Imposing Peace by Force in International Politics: A Critical Perspective on the Trump Administration’s Approach to the DRC–Rwanda Conflict

Abstract

This article critically examines the Trump Administration’s strategy of “imposing peace by force” in the long-standing DRC–Rwanda conflict and analyzes it as a hybrid model combining coercive diplomacy and geo-economic statecraft. It addresses a central analytical question: why do the United States invest significant diplomatic capital in an old and complex regional conflict, and why do they explicitly link conflict pacification to mechanisms aimed at accessing, securing, and redirecting strategic supply chains of critical minerals (cobalt, copper, coltan)? The article argues that U.S. engagement is best explained not primarily by humanitarian imperatives but by a strategic effort to reduce systemic vulnerabilities in critical mineral supply chains within the broader context of great-power competition, particularly against China’s dominance in refining and midstream processing. Methodologically, the study relies on qualitative document analysis and triangulation of official diplomatic agreements, U.S. policy fact sheets, investment communications, media reporting, and humanitarian datasets. The findings show that U.S. peace diplomacy is structured around five strategic logics: (1) the DRC’s mineral centrality in the global cobalt–copper–coltan system; (2) the securitization of critical mineral supply chains as a U.S. national security priority; (3) systemic rivalry with China and the imperative of de-risking midstream dependency; (4) the institutionalization of preferential access and governance mechanisms through instruments such as the Strategic Asset Reserve (SAR) and Joint Steering Committee (JSC); and (5) the corridor-based redirection of mineral flows through Western-backed logistics infrastructures, notably the Lobito Corridor. The article concludes that “peace” operates simultaneously as a diplomatic objective and a strategic instrument of compellence designed to stabilize investment conditions, reshape governance frameworks, and reconfigure supply chains in Central Africa.