Post #282

Congolese Minister Teases the US 🌐 The DRC’s Minister of Mines reminded that the country’s copper industry is owned by Chinese money — and hinted that the country is open to other partners as well. “We can criticize China, we can criticize some bad practices of some Chinese operators — not all of them, there are also very good ones — but let’s not forget that it is China, through its investments, that allows us to hold second place in the world as a copper producer today,” Louis Watum Kabamba said during a press briefing. When it comes to the United States, the DRC government has gone from admiration to resentment within a year. 🔴 Even before Donald Trump came to power, President Félix Tshisekedi spent generously on lobbyists in Washington and tried through every channel to convey to the would-be dealmaker his desire to see the US act as a mediator in the conflict in eastern DRC in exchange for mineral concessions. 🤝 The plan to kill two birds with one stone — to find someone who would put pressure on Rwanda and M23, and to balance China’s economic influence. But American partners never came to save the Congolese economy, and with each passing day Congo looks more and more like a mineral appendage of China. Devils Below