KINSHASA, Congo – The leadership of Congo faces accusations of selling off national resources and compromising sovereignty, as President Félix Tshisekedi offers U.S. companies access to vast, untapped mineral wealth in exchange for foreign support. Critics, including lawyers, activists, and the leader of the National Episcopal Conference, warn that such a partnership threatens the nation's self-determination and amounts to "selling off the minerals of an entire nation to save a regime or a political system."
This move comes as the nation grapples with a severe territorial crisis, with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels controlling the largest city, Goma, since January 2025. The rebels have effectively carved off the mineral-rich North Kivu province, causing the flight of hundreds of thousands of native Congolese and provoking fears of secession.
President Tshisekedi's offer grants U.S. companies access to eastern Congo’s minerals, estimated to be worth $24 trillion, as a bargaining chip for U.S. support to secure the eastern region. This introduces a new, powerful rival for resources into an area where Chinese interests have long been active in mineral extraction.
The Cost of Elite Deals
Bwatshia Kambayi, a historian of Congo and former minister of higher education, stated that the elite running Congo "are poor men who want to live as rich people." Kambayi further asserted that current leaders have not reached the level of fighting for the people’s freedom or liberty, contrasting them with historical figures.
Kambayi also observed that "African leaders, they do not realize that they have a slavery mindset. We are independent, but we are not free," highlighting a perceived lack of true self-determination within the political class.
President Tshisekedi has embraced Kimbanguists, with his prime minister, Judith Suminwa, being a member of the church. This alignment is seen as an indicator of the government’s respect for Simon Kimbangu as a champion of Black emancipation, and it underscores the Kimbanguist movement’s importance as a source of votes for the ruling regime.
Erosion of National Control
Simon Kimbangu, the founder of one of Africa’s largest independent churches, spent 30 years in jail and died a prisoner, banished by Belgian colonial authorities who deemed his activities dangerous. His religious movement, however, spread across Congo and now has followers even in Belgium, with pilgrims visiting a village south of Kinshasa to pay homage.
April 6 has been marked in Congo as Kimbangu Day since 2023, commemorating the "struggle of Simon Kimbangu and African consciousness." This holiday reflects a national effort to honor a figure who articulated a home-grown theology of Black liberation, which appealed to many Congolese during violent colonial times.
Kimbangu identified God with Nzambi, the deity in the Kikongo language, and presented himself as God’s envoy on Earth. This theological framing implied the Blackness of God, subverting cultural representations of the deity as white and possibly European, alarming European settlers.
A People's Resistance
Despite his ministry lasting only five months before he faced insurrection charges and a commuted death sentence, Kimbangu’s nonviolent, independent, well-organized, and resilient movement continues to resonate. Some Congolese suggest it can serve as a positive example for a nation facing its most severe territorial crisis since independence in 1960.
Church elder André Kibangudi noted the significant role of women in the Kimbanguist Church, stating, "Women are ministering in the church. They have a key role to play because the church is so thankful for what the wife of Simon Kimbangu did when her husband was in prison." This internal structure contrasts with broader societal norms in Congo, where polygamy is socially accepted but prohibited by the church.
Pastor Toussaint Mungwala, who converted from Catholicism to Kimbanguism, stated that the founding prophet "fought for people’s rights," indicating a continued popular belief in the movement as a force for the native population's interests against external and elite pressures.