Kinshasa:  With the economy on the mend, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has begun a campaign to rebuild the national currency and wean the country off the US dollar. In the 1990s, during the waning days of the brutal regime of dictator Mobuto Sese Seko, hyperinflation that hit 2,000 per cent led to the marginalisation of the Congolese franc and the rise of the safe-haven greenback. By the end of last year, the dollar accounted for 89 percent of bank deposits and 95 per cent of loans, according to the country's central bank.

The Congo Basin represents 70 percent of the African continent's forest cover and constitutes a large portion of Africa's biodiversity. The objective of the two-year exercise was to analyze and get a better grasp of the deforestation dynamics in the Basin. The primary goal of the exercise was to give stakeholders (and particularly policy makers) a thorough understanding of how economic activities (agriculture, transport, mining, energy, and logging) could impact the region's forest cover through an in-depth analysis of the connections between economic developments and forest loss.

Dar es Salaam: Dumping of goods in the local market that are destined for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will soon become something of the past following a decision to open up a customs office in Tanzania that will monitor all cargo transported to that country. The customs office, to act as the agent of the DRC's Customs Department, is among efforts by that country to facilitate customs procedures for cargo transported through the port of Dar es Salaam.

Pretoria:  The Minister of Energy, Ms Dipuo Peters will be participating in a workshop on the feasibility study and to finalise negotiations on the great Inga Project Treaty in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in Lumbumbashi on 7 to 8 March 2013. The Republic of South Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the DRC on 12 November 2011. In developing the MoU, the Department of Energy (DoE) consulted with the departments of International Relations and Coordination, Trade and Industry, National Treasury, Economic Development, and Public Enterprise including ESKOM.

Kambove:  At the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo's southern mining belt, Kambove once churned out tonne upon tonne of copper for Gecamines, a sprawling conglomerate that used to make up 60 percent and more of the country's exports. Now, inside the rust-streaked corrugated iron walls of the Kambove copper plant, the conveyor belts run erratically and the corroded walkways have holes so large that visitors can see through to the workers milling below.  Today, like much of state-owned Gecamines, the processing operations are working at a fraction of their capacity, slowly crumbling in the searing African heat.

Kampala:  Uganda and DR Congolese officials on Friday met in Hoima District to discuss the rising tensions and insecurity on the border of the two countries both endowed with vast oil deposits and other minerals. In Bunyoro, Uganda and DRC are separated by Lake Albert. The Congolese delegation was led by the Ituri Resident District Commissioner, Mr Avo Eka, while the Ugandan team was headed by the Hoima Resident District Commissioner, Ms Jeane Kaliba. The meeting held at Kijungu Hill Hotel was attended by officials from the army, police, intelligence agencies and elected leaders.

Luanda: Around 1,070 kilometres, or 80 percent of the total length of the railroad between the Angolan cities of Lobito and Luau have been built, the director of the Angolan National Railroad Institute, Júlio Bango said Wednesday. On the sidelines of a meeting of exports, ahead of a meeting of ministers of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), whose countries are linked by the Lobito development corridor (Angola, DR Congo and Zambia), Bango said that if it were not for difficulties faced because of rains in the east of the country the work to lay rails, concrete sleepers, signs and telecommunications would already have been finished.

Maputo:  The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is awaiting a mandate from the United Nations Security Council in order to deploy its forces in the troubled eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The security situation in the DRC was the only item under discussion at an extraordinary SADC summit held in Maputo on Friday. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the SADC Executive Secretary, Tomas Salomao, said “the deployment plan has been drawn up, and the member states are making troops available. Now we are waiting for a UN mandate for the SADC military intervention which should not be confused with an invasionâ€�.

Lubumbashi:  A law regulating Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) nascent oil and gas sector will be adopted by April, requiring all potential investors to go through a tender process, the country's oil minister has said. It will be the first time the DRC has passed legislation specifically to control its oil production, which is currently only 26 000 barrels a day although there are oil rich areas in both the east and west of the vast central African country.

Democratic Republic of the Congo's EITI disclosed last week the most comprehensive report of what their government receives from the country's natural resources. The 2010 EITI Report reveals sobering figures that will inform the debate about how DRC's extractives are being taxed. The Report shows that extractive companies operating in the country paid the government US$ 876 million in taxes, fees and royalties in the year 2010. This means that the Congolese government received around US$ 13 per capita.