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As global geopolitics undergoes profound transformation, the practice of peacemaking is evolving in parallel. One notable recent approach—described by some analysts as “extractive mediation”—links conflict resolution efforts to access to critical minerals and strategic economic interests. This model has been prominently deployed in ongoing peacemaking efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the wider Great Lakes region.

In this context, the United States has brokered a peace agreement between Rwanda and the DRC, while Qatar has simultaneously pursued a parallel mediation track focused on negotiations between the DRC government and the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group. These initiatives emerged amid the limited effectiveness of African-led regional mechanisms, notably those of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC), to halt the escalation of violence. After more than a decade of dormancy, the M23 rebellion re-emerged forcefully in 2021, with widespread and well-documented support from Rwanda. The group rapidly seized significant territory in eastern DRC, including major urban centers such as Goma and Bukavu. In response, the EAC deployed a regional force that succeeded in improving humanitarian access but had limited impact on the broader conflict dynamics. Perceived by the Congolese government as insufficiently neutral and overly accommodating of Rwanda, the mission was prematurely terminated. A subsequent deployment by SADC similarly failed to reverse the conflict’s escalation. While these initiatives generated some humanitarian gains and laid groundwork for subsequent mediation efforts, they did not de-escalate violence or secure mediation breakthroughs.

The limitation of these regional approaches created space for US and Qatari mediation to assume a leading role. The US-brokered agreement between the DRC and Rwanda called, inter alia, for the cessation of Rwandan support to armed groups operating in eastern DRC, the neutralization of the FDLR, and the establishment of an economic partnership framework. This framework is widely understood as an attempt to embed material incentives for peace by preventing the use of natural resource revenues to finance armed activity. Central to this arrangement was a bilateral agreement granting the United States access to the DRC’s critical minerals, aimed at securing U.S. supply chains for these resources. Qatar, for its part, facilitated a Declaration of Principles and a framework agreement between the DRC government and the M23 movement, positioning itself as a complementary mediator in an increasingly crowded diplomatic landscape. Despite these initiatives, violence persists, implementation has stalled, and humanitarian conditions continue to deteriorate. This raises fundamental questions about whether transactional, interest-driven peacemaking can deliver sustainable peace or address the structural drivers of conflict.

Against this backdrop, the African Leadership Centre’s simulation debate examines the implications of extractive mediation for peace, sovereignty, and African agency, focusing on who shapes contemporary peacemaking, at what cost, and with what long-term consequences.

Participants are invited to engage with the following questions:

• Is extractive mediation simply neocolonialism repackaged for the 21st century—or the only form of peacemaking powerful actors are willing to invest in today?
• Does extractive mediation stabilize conflict zones, or merely redistribute violence and profit while externalizing the long-term costs to local communities?
• Are African states and regional organisations shaping extractive mediation on their own terms—or being structurally sidelined in negotiations that determine their security and economic futures?
• If extractive mediation reduces violence in the short term, who has the moral and political authority to reject it, and on whose behalf?
• At what point does trading access to critical minerals for security guarantees become a rational act of state survival rather than a surrender of sovereignty—and who decides where that line lies?

Keynote speaker

Professor Christopher Isike

Christopher Isike, PhD, is a Professor of African Politics and International Relations and Head of Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. The founding Director of the African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of Pretoria (ACSUS-UP), Professor Isike is also the current President of the African Association of Political Science (AAPS) and a member of the Board of Directors of Global Development Network (GDN). He also sits on the Advisory Board of Society of Gender Professionals (SGP). With over 80 publications in top national and international peer-reviewed journals including chapters in books published by reputable publishing houses globally, Professor Isike’s latest edited books include Big Brother Naija and Popular Culture in Nigeria: A Critique of the Country’s Cultural and Economic Diplomacy Palgrave Macmillan (2023, with O. Ogunnubi, and O. Ukwueze) and Conflict and Conviviality: The Ambivalence of African Migrant/Host Relations in South Africa, Palgrave Macmillan (2022, with E. Isike). Professor Isike consults for the UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government on gender equality and women empowerment issues in South Africa. He has just concluded his 4 year term as a Social Cohesion Advocate of South Africa appointed by the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture in 2020.

About the moderator

Desmond Davies, originally from Freetown in Sierra Leone, has been a journalist and commentator on African affairs since 1972. Moving to London in 1978, he worked for New African and Africa Now magazines, becoming Editor of the latter in 1984. He spent 10 years (1993-2003) with West Africa magazine, also in London, and was Editor from 2001 to 2003. He continues to write extensively on African and global affairs. He has a wide range of contacts in Africa and has interviewed numerous heads of state, political, business and cultural leaders. Desmond is currently the Editor of Africa Briefing magazine in London and also a contributor to the Ghana News Agency (GNA). He is a Mentor in strategic communication at the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London.

About the speakers

Chidinma Rita Nebolisa is a fellow on the Peace, Security and Development Fellowship for African Scholars at the African Leadership Centre (ALC). She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Diplomacy from Afe Babalola University, Nigeria, and is a researcher and analyst with interests in radicalization, violent extremism, and African politics. Her professional experience spans peace and security research, policy analysis, and knowledge production. At ARDA Development Communication Incorporation, she supported the use of indigenous storytelling to counter violent extremism in northern Nigeria. At the Centre for African Conflict and Development, she curated podcast discussions with security experts and authored articles on African politics and security. She further developed her research and writing skills at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, where she presented a paper titled Exploring Web3 Terrorism: Implications for Digital Counterterrorism Strategies at the 2024 Behavioural and Social Science in Security Conference at the University of St Andrews. Chidinma has also served as a Junior Editor at The Republic, contributing to African-led ideas and processes of change. She is currently pursuing an MSc in Global Leadership and Peacebuilding at King’s College London, with a research focus on understanding the dynamics of violent extremism and Africa’s intractable conflicts.

Tonye Marclint Ebiede is a Fellow on the Peace, Security and Development Fellowship for African Scholars at the African Leadership Centre (ALC). He holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the United States International University–Africa, Kenya, and a Bachelor’s degree in History from Niger Delta University, Nigeria. Tonye is a Conflict, Security, and Peace researcher whose work focuses on community peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and violence dynamics in Nigeria. He serves as a Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) in Abuja, Nigeria, and is a member of the Conflict Research Network – West Africa (CORN–West Africa). He is also a Resource/Teaching Assistant at the Sultan Maccido Institute for Peace, Leadership, and Development Studies, University of Abuja. Tonye is currently pursuing an MSc in Global Leadership and Peacebuilding at King’s College London. His research examines how communities in Northwestern Nigeria negotiate with armed groups to secure peace, and how these local peace processes shape trust in national and institutional leadership. His work positions trust as a critical metric of state legitimacy in conflict-affected settings, exploring how community-led negotiations reconfigure relationships between citizens, the state, and its security agencies.

Mrinalini Agrawal is a Fellow of the Associate Fellowship in Global Leadership and Peacebuilding for the Global South at the African Leadership Centre (ALC). Mrinalini holds a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from Leiden University College, Netherlands, where the focus was on World Politics with an emphasis on gender and decolonial thought. With a passion for decolonial thought, governance, and policy analysis, Mrinalini’s work is shaped by questioning the “default” institutional and cultural assumptions that render communities invisible. Having lived across India, Hong Kong, Thailand, Namibia, and the Netherlands, this background brings a global perspective to questions of identity, postcolonialism, and leadership, along with a commitment to inclusive policymaking that recognizes lived realities alongside institutional frameworks. Mrinalini’s professional experiences include contributing to sustainable development outreach and communications with UN-Habitat Lao PDR and supporting peacebuilding and decolonial dialogues through student assistantships. Work with grassroots organizations in South Asia and Southern Africa has further shaped this engagement with human rights and community development. Mrinalani is currently pursuing an MSc in Global Leadership and Peacebuilding at King’s College London. Mrinalini aims to deepen engagement with interdisciplinary approaches to leadership while advancing inclusive and transformative models of development and peacebuilding through the ALC Fellowship.

Mwesigwa Peter Claver is a Fellow on the Peace, Security and Development Associate Fellowship for Africans at the African Leadership Centre (ALC). He holds a Master’s degree in Terrorism, International Crime, and Global Security from Coventry University, UK, and a Bachelor’s degree in Governance and International Relations from Uganda Christian University, Uganda. Mwesigwa is a researcher and analyst with expertise in global security, compliance, and governance. His professional interests include anti-money laundering (AML), counter- terrorist financing (CTF), and migration governance. He is currently pursuing certification with the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS). Mwesigwa is currently pursuing an MSc in Global Leadership and Peacebuilding at King’s College London. His research interests include human trafficking in East Africa, diaspora governance, migration politics, and the intersection of financial crime and security.

Danielle Sophie Tietchou Tegang is a Fellow on the Peace, Security and Development Associate Fellowship for Africans at the African Leadership Centre (ALC). She holds a BA in International Relations with a minor in Psychology from Webster University Geneva and an MSc in African Politics from SOAS, University of London. Sophie considers herself an activist and philanthropist with a commitment to poverty reduction, sustainable community development and institution building in Africa. Motivated by the deteriorating state of governance in her home country, Cameroon, Sophie is committed to reimagining democratic forms that are responsive to local social and cultural realities. Aspiring to work in governance, she has a strong interdisciplinary interest in ethnography and cognitive/social psychology, exploring how their intersections with political theory can support more context-appropriate and effective governance models. Sophie is currently pursuing an MSc in Global Leadership and Peacebuilding at King’s College London. Her research explores how governments can more effectively serve their constituents’ needs and behaviours, and how interpersonal dynamics shape both domestic and international politics. Her thesis, Reimagining Democracy: Must it be Tailored for the African Context?, serves as an early contribution to her broader inquiry into on state theory and the possibilities for democracies grounded in African epistemologies and lived realities.

About King's Africa Week

Hosted by the African Leadership Centre and Africa research group, Africa Week is an annual celebration of research, education and outreach activities on Africa.

King's Africa Week brings together academics, researchers and students from across King's – and offers the opportunity to hear from African scholars, leaders and thinkers. It also showcases King's collaboration with African universities and partners.

Find out more about Africa Week