Kinshasa, DR Congo – The Democratic Republic of Congo ordered an investigation Tuesday into illegal wildcat miners operating on the property of international mining groups, after a report found an elaborate black-market trade involving the police and presidential guard.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi holds a press conference with France’s president as part of their meeting at the Palace of the Nation in Kinshasa, on March 4, 2023. The French president is in Kinshasa on the fourth and last leg of an African tour. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP)

The DRC’s justice minister ordered the judiciary and the military auditors’ office to open the probe after a national anti-fraud commission found that illegal miners were regularly invading sites allocated to Anglo-Swiss commodities giant Glencore and the London-based Eurasian Resources Group.

The report, obtained by AFP, found that the illegal miners who invaded the groups’ cobalt mines in the southeastern province of Lualaba often used heavy machinery and worked under the protection of “uniformed men”.

It identified a structured contraband scheme involving various public agencies, police officers and the military, notably the presidential guard.

The intrusions “severely disrupt industrial operations, compromise workers’ safety and expose the companies to considerable economic losses”, it said, pointing to the alleged involvement of Chinese and Lebanese nationals.

Justice Minister Guillaume Ngefa said in a statement the probe showed the government’s “zero-tolerance (policy) on mining fraud, corruption and the plunder of our national resources”.

He vowed all those involved in the scheme would be prosecuted, “regardless of rank, job title or nationality”.

The DRC is rich in natural resources, especially lucrative minerals, but suffers from deep poverty and a long-running conflict in the sprawling country’s restive east.