Journalist’s investigation disproves Rubaya’s claim that Rwanda is connected to the DR Congo issue

Teddy Mazina, a photojournalist who has visited the area, claims that the route between Rubaya in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, which is purportedly used to provide coltan minerals to tech giant Apple, does not exist and cannot feed the global market.

The Rubaya mines, sometimes called the Bibatama Mining Concession, are a group of coltan mining locations in Masisi area, North Kivu, close to the town of Rubaya.

Apple’s French and Belgian companies were accused by the Democratic Republic of Congo last year of utilizing “conflict minerals” in their supply lines, which they had unlawfully mined in Rubaya and smuggled through Rwanda. Rwanda and Apple refuted the claims. President Paul Kagame recently reaffirmed that security threats from neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, not resources, have always been Rwanda’s issue.

Western nations have accepted and propagated Kinshasa’s dangerous and untrue accusation that Rwanda’s mineral imports are “stolen” from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In order to determine whether the “Rubaya route” is real and whether it qualifies as “the global capital of coltan,” Mazina traveled to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

under an interview with The New Times, he stated that, under ideal conditions, the trip from Goma, the city of North Kivu, to Rubaya takes roughly five hours, and that it takes just forty minutes to ride a motorcycle from Rubaya to the actual mines.

According to a video posted on X, the commuter road looks to be a rough, muddy, and wet part with large puddles and uneven surfaces, suggesting that it is likely to become impassable in the event of rain.

It appears to be challenging to maneuver, particularly for large-scale commercial transportation, based on the number of cars and persons stumbling on foot while carrying goods.

Teddy Mazina, a photojournalist in Masisi, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rubaya
According to Mazina, who has spoken with locals, having this road is normal because it allows access to markets and promotes trade between people. However, because of its poor state, they find it difficult to move around and occasionally end themselves stranded overnight when their cars break down.

“Coltan is merely a road that facilitates trade; there is no route between Rubaya and Rwanda.” He pointed out that Rubaya’s artisanal mines are unable to meet the demand for smartphones worldwide.

He added that all of the people living in Rubaya are Rwandophones.

Using this approach, he said, “contradicts the theory that Rwanda would plunder the so-called strategic mineral and destabilize DR Congo because of the Rubaya mine.”

Instead of tackling the underlying causes of the conflict, Western nations have shifted the focus of the security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to minerals, using Rwanda as a scapegoat to safeguard their businesses’ interests in the area. In addition to committing crimes against Congolese who speak Kinyarwanda, the Congolese government seeks to destabilize Rwanda.

According to Mazina, the second installment of his story, which has not yet been made public, will have interviews with other mining workers, an exploration of trenches that Burundian troops left in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the untold tale of the scandal at Muzenze Central Prison, among other things.

Because it is essential to the creation of computers and other electronics that power the information age, coltan is one of the most sought-after minerals in the world. Coltan is processed to obtain two valuable minerals: niobium and tantalum. While niobium is utilized in oil and gas pipelines, constructing beams and girders, oil rigs, welding, electronics, optics, and other applications, tantalum is a crucial component of capacitors that control the flow of electricity in tiny circuit boards found in gadgets like computers and smartphones.