DR Congo and Electric Cars
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2018
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Presidential elections in the DRC this weekend come after 17 years of conflict-ridden rule under controversial president Joseph Kabila. Leading businessman and mine-owner Emmanuel Weyi explains why he has pulled out of the presidential race. But the country's mineral wealth also means the elections are being closely watched by international industries. Indigo Ellis from the risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft gives her assessment, and Jack Lifton, a business operations consultant in metals and an expert on cobalt, explains why one mineral produced in the DRC is so important to the emerging electric car industry.
(Photo: Women walk past a campaign poster of the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila's chosen successor Emmanual Ramazani Shadary in Kinshasa, Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Ed Butler and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 0:05.2 | Delayed presidential elections are finally taking place in the DRC this weekend. |
| 0:10.8 | Could an already contentious poll, though, simply spell more violence and misery for the Congolese people? |
| 0:17.7 | The people are fed up. |
| 0:19.9 | This is not a working country in any level. |
| 0:23.1 | So if we as an international community, we don't really see what Congo becoming, it's going |
| 0:29.6 | to be the next Afghanistan. |
| 0:31.0 | Why does the Congo matter to the world? |
| 0:33.5 | Because it's a treasure trove of mineral wealth. |
| 0:36.6 | And it could be crucial to the future of global tech. |
| 0:39.5 | The main one, obviously, that everyone's talking about, |
| 0:41.3 | is cobalt with the rise of electric vehicles. |
| 0:44.0 | If the electric vehicle ramp up is going to happen as it is, |
| 0:46.9 | we need to ensure the stability of supply from DRC. |
| 0:49.5 | That's all coming up in Business Daily from the BBC. |
| 1:02.8 | Wee! all coming up in Business Daily from the BBC. The joy and carnival of a pro-government rally in Kinshasa this month in the run-up to Sunday's presidential elections in DRC. |
| 1:16.6 | Well, it may sound like a party atmosphere there, but that's not true everywhere in the country. |
| 1:22.2 | Louise de Wast is the BBC's correspondent there. |
| 1:25.0 | She's in the capital, Kinshasa, ahead of the vote. |
| 1:27.7 | Well, there have been a number of violent incidents on the campaign trail since last week. |
| 1:33.6 | Seven have been reportedly killed, more than 50 reportedly injured during clashes between opposition |
| 1:40.2 | supporters and police. And there are reports that security forces fired live bullets and tear gas to disperse |
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