Africa Regional Media Hub

MODERATOR:  Good afternoon to everyone from the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub.  I welcome our participants logging in across the continent and thank all of you for joining us today.  We are very pleased to be joined by the U.S. Department of State’s new Senior Advisor for Africa, Massad Boulos, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Corina Sanders, who are both joining us from Washington, D.C.

Senior Advisor Boulos will review his April 2nd through 9th travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.  Discussion will include ongoing efforts to advance a durable peace in the eastern DRC and highlight opportunities to expand U.S. private sector investment across the African region.

Please note that on your Zoom app, you may choose between an English-only feed and a French-only audio feed using the interpretation tab.  I recommend choosing either the English or the French feed, not the original audio because there’ll be some crosstalk on the original audio.

We will begin today’s briefing with opening remarks from Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Corina Sanders, and then from Senior Advisor Boulos, and then we will turn to your questions.  We will try to get to as many of your questions as we can during the briefing.

So with that, I’d like to turn it over to DAS Sanders for her opening remarks, followed by opening remarks by Senior Advisor Boulos.

MS SANDERS:  Good morning, Johann.  Good morning, everyone.  Thank you very much for this opportunity to be here with you today.  First of all, I just want to say we had an excellent trip, and it was truly an honor to travel with Senior Advisor for Africa Massad Boulos, and what he brings to bear is really important.  He brings business acumen, and he brings extensive experience on the continent, and that serves the State Department and it serves this Trump Administration and it serves the State Department.

And so this was our inaugural trip together, and we had really two goals.  One was to drive forward and get more momentum on the peace agreement and the peace process in eastern DRC, and also, how to bring U.S. investment to the region in Central Africa and the Great Lakes region.  These are two extremely important priorities for the Trump Administration in Africa, and I am pleased to tell you that we made good progress – great progress, if you will – on both.

What I’ll do now is pass it over to Senior Advisor Boulos for a few more details and a little bit of a readout for you on our four stops on the continent.  Thank you very much.

MR BOULOS:  Thank you, Corina.  This was a very productive trip, and I am grateful to all the countries and leaders who hosted us.  This initiative is a reflection of President Trump’s commitment to Africa, and his desire for regional peace.  Our team’s efforts are a product of his vision to see an Africa that is anchored in shared economic opportunities, not in conflict. And President Trump believes strongly that all parties involved are ready for peace.  Now, he expects all parties to demonstrate that readiness through action.

I want to highlight three results from our delegation’s travel, important results that demonstrate the fresh approach President Trump is taking with Africa by pursuing our security interests while strengthening our economic relationship with the people and nations in Africa through greater trade and investment.

So let me start first in Kinshasa.  President Tshisekedi and I discussed a minerals deal and charted a path forward.  Boosting U.S. private sector investment in the DRC, particularly in the mining sector, is a shared goal that makes both of our countries more prosperous.  Of course, we need a more stable environment to achieve this objective, and President Tshisekedi is committed to this goal as well.

Second – we also made important progress on the security front, as following our discussions with conflict participants, M23 pulled back from the town of Walikale.  This is a significant step, and these kinds of measures are critical to building confidence and demonstrating goodwill to allow negotiations for peace to continue.

Since taking office, Secretary Rubio has had calls with Rwandan President Kagame and DRC President Tshisekedi urging an immediate ceasefire in the region and for all parties to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity.  The Secretary also spoke with Angolan Foreign Minister Tete and Kenyan President Ruto about finding a diplomatic resolution to the crisis.  I thank those who have been engaged in good-faith discussions thus far, but it’s not enough.  We have an opportunity for peace in this moment that we have not had for years – I hope to see parties involved take bolder steps to make that reality.  I will also reiterate our position that Rwanda should cease all military support of M23 and withdraw all Rwandan troops from DRC territory.  I am confident that parties involved will find a way to do so swiftly.

And finally, we were able to finalize the transfer into the United States’ custody of U.S. citizens who were detained by the Democratic Republic of Congo in connection with the events of May 19, 2024.

Thank you.

MODERATOR:  All right, thank you very much, Senior Advisor Boulos and DAS Sanders.  So we’ll now begin the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing.

So for our first question, I’d like to go to Mr. Moses Gahigi of AFP and The EastAfrican newspaper in Rwanda, and the question is:  “Is Washington considering providing support to Kinshasa to put an end to the conflict, and if so, what kind of support?”

Senior Advisor Boulos.

MR BOULOS:  Actually, the United States will consider all diplomatic and economic tools to advance peace.  It is in everybody’s interest to promote peace and to advance peace and to ensure we have stability in the region.  This conflict has gone on for too long.  It’s been more than three decades, and it’s about time to end it.

So the United States does have quite a bit of tools at its disposal that it can and will use, if need be.  We do hope that this will achieve a permanent peace and final stability in the region.

MODERATOR:  All right, thank you very much, Senior Advisor.  So we have a question from Senegal next, Ms. Monica Pronczuk from the Associated Press, and the question is:  “Are you concerned that African countries are leaning more towards China or Russia?  And how does the U.S. plan to counter the influence of China and Russia in Africa?”

MR BOULOS:  Go ahead.

MS SANDERS:  Sure.  Thank you very much, Senior Advisor.  What I’d like to – what I’d like to say is, first, thank you for the question. Second, I’d just like to say that this isn’t really the purpose of this particular interview today, and I don’t want to get into any details about China’s role in Africa.  But what I want to tell you is really important, and that America First promotes investment and enhances industrial and technology advantages, which I believe will serve the African continent well.

American First – America First also defends our economic and national security interests and supports our workers, manufacturers, farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, businesses.  The Trump Administration’s America First trade policy benefits all Americans, and we are safer – we are all safer – when other nations invest in our country.  And President Trump is also focused on creating jobs, raising wages, bringing manufacturing back to the United States, and he’s been very clear that if trading partners align with our effort to achieve fairness and balance on our trading relationships and protect U.S. economic and national security, we’re going to absolutely welcome that cooperation.

MODERATOR:  All right, thank you very much, DAS Sanders.  All right, so I see some hands raised.  I’d like to see if we can open the mike for Kemi Osukoya of Africa Bazaar magazine.

QUESTION:  Hi, good morning.  Can you hear me?

MS SANDERS:  Yes.

QUESTION:  Thank you very much for taking my question.  You mentioned meeting with several of the African leaders.  My question to you is:  Did you bring any private sector – American private sector with you along on this trip?  And how do you plan to build on what the previous administration have established in terms of the private sector interests’ engagement with Africa?  If you could give us some specific.

MR BOULOS:  Yes, absolutely.  Thank you for this question.  This is a very important point.  As you know, this – our initiative and the discussions we’ve been having with the DRC and with other countries in the region as well – we’ve had similar discussions with Rwanda and Uganda and Kenya and others – this is driven by the private sector.  Our job and our role here is to encourage private sector U.S. investments in these countries.

And just to go back to your specific question, on this trip we didn’t have any members of the private sector with us. However, there were many that were already in those countries.  I mean, some U.S. companies are existing and have been operating in these countries for a number of years, whether it’s DRC or Rwanda or Uganda or Kenya.  So we’ve met with many of them during the trip.  But prior to the trip, we’ve been having roundtable events and we’ve been having private meetings with many, many of them.  And they are all – I could say that they are very eager and ready to invest for those who are not already there, they are ready and they’re open.  So our job is to facilitate those investments, and we appreciate very much the openness of all four leaders in question with whom we met and had those economic discussions.   They’re quite open and welcoming to facilitate U.S. investments.

And I should just quickly mention something here – that when we talk about U.S. investments, we’re talking about a win-win proposition.  And when we talk about a minerals deal here or some other deal there, we’re talking about a win-win proposition.  These companies are good corporate citizens.  These companies will help protect the interests of those host countries and the people of those host countries.  These are companies who are law-abiding citizens.  They will fully abide by the local laws, rules, and regulations whether it’s environmental or labor laws or any other laws with regards to taxation and all other regulations.  At the same time, these companies are also bound by U.S. laws with regards to the environment, to child labor, to taxation, to corruption and many other things.  So we’re talking about companies that will add value that will protect the interests of the indigenous people of those countries in question.

MODERATOR:  Thank you very much, Senior Advisor.  So I’d like to build on that last Q&A.  There are a couple of questions that have come in asking for a slightly deeper dive into that.  Simon Marks of Bloomberg News in Nairobi asks:  “Can you elaborate on the terms of a potential mineral deal between the U.S. and DRC?  How would it work in practice, and what would the U.S. grant the DRC in exchange to access to Congo’s mineral sector?”  And a very similar question from Ruth Maclean of The New York Times in Senegal, who asks:  “I would like to ask about the minerals agreement you mentioned.  Can you outline what such an agreement would look like, what the U.S. is seeking?”  And she adds:  “As you know, China currently dominates the DRC’s mining sector.  Are you asking the Congolese to strip Chinese owners of mining concessions?”  So those two questions, a little bit deeper dive into the possibility of a minerals agreement if you don’t mind.

MR BOULOS:  Yeah, it’s actually a minerals deal.  It’s a deal we’re discussing and negotiating with the Congolese.  But also as I said, we’re having similar discussions with other neighboring countries, other regional players.  The – obviously, our role, like I said earlier, is to facilitate those private sector investments, but at the same time also provide full support.  We – the United States has some few platforms, institutions, organizations that have been and will continue to provide full support; such as the DFC, for example, the U.S. EXIM Bank, and some other institutions and organizations.  Those institutions are absolutely ready to support the private sector in Africa, whether it’s in the area of mining or other sectors, but also and most importantly in the infrastructure.

We are looking and we look forward to the development – infrastructure development, especially in the DRC.  It’s about time the DRC has a reliable infrastructure, which will also be in our interest and the interests of those U.S. investors, but above all in the interest of the Congolese people.  We – you’re aware that we fully support the Lobito Corridor, for example, and this has – this is a huge project which is extremely important and vital for this – for the economies of not only Congo or the DRC, but also Zambia and definitely Angola.  But all other regional countries would benefit from it.

So we fully support this project.  The DFC is one of the major players in terms of providing the financing which hopefully will be – will be done quite soon.  But the project has progressed considerably, especially on the Angolan side.  We’re now discussing with the Congolese, Tshisekedi’s administration, to work on the Congolese side with regards to railways, highways, but also power projects including dams and hydroelectric projects.

So we’re having a number of discussions with regards to both the investments and the infrastructure that goes with it.  But also at the same time we’re having discussions with regards to some reforms, and the President Tshisekedi and his administration have promised that they will ensure full transparency, they will ensure that there will be efficiency, and all concerns of private – of U.S. investors will be addressed.

With regards to other companies and other players and other countries that are existing and already operating there, it’s none of our business to interfere with what they’re doing.  We’re pursuing our own ventures and we’re facilitating investments of our own companies.  And time will tell.  I think very soon the Congolese people – and if it’s the other countries same thing – they will – the Congolese people will realize who are their best partners.  And I think it goes without saying U.S. companies will absolutely be the best partners.  And we’ve stressed on the point that whatever the U.S. will do in terms of private sector investments and government support, it will absolutely be a win-win proposition in all cases.

MODERATOR:  Thank you very much, Senior Advisor.  So moving on to some of the more political insecurity issues, I see Pearl Matibe of Premium Times in Nigeria has had her hand up.  Pearl, can we open your mic and let you ask your question live?

QUESTION:  Thank you so much, Johann.  It’s good to talk to you again.  Happy 2025. Haven’t chatted with you in a little bit.  Senior Advisor Boulos and Corina, please, thank you so much for your availability.  I really appreciate it.  I was monitoring very closely your trip, so I’m very excited that you are doing this briefing today.

My question is this:  In light of the withdrawal of EAC and SADC regional forces from the DRC, how does the Trump Administration plan to help fill the security vacuum, especially with the challenges of MONUSCO that MONUSCO’s been facing, and ISIS-DRC scaling up its footprint?  I know I have many questions, but if you can also let me know if it’s okay for me to send those on to you offline for my additional questions, I want to respect the time of the other journalists.  Thank you so much.

MR BOULOS:  Thank you, Pearl.  This is a very important question, and you’ve highlighted a couple of key issues here, the MONUSCO and the other regional efforts – EAC, SADC.  Well, let me first make something very clear.  The U.S. position has been and will continue to be very, very clear on this.  The U.S. position is that the M23 must lay down their arms, and Rwandan forces must withdraw from the DRC.  This is our position, and it’s very clear.  We’ve made it very clear, and we will continue pushing in that direction.

Now, having said that, we all know that this can only be resolved peacefully.  This is not – this cannot be won and cannot be concluded with force.  This has to be resolved through dialogue and peacefully.  And I can also report that I’m sure you’ve seen that we’ve recently seen some very good progress.  There have been some gestures I would say in good faith and gestures of goodwill on the ground.  As I indicated in my opening statement, the M23 through the assistance of the Rwandan Government, of course, and by – through probably with some pressure or push from the Rwandans, were able to withdraw from Walikale back towards the east, probably over a hundred kilometers eastward towards Masisi and probably beyond Masisi.  This move allowed our U.S. company Alphamin to reopen, and we’ve seen that – which helped – I mean, Alphamin had to shut down unfortunately their operations about a month ago when the M23 had reached Walikale.  But not just Walikale; we all know the plan was to continue all the way to Kisangani, and that would have been detrimental from a strategic point of view.

But with regards to our U.S. interests, the Alphamin, which is a U.S. company, had to shut down.  But this did not only affect the United States.  This affected the entire world.  It affected the global market for tin.  We saw that very shortly after that announcement and that shutdown, the tin market rose by close to 30 percent or more.  And then within a couple of hours of their announcement last week that they would reopen, it went down considerably.  So we appreciate that.  This is – this was a good gesture.  And we are looking forward to more and more of those.

We’re in the process of working with both parties.  We’re engaged with both parties.  And I must also say here that we appreciate the recent dialogue held by President Tshisekedi’s administration and the M-23 for the first time last week.  And it was very successful and very fruitful by all counts, and this is a very good first step.  We are looking forward to building on this towards achieving a final peace and a lasting peace and full stability in the DRC and in the region.

But with regards to the EAC and SADC, I must say – and the African Union as well, we highly appreciate their efforts.  They’ve been trying and doing their best for a very long time, for many years.  And we appreciate very much what they’ve done, and we continue to encourage those initiatives.  They’re all very, very positive initiatives.  We had the pleasure of meeting with President Ruto, who is the current head of EAC.  And he’s absolutely committed to seeing a peaceful end to this but, most importantly, a quick one.  We – just like President Trump expressed and I said earlier in my opening statement, we do expect and hope and expect that this will end very, very quickly.

Corina, would you like to —

MS SANDERS:  No, I think it’s really important.  With respect to security on the ground in eastern DRC, what I’ll say is we’re currently putting together our own strategy to see what will be acceptable to both sides, to all sides, to the region.  And so that’s in progress, and we’ll tell you more when we can.

MODERATOR:  Thanks very much to our panelists.  And I appreciated, Senior Advisor Boulos, that you got into the African Union, because that was the subject of question from Mr. Mohammed Tawakel of Al Jazeera Media Network based in Ethiopia.  But I think you answered that very well.  The question was:  “What is your opinion on solving conflicts in Africa and your cooperation with African Union?”  Any further thoughts?  I mean, you’ve already fleshed this out a good deal, but any further thoughts about the sort of multilateral picture, the African Union, the other parties in the region, in response to his question?

MR BOULOS:  Yes.  And as I indicated, we fully support these initiatives, including the African Union specifically, which is headed by Angola now.  And we couldn’t visit Angola on this trip, but we will definitely visit Angola on the next trip.  Having said that, we had a phone call with the – with Foreign Minister Tete, as I indicated, and it was extremely positive.  We appreciated their efforts. We appreciated their initiatives.  As Angola initially – we all know that they’ve tried over a long period of time, and they’ve – they came very close.  But now also as head – President Lourenco as head of the AU, we fully appreciate their efforts and we fully support those efforts.  So it is in everybody’s interest to continue with these.

And I must say that also not just those three, also ECOWAS.  ECOWAS, although it’s West Africa, but they are ready.  They have been a major and key player in the continent, especially with regards to peacekeeping missions and many other things.  They are also absolutely ready and committed to this peace process.

MODERATOR:  All right.  Thank you very much.  So we’re creeping up on 30 minutes past the hour, and I know both our panelists are very busy.  We originally told you we would keep it to 30 minutes, and I think we might be able to slide in one more question, if you don’t mind.

I would like to offer a journalist in the affected countries and in the region as much of a chance as possible to ask a question.  So I wonder if Moise Bahati with The New Times newspaper in Kigali – Moise, if we open your mike can you ask your question live?  Or else I can read your question.  Let’s see.  I think in the interest of time I’m – are you online, Moise?  I think in the interest of time —

QUESTION:  Hello?

MODERATOR:  Yes, okay.  Moise, yes.

QUESTION:  Please, can you hear me?

MODERATOR:  Yes, we can hear you.

QUESTION:  Great.  Great.  Thank you.  I’m Moise.  I’m in Kigali.  I’m a reporter with The New Times.  I wanted to ask about the – about Senior Advisor Boulos’ visit to Rwanda and his discussions with President Paul Kagame.  In your discussions, Senior Advisor, with President Paul Kagame, did you exchange on the FDLR militia, which is in eastern DR Congo, and its threat on Rwanda?  And if you did, how did you perceive Rwanda as well?  How do you understand Rwanda’s security concerns with regard to this militia and its collaboration with the Congolese Government?  Yeah, thank you.

MR BOULOS:  Yeah.  Thank you very much for this question.  First, let me reiterate that we had a very positive meeting with President Kagame and his team, and it was very fruitful and very productive.  We appreciated very much their warm reception and welcome, and above all, their commitment to this peace process.

We definitely discussed the FDLR and the risk in question, and this is a major element of any peace accord.  It’s going to be; it has been.  If you look at all the peace initiatives, I mean, this is the key element from the Rwandan side, and it’s an integral part of any forthcoming, upcoming peace accord or peace initiative or peace agreement.  We’ve been engaging with both parties, and definitely this is one of the main elements of those discussions.

And there are solutions.  We are not reinventing the wheel here.  There are solutions to this.  There are solutions and terms that had previously been drafted and agreed upon by both parties, and we will continue working with them towards that.  But it’s – in the end, we want to make sure, as I indicated even during my press conference in Kigali, that our role and our commitment is to ensure the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of all countries in question, not just one country or two – all that are involved.

So we remain committed towards supporting these initiatives and these efforts.  And at the end of the day, everybody has to be at ease, everybody has to feel comfortable with those terms, and they have to feel safe from any such threats, whether they are actual or perceived, or any future threats.  The aim is to establish a full and lasting peace that will put everybody at ease.

Thank you.

MODERATOR:  Well, that’s an excellent way to wrap this up.  Thank you very much to our panelists.  And Senior Advisor Boulos and DAS Sanders, I’m sure you’ll join me in thanking the many journalists who attended today and wish them well in their work.  Do you have any final remarks?  I know we’ve kept you already very, very long.

MR BOULOS:  I just want to say thank you all very much.  We really appreciate it.  We appreciated the very good level of participation in this conference, and we look forward to some more in the near future.  Corina?

MS SANDERS:  Absolutely.  It’s been a pleasure today.  Thank you.  This is the beginning; it’s not the end.  And we look forward to hearing from you into the future.  And I look forward to continuing my work and our work with Senior Advisor Boulos.  Thank you very much, Johann.

MODERATOR:  All right.

MR BOULOS:  Thank you.

MODERATOR:  Very important work it is, indeed.  Thank you very much to our panelists.  So a recording and a transcript of today’s briefing will be distributed to participating journalists as soon as we can produce them.  If you have any questions about today’s briefing or any follow-ups, you may contact us at the Africa Regional Media Hub at AFMediaHub@state.gov.

Also, please, to the journalists, if you publish any articles or broadcast any reports from today’s briefing, please share a link with us at the same email that I just gave you.  We do like to know that we make an impact, and we like to see the coverage that we engender, especially around the Africa region.

And as a final note, I would like to invite everyone to please follow us on Twitter at our handle @AfricaMediaHub.  Thank you very much to everybody today.

MR BOULOS:  Thank you.

MS SANDERS:  Thank you.

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