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Is it Possible to Keep Geopolitics Out of Development?

This week, my colleague CAP Editor in Chief Eric Olander unearthed a startling statistic: China’s trade with Africa so far this year already exceeds all trade between Africa and the United States for the whole of 2021. Think about that ...

TRANSLATION: Chinese Ambassador Zhu Jing Reflects on His First Visit to the Congo’s Strategically Vital Southern Mining Zone

Chinese ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zhu Jing, is back in Kinshasa now after a week-long tour earlier this month to the country's strategically important mining zones in Lualaba and Katanga Provinces. Those two regions are at the heart of a rapidly escalating geopolitical ...

How Chinese Companies Came to Dominate the DR Congo’s Mining Sector

Bloomberg journalists Michael Kavanagh and William Clowes are the subjects of a new mini-documentary that explains how China became the dominant foreign mining power in the DR Congo. The 17-minute video doesn't provide any new information about the origins of companies SICOMINES or ...

Chinese Trade With Africa Surged in First Quarter But Expected to Slow Dramatically

Chinese trade with Africa rocketed up 24.5% in the first three months of 2022 compared to the same time last year, according to the new data released by China's customs authorities. At a continental level, trade levels were characteristically balanced with Chinese ...

Chinese Cobalt Stakeholders Weigh In on Durban Chaos

The impact of the floods that disrupted operations at South Africa’s Durban harbor is being felt throughout the cobalt supply chain. The Swiss cobalt miner Glencore reacted by declaring force majeure, but so far little has been heard from the Chinese companies that dominate both cobalt mining in ...

$1.9 Billion in 11 New Chinese Loans to Africa in 2020

By Jyhjong Hwang and Oyintarelado Moses The 2022 update to the Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) Database, managed by the Boston University Global Development Policy (GDP) Center, recorded 11 new loan commitments worth $1.9 billion from Chinese lenders to African government ...

With Access to South Africa’s Main Port Still Hampered, The Rush Is on To Build Alternate Trade Routes for DRC Resources

With road and rail access to South Africa's main port in Durban still blocked by the damage from the past week of record floods, there's a new urgency to develop alternate trade routes for the vast quantities of natural resources that flow from the mining belts in the southern DRC ...

Glencore Calls Force Majeure on Cobalt Exports as Durban Flooding Worsens Chinese Shipping Crisis

Glencore, the world’s largest cobalt producer, announced that it can’t fulfill its delivery commitments for cobalt hydroxide out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, due to severe flooding in the South African port city of Durban. The majority of cobalt exports from the DRC depart the continent via Durban. ...

DRC Military Officials Are Learning Chinese

The Congolese Military Language Institute will set up a Confucius Institute classroom to help soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo to learn Chinese. This follows a recent announcement that the Sudanese army is also implementing the teaching of Mandarin. This will be the second ...

Namibia is the Latest African Country That Wants to Build a Railway to the Southern DRC’s Cobalt Mining Zone

Namibia is the latest in a growing number of African countries that wants to become the gateway for Congolese cobalt and other resources. The Namibian transport ministry just completed a feasibility study for a 770km railway that will connect the southern DRC mining hub of Lumbubashi with its port ...

China’s DRC Envoy Seeks to Mend Fences With the Country’s Powerful Mining Company

China's ambassador to the DR Congo, Zhu Jing, paid a visit on Monday to meet Alphonse Kaputo, the powerful chairman of the country's state-run mining company Gécamines. The courtesy call was no doubt part of an effort to try and mend ties with ...

China’s DRC Envoy Makes High-Profile Visit to Cobalt Mining Belt, Sends a Powerful Message to Both Kinshasa and Washington

China's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zhu Jing, made a high-profile visit over the weekend to one of the country's most important power brokers in the heart of the cobalt mining zone in the southern mining belt in Katanga province. ...
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