A recent article in The Hindu discusses the wane of China's long-standing dominance in Africa's mining sector. African nations are increasingly challenging the status quo, moving from being passive partners in resource extraction to demanding more transparent and equitable partnerships. This shift is fueled by popular resistance and heightened government scrutiny over unfulfilled promises of infrastructure development and skill transfer by Chinese companies. In countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, which supplies 80% of the world's cobalt, there is growing public outrage over deals that disproportionately benefit Chinese firms, leading to calls for contract renegotiations. Similarly, in Namibia and Zimbabwe, Chinese mining operations have been embroiled in controversies involving corruption, hazardous working conditions, and environmental degradation. In response, several African countries, including Zimbabwe and Namibia, have banned the export of unprocessed critical minerals to compel investment in local processing facilities. This reassertion of economic sovereignty signals Africa's intent to capture more value from its vast mineral wealth and play a more integral role in the global green economy, a move that could significantly reshape the global supply chain for critical minerals at the expense of China's hegemony.
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