Massad Boulos, Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, sits for a portrait at a resort in New York on Sep 4, 2024.
Jeenah Moon/The Washington Publish through Getty Photographs
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Jeenah Moon/The Washington Publish through Getty Photographs
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — President Trump’s new senior advisor for Africa kicked off his first official journey to the continent on Thursday within the mineral-rich however conflict-ridden Nice Lakes area.
In his first cease Boulos met Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi in Kinshasa, amid hypothesis surrounding a doable minerals-for-security deal.
“You’ve heard about a minerals agreement. We’ve reviewed the DRC’s proposal, and I’m pleased to announce that the President and I have agreed on a path forward for its development,” Bolous mentioned, in response to a assertion by the Congolese authorities.
“I look forward to working with President Félix Tshisekedi and his team to build a deeper relationship that benefits the Congolese and American people, and to stimulate American private sector investment in the DRC, particularly in the mining sector, with the shared goal of contributing to the prosperity of both our countries,” he added.
On the safety state of affairs within the nation he mentioned solely: “We want a lasting peace that affirms the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the DRC.”
Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman with firms in Nigeria, was made the president’s Africa czar earlier this week and is hitting the bottom working — heading to Rwanda, Kenya and Uganda after the DRC.
Boulos is the father-in-law of Trump’s youthful daughter Tiffany, who’s married to his son. He is the second prolonged member of the family to be awarded a job, after Charles Kushner, the father-in-law of Trump’s different daughter Ivanka, was nominated as ambassador to France.
The State Division mentioned Boulos, who additionally serves as senior advisor to the president on Arab and Center Jap Affairs, would meet with heads of state and enterprise leaders to try to advance peace efforts in DRC and “promote U.S. private sector investment in the region.”
The Congolese military is battling M23 rebels within the nation’s east. This yr the rebels have made vital features, together with seizing the provincial capitals of Goma and Bukavu.
Kinshasa, the U.S. and U.N. consultants amongst others, consider the M23 are backed by neighboring Rwanda and are utilizing the battle to loot DRC’s mineral wealth. Rwanda denies this.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump is joined by Massad Boulos, who was not too long ago named as a ‘senior advisor to the President on Arab and Center Jap Affairs,’ throughout a marketing campaign cease on the Nice Commoner restaurant in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., on November 1, 2024.
Brian Snyder/REUTERS
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Brian Snyder/REUTERS
DRC is wealthy within the vital minerals important for the worldwide provide chain like uranium, cobalt and lithium. U.S. rival in Africa, China, has plenty of investments within the nation.
President Tshisekedi, who has in contrast the state of affairs in his nation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not too long ago talked about being open to a mining cope with the U.S., however has not mentioned if reciprocal points, like safety assurances, are a part of that.
Forward of Boulos’ go to, the Congolese authorities overturned the loss of life sentences of three Individuals who had been convicted final yr for his or her involvement in a failed coup try. The Individuals — Marcel Malanga Malu, Tylor Thomson and Zalman Polun Benjamin — had been amongst 37 individuals handed the loss of life sentence in September, however have now been given a presidential pardon.
Malanga Malu’s father, Christian Malanga, a U.S. nationwide of Congolese origin, was believed to have been the mastermind behind the Might assaults on the presidential palace and a Tshisekedi ally’s dwelling. He was killed when the tried putsch was foiled.
