GOMA — September 25, 2026 — An AFC/M23 spokesman has publicly acknowledged that gold and coltan extracted in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo pass through Rwanda on their way to international markets, while disputing allegations that the cross-border trade constitutes mineral smuggling or laundering.
Dr. Oscar Balinda made the remarks during an interview attributed to BBC Gahuzamiryango on September 24 Balinda argued that Rwanda serves as a transit corridor for goods moving from Goma toward regional ports, including Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
The distinction Balinda drew is important: he acknowledged the physical movement of Congo-origin minerals through Rwanda, but rejected the conclusion that the minerals are necessarily illegally traded or sold there.
However, his characterization of Rwanda as simply a transit route does not reflect the full findings of United Nations investigators, whose investigations have gone considerably further.
UN investigators documented an AFC/M23 smuggling network into Rwanda
In its 2025 final report, the UN Group of Experts on the DRC documented what it described as an AFC/M23-controlled mineral production and trading system connecting mining areas in eastern Congo with Rwanda.
The investigators said AFC/M23 controlled mining sites and trading centers around Rubaya, one of the world's significant sources of coltan. They identified four traders who, according to the Group, played a pivotal role in an AFC/M23 smuggling network between Rubaya and Rwanda. Read the UN Group of Experts report.
The UN findings therefore go beyond simply establishing that Congolese minerals crossed Rwandan territory.
According to the report, AFC/M23 began smuggling 3T minerals into Rwanda through border crossings following its takeover of Goma and Bukavu. Investigators said some movements took place at night and documented vehicles carrying Rubaya minerals across the border. UN Group of Experts, S/2025/446.
The Group also reported that AFC/M23 had looted more than 500 tonnes of tagged and untagged 3T minerals from exporters' warehouses following the capture of Goma and Bukavu. It separately documented 186 tonnes of untagged minerals looted in Nyabibwe, South Kivu, which it said were smuggled toward Rwanda. UN Group of Experts, S/2025/446.
JUSTICE & CRIME
M23 Spokesman Says Eastern DRC Gold and Coltan Pass Through Rwanda
Sep 25, 2026
Sep 25, 2026
7 min read
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GOMA — September 25, 2026 — An AFC/M23 spokesman has publicly acknowledged that gold and coltan extracted in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo pass through Rwanda on their way to international markets, while disputing allegations that the cross-border trade constitutes mineral smuggling or laundering.
Dr. Oscar Balinda made the remarks during an interview attributed to BBC Gahuzamiryango on September 24 Balinda argued that Rwanda serves as a transit corridor for goods moving from Goma toward regional ports, including Mombasa in Kenya and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
The distinction Balinda drew is important: he acknowledged the physical movement of Congo-origin minerals through Rwanda, but rejected the conclusion that the minerals are necessarily illegally traded or sold there.
However, his characterization of Rwanda as simply a transit route does not reflect the full findings of United Nations investigators, whose investigations have gone considerably further.
UN investigators documented an AFC/M23 smuggling network into Rwanda
In its 2025 final report, the UN Group of Experts on the DRC documented what it described as an AFC/M23-controlled mineral production and trading system connecting mining areas in eastern Congo with Rwanda.
The investigators said AFC/M23 controlled mining sites and trading centers around Rubaya, one of the world's significant sources of coltan. They identified four traders who, according to the Group, played a pivotal role in an AFC/M23 smuggling network between Rubaya and Rwanda. Read the UN Group of Experts report.
The UN findings therefore go beyond simply establishing that Congolese minerals crossed Rwandan territory.
According to the report, AFC/M23 began smuggling 3T minerals into Rwanda through border crossings following its takeover of Goma and Bukavu. Investigators said some movements took place at night and documented vehicles carrying Rubaya minerals across the border. UN Group of Experts, S/2025/446.
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The Group also reported that AFC/M23 had looted more than 500 tonnes of tagged and untagged 3T minerals from exporters' warehouses following the capture of Goma and Bukavu. It separately documented 186 tonnes of untagged minerals looted in Nyabibwe, South Kivu, which it said were smuggled toward Rwanda. UN Group of Experts, S/2025/446.
Most significantly for the dispute over what happens after the minerals cross the border, UN investigators concluded that looted minerals entering Rwanda were mixed with local production and introduced into downstream supply chains under Rwandan origin. UN Group of Experts, S/2025/446.
That finding conflicts with any broader suggestion that the documented flows consisted only of ordinary transit commerce.
Earlier UN investigation traced the Rubaya-Rwanda route
The finding was not isolated.
A previous UN Group of Experts report found that AFC/M23 controlled trading centers in Rubaya and Mushaki, as well as routes used to transport minerals from Rubaya toward Rwanda. The Group estimated AFC/M23 was controlling the trade and transportation of approximately 120 tonnes of coltan per month and earning at least $800,000 per month from taxation of coltan production and trade. Read the UN report, S/2024/969.
Investigators mapped a mineral route running from the Rubaya mining area through several locations in Masisi, Rutshuru and Nyiragongo territories before reaching Kabuhanga in Rwanda. UN Group of Experts, S/2024/969.
The UN reported that at least 150 tonnes of coltan were fraudulently exported to Rwanda in 2024, where Rubaya minerals were mixed with Rwandan production. Reuters reported that UN experts described this as the largest contamination of Great Lakes mineral supply chains recorded in the preceding decade. Reuters report carried by MarketScreener.
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Balinda's remarks follow Amnesty investigation
The interview comes only days after Amnesty International accused AFC/M23 fighters of abuses against artisanal miners and of trafficking minerals from areas under the movement's control.
Amnesty documented allegations including killings, torture, arbitrary detention and forced labour around mining operations in North and South Kivu. The organization also reported evidence pointing to gold and coltan being moved from rebel-controlled territory toward Rwanda. Read Amnesty International's investigation.
AFC/M23 formally rejected Amnesty's findings, arguing that the organization had failed to produce independently verifiable evidence supporting its accusations. Read AFC/M23's reported response via The Update.
Balinda subsequently acknowledged that eastern Congolese gold and coltan can cross Rwanda but characterized the movement as normal regional transit commerce.
His statement therefore confirms one part of the disputed supply chain — the Rwanda route — while continuing to reject allegations about its illicit nature.
US Treasury also alleges minerals were smuggled and processed in Rwanda
Evidence cited by international authorities is not limited to the UN and Amnesty.
On June 25, 2026, the US Treasury sanctioned Kigali-based Gasabo Gold Refinery and a network of companies and individuals over what Washington described as an illicit conflict-mineral operation involving AFC/M23.
The Treasury alleged that the network worked with M23 to illegally move minerals from eastern DRC into Rwanda. More specifically, it said gold originating in RDF/M23-held areas of South Kivu was transported across the border to Gasabo Gold Refinery in Kigali, where refining began after delivery. Read the US Treasury announcement.
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The US government alleged that at least 60 kilograms of gold worth millions of dollars were moved from eastern DRC through this arrangement in early 2026. These are US government findings underlying sanctions; Rwanda has disputed accusations that it participates in illicit exploitation of Congolese minerals. US Department of the Treasury.
Transit is no longer the central factual dispute
Balinda's reported remarks clarify one element of a long-running disagreement over eastern Congo's mineral wealth.
There is now little dispute in the statements reviewed here that some Congo-origin minerals physically cross Rwanda. Balinda says they do. UN investigators have repeatedly documented such movements.
The major disagreement concerns what happens around and after that crossing.
Balinda characterizes Rwanda as a logistical corridor connecting landlocked eastern Congo with East African ports.
UN investigators, by contrast, have documented what they describe as fraudulent exports, an AFC/M23 smuggling network and the mixing of Congolese minerals with Rwandan production. The US Treasury has separately alleged that Congolese gold was transported to and refined at a facility in Kigali. UN Group of Experts | US Treasury.
Those findings mean Balinda's transit explanation should not be presented as resolving the allegations surrounding the mineral trade.
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