The United States is open to exploring critical minerals partnerships with Congo, the State Department said in a statement to Reuters on Sunday, after a Congolese senator contacted U.S. officials to pitch a minerals-for-security deal.

Since January, however, the rapid conquest and occupation of a huge area of the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwanda and the M23 rebel group it supports has raised concerns that the principle may now be endangered.

Disease is rampant, and children as young as 4 are being forced to work in mines.The Democratic Republic of Congo is 95% Christian, yet the faithful are being targeted by jihadists. Just last month, Islamist ADF terrorists,

Congo says over 7,000 people have died this year as Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured unprecedented amounts of territory in its mineral-rich eastern region.

Rwanda has said international sanctions will reduce the likelihood of peace with M23 rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), after the United Kingdom said it would pause some bilateral aid and impose other diplomatic sanctions on Kigali.

The latest conflict in eastern Congo has exposed endemic weaknesses in the country’s military, long known for corruption, extortion and abuse.

The M23-appointed vice governor of South Kivu province, Dunia Masumbuko Bwenge, said there had been "several cases" of vigilante attacks "driven by the behavior of a population that feels threatened by these criminals - these thieves who kill, steal, and also commit sexual violence."

Germany’s development ministry says it will suspend new financial commitments to Rwanda over that country's alleged support of the M23 rebels in neighboring eastern Congo.

The UK's decision to suspend some aid to Rwanda is "punitive", authorities in the East African country have said. In a statement, the UK said it was against Rwanda's support for the M23, a rebel group that has captured swathes of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in a deadly uprising.

Escalating attacks have struck hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo during the ongoing anti-government assault by the armed group M23, the UN's humanitarian agency said.

It is unreasonable to expect Rwanda to compromise its national security and the safety of Rwandans, says government - Anadolu Ajansı

The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo is pitching the U.S. and Europe on a minerals deal as the White House prepares to sign a similar pact with