Plundering Africa’s rich resources

Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up here.For 150 years the world has looted [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up [here](. For 150 years the world has looted the Democratic Republic of Congo. [Tomorrow’s elections]( may determine if the plunder ever ends. Slaves, rubber, copper, uranium, diamonds, gold and cobalt: the history of extraction from Congo is a history of the world’s commodity markets, of technological progress, brutality and war. Few nations escape blame. Arab traders took slaves; Belgium colonized; the US and European nations backed coups and the kleptocrat Mobutu Sese Seko for 32 years. A half-dozen African nations enriched themselves through a series of wars that overthrew Mobutu in the 1990s. In the aftermath, China became Congo’s biggest trading partner. They signed a $6.2 billion minerals-for-infrastructure contract in 2008 from which Congo has “derived no benefit,” according to President Felix Tshisekedi. Congo’s people are among the world’s poorest. Conflict over land, resources and ethnic grievances continues to rage in the east, where nearly 7 million are displaced. A lot of resources remain. Its copper and cobalt deposits are the world’s richest. There’s oodles of gold, valuable forests, and deposits of oil and gas. The central African nation is also part of the green energy push: carbon credits to preserve its trees, hydropower, cobalt and copper for batteries and electric vehicles. Control of all that wealth is up for grabs in the election. Tshisekedi is vying for a second five-year term against opponents including a soccer-team owner, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and a former Exxon Mobil executive. The size of Western Europe, Congo has little infrastructure and ballots are shipped to remote villages via helicopter and dug-out canoes. That has historically made fraud easy. Tshisekedi vows this time will be different. An independent poll shows he’s well ahead in the race. A legitimate, peaceful election would be historic for Congo and may put it on a more prosperous path. —[Michael Kavanagh]( Miners carry bags of ore in the copper-cobalt Shabara artisanal mine near the town of Kolwezi. Photographer: Arlette Bashizi/The Washington Post/Getty Images Global Must Reads What if Vladimir Putin wins? The impasse over aid from the US and Europe has Ukraine’s allies contemplating something they’ve refused to imagine since the earliest days of Russia’s invasion. Beyond the potentially [catastrophic]( consequences for Ukraine, the ripple effects would be felt around the world, as US partners and allies question just how reliable Washington’s promises of defense would be. Merchant shipping in the Red Sea is grinding to a halt as violence linked to the Israel-Hamas war threatens [to undermine]( the global economy. Two European oil and gas giants said their tankers will avoid waters off Yemen, joining major shippers that pulled out of the area last week as Iran-backed Houthi militants stepped up attacks in support of Hamas. Hamas’s use of modified commercial drones to stage attacks — a strategy also used by Ukraine in the early days of Russia’s invasion — exposed a significant [vulnerability]( in Israel’s vaunted air and ground defenses. The emergence of a new generation of cheap systems, like the ones used in the Oct. 7 attack, is challenging some of the world’s most technologically advanced militaries. The Heven H100 model drone. Source: Heven Less than one month before Taiwan’s elections, polls indicate the race to become the island’s next president [is narrowing](. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s China-skeptic candidate, Lai Ching-te, held a 3 percentage point lead in one survey over the Kuomintang’s Hou Yu-ih, who favors engagement with Beijing, while a second had the two tied. Used by millions of rice and wheat farmers, the practice of flood irrigation — soaking the fields to nourish the soil — is emblematic of the unchecked overuse of resources [damaging India’s future agricultural prospects](. As Pratik Parija and Chris Kay report, the government is not blind to the threat of groundwater running out entirely in some regions, but with a national election next year, there’s little to gain in pushing for change among farmers, a key voting bloc. The European Union and the US will extend their [truce on steel]( and aluminum imports, avoiding the potential return of transatlantic tariffs, the EU Commission said. US Senate Republican leaders made clear yesterday that a quick deal on border security is [out of reach]( before the Christmas holiday, all but guaranteeing votes on Ukraine and Israel aid will be punted to next year. Serbia’s weekend election was [marred by irregularities](, media bias and the misuse of state resources that skewed the race in favor of President Aleksandar Vucic’s party, according to European observers. [Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter]( for news from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 5pm ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television. Chart of the Day Greece, the country at the epicenter of the sovereign debt crisis that almost split the euro in the 2010s, is planning to sell as much as €10 billion ($11 billion) in bonds next year after winning back its investment grade status, a source said. Fitch upgraded Greece in early December after S&P did the same in October, ending its 13 years with a junk rating. And Finally As the land of fire and ice, Iceland is no stranger to volcanic activity. But [the eruption]( that began yesterday, spewing lava out of a 4 kilometer (2.5 mile) tear in the Earth’s crust on the Reykjanes Peninsula, is the most forceful of recent years. While air traffic isn’t currently disrupted, fountains of molten lava are shooting hundreds of feet into the sky and an evacuated fishing town to the south is at risk of being inundated, the first time in 50 years that inhabited areas have been threatened on this scale. Lava erupts on the Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland yesterday. Source: Icelandic Met Office More from Bloomberg - [Economics Daily]( for what the changing landscape means for policy makers, investors and you - [Green Daily]( for the latest in climate news, zero-emission tech and green finance - [Next Africa](, a twice-weekly newsletter on where the continent stands now — and where it’s headed - [Business of Sports](, delivering the context you need on the collision of power, money and sports - [India Edition](, an insider’s guide to the emerging economic powerhouse, and the billionaires and businesses behind its rise - Explore more newsletters at [Bloomberg.com](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. 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