AVZ Discussion 2022
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L'Entretien de l'intelligence économique - L'impact écologique du lithium : une niche stratégique pour la RD Congo
La guerre du lithium fait rage, car la transition écologique ne peut se passer de ce précieux métal. En République démocratique du Congo, les entreprises étrangères se déchirent pour mettre la main sur…
I can’t get English subtitles to work and understanding of French is really limited. That is Marius Mihigo discussing avz. If anyone can give a summary of what he had to say would be appreciated. Thanks
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Mr Inappropriate
Regular
A different translation:
The interests of the country were sold out by some of our officials for the benefit of #Zijin. His Excellency Mr. PR05 @fatshii13, the mine discovered in Manono rightfully belongs to $AVZ.
The ecological impact of lithium: a strategic niche for the DRC f24.my/9Ir0.T via @FRANCE24.
Xerof
Biding my Time 1971
https://www.happyscribe.com/transcriptions/ec2a43d5c6d841339574987c2d036683/subtitles
With much thanks to Keaton on twitter. Are you here too mate?
So, Marius spends most of the time defending his package, then states quite clearly that the decree of late was to reinstate a single tenement, then goes on to say Felix should be now convinced to go with AVZ
As previously mentioned 'a lot happening this week'
Agree with @The Fox comment re source of 'ease off' request
With much thanks to Keaton on twitter. Are you here too mate?
So, Marius spends most of the time defending his package, then states quite clearly that the decree of late was to reinstate a single tenement, then goes on to say Felix should be now convinced to go with AVZ
As previously mentioned 'a lot happening this week'
Agree with @The Fox comment re source of 'ease off' request
“then goes on to say Felix should be now convinced to go with AVZ”
FFS is there any law in this country, is there and mining code, why would Felix need to be convinced.
Spikerama
Regular
Good on you mate. I think you did the right thing. Not just by us but by all the women of the world. And on International Women's Day no less.
Hemicuda
Regular
Because these are children playing adult games
Retrobyte
Hates a beer
MoneyBags1348
Top 20
There’s a lot of info in this link about the Chinese and infrastructure Spike…. Not sure if it will help but it does provide more facts relating to the Chinese ripping off the DRC. I just edited a small part of it here as it’s a fair bit of reading
SICOMINES: the CREFDL unveils the list of infrastructures out of the US$824.5 million, the revised list of 2010 cannot be found
By Kiki Kienge
"CREFDL notes that the budgets for these infrastructure projects are irrational and lack credibility. ”
After the report of the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) on the contract of the century between the DR Congo and the Chinese consortium (GEC), SICOMINES, the Congolese political world, the administrations linked to this contract and even the Chinese Embassy in DR Congo found themselves in a storm, looking for how to better respond, but above all to whom to unload the weight of the "
The Centre for Research in Public Finance and Local Development (CREFDL) has just published figures and achievements from 2008 to 2018, highlighting the revision of the infrastructure carried out following pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
COMMUNIQUE N°004/CREFDL/DG.MV/2023
Chinese contract: the 40 infrastructures, which cost $824.5 million.
After analysis, CREFDL congratulates the IGM for this important work, which contributes to the improvement of public finance governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
After cross-checking this information, CREFDL finds that the budgets for these infrastructure projects are irrational and lack credibility.
We also have doubts about the effectiveness of the implementation of the work on the works declared by the Congolese Great Works Agency (ACGT) and the quality of the infrastructure delivered to the Government.
So recommend to the Government:
1) To postpone negotiations on the use of a probable disbursement of US$500 million announced by the Chinese side.
2) To the higher supervisory bodies, including the General Inspectorate of Finance and the Court of Auditors: to begin the audit of the list of 40 infrastructures as soon as possible
SICOMINES : le CREFDL dévoile la liste des infrastructures sur les 824,5 millions $US, introuvable la liste revisionnée de 2010 - Kongo Presse
Par Kiki Kienge « CREFDL constate que les budget de ces projets d’infrastructures sont irrationnels et manquent de crédibilité. » Qui est ce David Copperfield de la politique Congolaise qui aurait réussi…
kongopress.com
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Spikerama
Regular
There’s a lot of info in this link about the Chinese and infrastructure Spike…. Not sure if it will help but it does provide more facts relating to the Chinese ripping off the DRC. I just edited a small part of it here as it’s a fair bit of reading
SICOMINES: the CREFDL unveils the list of infrastructures out of the US$824.5 million, the revised list of 2010 cannot be found
By Kiki Kienge
"CREFDL notes that the budgets for these infrastructure projects are irrational and lack credibility. ”
After the report of the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) on the contract of the century between the DR Congo and the Chinese consortium (GEC), SICOMINES, the Congolese political world, the administrations linked to this contract and even the Chinese Embassy in DR Congo found themselves in a storm, looking for how to better respond, but above all to whom to unload the weight of the "
The Centre for Research in Public Finance and Local Development (CREFDL) has just published figures and achievements from 2008 to 2018, highlighting the revision of the infrastructure carried out following pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
COMMUNIQUE N°004/CREFDL/DG.MV/2023
Chinese contract: the 40 infrastructures, which cost $824.5 million.
After analysis, CREFDL congratulates the IGM for this important work, which contributes to the improvement of public finance governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
After cross-checking this information, CREFDL finds that the budgets for these infrastructure projects are irrational and lack credibility.
We also have doubts about the effectiveness of the implementation of the work on the works declared by the Congolese Great Works Agency (ACGT) and the quality of the infrastructure delivered to the Government.
So recommend to the Government:
1) To postpone negotiations on the use of a probable disbursement of US$500 million announced by the Chinese side.
2) To the higher supervisory bodies, including the General Inspectorate of Finance and the Court of Auditors: to begin the audit of the list of 40 infrastructures as soon as possible
SICOMINES : le CREFDL dévoile la liste des infrastructures sur les 824,5 millions $US, introuvable la liste revisionnée de 2010 - Kongo Presse
Par Kiki Kienge « CREFDL constate que les budget de ces projets d’infrastructures sont irrationnels et manquent de crédibilité. » Qui est ce David Copperfield de la politique Congolaise qui aurait réussi…
Good Bags thanks for sharing. I've been going through a lot of docos on Sicomines / Kabila debacle. It's mind boggling how much the Chinese get away with. But it's also very clear how much influence they have over the political system. It's almost as though we need to take the fight back to China. Embarrass them there.
Samus
Top 20
Frank
Top 20
*What do you do when working with something from China doesn't work
Or, More importantly, What does the DRC do with this damning report
I think we all know what the Chinese will say
Chinese contract: what are the conclusions of the IGF?
View attachment 31510
www.mediacongo.net/article-actualite-118603_contrat_chinois_quels_sont_les_conclusions_de_l_igf.html
View attachment 31513
Sino-Congolese contract: Freddy Mulumba insists that "the USA is a reliable partner than China" which must end the wars of looting of minerals and the genocide of the Congolese
After more than 40 years of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, the Democratic Republic of Congo is at the center of a new cold war between China and the United States.
Two economic-political models are in competition (Alain Cota, L’hypercapitalisme mondial, Odile-Jacob, Paris, 2018).
On the one hand, democratic centralism (CCP statutes of October 22, 2022) with state capitalism under the control of the Chinese Communist Party called "socialist market economy" and, on the other hand, the United States of America liberal capitalism with an economy controlled by corporations referred to as "market economy". (Paul Jorion, Capitalism in agony, Fayard, Paris 2011).
By adhering to both the Chinese "One Belt and One Road" Initiative and the coalition for democracy initiated by the United States of America, the DRC finds itself in a delicate situation because the Chinese communist regime is considered non-liberal by the United States considering itself a democracy.
Faced with this situation, what will be the position of the DRC regarding the choice between these two economic models?
A Brief History of Western Capitalism in the DRC
Capitalism in the Congo has its origins in the acts of the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 where freedom of trade was guaranteed throughout the country. On July 1, 1885, Belgian King Leopold II proclaimed himself President of the Independent State of Congo on July 1, 1885.
(Jean Stengers, Congo, Myths and realities, 100 years of history, Document-Duculot, Brussels, 1989).
A fine diplomat, King Leopold II presented the International African Association as a defender of freedom of trade and a humanitarian work to fight against slavery.
This is how the Congo was recognized by the United States of America, the first western country in 1884, as a sovereign state and a friendly government. (Kabasu Babu Katulondi, The Making of the Congo State in the U.S, The U.S.-Congo Project Foundation, Usa, 2012)
However, instead of freedom of trade and the fight against slavery, the Belgian King Leopold II instituted a commercial monopoly and restored slavery on the territory of the new state. In this period, the monopoly coincided with a strong worldwide demand for rubber for use in the automobile industry.
To produce more and satisfy this strong demand, the Congo Free State instituted forced labor, thus causing massacres, mutilations by the hands of the Congolese populations and the imposition of taxes.
(Arthur Conan Doyle, The Crime of Congo, Hutchinson and Co, London, 1909).
Result: 10 million Congolese massacred by agents of the Congo Free State.
This tragedy sparked a campaign in England and the USA by journalists, writers, academics and Protestant churches that convinced US President Theodore Roosevelt of the USA to withdraw his country's support for the Congo Free State despite the support of powerful lobbies and the American media on the payroll of King Leopold II.
(Adam Hochschild, King Leopold's Ghost, A Story of Greed, Terror And Heroism in Colonial Africa, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, 1998)
After helping to put an end to this dark period in the history of capitalism in the Congo, the United States and Europe have exploited the wealth of the Congo as they please.
It is thanks to the uranium from the Congo supplied by Belgium that the USA for the manufacture of the atomic bomb that the Americans emerged victorious from the Second World War by dropping two bombs on two Japanese: Nagasaki and Hiroshima making them a global superpower.
After the Second World War and decolonization, the Congo remained in the fold of Western capitalism in the context of the Cold War where Western multinationals and the former colonial power, Belgium, played the role of commissionaires and the USA.
Decolonization, writes Crawford Young, did not consist so much in a rupture of relations, but more in a redefinition which was to guarantee the metropolis its status as a privileged interlocutor and preserve its interests.
(Crawford Young, Africa's colonial heritage, in Strategies for African Development, University of California Press, 1985).
It was in the context of securing their economic interests that Belgium and the colonial societies supported the secession of the wealthy province of Katanga. But, the United States opposed the creation of the Independent State of Katanga by ending the secession of Katanga.
This state was deemed unviable in the international environment marked by the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
Concerned about the Cold War, the United States of America will entrust the "Congo dossier" to Belgium, a former colonial power, thus becoming its valid interlocutor in the development of the Congo.
It is at this level that we must partly understand the delay in economic development of the Congo and other black African countries compared to the economic miracle of certain Asian countries which have adopted the economic model of liberal capitalism.
(The East Asian Miracle, Economic Growth and Public Policy, World Bank Policy Research Report, Washington, 1993).
In Thailand, for example, “American advisers played an important role in the policy-making process, especially in the first three national economic development plans (1961-1976), supported by tai technocrats”. (Somboon Siriprachai, Industriali-zation with a weah state, Thailand’s Development in Historical Perspective, Kyoto University Press, Japan, 2012).
If in Thailand, the USA supported the technocrats, in the Congo, on the other hand, the Americans committed assassinations and coups to preserve their economic and geopolitical interests.
In this respect, the assassination of Patrice-Emery Lumumba in 1961, the coup d'etat of President Mobutu in 1965 and recently the assassination of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila in 2001 are the works of the American secret services.
Moreover, the Congo is still considered a reservoir of materials for Western and now Chinese industries.
This status justifies the predatory capitalism of Western multinationals which finance wars of looting of Congolese minerals through Rwanda and Uganda instead of promoting a liberal capitalism which was at the origin of the creation of the Congolese State.
(Peer Schouten, Roadblockpolitics, The origins of violence in central Africa, Cambridge, London, 2022).
If the Americans had advised and protected the Congolese elites at Independence in 1960 as they did in certain Asian countries, the Congo would not have become a country of immeasurable natural wealth with the poorest population in the world.
This is why Chinese state capitalism seduces the Congolese elites because the only capitalism known by the Congolese remains predatory and neoliberal capitalism.
(Georges Mpwate-Ndaume, Cooperation between Congo and capitalist countries, a dilemma for Congolese presidents 1908-2008, L’Harmattant, Paris, 2010). But the liberal capitalism that made the power of the United States of America remains a chimera in the Congo.
If you ask the Congolese population to show infrastructures built by American cooperation, it will be difficult to identify them.
On the other hand, if the same question is asked in relation to China, the Congolese will cite Boulevard Lumumba, the Martyrs Stadium, the People's Palace and the Cultural Center of Central Africa which will be inaugurated in 2023. must be added the truck road built by Japanese cooperation and the National Museum built by South Korea.
These examples are not intended to push the United States to do like China or Japan by mobilizing USD 600 billion in private and public investment by 2027 to finance global infrastructure.
The Congolese expect from the United States not only a new partnership around the training of the ruling elites in the field of state management, democracy, the rule of law, the fight against corruption and good governance, but also and above all the sanctions against their businessmen and their multinationals at the base of the wars of looting of minerals and the genocide of 10 million Congolese.
Moreover, all the expert reports on the looting of Congolese minerals indexing Rwanda, Uganda and Western multinationals are thrown into the drawers under American pressure.
Under these conditions, countering the autocracy in the DRC means taking these realities into account, contrary to the ambitions expressed by the Administrator of the American Agency for International Development (Usaid), Ambassador Samantha Power.
“Unlike the approach of autocratic governments, we demonstrate the potential benefits of our democratic system when we deliver aid in a fair, transparent, inclusive and participatory way – by strengthening local institutions, employing local workers, respecting the environment and providing benefits equitably in a society”.
(How Democracy Can Win, The Right Way to Counter Autocracy, Foreign Affairs, March/April 2023 published February 16, 2023).
In any case, it is time for the Congolese elites to take their destiny into their own hands.
Whatever the economic model adopted, whatever the good will of the Americans or the Chinese, the Congolese political leaders are solely responsible for the development of their country.
Consequently, they must abandon the “culture of picking” and the “politics of the belly” to put themselves at the service of their country and their people.
Freddy Mulumba Kabuayi wa Bondo
mediacongo
Mute22
Regular
Can anyone translate this video? No sub-titles:
www.france24.com
L'Entretien de l'intelligence économique - L'impact écologique du lithium : une niche stratégique pour la RD Congo
La guerre du lithium fait rage, car la transition écologique ne peut se passer de ce précieux métal. En République démocratique du Congo, les entreprises étrangères se déchirent pour mettre la main sur…
Mute22
Regular
Found this on the bird for anyone wanting a translation of this Marius interview on France24:Can anyone translate this video? No sub-titles:
L'Entretien de l'intelligence économique - L'impact écologique du lithium : une niche stratégique pour la RD Congo
La guerre du lithium fait rage, car la transition écologique ne peut se passer de ce précieux métal. En République démocratique du Congo, les entreprises étrangères se déchirent pour mettre la main sur…
Happy Scribe: Audio Transcription & Video Captioning
Affordable transcribing tool for writers, researchers, journalists and students.
www.happyscribe.com
Misfits
Regular
Found this on the bird for anyone wanting a translation of this Marius interview on France24:
Happy Scribe: Audio Transcription & Video Captioning
Affordable transcribing tool for writers, researchers, journalists and students.
Carlos Danger
Top 20
Marius says nothing about Felix directing the MoM to cancel the partition. If that was the case then the reasoning used in the new decrees wouldn't have been about Cominiere's hurt feelings. And Nigel wouldn't have reacted the way he did in his letter.
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