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What future for the "contract of the century" between the DRC and China?
During these four days of visit, the first in Beijing for Félix Tshsiekedi since the beginning of his mandate in 2019, Kinshasa's objective is to put back on track the Sino-Congolese relationship blunted by the "contract of the century" passed he 15 years ago under the Kabila era.
A "mines against infrastructure" contract that turned into a fiasco.
The DRC and the Congolese are the big losers of this contract considered leonine and that the number one Congolese will try to renegotiate from this Friday.
It is first of all the story of a mega-contract by Sicomines, Sino-Congolaise des Mines, a joint venture set up in the former Katanga with the Congolese public company, Gécamines and the GEC, the Group of Chinese companies.
The former Kabila presidency was its architect. Cobalt and copper mines against roads, railroads, etc.
That was on paper, because in reality: the contract of the century was rather the heist of the century, according to Jean-Pierre Okenda, director of extractive industries at Resource Matters: "It's the scam of the century.
For what ?
Basically, China agrees to make available a line of credit: 6 billion US dollars.
It was reduced by half after the intervention of the IMF which was afraid of a debt, that the project was not sustainable.
And so there was this money.
And on the other hand, China needed access to minerals, and so the DRC said it had very large reserves: at the time, Gécamines estimated the reserves at 10 million tons of copper, 600,000 tons of cobalt.
That's what that deal looked like.
A deal that remained a dead letter or almost
Roads, Kakobola and Katende hydroelectric dams, thousands of social housing units, 145 health centers...
All these projects had to be done.
But fifteen years later, the amount actually invested by the Chinese side has remained minimal, according to Jean-Pierre Okenda: "We are in 2023 and we realize today that China has only spent 30%, or 822 millions of dollars in infrastructure.
This figure is given by an official Congolese report.
The General Inspectorate of Finance released a damning report: "squandering", "selling off", "economic colonialism".
The IGF estimates that for Sicomines, the Katangese mines have been a cash machine: 10 billion dollars.
The Congolese president goes on the offensive with Beijing
A task force within the framework of an ad hoc commission made up of ministers, the presidential cabinet and members of civil society resulted a week ago in a document that we were able to consult.
It was designed as a basis for negotiations with Beijing.
First lesson: Kinshasa wants to reverse the shareholder balance of power within Sicomines and go from 32% currently held by Gécamines to 70% for the public company and the Congolese authorities
It is the key idea of renegotiation that seems to be in view during this state visit.
Even if sources contacted by RFI within the delegation present in Beijing affirm that it is rather necessary to rebuild the Sino-Congolese relationship.
The pressure is immense on the Congolese authorities.
The Congolese company which has been denouncing this Chinese contract for more than ten years, the Westerners, the Americans and the Europeans or even the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (Itie) everyone is pushing for Kinshasa to remain within this framework of negotiations.
Welcoming the government's initiative to want to renegotiate, it is also really essential to put in place guarantees to ensure that in the end these negotiations are beneficial to Congo and to the state-owned company", indicates Jean-Pierre Okenda
Towards compensation?
The DRC could claim 2.2 billion dollars as required in this negotiation document.
Still, for another Congolese civil society actor, Jean-Claude Mputu of Congo Not for Sale, the timing is far from trivial: "The strongest weapon of Congolese power is its mineral wealth , in particular strategic minerals for the energy transition.
So all the means are good to use it, for electoral reasons [...] because we realize that the West is very observant on the elections, we should perhaps avoid putting too much pressure on China, and at least have an ally for the last few months.
Beyond this contract, Kinshasa clearly comes to find support.
After the bilateral meeting earlier with President Xi Jinping, Felix Tshisekedi will go tomorrow to Norinco, an arms dealer, then to Huawei in Shenzen on Sunday before leaving Hong Kong at the end of this State visit.
mediacongo
During these four days of visit, the first in Beijing for Félix Tshsiekedi since the beginning of his mandate in 2019, Kinshasa's objective is to put back on track the Sino-Congolese relationship blunted by the "contract of the century" passed he 15 years ago under the Kabila era.
A "mines against infrastructure" contract that turned into a fiasco.
The DRC and the Congolese are the big losers of this contract considered leonine and that the number one Congolese will try to renegotiate from this Friday.
It is first of all the story of a mega-contract by Sicomines, Sino-Congolaise des Mines, a joint venture set up in the former Katanga with the Congolese public company, Gécamines and the GEC, the Group of Chinese companies.
The former Kabila presidency was its architect. Cobalt and copper mines against roads, railroads, etc.
That was on paper, because in reality: the contract of the century was rather the heist of the century, according to Jean-Pierre Okenda, director of extractive industries at Resource Matters: "It's the scam of the century.
For what ?
Basically, China agrees to make available a line of credit: 6 billion US dollars.
It was reduced by half after the intervention of the IMF which was afraid of a debt, that the project was not sustainable.
And so there was this money.
And on the other hand, China needed access to minerals, and so the DRC said it had very large reserves: at the time, Gécamines estimated the reserves at 10 million tons of copper, 600,000 tons of cobalt.
That's what that deal looked like.
A deal that remained a dead letter or almost
Roads, Kakobola and Katende hydroelectric dams, thousands of social housing units, 145 health centers...
All these projects had to be done.
But fifteen years later, the amount actually invested by the Chinese side has remained minimal, according to Jean-Pierre Okenda: "We are in 2023 and we realize today that China has only spent 30%, or 822 millions of dollars in infrastructure.
This figure is given by an official Congolese report.
The General Inspectorate of Finance released a damning report: "squandering", "selling off", "economic colonialism".
The IGF estimates that for Sicomines, the Katangese mines have been a cash machine: 10 billion dollars.
The Congolese president goes on the offensive with Beijing
A task force within the framework of an ad hoc commission made up of ministers, the presidential cabinet and members of civil society resulted a week ago in a document that we were able to consult.
It was designed as a basis for negotiations with Beijing.
First lesson: Kinshasa wants to reverse the shareholder balance of power within Sicomines and go from 32% currently held by Gécamines to 70% for the public company and the Congolese authorities
It is the key idea of renegotiation that seems to be in view during this state visit.
Even if sources contacted by RFI within the delegation present in Beijing affirm that it is rather necessary to rebuild the Sino-Congolese relationship.
The pressure is immense on the Congolese authorities.
The Congolese company which has been denouncing this Chinese contract for more than ten years, the Westerners, the Americans and the Europeans or even the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (Itie) everyone is pushing for Kinshasa to remain within this framework of negotiations.
Welcoming the government's initiative to want to renegotiate, it is also really essential to put in place guarantees to ensure that in the end these negotiations are beneficial to Congo and to the state-owned company", indicates Jean-Pierre Okenda
Towards compensation?
The DRC could claim 2.2 billion dollars as required in this negotiation document.
Still, for another Congolese civil society actor, Jean-Claude Mputu of Congo Not for Sale, the timing is far from trivial: "The strongest weapon of Congolese power is its mineral wealth , in particular strategic minerals for the energy transition.
So all the means are good to use it, for electoral reasons [...] because we realize that the West is very observant on the elections, we should perhaps avoid putting too much pressure on China, and at least have an ally for the last few months.
Beyond this contract, Kinshasa clearly comes to find support.
After the bilateral meeting earlier with President Xi Jinping, Felix Tshisekedi will go tomorrow to Norinco, an arms dealer, then to Huawei in Shenzen on Sunday before leaving Hong Kong at the end of this State visit.
mediacongo
