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Fears that China Will Seize Mombasa Port Unfounded: Upcoming Report

by Cobus van Staden
One of the many inaccurate headlines that was published in the Kenyan press about the country's Chinese loans used to build the Standard Gauge Railway.

Throughout the last two years, Kenya has been rattled by reports that its debt to China for the troubled Standard Gauge Railway could lead to the seizure of the Port of Mombasa. Since then this story and the other ‘debt trap’ narratives like it have largely been debunked.

However, fears about the impact of Chinese loan contracts on the sovereignty of African countries persist, fueled by the high level of opacity of Chinese loan contracts.

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