DRC: civil society organizations reveal the content of the memorandum of understanding between the Congolese State and the Israeli businessman Dan Gertler
Civil society organizations unveiled, this Saturday, April 16, the content of the historic memorandum of understanding between the Congolese State and the Israeli businessman Dan Gertler, after having taken part in the work of the Round Table of 13 to April 14, 2022 organized by the Presidency of the Republic at the Pullman Hotel in Kinshasa on the return of mining and oil assets by the Ventora Group to the DRC.
These NGOs which encourage the openness of the Presidency of the Republic to communicate on the Amicable Settlement Agreement with the Ventora Group through the organization of the Round Table with civil society note that the said memorandum of understanding essentially concerns on :
– The recovery of the oil and mining Assets held by the Ventora Group, royalties in three mining companies: Kamoto Copper Company (KCC), METALKOL and Mutanda Mining (MUMI) as well as all the studies carried out by Ventora which value the said assets;
– The determination of the net present value (NPV) of the Ventora Group’s royalties of approximately 154 million US dollars, according to the explanations of the experts of the Presidency of the Republic;
– The estimate of the approximate average value of the recovered assets evaluated to date at more than 2 billion US dollars, including 1.5 billion US $ for the oil Blocks I and II of the Albertine Graben, 500 million US $ for the permits of Iron Mountain and Sanzeta US$, 500 million for Moku Gold’s gold permits and several hundred million US dollars for various payments that the Ventora Group will make in favor of Gécamines on KCC’s royalties as soon as paid by the DRC, again according to the presentation by the members of the Commission;
– The payment to Gécamines by the Ventora Group of an amount of 57 million Euros on royalties from KCC, after deduction of all debts;
– The assistance of the DRC to Mr. Dan Gertler, for the lifting of the American sanctions against him, without obligation of result, this, in reference to Switzerland which had made the same steps with the American Government for the same file in relation with Glencore (KCC and MUMI). A similar approach in favor of the DRC had been proposed during the revision of the TFM Contract, by the partners of Gécamines Freeport-McMoran and Lundin in these terms: ”The Majority shareholders will support the commitment of the United States Government and other multilateral institutions of other countries in favor of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo”.
In addition, these NGOs state that they note that it is a Memorandum of Understanding for the amicable settlement of a dispute which was in international arbitration in Paris between the DRC and the Ventora Group and not an assignment contract. , exploration or exploitation of mining and petroleum assets.
As a result, they make recommendations to the President of the Republic and to the government to no longer favor new mechanisms of spoliation and selling off of mining, forestry, oil or other assets by foreigners or nationals benefiting from government cover. judicial, political, security, administrative, diplomatic.
Below is the declaration of these different NGOs:
It should be noted that other civil society organizations do not share the opinion of the signatory organizations of this declaration and did not take part in its elaboration.
The signatory organizations and individuals: Odep, Acaj, Recic, ECC, Licoco, Cafco, Touche pas à mon cobalt, Cern/Cenco, Rejed, Grem, Countdown, Bufordi, Acdic, Vvsr, Disociv, Apdco, Respublica, Asaf, Codhod, EJSCSDR, Coasce, Essf, Carbone Beni…
