Nduhungirehe presses AU, UN over DR Congo’s use of mercenaries

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Olivier Nduhungirehe, has accused the DR Congo of violating international law following reports that American businessman Erik Prince sent private security contractors support Congolese military operations in the war with the AFC/M23 rebels. Reacting to a Reuters report that Prince, founder of private military contractor Blackwater, sent a team to operate drones and assist the Congolese army, Nduhungirehe said Kinshasa’s continued reliance on foreign mercenaries is a violation of continental and international legal frameworks. ALSO READ: Mercenaries in the DRC crisis: What it means legally and ethically “Let me recall that, by using foreign mercenaries over and over again, the Government of the DR Congo is defying the international community,” Nduhungirehe wrote on X on February 10. He cited the 1977 OAU Convention for the Elimination of Mercenarism in Africa and the 1989 UN International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. He questioned whether the UN Security Council, the African Union and the broader international community would “continue looking the other way in the face of this persistent violation of international law.” According to Reuters, Prince, whose company has since renamed to Academi, had been contracted by Kinshasa to help “improve revenue collection from Congo’s vast mineral resources.” However, sources quoted in the report said his team supported frontline efforts in Uvira. Prince has previously been reported to be in contact with the Congolese government. AFC/M23 took control of Uvira in early December 2025 but before its forces withdrew in mid-January. The group described the pullback as a “confidence-building measure” aimed at supporting ongoing peace efforts. Rwanda has repeatedly condemned the Kinshasa’s use of foreign mercenaries in the conflict in eastern Congo, arguing that the practice violates international conventions, fuels instability and undermines peace efforts. During the capture of Goma by the AFC/M23 in January 2025, hundreds of Romanian mercenaries fighting alongside Congolese forces were apprehended. Rwanda later facilitated their transfer back to Europpe. The controversy over alleged foreign drone operators comes amid heightened tensions over the Congolese army’s use of air power in eastern DR Congo. In recent weeks, the AFC/M23 has accused Kinshasa of carrying out air strikes using fighter jets and combat drones targeting areas in South Kivu’s Hauts Plateaux, including Minembwe and surrounding localities. AFC/M23 coordinator Corneille Nangaa recently declared that the group had drawn a “red line” over aerial attacks allegedly launched from Kisangani airport, which he described as a rear base used to project air power against territories under its control. He accused the Congolese army and its allies of deploying drones and Sukhoi fighter jets in operations that endangered civilian populations amid an ongoing communications blackout. Rwanda maintains that lasting peace in eastern DR Congo requires political dialogue addressing the conflict’s root causes, not reliance on foreign mercenaries or allied militias, including groups like FDRL, which is linked to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.

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Nduhungirehe presses AU, UN over DR Congo’s use of mercenaries