Post #133

🇱🇷 Liberia: A US Puppet Once Again? 🌍 Liberia’s President Joseph Boakaihas dismissed Minister of Mines Wilmot Paye, citing “governance efficiency” as the reason. ⏩However, the dismissal appears to have more to do with Liberia’s renewed rapprochement with the United States than with efficiency.⏪ 🔸 Wilmot Paye gained fame for his uncompromising political style - and more recently, for his objections to a deal with the US-based company Ivanhoe Atlantic, which seeks to use Liberia’s rail network to transport ore from Guinea to Atlantic ports. 🔸 The deal, signed in early July, concerns the Yekepa-Buchanan railway (see the map), to which Ivanhoe Atlantic would gain access through ArcelorMittal, the line’s current private operator. Paye has long opposed private control of the railway, calling on the government to take full responsibility for operating it itself. 🔸 Although the dismissal coincides exactly with the parliamentary consideration of this Ivanhoe deal, which began a few days ago, the more plausible trigger of the Paye's removal seems linked to the October 16 meeting between Liberia’s Foreign Minister Nyanti and US' Marco Rubio, devoted to Washington’s interest in Liberia’s critical minerals sector. Clearly, Boakai is restructuring his administration to make it more welcoming to US investors. The question remains, however: with the pro-transparency minister now gone - will the promised investors actually come? Devils Below