, giving producer nations unprecedented leverage if they can organize effectively and demand processing facilities rather than accepting commodity-exporter status.