U.S. Institute of Peace experts discuss the latest foreign policy issues from around the world in On Peace, a brief weekly collaboration with SiriusXM's POTUS Channel 124.

Transcript

Laura Coates: We're joined now by Tom Sheehy, a distinguished fellow in the United States Institute of Peace's Africa Center. He examines the role of China in Africa and supports the work of the institute to strengthen the Sudd Institute, a research organization in South Sudan that promotes national reconciliation. Prior to this, he served on the USIP senior study group that produced the report, China's Impact on Conflict Dynamics in the Red Sea Arena. He is also a member of the International Advisory Council of Afrobarometer, the leading survey organization focused on gauging African attitudes towards democracy, governance, and society. He joins us now, Tom, good morning. How are you?

Tom Sheehy: Good morning, Laura.

Laura Coates: I'm glad that you're with us today. It was we've been following a lot globally over the weekend, obviously, what's happening with the Wagner group and Russia and beyond. But there has been, and there should be an expanded focus, on what the impact of our international relationships are and the global supply chain in particular. There's been some reporting, but not enough to really to comprehend or understand it, what has been that the challenges that, for the grip that China has on critical minerals right now.

Tom Sheehy: No, great question Laura and China has had a 20 year start on a lot of mining activities throughout the continent, so take the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example. We're all very interested in cobalt, cobalt is an essential ingredient for so many of the technologies we use. And yet China controls 15 of the 18 cobalt mining facilities. There's no Western mining company currently operating in Congo. And so that's become a real concern as, as these minerals have gained importance for the energy transition, but also for everyday technologies we use, phones and other items. And so, the US and Western allies over the last, I would say two years, it really focused on trying to get in the game in a way that secures our supply line, but also hopefully works for the development and the betterment of African people themselves.

Laura Coates: What types of critical minerals we're talking about here? Like, well, it makes car batteries, what are we thinking?

Tom Sheehy: People think of the bad car batteries, for sure. The United States lists 50 critical minerals, we've got cobalt, we've got lithium, we've got manganese, we've got graphite, the whole range, and then some pretty exotic, what they call rare earth minerals that no one can really pronounce their name, and certainly list and those are majorly controlled by China and so that's a definite concern. But it's, everything, and as you know, over the last 20-30 years, the United States has really gotten out of the mining and mineral processing business.

Laura Coates: And why is that?

Tom Sheehy: Well, because in the United States, people were not happy with the environmental implications of mining, mining is a challenging business and in terms of water usage and pollution and there are concerns that people don't want mining facilities in their backyard. And so, we don't have the extent of the mining facilities and even the infrastructure, we don't have the mining expertise that we had 30-40-50 years ago and that's essential. And so, I think there's been a bipartisan recognition that we need to do more here in the United States, but it's going to take time and until we get the infrastructure up here in the United States, we're going to be dependent on places like Africa and Latin America and Southeast Asia, for mineral resources.

Laura Coates: How does this impact, and you've written a paper recently on this very notion, co-authored an article excuse me, recommending that the US should partner with African nations to ensure that the wealth that comes from these essential minerals actually benefit the continent's people?

Tom Sheehy: No, sure, Lara, listen, if we're honest about the topic, we have to recognize that resource extraction in Africa does not have a pretty history where we you go back hundreds of years even more. We've got colonial era, we've got Chinese involvement, we've got involvement by Western companies, and it hasn't been done on the whole in a way that is environmentally friendly, that benefits a broad swath of the African people, often it's led to corruption in which elites were captured and worked in cahoots with foreign powers to extract these resources that still continues to this day. And the other thing here at US Institute of Peace, obviously with our name, and figured out, we're very much interested in the peace and security implications of resource development. The continent unfortunately has suffered scores of wars with people fighting over natural resources, and we see this to this day. So, it's a great challenge to develop these resources in a way that actually promotes development for Africa, and I think there's a growing realization, hopefully, in the United States and out elsewhere, then unless these minerals are developed in a way that that works to the benefit of Africans, it's simply not sustainable, and investments will fail. And we'll see all kinds of negative implications if we don't do this, right. And just finally, just to underscore it is going to be a big, big challenge, because again, the history does not point to future success. And so, if we're going to do this, we have to be realistic and work very hard to see that we do it right.

Laura Coates: Is there an appetite to do just that? I mean, obviously, there's been a lot of focus on other areas. And as you correctly point out, the historical extraction of resources, not something that has always been viewed through a social lens, do you think there is an appetite internationally to focus on this in this way?

Tom Sheehy: It's going to be a struggle, Laura. There's an increased realization that it's necessary and I think there's growing recognition in the United States and Europe and elsewhere that we need to be responsible in how we source these critical minerals. And so, we've seen various initiatives by the current Biden administration, in terms of programs and so forth, we've seen efforts to work collaboratively with our allies in Europe and Asia, South Korea, Japan, to develop to promote projects that develop in a responsible way. But again, it's a very tough environment, if it had been easy to do would have been done long ago. And some many countries in Africa lack infrastructure, they lack strong governance, they suffer from corruption, frankly. And so, to go into that environment, and do it in a responsible way, is a huge, huge challenge. And I think the only way we're gonna have a chance of being successful is working in alliance with other Western powers and hopefully raise the standards, but we have other competitors who aren't necessarily committed to those standards. We mainly think of China, but there are other countries as well. And so, it's gonna be a big effort, but we really don't have a choice because these minerals will be developed one way or the other. So, I think it's very important that we do our best to be part of the solution, but again, be very open eyed in terms of degree of difficulty.

Laura Coates: Tom Sheehy, thank you so much for joining us today. Really important to have this insight and perspective.