Why DRC leader is big winner as Trump thirsts for minerals

President Trump wants Congo’s cobalt. President Tshisekedi wants a third term that his constitution blocks. Washington’s minerals-for-security deal, which promises to end conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo while loosening China’s hold over new energy’s raw materials, has emboldened the country’s leader to tighten his own grip on power. Tshisekedi has begun openly signalling that he intends to stay on, saying he would accept a third term if the Congolese people demanded it. The constitution allows two. When Joseph Kabila refused to surrender the presidency in 2016, he argued that chaos in the east — where a war…