South Africa is preparing to back one of the largest infrastructure projects on the continent: the Inga III hydroelectric dam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A new report from CIC’s Congo Research Group and Phuzumoya Consulting, I Need You, I Don’t Need You: South Africa and Inga III, places South Africa’s backing of Inga III in the context of foreign policy, arguing that the contradictory and uncertain dynamics of South African support for the dam puts into question the bankability—and indeed the feasibility—of the whole project.
COVID-19 on the African Continent
Congo Research Group director Jason Stearns co-authored this correspondence article in The Lancet modeling the effects of a COVID-19 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
"To illustrate the potential burden of SARS-CoV-2 epidemics within the most vulnerable countries in Africa, we simulated a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in DR Congo in the absence of interventions," write Stearns, Chad R. Wells, Pascal Lutumba, and Alison P. Galvani. "Given the high prevalence of comorbidities in DR Congo, as there is in Africa more broadly, the death toll could even be much higher."