Kinshasa, DR Congo — Qatari investment firm Al Mansour Holding hopes to invest $21 billion in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Doha is mediating to end years of conflict in the east, the Congolese government announced Wednesday.
Group founder and royal family member Sheikh Mansour bin Jabor bin Jassim Al Thani visited the DRC capital Kinshasa on Tuesday as part of an African tour.
The Qatari delegation presented a “letter of intent” for an investment of nearly $21 billion in the DRC during a meeting with Prime Minister Judith Suminwa, her office said in a statement.
The investment would be in various sectors, including agriculture, finance, mining, pharmaceuticals and hydrocarbons, it added.
Last month saw Al Mansour Holding pledge $70 billion in investments across four southern Africa countries during a 10-day tour.
The funding pledges to Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe come as largely poor countries in the resource-rich region grapple with sweeping cuts in US aid since Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Fighting in the mineral-rich east of the DRC intensified early this year after the Rwanda-backed M23 armed group launched a lightning offensive, capturing two provincial capitals within a few weeks.
Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis had failed until Qatar unexpectedly announced that Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi had met in Doha for talks in mid-March.
The two countries signed a peace agreement in June in Washington.
In parallel, the Congolese government and the M23 began talks, also in Doha, in April, committing in July to a ceasefire. However, clashes have continued on the ground.
