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Mines, Money, and the Problem of State-Building in Congo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

William S.K. Reno
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Extract

“They call it a country. In fact it is just a Zaire-shaped hole in the middle of Africa,” wrote The Economist in 1995. Well before then, Erwin Blumenthal, who visited Zaire on behalf of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to assess prospects for reform, warned that, despite promises from President Mobutu (1965-97) that loans would be repaid, “there is no—I repeat no—chance on the horizon that Zaire’s many creditors will recover their money.’ Meanwhile, Mobutu did not use loans to build state bureaucracies or provide services; he actively discouraged them. Even by official accounts, the modest spending of 10 percent of Zaire’s budget on education and health services in 1982 fell to zero a decade later.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , 1998 , pp. 14 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1998 

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References

Notes

1. “A Hole in the Map of Africa,” The Economist, July 8, 1995,37.

2. Blumenthal, Erwin, “Zaire: rapport sur sa crédibilité financière internationale,” La revue nouvelle 76, no. 11 (Nov. 1982): 377 Google Scholar.

3. Zaire, Banque du, Rapport Annuel (Kinshasa: Banque du Zaire, 1992), 14 Google Scholar.

4. Lemarchand, René, “The Political Economy in Rural Zaire,” in Zaire: The Political Economy of Underdevel-opment, ed. Gran, Guy (New York: Praeger, 1979), 248 Google Scholar.

5. “Zaire: AAC to Call the Shots,” Africa Energy & Mining, May 24, 1995; Mulumba, Kin-Kiey, “Rebondissement dans l’affaire des privatisations,” Le Soft (Kinshasa), July 28, 1995 Google Scholar.

6. Holman, Michael, “Congo Talks Wrangle on Debt Arrears,” Financial Times, Dec. 4, 1997, 3 Google Scholar.

7. Remarks of Susan Rice, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Washington, D.C., Jan. 28, 1998.

8. McGreal, Chris, “DeBeers in Secret Deal with Rebels,” Mail and Guardian (Johannesburg), April 18, 1997 Google Scholar; “Zaire: Business at War,” Africa Confidential 38, no. 9 (1997), 1-3.

9. “Pressure on Tenke Mining,” Africa Energy & Mining, Jan. 14, 1998.

10. “Africa Resurgence,” supplement to Mining Journal, Feb. 6, 1998.

11. McGreal, Chris, “Cashing in on Congo,” Mail & Guardian, Feb 13., 1998 Google Scholar.

12. Reno, William S.K., Warlord Politics and African States (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998), 84-91CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13. “Congo-Kinshasa: Under World Bank’s Watchful Eye,” Africa Energy & Mining, Dec. 10, 1997.

14. “Prepared Testimony of Ambassador Bill Richardson,” presented to the House International Relations Committee of the U.S. Congress, Nov. 5, 1997.