André Wameso: “with the Ventora agreement, oil blocks and mining assets valued at more than 2 billion dollars need to be recovered- DRC

The Democratic Republic of Congo will imperatively have recovered oil blocks and mining assets valued at more than 2 billion dollars from the Ventora group of the Israeli businessman Dan Gertler.

This was indicated by André Wameso, Vice-President of the Commission which negotiated the Ventora agreement. It was during the press conference organized on Thursday March 3, 2022 by the Minister of Communication and Media, Patrick Muyaya, accompanied by his colleague from Justice, Rose Mutombo.

According to André Wameso, this historic agreement signed on Thursday, February 24, 2022 between Kinshasa and representatives of the Ventora group will also have enabled the Democratic Republic of Congo to recover part of the royalties from KCC.

He also recalled that the American sanctions on the Ventora group weighed heavily in the balance to reach this agreement.

“I would like to begin by saluting the efforts of NGOs and in particular the press for its investigative work which has made it possible to pinpoint the unbalanced contracts that existed between the companies of the Ventora group owned by Mr. Gertler and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as the American sanctions which weighed heavily in the balance to allow us to negotiate calmly. I would just like to add that despite these investigations, despite these denunciations, despite the sanctions, the Democratic Republic of Congo, owner of the assets which have often been the subject of disputes, has never been able to recover ownership of its property to the great dismay of its population. . So, we had to have another strategy. The strategy was simple. We were guided by the vision of the President of the Republic to reclaim our wealth. That was the main objective. “, he hammered.

La représentante de la RDC lors de ces tractations, la Ministre de la Justice, Rose Mutombo, a rappelé l’importance et l’enjeux de ces pourparlers pour Kinshasa qui devait impérativement revenir dans ses droits.

« Il était important qu’on se retrouve autour d’une table pour qu’on puisse échanger, puisqu’en soi la République perdait alors que lui avait des contrats qu’il ne pouvait pas exploiter et la République de son côté ne pouvait pas bénéficier des fruits de ses richesses. C’est ainsi qu’on s’est retrouvé autour de la table, on a échangé pour voir dans quelle mesure, grâce aux différents rapports et informations qu’on avait obtenus, il était tout à fait normal qu’on se retrouve autour de la table pour que la République de retrouve. C’était un long processus et surtout qu’il y avait plusieurs contentieux ouverts qui traînaient devant les cours et tribunaux qui ne permettaient pas à la République d’entrer dans ses droits », a-t-elle expliqué.

For his part, Patrick Muyaya, Minister of Communication and Media and Spokesman of the Government welcomed the efforts made in this process by all the national and international members, in particular the American administration which played a major role in it.

“I would therefore like to point out that for the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this agreement would not have been possible without the help of the American administration, especially its powerful sanctions regime which favored change, without that of the members national and international civil society as well as the investigative press around the world who have researched this subject. I would like to clarify that this was an amicable settlement. “, said the Minister of Communication and Media.

It should be noted that the signing of this agreement is part of the salutary vision of the Congolese Head of State, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi, that of seeing the country regain ownership of its wealth.