In the territories of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo seized by M23 rebels in 2025, a shadow state has risen from the ruins of legitimate governance — one that sustains itself not through the consent of the governed but through their systematic dispossession. Backed by Rwanda, the insurgents have constructed a parallel economy of checkpoints, mineral seizures, and improvised financial institutions, transforming conflict itself into a revenue model. The minerals that power the world's devices flow outward through this architecture of extraction, rebranded across the border and absorbed
M23 Rebels Build War Economy Through Taxation and Mineral Extraction in Eastern DRC
Millions of civilians in M23-controlled eastern DRC face economic collapse, inability to access banking services, forced labor contributions, and deepening poverty as the rebel group extracts resources through taxation and mineral exploitation.