Gold smuggling bankrolls IS-linked ADF insurgency in eastern Congo

An investigative report finds that the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic State-aligned insurgency operating in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, now finances most of its activities through gold mining and smuggling, earning between $1 million and $1.6 million annually from sites in North Kivu alone. The gold is routed through trading centers in eastern Congo and onward to refiners in neighboring Uganda. Since U.S. sanctions on key facilitators in late 2024, the group has relied less on direct Islamic State funding, supplementing its income with cocoa production, extortion and kidnapping.

Uganda has stationed thousands of soldiers in the region to assist Congolese forces, yet the ADF has embedded itself in local economic networks and moved deeper into remote mining zones across North Kivu, Ituri and Tshopo. A mining cooperative representative, speaking anonymously, described how the ADF abducts miners to extract and sell gold on its behalf, sometimes paying locals for cooperation. Experts call for a focus on disrupting the gold traders and financial channels that sustain the insurgency.