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Nearly nine months after signing a political deal aimed at ushering in a landmark democratic transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila’s subversion of the accord places Congo at risk of much greater violence. It is also now creating the potential for regional instability and the possible disruption in the supply of minerals strategically important to U.S. national security and to U.S. and other global manufacturers.

An effective strategy to bring Congo back from the brink of political and economic crisis should focus on achieving a democratic transition to begin to break the cycle of the corrupt, violent state while also pushing for key structural reforms and immediate conflict mitigation steps in the Kasai region and eastern Congo. It is not yet in the regime’s interest to pursue a transition given the immense profits reaped by the Kabila family and their commercial partners despite the economic crisis.

Kabila and his cronies rely on the U.S. dollar, euro, and international banks to launder the corrupt money they acquire. That creates major leverage for the United States and Europe. They should use that leverage and significantly increase financial pressure on the regime and its partners in order to strongly support a democratic transition in Congo.

This power grab by President Kabila and his Congolese and international collaborators is driven by their desire to not cede the immunity and control over the estimated $24 trillion in natural resource wealth that state authority gives them. They want to continue profiting from the violent kleptocracy they inherited and have refined over the past 16 years, through a system in which the ruling networks and their commercial partners hijack the state for their own benefit and use violence to profit and maintain power.

👇Take Action Now: Send a Tweet to US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley asking her to support increased financial pressure on corrupt Congolese officials and their international facilitators until democratic elections occur.