Facing criticism it is stoking a humanitarian crisis, Brussels seeks to clarify the aims behind its minerals pact with Kigali.

Europe’s hunger for minerals for its electric cars and microchips is sparking accusations that it is inflaming conflict in eastern Congo, one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises that has killed 6 million people over recent decades.

The outrage was provoked by a strategic minerals deal that the European Commission struck on Feb. 19 with Rwanda, which borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For the EU — caught in a race with China for the resource riches of Central Africa — the agreement is an opportunity to gain access to the ingredients it needs for its “green and clean energy objectives.”

The EU’s critics hit back that the pact will create a smokescreen to smuggle “blood minerals” out of eastern Congo — not least because Rwanda is accused of playing a decisive role in the war on the other side of the border with its support for an insurgent rebel group called M23.