(...)
With luck, the case will have cost Hemisphere so much that we won't hear from it again. But for the people of Congo, it's not the end of the story. Few of them will know much about the case. Indeed, it raises the question of why wealth derived from mining in the DRC was being fought over in faraway Jersey in the first place.
The DRC has vast mineral wealth including diamonds, copper, oil and gas; one estimate puts the value of these resources at $24 trillion. However, it is pretty much the poorest country in the world. The reason is centuries of plunder, at its worst involving the buying, selling and brutalisation of millions of people. But plunder today continues in different guises – through odious debt and tax avoidance.
The debt bought up by FG Hemisphere was part of a vast pile that fuelled the rule of Mobutu, who pillaged his country for more than 30 years. Mobutu's lenders knew he was as corrupt as hell; a report by an IMF mission in 1982 reported there was "no, I repeat no, chance on the horizon for Zaire's [DRC's] numerous creditors to get their money back". But lending continued to rise sharply. Mobutu was, on balance, doing what his paymasters wanted. Full story...
Related posts:
With luck, the case will have cost Hemisphere so much that we won't hear from it again. But for the people of Congo, it's not the end of the story. Few of them will know much about the case. Indeed, it raises the question of why wealth derived from mining in the DRC was being fought over in faraway Jersey in the first place.
The DRC has vast mineral wealth including diamonds, copper, oil and gas; one estimate puts the value of these resources at $24 trillion. However, it is pretty much the poorest country in the world. The reason is centuries of plunder, at its worst involving the buying, selling and brutalisation of millions of people. But plunder today continues in different guises – through odious debt and tax avoidance.
The debt bought up by FG Hemisphere was part of a vast pile that fuelled the rule of Mobutu, who pillaged his country for more than 30 years. Mobutu's lenders knew he was as corrupt as hell; a report by an IMF mission in 1982 reported there was "no, I repeat no, chance on the horizon for Zaire's [DRC's] numerous creditors to get their money back". But lending continued to rise sharply. Mobutu was, on balance, doing what his paymasters wanted. Full story...
Related posts:
- The world's super rich hiding up to $32 trillion offshore...
- Robert Mugabe's $1million birthday bash as Zimbabwe starves...
- African dictator's son orders £236 million luxury super yacht...
- African labour and the Chinese dragon...
- Grabbing land in Africa and trying to justify it...
- Squeezing Africa dry: behind every land grab is a water grab...
No comments:
Post a Comment