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DR Congo’s minister of communications mentioned “you can not have a look at Africa with American eyes,” throughout an interview at Semafor’s The Subsequent 3 Billion summit, when questioned about how perceptions of battle within the mineral-rich nation’s east have been impacting funding.
“That’s why Western international locations are shedding area. China is getting extra space. Not as a result of we don’t need to work on democracy, on all these issues, however these can’t be the primary situation,” Patrick Muyaya mentioned.
His feedback got here because the US makes an attempt to dealer peace between DR Congo and neighboring Rwanda. The 2 African international locations signed an settlement in June, however it has didn’t cease combating in japanese DR Congo, the place Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are combating Kinshasa’s forces.
At Semafor’s summit, Muyaya blamed Rwanda for failing to carry up its finish of the deal and for denying its hyperlinks to M23, calling for the US administration to pile extra stress on Kigali.
“We’re very near peace, and we’re very near the conflict on the identical time,” he mentioned, touting the involvement of the US administration as a constructive. “One factor is what they [Rwanda] can say diplomatically, however the scenario on the bottom requires, I feel, extra stress from the American administration.”
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Muyaya additionally spoke in regards to the US-backed multibillion-dollar Lobito Hall venture — which incorporates constructing and revamping railways from Angola’s western Lobito port by way of to important mineral hubs in neighboring Zambia and DR Congo. He referred to as the venture, which can present the US with entry to strategic minerals, a “gamechanger.” The EU in June additionally introduced an funding of virtually $1 billion within the venture.
DR Congo is the world’s largest producer of minerals together with cobalt and coltan — key parts of a variety of merchandise comparable to electrical automobile batteries, cellphones, and laptops.
