A newly signed agreement to send hand dug Congolese cobalt directly to a planned U.S. refinery is facing mounting criticism from regional observers and policy analysts, who argue the arrangement undermines the core economic promises embedded in the 2025 Washington Accords between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
On May 13, U.S. based EVelution Energy LLC signed a memorandum of understanding in Madrid with DRC state owned Entreprise Générale du Cobalt, EGC, and commodity trader Trafigura to secure long term supplies of Congolese cobalt hydroxide for a planned refinery in Arizona.
Under the agreement, cobalt sourced from artisanal, hand dug mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo would be shipped to the United States for refining into battery grade products intended for electric vehicles, aerospace systems, and defense applications.
The memorandum explicitly references the U.S.-DRC strategic minerals partnership but makes no mention of Rwanda, a notable omission given the framework established under the Washington Accords earlier this year.
The Accords were designed to tie regional peace efforts to economic integration by requiring critical mineral supply chains to include local processing and value addition inside both the DRC and Rwanda.
The arrangement was promoted as a “peace for prosperity” model intended to create jobs, industrial capacity, and shared economic gains for communities across the region rather than continuing the long standing pattern of exporting unprocessed African minerals abroad.
Critics contend the new cobalt agreement moves in the opposite direction.
By routing unprocessed artisanal cobalt directly to Arizona for refining, the deal effectively bypasses the local processing provisions viewed as central to the Accords’ legitimacy. Analysts warn that such carve outs risk weakening confidence in the fragile regional framework before implementation has fully begun.
“This agreement flies in the face of the Accords’ promise of local value addition and shared prosperity,” said one observer familiar with negotiations surrounding the deal. “It exports raw artisanal cobalt for U.S. benefit while sidelining the regional integration and job creation goals that made the Washington framework possible.”
The controversy also touches a broader continental debate over Africa’s role in global mineral supply chains.
The African Union and several African governments have increasingly pushed policies aimed at ending the export of raw critical minerals in favor of building domestic refining and manufacturing industries capable of retaining more value, employment, and technological development on the continent.
Observers say the Arizona bound cobalt arrangement appears inconsistent with those objectives, particularly because artisanal mining communities, often among the poorest participants in the supply chain, stand to gain little from overseas refining operations.
Supporters of the Washington Accords had argued that integrating mineral processing across the DRC and Rwanda could help reduce regional tensions by creating mutual economic dependence and tangible peace dividends.
But critics now fear that allowing major exports of unprocessed cobalt outside the region could erode trust between stakeholders and weaken political support for the framework.
With implementation of the Accords still at an early stage, attention is increasingly turning to Washington’s willingness to enforce the agreement’s local processing commitments.
Analysts say future exemptions or parallel agreements that prioritize foreign refining over regional industrialization could determine whether the broader peace and development bargain survives.