Democratic Republic of Congo |

State Funds Seen at Risk in Congo Presidential Vote Campaign

KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Democratic Republic of Congo presidential-hopeful Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary’s appointments to his campaign-finance team raises the risk state funds will be used to finance his election bid, two anti-graft groups said. Shadary, the ruling-coalition candidate chosen by President Joseph Kabila to succeed him, is seeking to become the leader of the world’s biggest cobalt producer in a vote scheduled for Dec. 23. The 57-year-old former interior minister has been sanctioned by the European…

Former Exxon Manager Leads Congo Opposition Presidency Bid

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s main opposition leaders chose Martin Fayulu as their candidate for next month’s presidential election. The opposition had been expected to select from two better-known politicians: Felix Tshisekedi, head of the biggest opposition party, or Vital Kamerhe, who finished third in the last vote in 2011. Fayulu will face President Joseph Kabila’s anointed successor, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary, in the Dec. 23 race to lead the world’s largest cobalt…

Congo Billionaire Seeks French Loan to Develop Iron-Ore Railway

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – Paul Obambi, a billionaire investor in the Congo Republic, is in talks with French lenders to fund a railway he’s building to export iron ore. Obambi’s company SAPRO SA is negotiating with “a consortium of banks” to finance the 450-kilometer (280-mile) track that will link the southwestern town of Mayoko to a port at Pointe Noire, he said in a phone interview from Paris on Tuesday. Construction is expected…

Congo Regulator to Open Up $500 Million Insurance Industry

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KINSHASA (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo’s insurance regulator is preparing to open up an industry for the first time that could be worth as much as $500 million a year to investors. The newly created Insurance Regulatory Authority, known by the French acronym ARCA, received interest from at least 16 companies after requesting letters of intent in June, Managing Director Eric Mboma said, declining to identify individual firms. It will seek…

Congo Nears Eskom Power-Supply Deal to Boost Copper Output

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Democratic Republic of Congo signed a provisional agreement to import power from South Africa that could boost copper production this year by as much as 20 percent, according to the country’s chamber of mines. Congolese state-owned power company SNEL proposed importing 200 megawatts from South African utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. at meetings in Johannesburg on April 20 and April 21, said Ben Munanga, chairman of the energy commission at…

African mining hopes are distant from uncertain reality: Russell

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CAPE TOWN (Capital Markets in Africa) – It should be a match made in heaven. Developing Africa’s vast mineral resources to meet the needs of the resource-hungry economies of China and the rest of Asia. But if there is one message to take away from this week’s Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town, it’s that there remains a large gap between hopes and reality, and that in much of sub-Saharan Africa mining investment remains challenging,…

Violence in Congo as Thousands Urge President to Step Down

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CONGO, Capital Markets in Africa: Protesters clashed with security forces across the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, throwing rocks and burning tires as opposition parties marched to call on President Joseph Kabila to step down. Hundreds of armed police, military and presidential guard took up positions around the city center to prevent the protesters from reaching the government district. Agence France-Presse reported that two police officers were killed in clashes with protesters, citing government spokesman Lambert Mende. The…

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