Martin Kabwelulu Labilo is a politician in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. He is a member of the Parti Lumumbiste Unifié (PALU). He was appointed Minister of Mines on 5 February 2007 in the government led by

Antoine Gizenga Antoine Gizenga (5 October 1925 – 24 February 2019) was a Congolese (DRC) politician who was the Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 30 December 2006 to 10 October 2008. He was the Secretary-General of the Unified Lumum ...

, and retained this post through the reshuffle of 25 November 2007. Martin Kabwelulu Labilo was named Minister of Mines by President

Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Presi ...

in the government headed by Antoine Gizenga in February 2007 one of four members of Gizenga's

Unified Lumumbist Party Unified Lumumbist Party (french: Parti Lumumbiste Unifié or ''PALU'') is a political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The party's name comes from Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of Congo after its independence in 1960 fr ...

(PALU) to be named to the cabinet. In February 2011 Kabwelulu was in talks with South African banks, seeking $150 million to revive the state-owned diamond miner, MIBA, which had been closed since November 2008. MIBA is 20% owned by

Mwana Africa Asa Resources Group is a mining company based in Johannesburg and London. According to the company's website, it is the first African-owned and African-managed business to be listed in the Resources sector of the London Stock Exchange's Alternati ...

. Kabwelulu said that since the closure almost all diamond production had been from informal, artisanal workings. In May 2011 Kabwelulu, who was also serving as acting Minister of Transport, announced a $600 million 5-year plan to rehabilitate of railway track in the mining areas of the southeast DRC. The project was funded by the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

and the DRC government. An agreement on minerals-for-

infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

signed with China in 2009 would cover $200 million of the cost. The

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

(SEC) was asked in July 2010 to develop guidelines under the Dodd-Frank Act over dealing in minerals from the DRC. The purpose was to ensure that the money from mineral sales was not being used to fund armed groups. In July 2011, a month before the rules were due to come into effect, Kabwelulu wrote to the SEC asking them to prevent the rules from becoming a "de facto embargo". He urged the SEC to follow United Nations and OECD recommendations that "define due diligence as a continuous process, proactive and reactive, by which companies take reasonable measures in good faith to identify and respond to risks that contribute to conflict". In May 2010 the DRC Supreme Court decided that the Canadian firm

First Quantum Minerals First Quantum Minerals is a Canadian-based mining and metals company whose principal activities include mineral exploration, development and mining. Its main product is copper, which accounts for 80% of revenues as of 2016. First Quantum's com ...

had illegally obtained the rights to its

Frontier A frontier is the political and geographical area near or beyond a boundary. A frontier can also be referred to as a "front". The term came from French in the 15th century, with the meaning "borderland"—the region of a country that fronts o ...

and Lonshi mines, previously owned by

Sodimico Sodimico (''Société de développement industriel et minier du Congo'') is a state-owned mining company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Early years Sodimico took over several mining properties from the Union Miniere du Katanga in ...

. In August 2011 it was reported that Sodimico had sold its 30% share in the two mines for $30 million. The estimated value of the mines was over $1.6 billion. When contacted later that month, Kabwelulu at first denied that any sale had been carried out. The Sodimico CEO Laurent Lambert Tshisola Kangoa refused to discuss the matter with reporters from

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

. The next day it was reported that Kabwelulu had in fact ordered the sale of Sodimico's 30% stake in the Frontier and Lonshi mines to Fortune Ahead, a shell company registered in Hong Kong that already owned the other 70% of Sodifor, the holding company for the properties. Sodimico was transferring some of the proceeds to a fund to be used in the forthcoming elections.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabwelulu, Martin Government ministers of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Unified Lumumbist Party politicians Living people Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people

See also

References