🔆Do you remember that movie "Blood Diamond"!!
It looks like latest US Africa summit is going to have some blood spots on its splattered on its altar.
Joe Biden is under fire for green energy agreements with African nations known for ‘child slave labor’
ussanews.com
It looks like latest US Africa summit is going to have some blood spots on its splattered on its altar.
Joe Biden is under fire for green energy agreements with African nations known for ‘child slave labor’
ussanews.com
The Biden administration is taking heat for looking to finance mining projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Zambia despite documented child labor violations in the African nations.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken entered into the agreement, signing a memorandum of understanding with the two nations in an attempt to bolster the global green energy supply chain.
Blinken’s remarks about the importance of cobalt mining come in the face of independent investigations conducted in recent years
by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Amnesty International documenting how many cobalt mines located in the DRC employ child laborers.
DRC has the largest cobalt reserves in the world and mined more than 70% of the global supply of cobalt in 2021, compared to just 0.4% in the U.S., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Let's have a look at mineral wealth of Africa to understand everything about US vs China tango in Africa
Now Let's look at top exports from Africa
Africa had a disproportionate dependence on extractives exports, which was major vulnerability as it exposed the continent to the boom-and-bust cycles associated with commodity prices as well as illicit financial flows.
The illicit financial flows from Africa now hover around US$90 billion annually. Africa’s exports of oil, gas and minerals account for 70 per cent of their exports and 50 per cent of their revenue.
Flows surged from US$ 75 million in 2003 to US$ 4.2 billion in 2020. They peaked in 2008 at US$ 5.5 billion because of the purchase of 20% of the shares in Standard Bank of South Africa by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC).
As shown in the chart below, Chinese FDI flows to Africa have exceeded those from the U.S. since 2013, as U.S. FDI flows have generally been declining since 2010.
The top 5 African destinations of Chinese FDI in 2020 were Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Ethiopia and Nigeria.
For American investment, it is Mauritius, Seychelles, Nigeria, Gabon and Malawi, although the US government has not disclosed FDI flows to nine African countries, including the DRC, to protect commercial data of individual companies.
Mauritius, Seychelles, and Malawi are tax havens, and are likely not the final destination of US flows.
Interestingly enough China holds 135 billion USD of African debt in terms of loans it has extended to African countries through its Road and Belt "Ring of Pearls Policy".
sais-cari.org
sais-cari.org
World Bank research focused on 71 economies geographically located along BRI transport corridors, including China. In 2017, these economies received 35% of global foreign direct investments and accounted for 40% of global merchandise exports.
For the 70 BRI “corridor economies” (excluding China), projects in all sectors that are already executed, in implementation, or planned are estimated to amount to US$575 billion.
This is exactly US is worried about, as it lags behind China in Africa and Asia when it comes to FDI and trade initiatives. China is now increasingly encashing on increasing US disenchantment across the globe due to its self-serving economic policies.
China has unleashed a cultural war like US did in 60s and 70s of cold war, to extend its soft power for trade dominance in Africa and Middle East which were at one time traditional US economic bastions now on lookout for new options.
With India knocking on the doors of BIG5 as emerging superpower in terms of economy and defense power, US is belligerent to re-assert itself, but time is running out too fast for US!!!!
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