“Modern plunderers: Lobito Corridor plans bring fear, hesitation in DRC”, Jan 2, 2024.

From the Port of Lobito in Angola, along Africa’s Atlantic coast, runs a 1,300km (800-mile) stretch of railway that passes through neighbouring Zambia and resource-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In DRC, the Lobito Corridor links the mining provinces of Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba and Haut-Katanga – home to some of the world’s largest deposits of critical minerals like cobalt and copper, earning it a fair share of international attention in recent years. In early December, on the sidelines of a visit to Angola, United States President Joe Biden held talks with some of his African counterparts on the Lobito infrastructure project – a multi-country agreement that aims to develop connectivity between the Atlantic and Indian oceans and provide speedier access to Africa’s minerals for the US and European markets.

But in Congolese towns and cities along the regions to be connected to the railway project, there are mixed feelings and simmering fears. The DRC has the world’s largest cobalt reserves and its seventh-largest copper reserves. While some Congolese believe the Lobito project will be a beneficial trade hub between African countries, others fear it is merely a gateway to facilitate the further plundering of the region’s natural resources. Claude Banza lives in the city of Kolwezi in Lualaba, one of the key points along the Corridor’s route, which hosts vast mines that rights groups have called out for human rights abuses. “We lead a life of misery, we have no jobs,” Banza told Al Jazeera. “This Lobito project is a lifesaver for us,” he said, hoping the infrastructure developments can help bring more opportunities and hope for local communities. “As the president has said that many jobs will be created, we hope to have the means to face the challenges of life,” he said. The project will see the creation of about 30,000 direct and indirect jobs and help reduce poverty in DRC, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said in Angola last month. The development of the Corridor is a “project that is full of hope for our countries and our region”, Tshisekedi said at the time, calling it “a unique opportunity for regional integration, economic transformation, and to improve the living conditions of our fellow citizens”.

However, many in the DRC disagree.

The project is “pharaonic”, Dady Saleh, a Congolese economic analyst, told Al Jazeera.

Though he recognises its overall economic potential, he said he regrets that the countries where this infrastructure project will take place will only benefit from “crumbs” – pointing to potential dangers ahead specifically for the DRC. “This project is an organised sell-off of the region’s natural resources in a capitalist system,” Saleh said. “And especially in the case of the DRC, the Congolese will be like commission agents. We’ve opened up our economic market to modern plunderers.” Many others on the front lines of the mining economy feel similarly. Souverain Kabika lives in Haut-Katanga province, another Congolese region connected through the railway line to Lobito. He works as a copper handler on the trucks that transport ore to the port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania and towards the Indian Ocean. But now, with the growing project, he fears that the little work he used to have will dry up as truck traffic along nearby stretches of roads will deplete significantly in favour of the railway. “This project is likely to threaten even the small activities we used to carry out. At one point, I was loading trucks to take goods to Matadi. This Corridor could leave me workless,” he fears. Analyst Saleh said the DRC is the country with the most on the table in this giant project and feels the government should open its eyes before signing the dotted line with countries that will benefit more from the arrangement.