WASHINGTON/KINSHASA, (Reuters) – The World Bank yesterday approved debt relief for the Democratic Republic of Congo without the backing from Canada and Switzerland, who cited governance concerns in the Central African country.
The $8 billion debt relief deal is the largest granted by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund under global programs launched in 1996 to ease the heavy debt burdens of the world’s poorest countries.
Canada blocked the debt relief deal on Tuesday when it requested a delay in the World Bank meeting due to a dispute involving Vancouver-based First Quantum Minerals and the Congo’s government over mining rights, officials said.
Canadian officials said they were concerned with governance and rule of law in the Congo, and what it meant for the debt relief program.
The International Monetary Fund approved the deal on Wednesday, reassured that it had strong commitments from Congo to tackle corruption and improve transparency in the mining and oil sectors. Approval by both institutions is needed.
Lambert Mende, Congo’s minister of information, said Canada’s actions were disruptive but there were no hard feelings.
“Canada did something that disrupted our efforts as it took a lot for us to meet the debt relief conditions, but we have no problem with them and we will follow our relations with them as usual,” Mende told Reuters in Kinshasa.
Investors in Congo’s lucrative minerals sector were unnerved by the government’s move last September to close First Quantum’s Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailing copper and cobalt project. The company is seeking international arbitration.
Last month, Congo’s Supreme Court also annulled First Quantum’s rights on two other mining titles.
The debt accord was meant to be a high-point of celebrations on Wednesday in Congo to mark the country’s 50th anniversary of its independence.
With the debt relief, President Joseph Kabila had hoped to show the world his country had moved beyond its painful past after a 1998-2003 war in which an estimated 5 million people died.
