Congo president says willing to partner with US on minerals-for-security deal

March 19 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi said on Wednesday that his country is willing to partner with the U.S. on a minerals-for-security deal.

Tshisekedi told Fox News host Bret Baier that such a partnership would allow Congo to extract and process its critical minerals to benefit U.S. companies, while also building up the African country's defense and security capabilities.

"I think that the U.S. is able to use either pressure or sanctions to make sure that armed groups who are in the DRC can be kept at bay," Tshisekedi said.

Democratic Republic of Congo, which is rich in cobalt, lithium and uranium among other minerals, has been fighting Rwanda-backed M23 rebels who have seized swathes of its territory in the east of the country this year.