Vol 2 (AAC) No 4 | CONGO-KINSHASACHINA Twixt Beijing and the IMF 20th February 2009 China's investment and production plans face a crisis as Kinshasa's foreign reserves nosedive Falling demand for copper, cobalt and diamonds offers a stark choice for President Joseph Kabila's government: does it accept the onerous conditions of credits from the Interna...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 4 | CONGO-KINSHASACHINA Vultures over Kinshasa 20th February 2009 Chinese money is now a key target for United States' FG Hemisphere Associates LLC, which wants to reclaim a debt of US$104 million owed by Congo-Kinshasa. FG Hemisphere is widely...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 2 | CONGO-KINSHASACHINA Nkunda's anti-Beijing card 18th December 2008 Congo's rebel General Laurent Nkunda demands that the Kinshasa government cancels all China contracts China’s billion dollar contracts in Congo are at the centre of a new propaganda front in rebel General Laurent Nkunda’s war against President Joseph Kabila’s government in Kinshasa...
Vol 2 (AAC) No 1 | CONGO-KINSHASACHINA Washington wants the details 27th November 2008 The International Monetary Fund has given Kinshasa a stark choice: the Bretton Woods financial institutions or the Chinese. The International Monetary Fund has given Kinshasa a stark choice: the Bretton Woods financial institutions or the Chinese. On a visit in September, an IMF delegation led by Africa...
Vol 49 No 25 | CONGO-KINSHASA Nkunda wants the whole deal 12th December 2008 The government cannot afford another war – and probably could not win it, so it must talk to its nemesis No one in the Kinshasa government wanted to talk to the rebel General Laurent Nkunda. So the talks which began in Nairobi on 8 December were a big political risk, especially for Pr...
Vol 49 No 24 | CONGO-KINSHASA Mining downturn 28th November 2008 Low demand for minerals, especially from China, depresses mines and the whole economy The world’s financial crisis threatens the mining deals that were meant to finance Congo-Kinshasa’s post-war recovery. The big mining companies are finding it hard to raise funds a...
Vol 49 No 23 | CONGO-KINSHASAANALYSIS The man who says no 14th November 2008 Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda likes to compare his relentless campaign against the Kinshasa government with the military resistance of General Charles de Gaulle, 'the man who said no'. Taking the parallels further, Nkunda has announced the formation of a provisional government in eastern Congo and threatens to march on the Kabila government. Without substantial back-up for the UN peacekeepers and a turnaround by the government forces, Nkunda's wild ambitions will face few obstacles. The strategic blunders of both the Kinshasa government and the Kivu rebels leave Congo's government facing military defeat, the rebels facing political isolation and the people of ...
Vol 49 No 23 | CONGO-KINSHASA How smuggling pays for killing 14th November 2008 Most of the Kivu belligerents profit, one way or another, from the two provinces' precious reserves of gold, cassiterite and colombo-tantalite (coltan). Gold and coffee smuggling h...
Vol 49 No 22 | CONGO-KINSHASA Facing Nkunda 31st October 2008 Foreign Ministers Bernard Kouchner of France and Karel de Gucht of Belgium want the European Union to send forces to take on General Laurent Nkunda and his rebel Congrès National p...
Vol 49 No 22 | UGANDACONGO-KINSHASA Kony's new front 31st October 2008 As the crisis around Goma intensifies, conditions further north are deteriorating, opening up the possibility of more regional intervention. In the mineral-rich Orientale, Ugandan...
