Browsing: 2023 DRC elections

• For a country so crucial to the global energy transition, the world awaits DR Congo’s political transition.
• Congo’s political transition will be a massive factor in the significance of its massive natural resources in global energy transition needs.
• President Felix Tshisekedi, seeking a fresh mandate from the people, refers to Congo as the ‘solution country’ for the global climate crisis.

The Democratic Republic of Congo goes to the polls today to elect a president whose role will be vital in the global fight against climate change over the next five years. The Central African nation’s minerals, forests, and rivers are crucial to the future of green transition globally. Congo’s political transition will be a massive factor in the significance of these resources in global energy needs.

President Felix Tshisekedi, seeking a fresh mandate from the people, refers to Congo as the ‘solution country’ for the global climate crisis. However, he …

• DRC President Tshisekedi pledges peaceful elections on 20 December 2023.
• DRC is enjoying five years of steady economic development under President Felix Tshisekedi 
• The country is well underway to becoming Africa’s top investment destination.

Since the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Felix Tshisekedi came into power in 2018, he has spearheaded the revamping of the mineral-rich country’s economy.

The numbers tell it all. The DRC GDP in 2018 was $47.57 billion before rising to $51.78 billion in 2019. As of last year, it clocked an impressive $58.07 billion. Had it not been for the economic rout brought by Covid-19, the DRC’s GDP would have been considerably higher.

Today, the DRC is well on its way to attaining its rightful status as a key investment destination in Africa. How did DRC President Tshisekedi manage to drive this economic revolution?

DRC role in regional integration

In a move that has culminated …

DRC President Félix Tshisekedi has announced the signing of a mining deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Many other companies have shied away from the troubled Eastern region. However, the UAE company Primera Group has signed a share deal for export rights of minerals mined in the region.…

• Since President Félix Tshisekedi took power in January 2019, DRC has been pitching and welcoming international and regional investors in Kinshasa. 
• President Tshisekedi has struck mining and agriculture investment agreements with Chinese companies.
• In July, UAE signed a $1.9 billion deal with a state mining firm in the DRC to develop four mines in eastern Congo. South Africa struck electric batteries deal with DRC in July, too.

Across the Democratic Republic of Congo—the second largest country in Africa—the weather is friendly, and the policymakers in Kinshasa have been steadily turning the tide, making DRC a hub for investments.

A stroll down the streets of Kinshasa, a city of over 13 million bustling with activity, heavy clouds are keeping the glare of the tropical sun at bay. The capital’s streets are busy and crowded. The traffic is congested and millions rub shoulders on the sidewalks. To my utter shock, in Kinshasa, …

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) under President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi has adopted a comprehensive strategy to fast-track economic development and attract investment to the country. Thus, through its Ministry of Planning, the government has established the National Agency for the Promotion of Investments, more commonly known by the acronym ANAPI.…

• DRC, through its investment portal ANAPI reassures investors
• Rwanda slams US statement saying it undermines regional peace process
• EAC Heads of State order immediate cease fire in Rwanda-DRC conflict

Rwanda should stop supporting the rebel group and withdraw its soldiers from the DRC, the US State Department has said in an official statement.

This US call for Rwanda to ‘cease and desist’ aiding rebel groups and to also recall its troops from the DRC is the latest effort by the international community to intervene in the protracted dispute between the two countries.

The US says Rwanda’s alleged aid to rebel factions in the DRC is undermining the regional peace process.

The statement comes only days after the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State met in the Burundi capital of Bujumbura. The meeting was an Extra-Ordinary Summit held to evaluate the “Security Situation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo …

Elon Musk applied for licensing to provide Tanzania with satellite Internet services; that was last year. This year, the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA), has said, Musk’s Starlink, the company that provides the satellite internet services, needs only to complete the required procedure to set up shop in the country.

This response by Tanzania to Elon Musk’s application has stirred up controversy on Twitter with executives from both sides raising allegations and counter-allegations.

On Elon Musk’s side, you have allegations of foul play by existing telecom giants in Tanzania lobbying to keep his Starlink from entering the market.

Also Read: Nickel: Africa’s new opportunity as Russia-Ukraine crisis rages on

On Tanzania’s side, you have authorities playing it safe with a clean-cut statement saying Elon Musk’s Starlink needs only to comply with the country’s regulation requirements, otherwise, Starlink is more than welcome to enter the market.

If the Twitter exchange is …

Tanzanite is a precious stone said to be a thousand times rare than the rarest diamond. True to that claim, the tanzanite gemstone is mined in only one location in the world; a small area in Simanjiro District in Tanzania.

Given the scarcity of tanzanite you would expect that the single mining country, Tanzania would be stock rich, or at least earn the lion’s share of what the gem is valued.

This is not the case. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Tanzanite trade globally earns USD 500 million a year, but Tanzania’s export revenues are a paltry USD 20.75 million, or equivalent to 4.15 percent of the global export value!

Also Read: Tanzania: Small scale miners double in a year

The overwhelming question is why and more importantly how can the situation be resolved? how can Tanzania increase its earnings from its monopoly mining of tanzanite?

The …

As of 8^th April, 2022, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) officially joined the East African Community (EAC) opening a slew of opportunities for both sides.

The Treaty of Accession was inked in Nairobi, Kenya overseeing by the then EAC Chairperson former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta alongside several other Heads of State of the EAC and of course the President of DRC, H.E. Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo.

• The East African Community has agreed to speed up Congo-Kinshasa’s ascension into the bloc
• DR Congo will open a new 90 million strong market to the EAC
• With input from the DR Congo, the East African Community will form a new mechanism to handle natural resource management

With the ascension, the DR Congo has up to the end of this month (29^th September, 2022) to complete its internal constitutional processes to ratify the Treaty and submit to the EAC Secretary General. …

• The DRC is facing one of the deadliest and longest-running civil war crises
• The precariousness of the 2023 elections heightens uncertainty in the Democratic Republic of Congo
• The DRC has over eighty million hectares of arable land and nearly four million hectares of irrigated land
• The country has less than 600 millionaires, most of which have made their wealth by mining natural resources and raw materials

The population in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will see another year of high expectations and broken promises.

The DRC is facing one of the deadliest and longest-running civil war crises. The wars have been mainly built on land, resources, and power, significantly affecting the country’s economic status. DRC is the country that has the most displaced people totalling more than 5.5 million people.

According to the World Bank, DRC ranks the 11th poorest nation with a GNI per capita of $550 in …