The Conversation posted on 3 April 2019 an analysis titled "The DRC and China's Sicomines: Why Future Deals Should Be Different" by Andoni Maiza Larrarte, Universidad del Pais Vasco in Madrid, and Gloria Claudio-Quiroga, Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid.
More than a decade on, the Sicomines minerals for infrastructure deal has not lived up to expectations. There have been infrastructure project delays as well as unexpected costs. The DRC will not receive any substantial income from the agreement in the foreseeable future. The Sicomines agreement never included any guarantee of the actual value that the Congolese population would get in exchange for the country's main source of wealth. The authors argue that future deals in Africa need to follow a new model.
