Summit in Luanda
Solves Africa Commodity Railway Europe’s problems?
Representatives of the European and African Union meet in Angola. Their goal: to strengthen cooperation between both continents – also economically. One project is the focus.
Right on the coastal promenade, Luanda, the capital of Angola, offers a nice opportunity for souvenir photos. The letters tower over the people standing in front of them: EU and LUANDA – connected with a heart. Has the European Union presented a gift to the host of the EU-Africa Summit? No, in the local language, Portuguese, it says: “I love Luanda.”
But the fact that the Europeans are looking for partnerships in Africa – and not just at this meeting – cannot be overlooked. This often involves raw materials that the EU classifies as strategically important: metals and rare earths, which are urgently needed for the production of microchips, electric cars and other future technology.
“Africa is one of the regions in the world richest in raw materials: around a third of the known global reserves of many critical raw materials are on the African continent,” says geo-economist Arthur Leichthammer from the Jacques Delors Center research institute. The EU wants to become more independent from China, which has also been active in Angola for a long time.
Raw materials should be transported faster
“Global Gateway” is the name of the EU’s investment program, which is intended to support the development of modern infrastructure worldwide. The goal: promote projects on renewable energy, digital networks or transport routes. Commission President von der Leyen recently cited the Lobito Corridor railway project as an example of how this works in practice.
This already connects the port city of Lobito in Angola by rail with areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where mainly copper and cobalt are mined. Further expansion to Zambia is planned.
The advantages from the EU Commission’s perspective: The transport of raw materials by rail would be shortened from 45 days to one week. In addition, CO2 emissions would be significantly reduced if 5,000 heavy trucks were removed from congested roads. There are great ambitions that the project still has to fulfill.
How economical is the project?
In practice the radiance may be lower. At least currently. An analysis by the think tank ECDPM (European Center for Policy Development Management) reports that there is still little train traffic for copper transport on the route.
Regarding the condition, it says: “As the modernization and renovation measures along the individual corridor sections vary, some parts remain in a precarious condition.” Only a few ships call at the port of Lobito; reloading onto larger ships in a larger port is often necessary. All of this raises the question of how economical the project is.
And the EU has further demands on its projects. She wants to promote sustainable, transparent and fair partnerships. Ursula von der Leyen also emphasized this in October at the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels. The Lobito Corridor not only meets Europe’s needs, it is also about local processing and value creation: “The Lobito Corridor is a strategic investment for both Europe and our African partners.”
Corruption is just one problem
Is the project mutually beneficial? Do only companies or also the people who live along the Lobito Corridor benefit? The journalist and human rights activist Rafael Marques de Morais spoke to the ARD studio Brussels very clear positions.
His accusation: The government of Angola is very corrupt, that is the main problem. And their goal is to plunder the country – not for the first time in history: “What benefits have we had so far from all these years of Western presence in the oil and diamond sectors? Very little for the majority of people in Angola.” Marques de Morais demands that Angola should not allow itself to be drawn into power struggles between the EU, Russia and China.
But even if one assesses the Lobito Corridor example project more optimistically, Europe’s dependencies will not disappear. China has established itself as a global center for the processing of raw materials for over two decades, says Arthur Leichthammer from the Delors Center: “As long as these steps take place almost exclusively in China, Europe remains vulnerable.”
