Cobalt, copper, and other raw materials that China badly needs, in exchange for investments in infrastructure. So much for the original deal. Fifteen years after the signing of the “Contract of the Century” between the DRC and Chinese mining companies, it is clear that the promise has not been kept. And the Congolese, starting with the head of state, Felix Tshisekedi, want to review the terms of the contract.
For his first state visit to China, the successor to Joseph Kabila elected in 2018 therefore set the objective not of signing large contracts but rather that of “reframing relations between the DRC and China so that they are now based on real added value for their respective peoples,” said President Tshisekedi’s Director of Communications, Erik Nyindu, from the outset.
The stakes are enormous. Central Africa’s largest country is a major exporter of copper, uranium and cobalt – a key ingredient in batteries for consumer devices. Its basements are also full of lead, zinc and manganese. It has tin and gold mines, but also coltan (80% of the world’s reserves) and which is used in particular for the manufacture of mobile phones. In summary, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s subsoil is so rich in minerals that the country is often referred to as a “geological scandal”. Because, despite all this wealth, it remains one of the poorest states in the world.
And yet, the DRC has been for more than 50 years, and the Mobutu years, a key partner of China. So much so that Beijing has become, over the years, Kinshasa’s leading trading partner, and Chinese investment in the country has reached 10 billion dollars. And in terms of infrastructure, the Middle Kingdom has indeed built emblematic buildings, such as the People’s Palace, the seat of the Congolese Parliament and Senate, the Martyrs Stadium and, recently, the Friendship Hospital China-DRC.
In 2008, President Joseph Kabila, then in power, wanted to give a boost to this cooperation, by negotiating ever more agreements with China, including a contract called “Mines against infrastructure”. Either the barter of Congolese copper and cobalt – in particular extracted by the Sino-Congolese company Sicomines in Katanga – against the construction of infrastructure for an amount of 9 billion dollars, renegotiated in 2009 to 6 billion under pressure from the International Monetary Fund. Two Chinese companies, Sinohydro and Crec (China Railway Engineering corporation), were to carry out this infrastructure work.
More than ten years later, the account is not there. Came to power in 2019, Felix Tshisekedi has repeatedly criticized this “Sino-Congolese” contract and expressed his intention to renegotiate them. A revision promised on behalf of the Congolese who, he lamented in 2021, “still languish in misery” in a country with immense mineral resources. A study by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) of the DRC had denounced a “significant financial imbalance to the detriment of the DRC [compared to] the advantages granted to the Chinese party” in this contract.
In Beijing for the official visit, Erik Nyindu Kibambe told reporters that the mining renegotiation talks were going “wonderfully”, with the Congolese side hoping for an agreement by the end of this year. He said they aspired to have a state-to-state deal, rather than agreements between the DRC and individual mining companies.
In addition, President Tshisekedi also asked President Xi Jinping that, within the Sino-Congolese company Sicomines, it should no longer be Beijing the majority shareholder but Kinshasa. Although the two leaders announced that they are upgrading “the bilateral relationship from a win-win cooperative strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership”, China also expects additional gestures from Kinshasa regarding the improvement of the business climate in the DRC.
