Post #194

🇪🇹White Trojan Horse in Ethiopia's Room In 2018 Western media reported an alleged Chinese espionage against the African Union, after the Chinese helped build its headquarters in Addis Ababa in 2009-2012. Whether the Chinese have been getting intelligence or not, we know for sure that they have been getting gold. 🌐 In northern Ethiopia, a war-torn province of Tigray has turned into a multi-billion dollar illegal gold field where Chinese-linked money, foreign companies and local generals quietly strip the ground while nearby villages drink poisoned water. 🔸 A recent report shows how two of the region's richest gold deposits, Mato Bula and Da Tambuk, belonging to a Canadian company East Africa Metals (EAM), have for more than a year been secretly exploited by East Africa Metals’ Chinese partner Tibet Huayu. 🔸 Although the Canadian license holders have not declared any significant production from the two mines, investigators spotted heavy machinery and Chinese miners at the sites. 🔸 A key figure in the Chinese exploitation network, Jingbin Wang, chairs East Africa Metals and also holds senior roles in Chinese mining firms and state-linked mineral agencies. Acting as a focal point of the whole scheme, he ensured that the Canadian company received anonymous payments as a reward for covering illegal mining. ⏩ Now the Tigray administration decided to seize the gold revenue itself, having pushed to revoke dozens of mining licenses and take control of deposits, formally in the name of order and legality. 🔸 In practice, local officials, businessmen and security chiefs are vying to replace the figures at the top of the same gold flows. Meanwhile villagers live beside rivers laced with cyanide and mercury and see little beyond temporary wages and sick children. Devils BelowChina presents itself as Africa’s partner in development and unity - at the same time, Chinese state-linked companies and investors thrive on the illicit gold rush in Tigray, creating a system that corrodes Ethiopian institutions and corrupts its army. Devils Below