The United States has imposed sanctions on armed groups and companies accused of fueling violence and profiting from conflict minerals in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The measures, announced on August 12, 2025, by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), aim to disrupt the illicit trade in critical minerals that has prolonged instability, human rights abuses, and economic exploitation in the region.
The designations focus on operations in Rubaya, a vast mineral-rich area at the heart of the DRC’s ongoing conflict.
OFAC targeted the armed group Coalition des Patriotes Résistants Congolais–Force de Frappe (PARECO-FF), the Congolese mining company Cooperative des Artisanaux Miniers du Congo (CDMC), and two Hong Kong-based exporters, East Rise Corporation Limited and Star Dragon Corporation Limited.
Eastern DRC has endured years of armed conflict marked by mass displacement, thousands of civilian deaths, and widespread human rights abuses. Violence has surged in recent years with the expansion of the M23 rebel group and reprisal attacks by DRC-aligned militias.
In this volatile environment, armed groups like PARECO-FF have entrenched themselves in lucrative mining areas, extracting wealth through forced labor, illegal taxation, and smuggling.
PARECO-FF emerged in 2022 in response to the resurgence of M23. From 2022 to early 2024, it controlled mining sites in Rubaya, generating revenue by overseeing operations, imposing illegal levies on miners, and trafficking minerals.
Reports link the group to executions, forced labor, and other abuses in areas under its control. Its opportunistic alliances and rivalries with other armed factions, including M23, have intensified the armed group politics destabilizing eastern Congo.
The sanctions also target CDMC, which operated the largest mining concession in Rubaya. According to OFAC, the company sourced and smuggled minerals from PARECO-FF-controlled areas, then sold them to East Rise and Star Dragon.
These export firms moved the conflict-linked minerals into international markets, providing armed groups with a steady flow of revenue while undermining lawful trade.
“The conflict minerals trade is exacting a deadly toll on Congolese civilians, fueling corruption, and preventing law-abiding businesses from investing in the DRC,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley.
The U.S. sanctions block all property and interests in property of the designated parties within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit transactions by U.S. persons involving them.
Entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also automatically restricted. Violations could result in significant civil or criminal penalties for both U.S. and foreign persons.
The United States recently brokered the DRC–Rwanda peace agreement signed on June 27, 2025, and supports the regional economic integration framework aimed at fostering legal trade, enhancing transparency in mineral supply chains, and encouraging responsible investment.
