Post #311

Not by US Alone In the push to facilitate access to Africa’s Copperbelt, the US is not alone — other interested parties include South Africa 🌐 South African group Yellowstone has signed a long-term concession with the DRC worth $600 million to expand the Kasumbalesa border checkpoint between the DRC and Zambia. 🔸 This is an example of how extractive approach often masquerades as the noble cause of intra-African trade promotion. ⏩ Officers of Yellowstone speak about facilitating trade between neighbors, although in reality the project simply ensures that trucks carrying copper from the landlocked states of Central Africa reach seaports a bit faster. 🔸 Kasumbalesa is essentially a border truck camp from which minerals from the Copperbelt disperse toward seven different ports, including Durban, Beira, Nacala, Dar es Salaam, Walvis Bay, Lobito, and Luanda. 🇿🇦 South Africa, while not the primary beneficiary of this trade, is certainly a significant one. Its ports are heavily loaded with endless flows of resources from the Copperbelt, and in turn it sends heavy machinery and mining supplies — either imported from abroad or manufactured in South Africa itself. Devils Below