Congo's New Paramilitary Force: A $100M Push for Mining Security

0:00It's April 28th. Welcome to Global News Today, powered by AI and Connected Worldwide. Congo just announced plans for a new paramilitary force to guard its mining sites nationwide. The general inspectorate of mine says it'll have a $100 million budget and come from partnerships with the United States and United Arab Emirates. But hold up, the U.S. Embassy quickly clarified they're not funding any units to patrol or protect those mines. Here this week, Congo's mining regulator backed that up, saying the guard won't rely on direct cash from any one country. They're still hashing out details to match national goals, keeping things flexible with multiple partners involved. This comes as Congo fights a Rwanda back rebellion in its mineral-packed east. The country's the top global supplier of cobalt and number two in copper, with huge lithium reserves too. A recent U.S. minerals deal aims to boost security and investment there. The force will roll out across all mining areas and grow to over 20,000 personnel by the

1:03end of 2028. It's part of bigger pushes to lock down assets and draw in more cash. Meanwhile, Congo inked a fresh investment pack with China last month and made rising global scrambles for its resources. Act more moves like this to stabilize the mines and cut down on armed chaos.