I was stunned by the recent signing of the DRC and Zambia cobalt and copper mines to the USA!!! You heard me right! Last month during the US-Africa summit, the puppets that are the African leaders, leaders of Zambia and DRC, Hakainde Hichilema and Felix Tshisekedi, signed the total surrender of the supply chain and production of cobalt and copper. Hello? Is this 2023 or what? Did Tshisekedi or Hilema ask the people of their countries before signing these treaties? Was this discussed at the parliament? Not that the parliament is any better, but still, is it not my country? We know that these countries are deep in debt (Zambia Sovereign Debt Crisis), but shouldn’t the citizens know that their lives and resources are being signed away to foreigners? Shouldn’t they have a say? As you know, the DRC supplies 70% of the world’s cobalt, while Zambia supplies 70% of the world’s copper. In the west we are being told that the future is the electric car, which everyone should embrace with the Teslas and all those car brands, but none of this is possible without the DRC resources. The claim is that the agreement is to manufacture electric batteries near the mines or rather facilitate the development of value chain in electric battery and clean energy… but in a place where there are no roads, how much of it will be done on the ground? How much of it is real? It’s like the signing of the trade agreements between the EU and Africa in recent years, where the idea on ‘paper’ was the opening of African markets to Europe and vice versa, but instead the reality is that Africa is submerged with uncontrolled European products, and the local farmers/industries suffer, while there is no real export of African products to Europe.
The worst part is that these big multinationals will make billions, but will not even build roads in these countries, not even a single road or hospital! In some countries, when the locals asked for roads or hospitals (Niger, Guinea, etc) they were beaten up, imprisoned, killed, and more. When one learns about the 999-year lease in Kenya (Did You Know about the 999-year Lease granted to Europeans in Kenya ?), one thinks, it happened over a century ago, the locals were illiterate, or not versed in European languages, or in the particular case of the 999-year lease the locals were not even present at the signing table; but today… what is the excuse? Except that maybe we have a lot of traitors, spineless leaders, corrupt leaders, and puppets in our ranks? It is unacceptable!
For the press release of the document, go to the state department website; more articles can be found here, and check out the article by Conor Gallagher via NakedCapitalism on Markets Insider about the race for resources in Congo.
In recent weeks, we have all felt the effects of the war in Ukraine, particularly at the gas pump. Prices keep going up everyday, forcing many to either stop driving, start biking, use public transportation, or switch to electric or hybrid vehicles when possible. The gas prices unfortunately affect almost everything else, such as the cost of food, given that it costs more to transport from the place of production to the stores. Today, we will highlight two African inventors who have been working on energy alternatives for quite a while now, but have now come to the forefront thanks to the crisis in Ukraine.
There has been recent news of European nations turning to Africa to meet their energetic needs because of the sanctions they have placed on Russia, and to reduce their reliance on Russia. Although we should applaud their sudden remembrance of African countries, it is still important to note that they turn to Africa because they can just pay peanuts compared to Russia, and the fact that Africa has so many little-little countries, Europeans can impose their own prize, or threaten them with never-ending debts inherited from colonial times. Thus, the reason they could afford to place Russia under sanctions that have proven in the past to never work.
African Heritage 