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Chinese Companies Engage in Massive “Forest Looting” in the DR Congo

Two Chinese logging companies are now the largest timber harvesters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with concessions sized at more than 3 million hectares. The firms, Wan Peng and Booming Green, are engaged in industrial-scale logging to export raw ...

U.S. Generals Continue to Insist China Plans to Build New Military Bases in Africa Even Though There’s No Evidence

The United States military is turning up the volume on its longstanding allegation that China is actively considering building new military bases around the world, including in four African countries. The Pentagon restated the assertion earlier this month in a report to Congress, even though ...

NGO Describes 2008 China-DR Congo Sicomines Deal Described as “Unconscionable”

It sounds like the soon-to-be-released report by the Congolese branch of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is going to be unsparing in its criticism of the 2008 Sino-Congolese deal that created the Sicomines joint venture mining company.

Africa Accounts For Just 1.7% of China’s Total Global Investment Stock, Says MOFCOM

Even amid the pandemic, Chinese investment overseas last year increased by 12.3% to $153.71 billion, according to a new report published last week by the Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of Statistics, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. 2.8% of ...

Sicomines is Bracing For a Brutal Report From the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative

The Sino-Congolese mining giant Sicomines is already trying to discredit a highly-anticipated report by the Congolese branch of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative even before the NGO's findings have been published. Radio France Internationale and other media ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

Plugging into African Agency

After several years of declining funding, the African end of the Belt and Road Initiative seems to be roaring back. The newest Griffith University/Green Development Finance Center data on the Belt and Road Initiative shows that engagement with Africa jumped by 395%, while a few big projects boosted engagement in Nigeria alone more than twelvefold.
These shifts indicate a window of opportunity for African electrification. 60% of Africans still ...

New Report Examines China’s Expanding Role in Multilateral Development Banks

China is increasingly turning to Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) to pursue its geopolitical agenda and promote alternate norms of global governance, according to a new report published on Wednesday by the London-based Overseas Development Institute. The report by Chris ...

DRC Cabinet Tasked to Deliver Report on Sicomines in Two Weeks

The DR Congo's equivalent of the presidential cabinet, the Council of Ministers, has been tasked to create a commission to investigate “major legal, technical and financial problems observed in the collaboration agreement” of the $6 billion Sicomines deal between Congo's state mining company and a consortium of ...

Congolese Ministers Deliver Mostly Favorable Report to President on Chinese Infrastructure

Two Congolese ministers delivered a largely upbeat assessment of the status of Chinese infrastructure projects tied to major mining contracts in a key report for President Félix Tshisekedi at the latest cabinet meeting on Friday. Infrastructure and Public ...

Between the Cut in Chinese Lending and COVID, 2020 Was a Tough Year for East Africa’s Infrastructure Development

The financial crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic combined with a curtailment in Chinese lending contributed to a 35% drop in the number of infrastructure construction projects in East Africa, and a 47% plunge in the value of those projects, according to Deloitte's ...