The Macabre Dance of Bourgeois Gangs and Imperialisms Amidst Scenes of War and Workers’ Blood

In a context of increasingly widespread and permanent wars, while all states in all latitudes prepare for the third world carnage, the capitalist mode of production, whose class dictatorship knows no geographical boundaries, shows its true nature everywhere.

While on the one hand current war scenarios reveal the staging of “great men” – the Trumps, the Putins, the Iranian priests – offering them up to public contempt behind the screen of individual responsibilities to hide their own class nature, on the other hand, in the peripheries of the world, where names remain ignored, the destructive force of Capital continues to act immutably and impersonally: an infernal machine that systematically transforms the massacre of entire generations and the devastation of territories into surplus value.

A prime example of this is the scenario emerging in the large Central African state of Congo, where it is estimated that nearly 6 million people have died in the last 30 years due to an endless internal war between bourgeois gangs.

Despite the mining sector's multi-billion dollar value, in Congo more than 70% of the population still lives on less than $2.15 a day. The metropolis of Kinshasa grows unchecked, a concentration of reserve labor, a mass of people displaced from war-torn countryside, waiting for work.

The Mines

It is necessary to focus on the country's precious—for capital—extractive sector, where, in the ongoing tragedy of the mines, proletarian blood is spilled daily to feed capital's hunger for raw materials. Even beneath the veneer of modern technology, often painted green, ecological, digital, and responsible, beats the ferocious heart of the perpetual exploitation of man by man. The extractive sector of the Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most important in the world, both in terms of its current and potential value and its strategic significance, representing the backbone of the national economy. It generates, in fact, more than 95% of export revenues. The value of untapped mineral resources exceeds $24 trillion, a truly irresistible prize for bourgeois predators.

China is its primary destination, receiving over 70% of total exports. Almost all raw or partially refined copper and cobalt is shipped to China for final processing. The United Arab Emirates is the main hub for gold, often originating from the informal "artisanal" trade in eastern Congo, via Uganda and Rwanda.

In 2025, the sector contributed over 40% of the central government's tax revenue. In recent years, the number of active licenses for large-scale mining—referred to as industrial mining—has grown significantly: there are currently between 100 and 120 large industrial mining sites operating. These mines are controlled by foreign capital, with an overwhelming Chinese presence: more than 200,000 salaried miners work here.

There are also the so-called Artisanal Mines (ASM), which are the vast majority; it is estimated that there are about 3,000 mining centers of this type, particularly in the east of the country, in the regions of North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri and Maniema.

The landscape of artisanal mines is a mosaic of conflicting interests, where various armed bourgeois gangs fight over the loot on the skin of millions of miners, known as creuseurs, from the French "excavators".

With a share exceeding 70% of global cobalt production, the Democratic Republic of Congo holds control of this now essential resource: the global battery market depends entirely on the stability of the Lualaba and Upper Katanga provinces, where it is mainly mined.

In recent years, the Congo has become the world's second-largest copper producer, surpassing Peru and closely following Chile. Copper mining is concentrated almost entirely in the southern part of the country, within the so-called Central African Copperbelt, a geological region that stretches from the Congo to Zambia.

Gold, on the other hand, is extracted both in large mines like Kibali, one of the world's largest gold mines, and in thousands of "artisanal" sites in various eastern provinces, including Ituri, North Kivu and South Kivu.

Essential for electronics, Tungsten and Tantalum/Coltan are mainly mined in the east, in North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema.

Diamond mines are present in the south-central region of Kasai (Mbuji-Mayi).

Of particular note is the strong development of lithium extraction with large deposits identified in Manono, in the province of Tanganyika, in the far southeast.

The March 23 Movement

Between late January and early March, a series of landslides, triggered by heavy rains and a complete lack of reinforcement in the mine shafts, caused collapses at several mining sites in Rubaya, in the Masisi territory of the troubled North Kivu province, an eastern region bordering Uganda and Rwanda. An unknown number of miners, estimated at over 600, were buried alive under the collapse of entire hillsides. The mines are located in a mountainous area where torrential rains make the ground extremely unstable, transforming the tunnels into death traps. This is not an isolated incident; on June 19, another landslide killed more than 300 workers.

Coltan (columbite-tantalite) is primarily mined in this region; it is then refined to obtain tantalum and niobium, rare transition metals known for their high melting point, excellent corrosion resistance, and ductility—essential characteristics for producing high-capacity, miniaturized electronic capacitors used in smartphones, computers, cameras, and communication satellites. Tantalum is also fundamental for some medical prostheses, while niobium is crucial for special steels and superconductors.

The entire area is currently under the control of an armed rebel movement called M23, March 23 Movement, the date of a 2009 agreement that, according to these militias, the Congolese government has not respected.

The group was formed a few years later, in 2012, following a revolt by a faction of Congolese soldiers, primarily of Tutsi ethnicity. They claim to be fighting to protect their community from the Hutu militias (FDLR - Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda), which are still present and active in Congo today, accusing the Kinshasa government of having betrayed agreements regarding salaries, military ranks, and the security of their community.

The M23 is a well-organized militia with a conventional army arsenal: mortars, rocket launchers, and heavy machine guns mounted on large pickup trucks. New in 2026 is the use of kamikaze drones and sophisticated targeting systems. They also possess MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems) that make flying dangerous for UN and Congolese army helicopters.

Unlike other paramilitary groups that wear civilian clothing, M23 soldiers wear modern uniforms, bulletproof vests, and helmets, often very similar to those used by the Rwandan army. The group occupied the strategic coltan mines in May 2024 and consolidated its power throughout 2025, effectively establishing a parallel administration and imposing taxes on mining production.

In early 2025, they expanded their territory, seizing control of Goma—the capital of North Kivu—and later Bukavu—the capital of South Kivu—both in the eastern part of the country, not far from the Rwandan border. They now control almost all the mining areas in these territories, where tens of thousands of artisanal miners work. Rather than directly managing each mine, the M23 implements a tax system on the miners and intermediaries. It is estimated that this system can provide them with up to $1 million a month, making them financially independent.

Since the minerals extracted in these territories cannot be sold legally, as they are classified as “conflict minerals”, they must be smuggled. Most of them end up in Rwanda; there they are mixed with local production and re-exported with Rwandan certifications, making it nearly impossible for companies (like Apple, Samsung, or Tesla) to guarantee their origin (but these multinationals care little about where the merchandise comes from or whether it is stained with the blood of workers).

From East Africa, the ore is shipped to large smelters, concentrated mainly in China, although there are also some in Malaysia and Thailand. Here, the raw coltan is smelted and the metallic tantalum is separated. Chemical traceability is lost: once the minerals from a rebel-controlled mine and those from a legal mine are smelted together, they become indistinguishable.

According to the efficient bourgeois bureaucracy, there is a certification system called ITSCI (International Tin Supply Chain Initiative) that uses tags to track sacks of ore from authorized mines. However, local officials often sell the tags to traffickers, and the ore extracted by rebels is mixed with the “ethical” ore in warehouses.

In January, after the first mine collapse, the flow of tantalum, defined as the soul of smartphones, was temporarily interrupted, causing a price spike of 10% in a single week, reaching $130 per pound in February.

On February 24, near Rubaya, an attack by Congolese government forces killed Willy Ngoma, a high-ranking officer and prominent figure in the M23. He responded with a drone attack, loaded with cluster munitions, against government bases in Kisangani, the capital of Tshopo province, and by bombing some residential areas of Goma, causing numerous civilian casualties.

The Congo River Alliance

The M23 is part of what is called Alliance Fleuve Congo (AFC), a political-military coalition officially formed on December 15, 2023 with the stated goal of overthrowing the current government.

The financing of the AFC follows the same channels as that of the M23, and is mainly based on mining exploitation by imposing a 15% tax on the value of coltan extraction.

The AFC has appointed its own administrators and judges in Goma and the occupied areas, instituting a tax system that levies taxes on traders, market stalls and even transport; a parallel state.

Unlike the initial demands of the M23, which were more sectoral and linked to the Tutsi ethnic group and the 2009 pacts, the AFC has a national agenda, accusing the Kinshasa government of corruption and demanding the creation of a federal state.

As we write, Corneille Nangaa, a former Congolese civil servant labeled a traitor by the central government and turned one of the coalition leaders, has declared that the AFC will not recognize the “Washington Accords” signed between the DRC and Rwanda until the movement is included as a direct partner in the negotiations.

In this context of everyone against everyone, it is not surprising that the current Congolese government repeatedly accuses neighboring Rwanda of providing logistical support, advanced weaponry and regular troops to the AFC/M23.

The advance of the M23 has transformed North and South Kivu into a vast refugee camp. In the first months of 2026, more than 250,000 displaced households were registered in the east of the country. Many of these are “repeatedly displaced,” forced to flee multiple times due to shifting war fronts.

The crisis transcends national borders: in refugee camps, such as Busuma in Burundi, the situation has deteriorated rapidly; the camps, which house thousands of people fleeing the fighting, are plagued by a violent cholera epidemic and are targeted by drone attacks.

The Dramatic Condition of the Working Class

What happened in Rubaya was predictable. Torrential rains acted upon land ravaged by rampant excavation.

The miners work and live in horrific conditions; the vast majority do not have regular contracts. Even today, they dig with hand tools in narrow, poorly ventilated tunnels, hoping to find enough ore to feed their families. Thousands of children are employed to penetrate the narrowest tunnels. On a hill riddled with holes, thousands dig frantically, often under the threat of rifle fire. When the ground gives way, there are no rescue teams, and it is the miners' own coworkers who dig through the mud with their bare hands.

Those who do not die buried in the mud suffer from chronic respiratory illnesses; others have physical deformities due to the transport of heavy sacks along muddy paths.

Each artisanal miner must pay a tax for digging and another for extracting the ore from the site. They're left with just a few dollars a day, 10 at most! In contrast, once introduced into the global distribution chain through smuggling, the value of the extracted ore grows exponentially, and many become wealthy.

To avoid army roadblocks along the main roads, the ore is transported on foot through the dense jungle to clandestine collection centers. Crossing the border completes its journey. Thanks to forged origin documents declaring its Rwandan provenance, the ore is "cleaned", meeting the bourgeois "rigorous ethical requirements" of "green" goods.

Often, disputes over mine ownership spark clashes between guards and even the military, transforming the sites into battlefields where workers are trapped and killed.

In Government Mines

In Lualaba province, in southern Congo, mines are under the control of government forces; however, the situation for the working class remains unchanged.

Kolwezi, the provincial capital, is the nerve center for the extraction of various minerals considered strategic. The soil here is reddish, rich in cobalt and copper, essential components for the electric vehicle industry. It is no coincidence that most of the mining concessions and industrial zones in the region are held by Chinese companies. In China, more plug-in electric cars are already being sold than gasoline/diesel cars.

Last November, in Kalando, near the capital, another workers' tragedy unfolded. Among the victims were many displaced, unregistered workers, which hampered a definitive count. Although the mine had been closed by the government due to torrential rains that had compromised its stability, thousands of artisanal miners continued working there. Government forces (FARDC) intervened, even opening fire at point-blank range to disperse the crowd. The mass of workers surged onto a makeshift bridge over a deep, flooded trench, which gave way, and the miners fell into the mud and deep water; many drowned, and others were crushed in the crush. The government reported 40 deaths, but various local associations denounced the disappearance of many more miners. Rescue operations were hampered by the military presence, which initially prevented family members from accessing the area.

Furthermore, it was revealed that the military was charging an entrance fee to the mine shafts, ignoring seasonal mining bans. The result is a situation entirely similar to that of the miners in the rebel-controlled east.

The Islamic State

What makes life hellish for the proletariat in the Congo are also the incursions of the Islamic State.

In the northeast, on Wednesday, April 1st, a violent attack struck the territory of Mambasa, in the province of Ituri. The perpetrators are believed to be rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Born in the 1990s in Uganda as an internal opposition movement, later taking refuge in eastern Congo, today they are an integral part of ISCAP (Islamic State Central Africa Province), affiliated with ISIS, from which they receive financial support through complex networks that pass through Somalia, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda.

At least 50 people were killed in the village of Bafwakoa, near Niania. The attackers set fire to dozens of homes, as well as vehicles and motorcycles. Some were hacked to death with machetes, others burned alive inside their own houses.

The ADF is no stranger to actions of this kind, including against workers. Just days earlier, between March 9 and 15, a violent attack on the Muchacha and Babesua mining sites resulted in the deaths of more than 50 workers. The group seized vast quantities of cash and gold ready to be introduced into the black market.

In 2025 alone, this group was responsible for the Ntoyo massacre in September, which resulted in the deaths of 72 civilians, and the Komanda massacre in Ituri in July, which resulted in 43 deaths.

There is no link between the ADF and the M23, as the two groups have different origins and ideologies. However, the ADF has taken advantage of the vacuum created by the M23's advance south to expand its own operations, including through the massacre of civilians in North Kivu and Ituri.

The ADF also finances itself through the exploitation of proletarian labor in illegal gold mines, the timber and cocoa trade, and fees imposed on local populations. It currently controls the mines along the Losselosse River in the Mambasa territory (Ituri), where it levies taxes on miners. They frequently attack mines not under their control to plunder the extracted gold.

In the first months of this year, violent attacks have occurred at mining sites near Luna and Komanda, both located deep within a vast jungle that facilitates the movement of armed groups and the smuggling of minerals into Uganda. In these raids, miners who were unable to escape were either killed on the spot or kidnapped to be used as slave laborers or in the deeper mines within the jungle.

Imperialism and the Spoils of Mining

It is in this scenario, dominated by the logic of profit and marked by systematic barbarity, that the great imperialist powers move, transforming the Congo into one of the main terrains of strategic confrontation between Chinese and American capitalists.

China has long been Kinshasa's main economic partner, controlling between 70% and 80% of mining production and owning nine of the country's ten largest cobalt mines. The CH-4 attack drones, used last February to strike the M23 leadership, are a commodity traded with Beijing. However, while China arms the government, its refineries, which process more than 70% of the "critical minerals", absorb much of the coltan and gold that the rebels extract and smuggle through Rwanda.

The Sicomines Pact, also known as the "Resources for Infrastructure" agreement, is a monumental and controversial economic cooperation agreement, signed in 2007 and renegotiated several times, most recently in 2024. Chinese companies reportedly committed to investing $7 billion in roads and public works by 2040 in exchange for maintaining their concessions on copper and cobalt mines. However, on March 11, the Congolese government reportedly ordered a new technical and financial audit of the agreement's actual implementation.

US imperialism inserted itself into these cracks to counter China's enormous power in the region, adopting an equally ambivalent position. Although on March 2nd the US Treasury imposed harsh sanctions on the Rwandan army for its direct support of the M23, accusing it of training Congolese rebels, Rwanda would remain a crucial logistical hub, also for minerals destined for the American technology industry, creating a mutual dependence that would prevent a complete break.

Washington has long been pushing to reduce Chinese influence in the country, especially in the extractive sector. An opening to the West culminated in the Strategic Partnership Agreement, signed between December 2025 and March 2026, which would grant US companies a “right of first refusal” on a range of critical assets, including copper, lithium, and tantalum, in exchange for military support and security guarantees.

Another sign of this potential strategic repositioning is the recent sale of the mining company Chemaf to the US firm Virtus Minerals. The deal, valued at $30 million and including a $750 million investment plan, favored an American buyer over a Chinese one for the management of one of the world's largest cobalt sites. Meanwhile, the Lobito Corridor project, financed by the United States and the European Union with multimillion-dollar investments, continues. This project aims to connect Congolese mines to the Angolan port on the Atlantic, replacing the eastern route to China.

A little further east, the situation seems to mirror this: while Congo tries to balance Beijing's excessive power by opening up to Washington, Rwanda is trying to integrate itself economically more and more with China, seeking to make itself less vulnerable to US sanctions and political pressure.

As communists, we feel compelled to reiterate that Kinshasa's chronic instability does not pose an obstacle to major imperialist powers; on the contrary, the "failure of the Congolese state" and the state of permanent war constitute an ideal condition for the current economic confrontation. A territory fragmented into "military fiefdoms" is infinitely easier to plunder than a centralized state, which could foster ambitions for economic sovereignty and claim greater control over the country's resources.

The current confrontation between Beijing and Washington must therefore be interpreted as a competition for control of the vital arteries of the industry of the future. When the juggernauts of these imperialisms collide head-on, the Congo will be one of their first battlegrounds.

Everyone Against Everyone, and Always Against the Proletariat

If in the 19th century it was rubber that ignited the war and civilian industry of Leopoldine Belgium, today it is cobalt, coltan and lithium that set the rhythm of the macabre dance of capitalism.

The tragedies of the miners in recent months have made it clear that, regardless of who controls the territory—be it the central government or rebels of any faction—the lives of millions of Congolese proletarians are worthless to any of the armed forces involved. Only the minerals matter, contested between rival bourgeois factions and amidst the pressures of the major imperialist powers.

The so-called “ecological transition,” touted by capitalist propaganda from the West to the Far East, is a false and illusory narrative, a greenwash applied to the rotting corpse of commodity production. There is nothing “clean” in the blood-soaked mud of the Congo. Every “ecological battery” contains a bit of the blood and unpaid labor of an African proletarian. Herein lies the fetishism of the commodity: the gadget in the shop window conceals the brutality of the process that generated it. Infant mortality, mutilations caused by mine collapses, respiratory illnesses brought on by dust are just a small part of the production costs that capital’s balance sheet fails to record.

In Congo, peace is a luxury the market cannot afford. The dozens of armed groups are offshoots of various bourgeois gangs, sometimes appendages of the bourgeoisies of neighboring countries, who in turn are subcontractors for the major imperialist blocs.

War is not an interruption of the economy; it is the economy itself. To keep commodity prices low, it is necessary to eliminate the costs of legal taxation and social protection. Every bullet fired in the jungles of Kivu reduces the price of cobalt in London or Shanghai.

No “honest government,” no “humanitarian aid,” no “UN reform” can save the Congo. As long as the law of the jungle prevails, the Congo is condemned to be the world’s mine and the graveyard of its children.

Within capitalism, therefore, the Congolese question will never be resolved, neither in Kinshasa nor in the nerve centers of imperialism. Only the destruction of the capitalist mode of production in the metropolises of the West and the East will put an end to the suffering of the peripheries as well.

Today the working class in the Congo languishes and dies because it is isolated from the rest of its international class. The Congolese miner digging in the mud and the European, Asian, or American worker, trapped in the factory, are part of the same class and will rebel together. They will organize first for their defense and then for the assault on the political power of the capitalists, united by a single destiny: either the world dictatorship of capital or the international communist revolution.