(Adnkronos) – Up to 6,500 people risk being displaced in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the Lobito Corridor, the large infrastructure project funded by the United States and the European Union. This is revealed by a new report from Global Witness, cited by The Guardian, which denounces the potential impacts of the plan aimed at modernizing the historic Benguela railway line from the mining city of Kolwezi to the Angolan port of Lobito, building a connection to Zambia, and supporting agricultural and solar initiatives along the route. The intervention is part of the growing global race for the supply of copper, cobalt, and other “critical” minerals, essential for green energy technologies and contested between the West, China, and Gulf countries.
According to the organization, up to 1,200 buildings could be demolished to rehabilitate the railway section between Kolwezi and the Angolan border, many of them in the popular Bel Air neighborhood, where over the years thousands of residents have built homes and businesses along a buffer zone that, according to Global Witness, had rarely been enforced. Congolese authorities consider the inhabitants of the area “illegal,” while local associations recall that for decades no one prevented them from settling. Uncertainty also remains about the actual width of the buffer zone: 10 meters for the Lobito Atlantic Railway consortium, which manages the line; 25 meters according to Congolese officials and union representatives of the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo.
The report on possible displacements comes as US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Paul Kagame and Félix Tshisekedi, at the White House for the signing of the peace agreement inked in June by their respective foreign ministers. Kinshasa assures that the text will be made public and reiterates that the “red lines” of the negotiation remain territorial sovereignty and control over Congolese minerals. Today’s signing comes after weeks of mutual accusations between Kigali and Kinshasa and represents yet another attempt – after the fragile Doha agreements – to defuse a conflict reignited by the advance of the M23 rebel group in the eastern provinces of the country.
