Devils Below

Didn’t Take Long ✍️ After the sealing of the agreement effectively selling the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Trump granting the US preferential access to DRC resources, concrete mechanisms of the American expansion have begun to unfold. 🇺🇸 With private investors showing little initiative, the main role will fall to the US Development Finance Corporation (USDFC) — a government agency holding a mandate from Trump to advance American economic interests abroad. ⏩ The day after the Washington agreements were signed the corporation rushed to announce its interest in two projects. 🔸 The first is a joint venture between the Swiss resource trader Mercuria and Congo’s state-owned Gécamines, through which Gécamines will sell the minerals it receives from its minority stakes in active mining projects. 🔸The second is the infamous Lobito Corridor, where the USDFC wants to bring in the Portuguese construction firm Mota-Engil — one of the owners of the Angolan section of the corridor— to build another stretch inside the DRC. Here, the Americans even named the concrete amount they are ready to chip in: USD 1 billion. 📦Logistics is thus becoming the primary focal point of the US economic engagement in Central Africa — which is natural, as it entails less risks than serious mining ventures. What can this say? The entire situation shows that theaspiringNobel Prize winner has at last decided to go beyond loud statements and start some pushing real projects. Devils Below

I Brought You Whiskey and Drugs, My Friends 🇬🇧 On Thursday, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivered a truly legendary speech at an economic conference in Imo State, Nigeria (see above). ⚡️Clearly in an overstimulated state, the former PM did nothing to restrain himself and openly explained to Nigerians how their country looks from the lofty heights of Big Ben. ⏩ First of all, Johnson was, of course, delighted that Nigeria does not behave like the surrounding former French colonies — where the French are no longer welcome: “I will say nothing of those former colonies of France, but it’s wonderful; it’s absolutely wonderful that here in Nigeria, we are united, we have this huge blessing.” ⏩ He then offered a brief lesson on how neocolonial practices work, describing — in his trademark style — the trade and economic inequality between Nigeria and its former metropole. Nigeria, he said, sends to the distant islands itsoil and its brains, while Britain offers to Nigeria financial and other services and, suddenly, whiskey: “I’m very proud of what we export to Nigeria. We send you pharmaceuticals, bankers, services of all kinds and huge quantities of whiskey… And in return, you send us oil, gas, Nollywood movies, brilliant doctors, nurses, tech geniuses. We are very, very grateful.” 🔸 There is nothing truly revelatory here — but it is still amusing to see a discarded politician speak without autocue and simply blurt out everything he really thinks. I wonder how much whiskey he personally exported to Nigeria that day. 🤔 Devils Below

🇹🇩Chad: The West Returns Western companies are once again engaging in Chad’s oil sector — and for now, with relative success 🛢 The Franco-British company Perenco has almost doubled its crude oil production in Chad, having reached 18,000 barrels per day. 📏 While this result would barely register in neighboring countries — in Cameroon or Nigeria it would be dismissed as a statistical error — for Chad it amounts to more than 10% of total national oil output. ➡️ This is a major shift in the oil industry of Chad, which is currently dominated by China’s CNPC. ➡️ For years, Chadian authorities hounded foreign companies, though the goal was more about securing kickbacks than about any real local development. In 2023 the government nationalized what remained of the Western majors’ footprint by taking over Savannah Energy’s assets. Leaving CNPC effectively the only serious player. This is unlikely to have any impact on the general well-being of the Chadian population, but probably we may soon witness at least some competition between one of the richest companies in the world and a smaller but ambitious Franco-British venture for Chad’s resources. Devils Below

A Corridor or a Berlin Wall? [ Cost of Greed ] How the US-backed Lobito Corridor will affect local lives — a report from the ground 🛤 In 2026, the Africa Finance Corporation plans to begin implementing parts of the Lobito Rail Corridor project — a US-backed initiative aimed at easing resource exports from the DRC and Zambia to ports on the Atlantic Ocean. Against this backdrop, the international NGO Global Witnesshas released a report focusing on the forced eviction of local residents whose homes stand in the way of trains. 🚩 In the DRC, researchers estimated that between 3,500 and 6,500 people could be affected by the reconstruction and expansion of a colonial-era railway from Kolwezi to Dilolo built in the 1930s and abandoned in the 1970s. Residents have already experienced first heavy copper trains passing through their backyards. 📃 Local officials orchestrating the relocation of people often resort to the argument that “they are living there illegally,” thereby dodging any compensation for displacement. 📌 Indeed, local residents have very few ways to prove their land ownership rights, especially since many houses were built chaotically and informally or on the basis of documents issued unlawfully. In one case, even DRC’s national railway operatorSNCC itself in a very feudal manner used to pay its workers in land near the railways. While some locals do hope for new investments in the communities along the railway following the projected revitalization of the road, there are serious concerns that the investments won't go beyond fences separating residents from the tracks. #CostOfGreed Devils Below

🇳🇬 Nigeria’s Old Friends Nigerian tycoons, the Chagoury brothers, have been doing business in the country longer than its modern political system has existed. And they have always managed to keep up with the times — constantly gathering new assets under their belt, now including lithium. 🧑‍⚖️ The UK-based company Jupiter Lithium has filed a lawsuit against the Nigerian government, claiming its rights to develop lithium in Kaduna State were violated. Reportedly, part of its assets was revoked over the summer and effectively transferred to another company — Atlantic Mining Technologies. 💰 Atlantic Mining Techniques is a Nigerian firm backed by local tycoons Gilbert and Ronald Chagoury, along with Australian investors. 🤝 The British, who had already invested millions of dollars in exploration and project development, seemingly have just goofed. The Chagoury brothers consistently secure the juiciest multi-billion-dollar concessions in Nigeria and maintain a close friendship with President Tinubu — whose son Seyi Tinubu allegedly holds stakes in some of their ventures. 💪 The Nigerian Govt has thus mounted a brave defense against Western companies grabbing local resources —only to promote the interests of elites with Nigerian citizenship (and, admittedly, also Lebanese citizenship and who knows what else). Most likely, the small and not particularly wealthy Jupiter Lithium will eventually leave Nigeria empty-handed — a more important partner has appeared. Devils Below

Chains — But in Exchange for What? Trump gathered an entire assembly of African leaders to sign agreements on peace in eastern DRC and the Great Lakes region — but in the end, Congo's Tshisekedisimply sold him thecountry 🇨🇩 On 4 December, the leaders of the DRC and Rwanda, as well as Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Angola and Togo, met in Washington to sign the “Washington Accords” — a package of agreements supposedly aimed at establishing peace in the Eastern DRC. However, it seems the only outcome of these accords will be unrestrained exploitation of the DRC by the US. 📄 The main terms under which Félix Tshisekedi effectively sold his country are laid out in the US–DRC Strategic Partnership Agreement. According to it: ⏩ The DRC will create a Strategic Asset Reserve (SAR) — a special fund for resource assets managed by a joint commission of 5 members from Washington and 5 from Kinshasa (Article 4). ⏩ The fund will include a list of projects involving critical minerals and gold reserved for American investors. The DRC is obliged (Art. 4, para. 3) to constantly update the fund adding new assets. ⏩ The US investors enjoy the Droit du seigneur - that is the right of first refusal on resource shipments from SAR projects, as well as preferential rights to participate in those projects (Arts. 6–7). 🔸 Beyond the SAR, theDRC is obliged to export a fixed share of its resources via the US-backed Lobito Corridor (Art. 9). 🔸 Finally, there will be another structure — a Strategic Minerals Reserve, essentially a warehouse which is to be replenished by the Congolese state-owned companies (like Gecamines) and from which the US may withdraw critical minerals at its discretion in the event of a future confrontation with China (Art. 11). ❓ It is unclear what Congo gets in return. It is highly doubtful that the United States — having already secured such an agreement — will want or be able to force insurgents in eastern Congo to pack their bags and disappear. 🇨🇳 The only smidgen of “benefit” for the DRC in these slave-like terms is that the country’s existing exploitation by China will now be counterbalanced by a second (potential) exploitation by Washington. Bravo, Félix! An exemplary colonial partition. Devils Below

Oblivion in Congo 🛸In the not-so-famous 2013 Tom Cruise film Oblivion, aliens send huge flying machines to Earth that remotely harvest water and transfer it up to an orbital reservoir 🇨🇬 Why mention this? Because in Congo, Italian Eni has just put into operation a massive floating gas-processing ship designed to send gas straight to Europe. 📐The vessel the Italians dragged to the Congolese coast is 60 metres wide and 376 metres long. It was built in China beginning in 2023. 🏗Constructing a classic onshore LNG terminal in Congo would have required multibillion-dollar port works, new high-capacity pipelines, and the construction of the plant itself — something Eni clearly did not want to pay for. 👐 The result is very convenient: Congo’s role and the role of its population are reduced to a minimum, the gas flows to Europe, and the government receives whatever “change” falls out of the deals. Devils Below

It'sNot the Black Pearl, Again… 🏴‍☠️ Fifty nautical miles off Equatorial Guinea, a routine gas shipment turned into an action thriller complete with a ship hijacking and a kidnapped crew 🌐 On December 3, armed pirates boarded the CGAS Saturn, a liquefied gas carrier en route from Gabon to Equatorial Guinea, seized 9 crew members, and vanished without a trace. 🌼 The pirates showed remarkable prudence — and environmental awareness — by leaving 4 people on board, apparently to maintain minimal control of the vessel. 🧭 There are enough pirates in the Gulf of Guinea to gather a full-fledged criminal navy.The Institute for Security Studies has even identified one group of 270 fighters under the unified command of a figure known as a "Border King". Such pirates mostly hide in the Niger Delta and along the Nigeria–Cameroon border. ⏩The fate of the gas carrier hijackers remains unknown. If they are not eaten by the Kraken, they will soon make a public demand for ransom. The reason this ship became a target, however, is entirely clear: since there are no pipelines or rail links between Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, the two countries can trade — including in gas — only by sea. Devils Below

👋 China. Go Out. How China’s policy of encouraging overseas investment created lunar landscapes across Africa 🌍 In the 1990s, China launched its “Go Out” policy, encouraging state-owned and private entities to expand abroad in search of resources and investment opportunities. One of the main drivers was the need to secure mineral supplies at low prices to sustain a slowing domestic economy. “We need to implement a ‘going outside’ strategy, encouraging enterprises with comparative advantages to make investments abroad, to establish processing operations, to exploit foreign resources with local partners, to contract for international engineering projects, and to increase the export of labor.” — Zhu Rongji, Premier of the State Council Report to the National People’s Congress, 2001 👥 Alongside state companies, thousands of ordinary fortune-seekers from also headed overseas, emboldened by the prospect of “quick enrichment” amid rising gold prices. 🌍 The influx of Chinese enthusiasts was most visible in West Africa, especially Ghana. Estimates suggest that between 2008 and 2013, more than 50,000 Chinese nationals entered the country to participate in illegal gold mining. ⚙️ But Chinese diggers were notable not only for their numbers. The “Go Out” policy allowed them to bring in heavy machinery on a massive scale — something previously unseen in illegal gold mining. ⏩ The scheme was simple: 🔸A major Chinese investor arrives in Country X with heavy equipment backed by the Chinese government and its loans under the "Going Out" policy 🔸Part of that equipment is then written off and quietly sold to illegal groups 🔸Those groups use it to level forests and dig enormous pits nearby. 🏁 As a result, local artisanal miners are either pushed out or join the Chinese operations, and the soil is left contaminated with mercury and lead all across the continent. #PolicyReview Devils Below

🤖Now It’s Safe for Sure An unusual cutting-edge solution has been introducedto protect pipelines in the Niger Delta 🌐 Pipeline Infrastructure Nigeria Limited, the company responsible for monitoring Nigeria’s Trans Niger Pipeline, has decided to hire town criers. 🙂 The idea is that the criers will (no doubt sincerely) sell the pipeline to people in 215 communities across Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo, and Abia States — and keep watch over local sentiment toward the project. ➡️ Thus, instead of addressing the source of popular discontent — endless oil spills and resource exploitation — the pipeline beneficiaries opted for primitive propaganda. In any case, talking to people and engaging in dialogue is always better than cleansing activists. Devils Below

Côte d’Ivoire’s Hazardous Flying Dutchman [Cost of Greed] Twenty years ago, off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire, an event occurred in which no one drowned — yet it could easily overshadow the tragic sinking of the Titanic. In 2006, a multinational company called Trafigura faced an unusual problem: it had purchased an extremely sulphurous but cheap petroleum product known as coker gasoline, which needed to be somehow refined into regular fuel. ⏩ The goal was not only to refine the hazardous substance, but also to save as much as possible alongthe way.⏪ ⚓️Instead of hiring a proper refinery, Trafigura decided to process the toxic feedstock at sea — on an old ship called Probo Koala, using an outdated method known as "caustic washing", in which coker gasoline is treated with caustic soda. ☣️ The scheme worked, and the company sold the resulting fuel for $19 million — but what remained on board was toxic waste. 💵 And once again money was accorded priority: Trafigura rejected an offer to treat the waste in the Netherlands for $620,000, and the Probo Koala began wandering along the coast of West Africa in search of anyone willing to rid it of its poisonous burden. ⚠️ Eventually the company hired shady contractors in Abidjan for miserable $17,000. Upon arrival, after the ship unloaded the waste, the material was allegedly spread by subcontractors across the city and its surroundings, dumped in waste grounds, public landfills, and along roads in populated areas. In the weeks that followed, the BBC reported that 17 people died , 23 were hospitalized , and another 40,000 sought medical treatment . 🤝 For fear of prosecution, Trafigura agreed in 2007 to pay the Ivorian government around $200 million — for an indulgence that granted the company sweeping immunity from prosecution. Hazardous waste still lie in the soil underneath Abidjan. #CostOfGreed Devils Below

A New Minister in Namibia 📰Namibia has appointed a journalist as its new Minister of Industry and Mines. 🌐 The President of Namibia has nominated Modestus Amutse — a former journalist, deputy minister of information, and chair of the parliamentary committee on legal and constitutional affairs — as the country’s new Minister of Industry, Energy and Mines. Namibia is a major producer of uranium and diamonds, and has discovered large offshore oil reserves in the Orange Basin. Its first crude production may begin around 2030. 🚩 The ministerial seat Amutse has received is highly influential but also volatile — the president frequently reshuffles industrialisation ministers, and for a brief period in October she even held the portfolio herself. ⏩ Amutse’s appointment may reflect a desire to install someone from outside the entrenched industrial and mining networks, someone who would be less tied to existing elites and more directly accountable to the president. 🔸Alternatively, his background in PR and IT may have been decisive factor - instrumental in terms of establishing new communication patterns and maintaining stronger informational oversight over miners. Devils Below